via Xinhua, 28 April 2023: The China-led Alliance for Cultural Heritage aims to foster international cooperation in cultural heritage preservation, but the article really highlights China’s role in heritage diplomacy – including that of Mrauk U in Myanmar.
In 2017, a team of scholars and students from the university’s School of Architecture, including Professor Zhou Xiaodi, were invited by Myanmar’s cultural authorities for preliminary work on the ancient city Mrauk-U’s application for a UNESCO World Heritage Site status.
The first glimpse of Mrauk-U is something Zhou still vividly remembers. “It was late at night when we reached Mrauk-U. The ancient city is nestled among the mountains, and on top of almost every hill, there is a pagoda,” he recalled. “The lights from the pagodas were reflected in the water mist on the river, making the whole scene quiet and layered.”
Between 2017 and 2020, the team has mapped 112 ancient pagodas and monasteries in Mrauk-U and completed a high-precision map of the ancient city’s core area and an area of 30 square km around it. They also built a visual geographic information database and worked out plans for Mrauk-U’s protection and the management of its world heritage application.
Source: Xiplomacy: How China helps preserve cultural heritage sites in Asia-Xinhua
