There are three World Heritage sites among the nominated components of Beijing Central Axis, namely the Imperial Palaces of the Ming and Qing dynasties in Beijing and Shenyang [the Forbidden City of Beijing, 1987, the Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial Altar in Beijing, 1998], and the Grand Canal [the Old City of Beijing Section of Tonghui River: the Chengqing Upper Watergate (the Wanning Bridge), 2014], International documents such as the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (1972) and the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention (revised in 2021) as well as the Chinese laws and departmental regulations mentioned above are all applicable to World Cultural Heritage conservation.

More specifically, the nominated property area of Beijing Central Axis covers the whole property area of the Forbidden City of Beijing, the property area of the Temple of Heaven, and the property area of the Chengqing Upper Watergate (the Wanning Bridge) among the components of the Grand Canal. The buffer zone of Beijing Central Axis covers the buffer zone of the Forbidden City of Beijing, the buffer zone of the Temple of Heaven, and the buffer zone of the Grand Canal (the Old City of Beijing Section of Tonghui River) in full.

Among the nominated components of Beijing Central Axis, the Bell and Drum Towers, the Wanning Bridge, the Jingshan Hill, the Forbidden City, the Upright Gate, the Tian’anmen Gate, the Outer Jinshui Bridges, the Altar of Land and Grain, the Imperial Ancestral Temple, the Monument to the People’s Heroes, the Zhengyangmen Gate, the Temple of Heaven, and the Altar of the God of Agriculture are National Priority Protected Sites (13 in total); the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall and the Southern Section Road Archeological Sites are protected sites at the municipal-level (two in total); the National Museum of China and the Yongdingmen Gate are immovable cultural heritage properties to be designated as protected sites (two in total).

The Law of the People’s Republic of China on Protection of Cultural Relics (1982, amended in 2017) and the Regulations for the Implementation of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Protection of Cultural Relics (2003, amended in 2017) have set out conservation and management requirements of protected sites at various levels. The Measures of Beijing Municipality for the Implementation of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Protection of Cultural Relics(2004, amended in 2019) issued by the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality has set out local legislative requirements for conserving and managing cultural heritage properties.

The Great Hall of the People of the Tian’anmen Square Complex was announced among the first list of listed buildings in Beijing in November 2019. The Regulations on the Conservation of Historical and Cultural Cities, Towns, and Villages (2008, amended in 2017) issued by the State Council and the Regulations on the Conservation of Beijing Historical and Cultural City (2021) issued by the Standing Committee of Beijing Municipal People’s Congress have both set out requirements for the conservation and management of listed buildings.

Immovable cultural heritage among the nominated components of Beijing Central Axis

Nominated Components	Level Of Protection	Name Of Protected Sites	year of an- nouncement