Sichuan advances joint protection legislation for the Sanxingdui and Jinsha sites

Recently, the Standing Committee of the Sichuan Provincial People’s Congress reviewed the “Regulations of Sichuan Province on the Protection of the Sanxingdui–Jinsha Sites (Draft),” and plans to establish unified standards for the two ancient Shu sites in terms of protection targets, division of responsibilities, management measures, research and interpretation, revitalization and utilization, and coconstruction and shared benefits. Reports show that the Sanxingdui and Jinsha sites both belong to important cultural remains of the Bronze Age on the Chengdu Plain. Sichuan has previously issued relevant protection regulations and measures for each site separately, but there is still a lack of a unified legal mechanism in areas such as archaeological coordination, joint protection, and brand coconstruction. Therefore, promoting joint legislation is seen as an important step toward strengthening overall and systematic protection. A relevant official from the Standing Committee of the Sichuan Provincial People’s Congress said they hope that, through this legislation and the promotion of a joint World Heritage application, they can further improve the level of protection and inheritance of ancient Shu civilization, and promote a better transformation of cultural resources into a supporting force for highquality local development.