The 7th National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units were issued by the State Council several days ago. Eight Qingdao cultural relics found themselves on the list this year. These eight include six ancient sites, for instance the West huanggu temple ruins, Zhaojiazhuang site and Xiasha port site, as well as ancient buildings – the Laoshan Taoist buildings and stone carvings, Daze mountain stone carving and Zhicang temple tombstones. In the end, Qingdao embraced 18 national key cultural relics protection units.

The history of the six ancient sites dates back from the Neolithic Age to the Ming and Qing dynasties. Lin Yuhai, director of Qingdao Archaeological Institute of Cultural Relics Protection, said some of the sites had been explored preliminarily, while others had been carefully excavated. The next step is to make overall arrangements to protect these ruins.

Among the eight cultural relics, the Laoshan Taoist buildings are the only relics belonging to the ancient building class. The buildings include 11 ancient architectures -- the Palace of Heaven and Shangqing Palace for example. From Han Dynasty to Qing Dynasty, the buildings were the carriers recording the history and development of Laoshan Taoist culture.