Lijiang ancient town to construct monitoring systems

According to the World Heritage Monitoring Center of China, Lijiang’s heritage monitoring system construction is part of the national pilot project. The construction is efficient and professional. Other places should consider imitating the process.

Lijiang ancient town was added to the list of World Heritage Monitoring Pilots by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage in May 2012. The construction of monitoring systems in Dayan, Baisha and Shuhe ancient towns will finish in five years. By then, the construction of monitoring systems has entered the process of system research and equipment test.

“The monitoring system contains a basic information system, geographic information system, heritage information system, tourist traffic volume monitoring system, water quality monitoring system, noise monitoring system and people positioning system. The construction of the system will cover software development, network technology research and hardware applications development. The system is an integrated platform with advanced technology in research and application,” said Ding Wenjie, director of the World Heritage Monitoring Center of Lijiang. The construction of this monitoring system will enable the comprehensive monitoring of Lijiang’s environment, tourist flow volume and water quality.

To prevent the negative influence of human activities, the Lijiang ancient town protection administration carried out regular monitoring in 10 major junctions of Dayan ancient town. Six scientific tourism routes, two visitor centers and several information desks have been set up based on the results from monitoring. Also, new scenic spots including traditional culture streets and vernacular dwelling museums will be available to tourists.

Statistics show that there are 92 monitoring points in Lijiang ancient town. Meanwhile, the data acquisition and storage of 30 gardens, four old bridges, a public architecture, a public space, a street, a river channel and two trees have been completed.

By Ge Jieru and edited by Michael Thai