Expert Introductions
(Ordered according to the forum schedule)
Heritage Site Session
Moderator: Li Jianghai
Professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Earth and Space Sciences, Peking University.
Deputy Director of the UNESCO Asia-Pacific World Heritage Training and Research Centre (Beijing); member of the World Heritage Committee of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration; advisory expert of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration; member of the Academic Committee of the China Scenic Area Association.
Specializes in geology research and teaching, with long-term research on geomorphology in northern China. He has published more than 400 academic papers and 11 monographs (or atlases).
Discussant: Qi Xin
Senior editor at People’s Daily; member of the mentor database for the International Journalism Communication Master’s Program under the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee and the Ministry of Education.
Since 1985, she has been engaged in reporting and observation in cultural relic protection, cultural and natural heritage, and related fields.
She is currently editor-in-chief of the “World Heritage” weekly section of People’s Daily Overseas Edition. Her coverage includes World Heritage systems (cultural heritage and derivative categories, natural heritage), biodiversity, geodiversity, national parks, historic cities, archaeology, and public participation. Her main research focus is “heritage communication” and public policy mechanisms.
She serves as a member and deputy secretary-general of the Grand Canal Special Committee of the China Cultural Relics Society, member of the Grand Canal Special Committee of the Chinese Archaeological Society, deputy director of the Grand Canal Committee of the China Association for Geographic Information Science, and director of the Grand Canal themed post office of China Post.
She has long taught courses at institutions such as the School of Journalism and Communication at Xiamen University, including News Planning and Communication and Heritage Communication.
As an observer, recorder, and practitioner, Qi Xin has long worked at the forefront of cultural and natural heritage. She has continuously focused on linear heritage and heritage routes, expanding into emerging fields such as “oceans,” “urban agglomerations,” “ecological landscapes,” and “heritage finance.” Through synthesis and research, she promotes heritage communication methods based on World Heritage value interpretation needs, adaptable for both local and international contexts, and interdisciplinary integration. She also develops communication products represented by the “Heritage Trails.”
Currently, through the World Heritage weekly section of People’s Daily Overseas Edition and the “404 Heritage Communication Youth Workshop,” she is exploring dynamic and replicable heritage communication solutions within the frameworks of cultural and natural heritage, ecological civilization construction, the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, and intercultural exchange.
Discussant: Jiang Dahai
Professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Earth and Space Sciences, Peking University; member of the National Paleontological Fossil Expert Committee; corresponding member of the Triassic Stratigraphy Subcommittee of the International Commission on Stratigraphy; member of the National Stratigraphy Committee Triassic Working Group; Executive Director of the Chinese Society of Vertebrate Paleontology; Deputy Director of the UNESCO Asia-Pacific World Heritage Training and Research Centre (Beijing).
He is currently Director of the Institute of Prehistoric Life and Environment at Peking University’s School of Earth and Space Sciences and Executive Deputy Director of the Peking University Geological Museum.
Discussant: Song Feng
Associate Professor at the College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University; Deputy Director of WHITRAP Beijing; Deputy Director of the Peking University World Heritage Research Center.
He has long been engaged in research on World Natural Heritage, mixed heritage, and scenic area conservation and planning. He has extensive practical experience and deep understanding of China’s natural heritage resource base, conservation and management status, and heritage nomination potential. He has participated in multiple World Heritage Committee sessions and undertaken dozens of national key R&D projects related to World Heritage and scenic areas.
Discussant: Zhang Jianwei
Researcher and doctoral supervisor; Vice Dean of the School of Archaeology and Museology, Peking University; Director of the Department of Cultural Heritage Studies; Deputy Director of the Virtual Simulation Experimental Teaching Center for Archaeology at Peking University; Executive Deputy Director of the UNESCO Asia-Pacific World Heritage Training and Research Centre (Beijing).
Vice Chair of the Preventive Conservation Committee of the Architectural Heritage branch of the China Association for Cultural Relics Protection Technology; expert reviewer for the National Cultural Heritage Administration; Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Natural and Cultural Heritage Studies journal; former Vice Director (on secondment) of the Shanxi Institute of Ancient Architecture and Painted Sculpture Conservation Research.
Selected for the National Major Talent Youth Program (2022).
Representative works include Architectural Heritage of Famous Mountains (China Architecture & Building Press / China City Press) and Research on Ancient Chinese Metal Architecture (Southeast University Press), which received nominations for the 4th China Publishing Government Award and the 8th Higher Education Outstanding Research Achievement Award (Youth Category).
He has led a national first-class virtual simulation course, received multiple teaching awards including the National Higher Education Teaching Equipment Innovation Competition Second Prize, National Teaching Achievement Second Prize, and Beijing Teaching Achievement First Prize. He has also received multiple teaching awards from Peking University.
He currently leads National Social Science Fund projects, including a “rare and difficult discipline” special project and a major sub-project.
Speaker: Di Yajing
PhD in Engineering, Research Librarian, Director of the World Heritage Monitoring Department at the Palace Museum, and Deputy Director of the Architectural Culture Research Institute of the Palace Museum. She is also a council member of the Forbidden City Society.
Her main research focus is World Cultural Heritage monitoring and documentation. She has led more than ten mapping and monitoring projects for the Palace Museum World Heritage site and published over twenty academic papers. She is one of the principal authors of the Annual Report on Monitoring of the Palace Museum World Cultural Heritage series.
Presentation Title:
Value and Risk Management of the Palace Museum World Cultural Heritage
Speaker: Zhu Haijun
Director of the UNESCO Asia-Pacific World Heritage Training and Research Centre (Suzhou) and Director of the Suzhou Classical Gardens World Cultural Heritage Protection and Supervision Center.
He has long worked in World Heritage conservation management and heritage education. He has contributed to books such as Ten Talks on the Charm of Suzhou Gardens, edited Lime and Cultural Heritage Conservation, and compiled Research on Suzhou Garden Culture.
Presentation Title:
Protection, Management, and Utilization of the Heritage Value of Suzhou Classical Gardens
Speaker: Fang Yuan
Director of the Huangshan World Heritage Management Office (Huangshan World Cultural and Natural Heritage Monitoring Center). She has long
been engaged in Huangshan World Heritage conservation and management.
She has led projects such as the Huangshan World Heritage Conservation and Management Plan and the Huangshan World Heritage Monitoring Information System. She participated in compiling Huangshan Cultural Heritage – Pavilions, Towers, Bridges Volume and the Huangshan Geoscience Popular Science Book, the latter of which won the 2022 Excellent Popular Science Work Award from the Ministry of Natural Resources.
She independently completed the Chinese reporting for UNESCO’s Third Cycle Periodic Reporting of World Heritage. The long-term monitoring mechanism she established for Huangshan World Heritage was positively recognized in IUCN’s World Heritage Outlook 3.
She has also organized multi-dimensional outreach programs based on Huangshan’s World Heritage values, interpreting and promoting its conservation experience through the logic of the World Heritage system.
Presentation Title:
Cognition, Protection, and Inheritance — The Flourishing Path of the “Chinese Painting Scroll”
Speaker: Ma Dongfeng
Former Deputy Director of the Cultural Relics Management Bureau of the Liangzhu Site Management Committee; former Director of the Liangzhu Museum (Liangzhu Research Institute) and Cultural Industry Bureau Director; currently Executive Director of the Liangzhu Museum (Liangzhu Research Institute).
He has long worked on Liangzhu archaeological site protection, management, research, and utilization, with experience in museum exhibition work.
Presentation Title:
Careful Protection of the Sacred Site of Chinese Civilization and Building a Model for World Heritage Conservation
Speaker: Shang Kong
Since August 2021, Party Secretary and Director of the Fanjing Mountain Management Bureau.
During his tenure, he has worked with colleagues to continuously advance conservation and utilization practices for the Fanjing Mountain World Natural Heritage site, strictly adhering to ecological and development “two bottom lines.” Significant achievements have been made in heritage conservation, national park creation, protection of the Guizhou golden monkey, and the “Fanjing Mountain Red · Ecological Pioneer” Party-building alliance brand.
Presentation Title:
Protecting the Beauty of Fanjing Mountain and Promoting Green Development
Speaker: Wang Jiao
First-grade principal staff member of the Sichuan Provincial Forestry and Grassland Administration. She has worked in World Heritage conservation management for 11 years, accumulating extensive experience.
She has participated in revising the Sichuan World Heritage Conservation Regulations, drafting technical standards for environmental impact assessment of construction projects on World Heritage sites, and developing management evaluation methods and planning frameworks. She has also organized Sichuan’s Third Cycle Periodic Reporting and map verification for World Heritage sites.
Presentation Title:
World Heritage Protection and Management in Sichuan Province
Speaker: Song Hongbing
Director of the Heritage Conservation Department of the Mount Tai Scenic Area Management Committee; senior researcher in cultural heritage.
He has led or participated in more than 20 Mount Tai cultural relic conservation and restoration projects, published over 30 papers and essays in academic journals and newspapers, and served as chief editor of books including History of Dajinkou, Stories of Mount Tai, and Conservation Studies of Mount Tai Ancient Architecture. He also contributed to the compilation of Annals of Mount Tai.
Presentation Title:
Strict Protection, Innovative Development — Building the Mount Tai Model for World Heritage Conservation and Transmission
Speaker: Chen Zhenghua
Deputy Director of the Jingmai Mountain Ancient Tea Forest Protection and Management Bureau in Pu’er City, Yunnan Province.
He has long participated in the nomination and conservation management of the Jingmai World Heritage site.
Presentation Title:
Legal Governance System Construction Supporting the Protection, Nomination, and Management of the Jingmai Mountain Ancient Tea Forest Cultural Landscape
Speaker: Zhao Xiaomei
Party Secretary and Director of the Stone Forest Scenic Area Management Bureau in Kunming, Yunnan Province.
She has consistently balanced heritage protection and local development, firmly upholding conservation boundaries while promoting ecological civilization, sustainable tourism, and comprehensive heritage value utilization.
She emphasizes that protecting, utilizing, and transmitting World Heritage is the shared responsibility of all heritage practitioners and expresses commitment to contributing to global heritage conservation.
Presentation Title:
Practicing Scientific Conservation and Sharing Sustainable Development Outcomes
Edited by: Lü Jiaxin, Park Lina
Reviewed by: Li Guanghan, Wang Siyu
Final Review: Shen Ruiwen, Zhang Jianwei
