Reshaping the Cultural Heritage Regime: How Japan and China Engage in UNESCO’s Heritage Programs - Ryoko Nakano

With the notion that the preservation of high standards, rigorous evaluation processes, and adherence to technical criteria to maintain the integrity and universal value of the World Heritage List, European states may emphasize the importance of expert evaluations and the need for stringent criteria to protect the credibility and authenticity of the list. [...] As early as 1954, a group of Japanese archeological experts and historians prepared an extensive report on the Silk Roads as part of the contribution to UNESCO’s “Major Project for Mutual Appreciation of Cultural Values of East and West.”14 At the ascendance of Japanese economic power, the Silk Roads captured the Japanese imagination when NHK, a semi-governmental television network, produced and a. [...] With the successful outcomes of China’s reform and opening- up policies in spurring economic development, the Chinese government also participated in three Advisory Bodies of the World Heritage Committee: International Council on Monuments and Sites in 1993, the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 1996, and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of. [...] China gradually accepted the concept of World Heritage while actively learning the language of the World Heritage nomination.22 This is a top-down process in which government bodies, such as the State Administration for Cultural Heritage, the Ministry of Construction, and the Ministry of Education, have participated. [...] China’s financial contribution to the UNESCO annual budget overtook the amount of Japan’s contribution, making China the biggest contributor to UNESCO after the US withdrawal from the organization in 2019.24 In the World Heritage Committee, China has become one of the most vocal and influential countries in decision-making.25 China has also managed to have placed its own officials in top managemen.