Preserving the Past: Beijing's Park Managers Strategize Against Natural Disasters

This gathering was not only a celebration of cultural heritage but also an important platform for dialogue, learning, and future collaboration.

The 2025 International Day of Monuments and Sites was marked by a landmark event titled the “Yihe Spring Gathering” – a symposium that brought together heritage professionals, park administrators, and conservation experts from across Beijing and beyond. Co-organized by the UNESCO Regional Office for East Asia, the BFU-ICCROM Joint Lab of Heritage and Landscape Conservation at Beijing Forestry University, and the Summer Palace Management Office, the event took place at the historic Yangyun Xuan (Hall of Nurturing Clouds) in the Summer Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site renowned for its imperial architecture and natural landscapes.

This gathering was not only a celebration of cultural heritage but also an important platform for dialogue, learning, and future collaboration. The theme of this year’s symposium—“Heritage under Threat from Disasters and Conflicts”—underscored the growing need to safeguard heritage landscapes amid increasing environmental and anthropogenic risks.

A Meeting of Minds in a Storied Setting

Attendees included key officials and managers from Beijing’s most significant municipal parks: the Summer Palace, Yuanmingyuan Park (the Old Summer Palace), Zhongshan Park, the Temple of Heaven Park, and Jingshan Park, as well as the Beijing Municipal Park Management Center. These parks not only serve as major recreational spaces for Beijing’s population but also house some of China’s most treasured cultural relics and biodiverse ecosystems.

The symposium opened with remarks from Ms. Song Lipei, Director of the Science and Technology Department at the Beijing Municipal Park Management Center, and Professor Cao Xin, Director of the BFU-ICCROM Joint Lab. Both highlighted the complex conservation demands faced by urban heritage parks, which often include a wide range of elements such as historic architecture, water systems, forested areas, rare flora and fauna, and intangible cultural practices.

They emphasized the need for a holistic conservation approach that balances environmental stewardship, cultural heritage protection, and urban public use.

Dual Identity of Urban Parks: Tourist Hotspots and Heritage Sites

A key message delivered during the event was the dual role of Beijing's parks. As Mr. Song Kai, Deputy Director of the Cultural Relics Protection Department at the Park Management Center, pointed out, these parks must serve as both World Heritage Sites and highly visited urban attractions. This dual identity raises unique challenges: ensuring safety and accessibility for millions of annual visitors while simultaneously preserving fragile historical structures and ecosystems.

This balancing act requires sensitive planning—installing essential infrastructure like pathways and emergency facilities without compromising heritage integrity, maintaining visitor access during weather extremes, and utilizing digital tools for heritage monitoring.

Risk Management and Disaster Preparedness: A Shared Priority

The roundtable discussions that followed were rich with shared experiences and future strategies. Managers from the Summer Palace, Yuanmingyuan, the Temple of Heaven, and other sites presented case studies on how their teams are addressing challenges posed by extreme weather and natural disasters.

Notably, Beijing’s recent windstorms served as a timely backdrop for the event. Discussions included:

• Pre-disaster readiness, including training personnel and equipping facilities.

• Infrastructure resilience for storm drainage and structural protection.

• Digital solutions for real-time monitoring and risk analysis of heritage elements.

• The importance of community education to foster collective stewardship of parks and heritage assets.

Toward a Regional Network of Heritage Knowledge and Practice

In her remarks, Ms. Duong Bich Hanh, Programme Specialist for Culture at UNESCO Regional Office for East Asia, praised Beijing’s parks for their accumulated expertise in disaster prevention and heritage interpretation. She stressed the potential of these urban landscapes as living classrooms—integrating heritage values with modern risk management, public education, and sustainability practices.

Ms. Hanh also announced plans for continued collaboration among UNESCO, BFU-ICCROM, the Beijing Municipal Park Management Center, and local site managers to develop a regional and international platform. This platform will promote exchange on:

• Integrated conservation strategies,

• Risk and disaster management in heritage sites,

• Enhancing synergies between tangible and intangible cultural heritage.

Future initiatives may include larger-scale symposiums, regional training programs, and cross-border site manager exchanges—all aimed at building resilience and shared understanding across Asia’s park heritage systems.

Looking Ahead: A Model for Heritage and Landscape Conservation

As the “Yihe Spring Gathering” concluded, it was clear that this event laid a robust foundation for future action. It exemplified how collaboration across institutions, cities, and sectors can pave the way for innovative, sustainable heritage conservation. In a time when both natural and human-made threats to heritage sites are on the rise, forums like this offer hope—and practical pathways—to protect the places that tell the stories of our past while enriching the life of present and future generations.