BEIJING, June 14 (Xinhua) -- During U.S. President Donald Trump's China trip last month, Chinese President Xi Jinping invited him to visit the Temple of Heaven, and shared with him how this ancient architecture embodies the Chinese understanding of the universe and approach to life.
The more than 600-year-old architectural complex is one of many cultural heritage sites through which Xi has shared his profound understanding of Chinese civilization and promoted inter-civilization exchanges.
As China observes its Cultural and Natural Heritage Day on Saturday, the occasion offers an opportunity to revisit Xi's vision for cultural heritage protection, which holds that safeguarding the past is essential not only for preserving cultural roots but also for fostering understanding among civilizations.
Visiting Uzbekistan in September 2022, President Xi presented Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev with a special gift: a miniature model of the ancient city of Khiva.
Built more than a millennium ago, Khiva was once an important hub along the ancient Silk Road. An old saying -- "I'd trade a bag of gold just for one glimpse of the ancient city of Khiva" -- describes the city's legendary past. The city was inscribed on the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage List in 1990, though parts of it later fell into disrepair due to age and insufficient conservation.
The gesture reflected a longer-running effort to preserve the site. Back in 2013, during Xi's first trip to the Central Asian country as Chinese president, the two countries agreed to jointly launch a preservation and restoration project in Khiva, marking China's first cultural heritage conservation project in the region.
When he revisited Uzbekistan in 2016, Xi met with Chinese archaeologists and restoration experts working at the site, urging them to protect the cultural relics well. With Xi's support, the project was completed in 2019, further enhancing the appeal of this ancient Silk Road hub and helping preserve its historic character.
Xi also attaches importance to the recovery of Chinese relics lost overseas. During his state visit to Italy in 2019, Xi joined then Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte in witnessing a milestone in international cultural heritage cooperation as the two countries confirmed the return of 796 sets of Chinese cultural relics that had been lost overseas for decades.
Spanning some 5,000 years of history from the Neolithic Age to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), this batch of artifacts represents the largest repatriation of Chinese cultural relics in nearly 20 years.
In recent years, under Xi's leadership, China has stepped up its cooperation with countries worldwide in heritage protection. At the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations in 2019, Xi called for efforts to conserve cultural heritage in Asia. In 2021, China and nine other Asian countries jointly launched the Alliance for Cultural Heritage in Asia.
China is willing to strengthen experience sharing on cultural heritage preservation, promote international cooperation in the cultural heritage sector, and establish a network for dialogue and cooperation among civilizations, Xi said in a congratulatory letter to the general assembly of the alliance in 2023.■
