Jianglang Mountain: World Natural Heritage Site

Jianglang Mountain in southern Zhejiang Province was inscribed on the World Heritage list at about 5 am August 2， 2010 Beijing time. Jianglang Mountain is part of a bundle of six mountains that come under the title of Danxia Landform of China.

Jianglang Mountain in southern Zhejiang Province is physically the smallest in the Danxia landforms in southern China， but it presents unique features. First of all， the mountain has the world’s tallest monolith of conglomerate， which consists of stones cemented together about 65 million years ago. Jianglang Mountain is now in the old-age phase of the landform’s lifecycle. The three peaks tower above an ancient planation surface which is 500 meters above sea level.

The decision for applying for a group heritage status was initiated in December 2006. On December 12th， 2006， the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development held a meeting in Changsha， the capital city of central China’s Hunan Province. The meeting marked the beginning of the concerted endeavor under the leadership of a specially organized coordination group for this application.

The Zhejiang authorities gave top priority to this project. A special steering group at the provincial level was set up and funds were allotted. The provincial leaders came to Jiangshan City， where Jianglang Mountain is situated， to inspect the progress of preparation work.

In April， 2008， the second application meeting convened in Hangzhou， the capital city of eastern China’s Zhejiang Province. After a discussed about the proposal that China should cut down the number of constituent mountains in the application， the meeting decided to reduce the ten candidates to six and decided that the two sites in Zhejiang were valuable and therefore should remain on the list. It was pointed out that Jianglang Mountain highlights the final stage of the evolution of Danxia Landform.

In about four years， Jiangshan invited experts from home and abroad to evaluate Jianglang Mountain and discuss whether it qualified for the application. A conservation plan and an application text were formulated.

About 200 million yuan was invested to modify the area around Jianglang Mountain to improve infrastructure， conservation and forest coverage.

On April 19， 2008， an expert from UNESCO inspected Jianglang Mountain. He spoke highly of the site’s scenic beauty and scientific value. On January 14th 2009， Li Keqiang， member of the standing committee of the political bureau of the central committee of the CPC and vice premier of the State Council， approved the collective application of Danxia Landform. The State Council issued the official approval and this approval in writing was part of the application document package. In March， the application text passed the technical examination of the World Heritage Center under the UNESCO. In September 2009， experts of IUCN conducted a field study at Jianglang Mountain. The experts were convinced.

The 34th meeting of the World Heritage Congress convened on July 25 in Brazil. From the first day， Shi Shuyun， the Chinese Ambassador to UNESCO， and his colleagues started the busy lobbying work with other twenty member states. They did excellent canvassing work and their hard work paid off. Sixteen member states voted yes to the application of Danxia Landform on August 2 Beijing time， turning the years’ efforts into a success.

With Jianglang Mountain and Square Rock Mountain inscribed， Zhejiang Province has got its first ever world natural heritage sites.