best practices > sample project summaries
Mount Hua
Cultural Landscape Type: Evolved Continuing, Evolved Relict, Associative
Project Name: Protection and Management Plan for Mount Hua National Park
Project Type: Documentation Project, Inventory and Cultural Landscape Assessment;Planning Project, Preservation Plan and Management Plan
Location: Weinan City, Shaanxi Province, China. N 34°28′40″, E 110°5′44″
Cultural Landscape Size: 10479ha
Property Owner/Steward: People’s Republic of China/ Three-level management system by State, Province and the National Park; the direct management agancy is Administrative Committee of Mount Hua National Park.
Funding: Administrative Committee of Mount Hua National Park
Relevant Historical Dates: Worship began in the Xia Danasty (2207 B.C.-1776 B.C.) and the Zhou Danasty (1121 B.C.- 249 B.C.), last about 5000 years. As the official sacrifice place, it lasted about 2000 years from the Qin Danasty (221 B.C).
Historic Landscape Architect, Designers: N/A
Contact: YANG Rui; Chair and Professor, Department of Landscape Architecture, Tsinghua University; 0086- 62797027; [email protected]
Project Description:
The relief featured by “steepness” enables Mount Hua to win the reputation of “the number one precipitous mountain under the heaven” and to bring striking aesthetic experience to human beings. Due to its unique aesthetic value, Mount Hua was worshipped by Chinese nationality. Mount Hua is one of the most important mountains for official sacrifice. In addition, due to its unique aesthetic value, Mount Hua is a time-honored mountain famous for Taoism. The unique living and practicing places of Taoist priests — overhung rock grottoes, display the idea of sustainability of antient people. It is a rare manner of living and residing of human beings in the world, and also the typical and outstanding example of “Taoist hermitry” in China’s hermitry culture. The overhung rock grottoes of Mount Hua, the ancient rock path and the stone inscriptions cut on the granite cliffs are the outstanding example of “stone engineering” technology and art of human being before Industrial Revolution, and the specific demonstration of collective creativity of ancient Chinese people. In Mount Hua, Chen Tuan, the Founder (871-989) had created a series of Yi Diagram in Mount Hua, such as Yilong Diagram (易龙图), Xiantian Taiji Diagram (先天太极图), Wuji Diagram (无极图). He used diagrams to explain Yi, headstream of Chinese thoughts.
The plan clarified the management issues, and established the management objective system for the next 12 years. The plan also formulated the zoning plan, the authenticity and integrity preservation plan, the interpretation plan, the research, monitoring and evaluation plan, the community plan, the visitor impact management plan, and the improvement plan for some certain areas.
In view of the cultural landscapes such as the overhung rock grottoes, the ancient rock path and the stone inscriptions cut on the granite cliffs, the management measures are as following: daily maintenance, protection and strengthening, repairing, redevelopment and environmental improvement. The plan also suggested to control the scale of construction, the visitors’ activity types and tourists amount.
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. . .deterioration or disappearance of any item of the cultural or natural heritage constitutes a harmful impoverishment of the heritage of all the nations of the world.
World Heritage Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, 1972
