On the Studies of Cultural Heritage

Cultural heritage refers to what the forebears created and is preserved up to date, and it is the essence of cultural resources and cultural competitiveness claimed by a district, a nation or a country. Prompted by the movement of world heritage and in the setting of globalization, cultural heritage as an enterprise develops so rapidly that it is of special interest in social practice and academic researches. Studies of cultural heritage involve that of tangible cultural heritage, intangible cultural heritage, cultural landscapes, cultural routes or cultural itinerary, industrial heritage, textual heritage, conservancy of cultural heritage, etc. As a discipline, they are characteristic of comprehensiveness and practicality. As scientific endeavor, they are the outcome of long-lasting practices and researches by the scholars all over the world. They embody human concern of its past, present and future, and human pursuit for harmonious human-nature relation and sustainable social and economic development since the mid-20th century. They become new approaches to the evaluation of history and social development, and achievements in cultural and historical studies.