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After a 12 years wait, Hangzhou's West Lake has finally made the list of World Heritage Sites, UNESCO recognized the West Lake as a classic landscape reflecting traditional Chinese esthetics.
This is China's 41st World Heritage Site, and the 29th Cultural Heritage Site!
West Lake is not only famous for its picturesque landscape, it is also associated with many scholars, national heroes and revolutionary martyrs, thus embracing many aspects of Chinese culture. In addition, many ancient buildings, stone caves and engraved tablets in surrounding areas are among the most cherished national treasures of China, with significant artistic value.
West Lake is surrounded by mountains on three sides, with an area of around 6.5 square kilometers. The circumference is around 15 kilometers. The average depth of West Lake is 0.8 meters, and the capacity is about 14,290,000 cubic meters. http://www.myeggnoodles.com/west-lake-in-hangzhou.html
China needs to up the ante in preserving its cultural resources. When I lived in Beijing in 2007, I went all around China and everywhere you went, all of the cities were destroying their historic city cores, much like we did here in the US during the 40s-80s. In Beijing, tons of ancient Hutongs were being needlessly torn down to the detriment of the cities cultural heritage. In Qingdao, all of the old fishing villages were being ripped apart, it was really really sad. I think after the Olympics, the Chinese have come to understand the importance of preserving their incredible history and I hope the tide of destruction has slowed. I know in Bejing, they started preserving some of the Hutongs, but something like 70% or more have been destroyed.
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