China was on Friday officially awarded its 31st World Heritage Site, the Historic Center of Macao, during the 29th session of the World Heritage Committee, being held in Durban, South Africa.

Macao's bid under the name of Historic Center of Macao has been designated as China's only nomination this year to apply for the inscription on the World Heritage List of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Macao preserves China's largest clump of urban historical properties, as it had nearly five centuries of uninterrupted contact between East and West, after the Portuguese navigators settled in Macao in the mid-16th century.

The Historic Center of Macau embraces 12 priceless cultural heritage sites, including China's oldest church, Christian cemetery, lighthouse and western theater.

The Macao Special Administrative Region has spent 150 million patacas (US$18.8 million) on some 100 programs for the protection and maintenance of the heritage sites since 1999 when the Chinese government resumed the exercise of sovereignty over Macao.

With the support from the Chinese government, the Macao Special Administrative Region officially launched the procedures for the world heritage bidding in July 2002. 

The relics, most are still in use, have witnessed the earliest pervasion of western religious culture in the oriental continent as well as its ensuing co-existence with the local culture.

Joining UNESCO's Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage in 1985, China now has 31 sites on the World Heritage List, the third most next to Italy and Spain, and it is now playing an active role in protecting the world heritages.

During the Durban meeting, China has pledged US$30,000 to support a feasibility study of setting up an African World Heritage Fund for protecting the African sites.

The 29th session of UNESCO's World Heritage Committee is being held from July 10 to 17 in South Africa, the first ever in sub-Saharan Africa and it will decide new sites out of the 42 that have filed their application for inclusion on the UNESCO's World Heritage List.
 
(Xinhua News Agency July 16, 2005)