Protection and management of world cultural heritage in Longmen grottoes

Abstract

This paper analyzes the protection and management of the world cultural heritage in Longmen Grottoes and the existing problems, and studies the contradictions between the protection and the development and utilization of the heritage. The paper also discusses the countermeasures to further protect and manage the cultural heritage of Longmen Grottoes.

Key words: Longmen Grottoes, protection management, problem, countermeasures.

1. Introduction

Longmen Grottoes are located in the historical and cultural city of Luoyang, Henan Province. Its grottoes are honeycombed among the mountain cliffs. The ancient stone carving art group and the beautiful natural scenery complement each other. For more than 1 500 years, it has inspired the admiration and worship of emperors, generals, and common people with its magnificent royal statues and dignified ideological connotation. With the development of western field investigation in the early 20th century, the historical and cultural value of Longmen Grottoes was gradually recognized by modern civilized society. In 2000, the Longmen Grottoes were inscribed on the World Heritage List by UNESCO. In 2007, Longmen Grottoes was rated as one of the first national 5A scenic spots by National Tourism Administration, becoming a tourist hotspot and boutique. However, the circulation of time and social changes have also left indelible traces in the caves. On the one hand, the grottoes themselves are seriously damaged by natural factors, such as the collapse of the grottoes and the rock mass where they are located and the grottoes walls and the statue by rain erosion, mountain and sculpture of the weathering, and so on, it is urgent for experts in related disciplines to carry out classification and scientific protection. On the other hand, with the development of market economy and the establishment of new system, China's original heritage management system has been impacted, and the contradiction between heritage protection and development has become increasingly acute. Therefore, it has become urgent to clarify the problems facing the protection and management of Longmen Grottoes heritage and find out the effective ways to protect and manage the cultural heritage of Longmen Grottoes that are suitable for China's national conditions. Based on the protection and management of Longmen Grottoes, this paper explores the effective ways of scientific protection and development of Longmen Grottoes(Henrard Gilles, 2021).

2. Status quo of protection and management of world cultural heritage in Longmen Grottoes

2.1 Brief introduction of Longmen Grottoes

Longmen Grottoes was built in the Northern Wei Dynasty (493 AD), located on the cliffs of the Nanyi River in the city of Luoyang. It is a typical site of a limestone field grotto temple, belonging to a large stone relic that cannot be moved in the open air. It has more than 2 300 caves, 2 800 tablets and inscriptions, nearly 110,000 statues, and more than 70 pagodas. It is one of the three major treasure houses of Buddhist art, the first batch of national key cultural relic protection units, and the national scenic spots.

2.2 Management system and source of funds

2.2.1 Management organization and composition

At present, China's management of world heritage has two characteristics. First, it mainly adopts the territorial management system, which devolves the management power to local areas. Second, because different government departments are endowed with different functions, there are many subjects in the management of heritage, and the interest relationship in the protection and utilization is extremely complicated. Competition and interest conflict among various departments exist for a long time. Longmen Grottoes is no exception on this issue. In order to change the situation of multi-head management of Longmen Grottoes, and further improve the scientific protection and management level of Longmen Grottoes, in March 2002, Luoyang municipal government decided to establish Longmen Grottoes Research Institute on the basis of. The Administration of Longmen Grottoes Cultural Relics Protection Area and Scenic Spot (Longmen Grottoes Research Institute) has been established to realize the unified protection and management of cultural relics in Longmen Grottoes. Longmen Grottoes Administration is a county-level institution, directly under the leadership of Luoyang Municipal People's Government, and has six secondary institutions under its jurisdiction, including Grottoes Protection Center, Longmen Scenic Area Administration Office, White Garden Administration Office and Xiangshan Temple Administration Office. It has more than 70 staff members, including 7 research staff from the Grottoes Protection Center, all of whom graduated from national formal colleges and universities. Two postgraduate students are studying in the fields of environment, chemistry, cultural relic protection and geology(Vikesh Agrawal, 2020).

2.2.2 Fund sources and allocation and use

The main source of funds for the scenic spot is ticket revenue, and there is basically no superior financial allocation. In 1999, when applying for the World Heritage Project, the Luoyang Municipal Government invested nearly 200 million yuan to carry out large-scale renovation of the surrounding environment. UNESCO has also donated US $1.25 million for further treatment of diseases such as rock weathering, collapse and the varying degrees of covering of the carvings by limestone slurry. At present, annual entrance fees for the Longmen Grottoes are around 60 million yuan. In 2005, for example, the ticket income was about 60 million RMB, the staff salary and other expenses of Longmen Grottoes Administration (Research Institute) in 2005 were about 2 million RMB, the protection and maintenance expenses were 5 million RMB, the water and electricity expenses were about 1.5 million RMB, and the office expenses were 6 million RMB Yuan, other and other miscellaneous 8.05 million yuan, a total of 32.55 million yuan(Agrawal Vikesh, 2020).

2.3 Heritage protection

2.3.1 Formulation of protection regulations

Since the third meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eleventh People's Congress of Luoyang passed the Regulations on the Protection and Management of Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang on April 14, 1999, the Planning for the Protection of Luoyang Historical and Cultural City and the Planning for the Protection of Longmen Grottoes have been formulated and promulgated successively. It supports and guarantees the protection and management, tourism development, protection research and international exchange of Longmen Grottoes and its area from the perspective of laws and policies.

2.3.2 Protection and maintenance work

In the early days of reform and opening up, with the development of tourism, the number of visitors to Longmen Grottoes increased year by year. Moreover, due to unreasonable planning, small factories such as cement factories and lime kilns were built around the Longmen Grottoes. The traffic, the strong vibration, the churning dust and the large amount of exhaust gas are seriously eroding and damaging the Buddha statues in the scenic area. In addition, the water pollution of the Yi River not only affects the image of the scenic area, but also endangers the sculptures in the Longmen Grottoes. In 2000, in order to apply for the World Heritage, Luoyang Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government concentrated their efforts to thoroughly control the uncoordinated buildings in the grottoes environment. Even the China Dragon Palace, a man-made landscape with an investment of more than 10 million yuan, was blown up. After being declared as a world cultural heritage site, the surrounding environment of Longmen Grottoes has really changed a lot. At the same time, international cooperation for the protection and repair of cultural relics has been carried out one after another. On August 8, 2004, the International Academic Symposium on Longmen Grottoes was held. More than 160 experts from home and abroad attended the conference and actively discussed the protection of grottoes. In recent years, the Ministry of Commerce, the Chinese Institute of Cultural Relics and the Italian Ministry of Commerce have launched a training and internship program on cultural relic protection and restoration. Relevant national departments have invested 9 million RMB as supporting funds for this project. The Italian side invested 1.44 million euros in equipment purchase, training, scholarships and other aspects to support and guarantee the implementation of the project. These measures have brought a new look to the traditional landscape of the Longmen Mountain, and the Longmen Grottoes and the White Garden on the Fragrant Hill (Bai Juyi Tomb) have returned to their former tranquillity with a new glow. In terms of heritage security management, the main caves have been monitored 24 hours a day(Kingsdorf Sheri, 2021).

2.4 Tourism development and utilization

2.4.1 Number of tourists and income

As a world cultural heritage, Longmen Grottoes attract a large number of tourists to visit every year. With the rapid development of tourism, the number of tourists received by Longmen Grottoes also increases year by year and shows a rapid growth trend. Ticket revenue is the main income of the Longmen Grottoes. Before the 1990s, the ticket price of Longmen Grottoes was very low, and the management and protection funds were seriously insufficient. Since the 1990s, the ticket price has been adjusted for many times. At present, it is planned to be raised from 80 yuan per ticket to 120 ~ 160 yuan. Ticket revenue is increasing year by year, and the stable source of income provides sufficient funds for the protection and management of the grottoes(M. Jamil, 2020).

2.4.2 Construction of tourist facilities

The construction of tourism facilities in Longmen Grottoes mainly includes the following aspects: the extension, transformation and greening of the Longmen Avenue leading to the scenic area have been completed, and the 10.6 km long Longmen Avenue has been built into a high-standard tourist passage; The construction of Longmen Xishan forest park of ten thousand mu; With an investment of tens of millions of yuan, the scenic spot has established a technical protection and electronic access control system, a scenic spot website and a scenic spot management information system. Open up a tourist lounge, and carry out the construction of supporting tour facilities; Tourist guide facilities have been updated in a timely manner, public information graphic symbols have been improved, special passageways have been opened for the elderly, the sick and the disabled, and supporting service facilities such as wheelchairs, crutches, strollers and umbrellas have been provided free of charge. Approved by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage in April 2007, the night lighting project of Longmen Grottoes was completed with 4.8 million yuan and nearly 3 000 lamps(Roshanali Rozina, 2020).

2.4.3 Impact on local economy

As a key tourist destination in Henan Province and even in China, Longmen Grottoes enjoy a high popularity in the whole country and the world. In recent years, with the further increase of international visibility and influence of Longmen Grottoes, more and more experts, scholars and tourists from home and abroad have been attracted to Longmen Grottoes for research and sightseeing. The number of visitors to the Longmen Grottoes has risen steadily and the tourism ticket revenue has increased greatly at the same time. It also plays a good role in the employment and income of the local people in the surrounding areas, and promotes the development of the tourism, accommodation, catering and transportation industries and the employment of personnel in Luoyang, and has produced good economic benefits.

Problems existing in the protection and management of Longmen Grottoes World Cultural Heritage

3.1 Improper development

In March 2002, the Longmen Grottoes Scenic Area Administration raised nearly 100 million yuan to build two road Bridges in the north and south of the Longmen Grottoes, widen the river in the south of the scenic area, and restore the ancient building facilities of Xiangshan Temple. In April 2003, the scenic area implemented closed management, with grottoes, temples, cemeteries as one of the formation of the tourist landscape. The addition of the two Bridges has destroyed the unique natural landscape of Longmen, which is "opposite to the two mountains, looking at them as if they were que". In order to close the management and built in the East Hill to prevent tourists from climbing the wall, its construction materials appear gray, like a strange long dragon plate climbing on the beautiful and green Fragrant Hill, so that the Fragrant Hill elegant gas greatly reduced. The dislocated development has a very adverse effect on the original environment of Longmen Grottoes(Yin Andrew Lukas, 2020).

3.2 Emphasis on development and neglect protection

In order to develop the tourism resources of Longmen Grottoes and increase the financial revenue, the local departments concerned have taken a series of tourism development measures, which poses a great threat to the security of the grottoes. In 1992, a rubber dam was designed and built 100 m downstream of the grotto center to store water, restoring the beautiful scenery of the grotto area. In October 2001, 21 million yuan was invested to construct the Longmen II water surface project, which is located 600 m downstream of the first level rubber dam. After the project is fully completed, 466 667 square meters of wide water surface will appear in the east side of the Longmen Scenic Area, reappearing the beautiful scenery of "Longmen on Water". From a scientific point of view, the dry environment is essential for the protection of the grottoes. Longmen Grottoes is located in the east and west of two mountains, sandwiched between the Yi River. Originally, Yi River was a seasonal river with a half-year cut-off period, which made the environment around the grottoes very dry and conducive to the protection of the grottoes. However, after the construction of the dam, the high temperature of the river in summer formed a local humid air pollution source, which has caused serious corrosion of the stone.

3.3 Lack of professional personnel and inadequate protection work

At present, the Longmen Grottoes Protection Center has 7 professionals engaged in grotto protection. Less than a tenth of the total staff of the administration, compared with the huge project to protect the grottoes, is very weak. In 1999, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage allocated a special fund of 300,000 yuan for the protection and restoration of the Longmen Grottoes, but it was impossible to implement the fund due to the lack of professional and technical personnel. The fund is still unusable at the Henan Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics. It can be seen that the lack of talents is another important factor restricting the protection of Longmen Grottoes(Minna Savinainen, 2020).

3.4 Unfavorable protection measures

Because the grottoes are in an open environment, the grottoes cannot be as tightly closed as the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang. So visitors scratching, touching the phenomenon is common. Although the management department has strengthened the prevention work and taken many measures, so that this kind of phenomenon has been significantly reduced, but it has not been fundamentally put an end to. This is very disadvantageous to the protection of cultural relics.

3.5 Insufficient means of heritage display and development efforts

Longmen Grottoes contain a large number of allusions, but now we can only learn through countless stone statues, this way is difficult to arouse people's interest, which requires us to strengthen the way and intensity of display, make full use of modern technology to display, only in this way can we be in line with The Times. As a world cultural heritage, Longmen Grottoes is not only a cultural treasure house, but also has the potential value of tourism resources development and a huge publicity function as an open window of Luoyang. How to combine its social and economic benefits and maximize its intrinsic value will be the focus of management while preserving its natural features completely.

4.1 Straighten out management system and innovate management mechanism

At present, Longmen Grottoes adopt a territorial management system, and the management right and management right are integrated. In addition, the government only gives policies, but does not give funds to the practice, the bureau is easy to produce the wrong development ideas of "relying on mountains, relying on water to draw water", emphasizing development and ignoring protection. Therefore, it is necessary to straightened out the management system between the local government and the management bureau, and between the central government and the local government, so that the local government and the management bureau can consciously restrain their own behavior and take responsible behavior towards the country and the heritage. It includes the following three aspects:

4.1.1 Strictly control and approve the development planning of scenic spots

The rights and obligations must be clearly defined between the government and the authority. The government does not interfere in the daily business activities of the Administration, but all resource development activities of the Administration must be examined and approved by the government. The government should organize a demonstration group composed of the department itself, the higher competent departments, experts in tourism planning, experts in grotto protection and representatives of the Administration. Re-examine whether the development plan submitted by the Authority conforms to the development plan of the area, whether it will cause the destruction of heritage resources, whether it will cause environmental damage, etc. Only approved development plans can be implemented. If the Authority conducts development without approval, it will be punished according to the seriousness of the circumstances and the degree of disruption to the resource. At the same time, we should further promote the publicity and education of visitors to the protection of heritage, and encourage the media and the public to carry out supervision.

4.1.2 Ensure the capital input for the protection and management of grottoes

In 1965, the United States Congress passed the Franchise Act, which required the comprehensive implementation of the franchise system in the national park system. The catering, accommodation and other tourism service facilities of the park should be publicly tendering to the society, which has nothing to do with the national park economically. National Park Management Agency is a purely federal government non-profit organization, focusing on the protection and management of natural and cultural heritage, the daily expenses are funded by the federal government. The implementation of franchise system has formed the separation of the roles of managers and operators, and avoided the disadvantages of attaching importance to economic benefits and neglecting the protection of resources. Because our country national scenic area, state funding is limited, in this case, using the experience of cultural heritage protection in the United States, on the one hand, want to find a way to guarantee the necessary funds grottoes heritage, on the other hand to ensure that all income as a scenic tourist facilities and travel tickets administration implementation scenic area management and grottoes maintenance source of funds. It should be pointed out here that although the state and government cannot bear the full burden of the protection and management of cultural heritage as in the United States, the local government and relevant departments should not regard the entrance fee of Longmen Grottoes as the main source of income of the primary finance, or even become the cash cow or source of income of the government.

4.1.3 Improve and innovate the management mechanism

From the perspective of national level management, the United States can learn from the practice. The National Park Management System is administered exclusively by the National Park Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior. The National Park Service, on the other hand, is under the direct control of the U.S. Department of the Interior, free of state executive power. It is a state-owned, state-managed, single-managed, purposeful vertical management system. Therefore, drawing on international experience and taking into account the specific situation of China, a national management organization can be established based on the classification of heritages and according to the type and level of heritages. For example, the National Heritage Administration can be established, which is directly under the State Council and is responsible for the management of heritages that have been listed on the World Heritage List. The State Administration Bureau can establish a set of effective performance evaluation system to conduct comprehensive and systematic assessment and scientific evaluation on the status of heritage protection management and operation, so as to achieve the supervision and regulation of the government of heritage sites.

4.2 Change ideas

Government departments and managers should change their ideas and reposition themselves. The manager's own positioning is an important factor that ultimately affects the management effect. National park managers in the United States see themselves in the role of stewards or waiters, not owners. They believe that the inheritors of the national heritage are all the American citizens of the present and future generations, and the managers only have the obligation to take care of and maintain the heritage, but have no right to dispose it at will, let alone as an important source of their own financial income. This idea should be advocated in the heritage protection of our country. To make the administrative departments and personnel truly realize that Longmen Grottoes are the common wealth of all Chinese people and people of the world, and no collective or individual has the right to steal or control them privately. All management actions should be viewed from the height of being responsible to the people of the whole country and the people of the world.

5. Conclusion

Grottoes culture is the artistic treasure of Chinese culture, and Longmen Grottoes is one of the best. Luoyang has profound historical and cultural heritage and numerous cultural relics. It is our bounden duty to strengthen the protection, utilization and inheritance of cultural relics. Longmen Grottoes culture is a typical representative of the display and inheritance of Chinese traditional culture. The cultural heritage should be sorted out, well protected and well disseminate, so that the broad masses of the people can know the charm of Longmen Grottoes and enhance the cultural confidence of the whole nation.

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