Published : 2025-02-15
On February 15, 1982, the State Council approved and announced China's first batch of National Historical and Cultural Cities, with a total of 24 cities.
These cities are Beijing, Chengde (Hebei Province), Datong (Shanxi Province), Nanjing (Jiangsu Province), Suzhou (Jiangsu Province), Yangzhou (Jiangsu Province), Hangzhou (Zhejiang Province), Shaoxing (Zhejiang Province), Quanzhou (Fujian Province), Jingdezhen (Jiangxi Province), Qufu (Shandong Province), Luoyang (Henan Province), Kaifeng (Henan Province), Jiangling (Hubei Province), Changsha (Hunan Province), Guangzhou (Guangdong Province), Guilin (Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region), Chengdu (Sichuan Province), Zunyi (Guizhou Province), Kunming (Yunnan Province), Dali (Yunnan Province), Lhasa (Xizang Autonomous Region), Xi'an (Shaanxi Province), and Yan'an (Shaanxi Province).
In the 1960s, China announced the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units, but the protection targets were limited to individual buildings or sites.
At the suggestion of experts and scholars, the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference drafted a special report, recommending the prompt announcement of a batch of historical cities rich in cultural relics and sites.
The name "Historical and Cultural Cities" also underwent detailed consideration.
Luo Zhewen, a representative of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage at the time, participated in the assessment of the list. Luo believed that the heritage of Chinese cities belongs to cultural heritage, with a long history and high renown, mostly related to culture.
Therefore, the word "cultural" should be added to "historical cities".
After the first batch was announced, the government issued the "Cultural Relics Protection Law" in the same year, clarifying that cities particularly rich in cultural relics and having significant historical value and revolutionary commemorative significance would be announced as Historical and Cultural Cities, thus institutionalising the system of Historical and Cultural Cities.
