Major cultural heritage sites under national-level protection
A major cultural heritage site under national-level protection (全国重点文物保护单位) is the highest protection level approved by China for immovable cultural relics.
| Major cultural heritage sites under national-level protection | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Temple of Heaven, one from the first batch of Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level | |||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 全国重点文物保护单位 | ||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 全國重點文物保護單位 | ||||||
| Literal meaning | National Key Cultural Relic Protected Unit | ||||||
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According to the 2002 Cultural Relics Protection Law of the People's Republic of China, the National Cultural Heritage Administration of the State Council selects those with significant historical, artistic, and scientific value as national key cultural relics protection units. National key cultural relics protection units shall not be demolished; if they need to be relocated, they must be reported to the State Council for approval by applications from the people's government of the provincial administrative region.
Statistics
In 1999 it was reported that there were some 350,000 immovable cultural properties in China, of which 70,000 were protected at one of the three main levels, in addition to some 10,000,000 movable cultural properties held by state institutions alone. Of these, as of October 2019, 5,058 Sites Protected at the National Level have been designated by the State Administration. They were announced in 8 batches and several supplemental batches:
| Batch No. | Date | Added | Merged | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 March 1961 | 180 | ||
| 1a | 26 October 1964 | −1 | ||
| 1b | 16 October 1981 | 1 | ||
| 2 | 23 February 1982 | 62 | ||
| 3 | 13 January 1988 | 258 | ||
| 4 | 20 November 1996 | 250 | 12 | |
| 5 | 25 June 2001 | 518 (-1) | 23 | |
| 5a | 22 November 2002 | 1 | ||
| 5b | 2 March 2003 | 1 | ||
| 5c | 3 April 2003 | 1 | ||
| 6 | 25 May 2006 | 1,080 | 106 | |
| 6a | 20 August 2009 | 1 | ||
| 7 | 5 March 2013 | 1,943 (+1) | 47 | |
| 7a | 25 April 2014 | 1 | ||
| 8 | 7 October 2019 | 762 | 50 | |
| Total | 5,058 |
Sites protected at various levels
Sites (to Be) Protected for Their Historical and Cultural Value or Historical and Cultural Sites Protected (文物保护单位) at various levels include:
- Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level (全国重点文物保护单位)
- Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the Provincial Level (省级文物保护单位)
- Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the Level of a City Divided into Districts or at the Level of an Autonomous Prefecture (设区的市、自治州级文物保护单位)
- Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the County Level (县级文物保护单位)