Ancient Chinese documents win UNESCO documentary recognition

China's official archives relating to Tibet in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) and documents showing the ancient financial and messaging service operated between overseas Chinese and relatives back home have won a major UNESCO recognition.

A meeting of the International Advisory Committee of the "Memory of the World Register" has decided to include these two sets of documents on the register, a statement from the State Archives Administration said on Friday.

The meeting was held from June 18 to 21 in Gwangju Metropolitan City of the Republic of Korea,

The Memory of the World Register lists documentary heritage recognized as globally significant and having outstanding universal value.

The documents showing how finances and messages were exchanged between overseas Chinese and their domestic relatives were stored and recommended for the UNESCO honor by the archives bureaus of Guangdong and Fujian provinces, from which the first batch of overseas Chinese originated.

The news means China now has nine pieces of documentary heritage listed on the Memory of the World Register, including "Compendium of Materia Medica," a classic of Chinese medication, and "The Yellow Emperor's Canon of Internal Medicine," China's earliest medical classic on record.

Worldwide, 299 pieces of documentary heritage from 100 countries have been listed on the register, the statement said.