China will mark its annual Cultural and Natural Heritage Day on Saturday with nationwide events including exhibitions, symposiums and public education programs.
This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the designation of the day, which was known as Cultural Heritage Day before 2017. Over the past two decades, annual museum visits nationwide rose from around 150 million in 2006 to 1.56 billion in 2025, while China's UNESCO World Heritage listings increased from 24 to 60.
President Xi Jinping has consistently prioritized heritage protection. In a 2016 guideline statement, he described cultural relics as a valuable legacy from ancestors and highlighted them as tangible manifestations of the fine traditional culture, or the root and soul of the Chinese nation.
The Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, illustrate the approach. Xi ordered the closure of quarries at the site in 2003 when serving as Zhejiang's Party secretary. The site was inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2019, and Hangzhou rolled out new regulations in June to integrate heritage protection with regional development.
