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The ¡°Yihe Spring Gathering¡± ¨C 2025 International Day of Monuments and Sites Symposium, co-organized by UNESCO Regional Office for East Asia, Beijing Forestry University-International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (BFU-ICCROM) Joint Lab of Heritage and Landscape Conservation, and the Summer Palace Management Office, was successfully held at Yangyun Xuan (the Hall of Nurturing Clouds), the Summer Palace. Officials and site managers from Beijing Municipal Park Management Center, the Summer Palace, Yuanmingyuan Park (the Old Summer Palace), Zhongshan Park, the Temple of Heaven Park, and Jingshan Park participated in the symposium.

This symposium is a starting point to exchange experiences and discuss common challenges among municipal park managers. Ms. Song Lipei, Director of the Science and Technology Department at Beijing Municipal Park Management Center, and Professor Cao Xin, Director of the BFU-ICCROM Joint Lab, emphasized the complicated conservation issues faced by park and landscape heritage sites that are similar to the Summer Palace. These sites often have diverse types of cultural relics and natural features such as mountains and water systems, rich biodiversity with various plants and animal species, and a wealth of intangible cultural heritage that contribute to building and maintaining the sites. Such situation calls for a holistic, integrated approach in heritage conservation and management. Mr. Song Kai, Deputy Director of the Cultural Relics Protection Department at Beijing Municipal Park Management Center, stated that many municipal parks in Beijing have dual identities: they are both World Heritage Sites and popular tourist destinations. It is therefore imperative to find a way to balance the visitor management and the heritage conservation: protecting relics and landscapes in the park, allowing the construction of accessibility and other necessary facilities, and ensuring the accessibility and safety of visitors.

In the roundtable discussion, managers and experts from the Summer Palace, Yuanmingyuan (the Old Summer Palace), the Temple of Heaven, Jingshan Park, and Zhongshan Park reflected on the theme of this year¡¯s celebration: Heritage under Threat from Disasters and Conflicts and dived deeper on the challenges and solutions for disaster and risk management at their sites. These include, for example, the preparedness of facilities and personnels ahead of Beijing¡¯s recent strong wind, preventive measures to cope with extreme weathers, as well as heritage monitoring and digital management solutions.

Ms. Duong Bich Hanh, UNESCO Regional Office for East Asia Programme Specialist for Culture highlighted that park and garden sites in Beijing, and heritage sites in China in general, have much experience to share in the aspects of disaster prevention, risk reduction, value interpretation, public education and community engagement. Moving forward, UNESCO Regional Office for East Asia, together with the BFU-ICCROM Joint Lab, Beijing Municipal Park Management Center, and municipal parks will work together to establish exchange platforms for the conservation and management of landscape heritage, gardens and parks, with the expectation to organize larger scale regional and international symposiums on heritage conservation, disaster and risk management, as well as the synergy of tangible and intangible heritage.