Gu Jun, director of the history department at Beijing Union University, points said it's important to inform villagers about the historic cultural value of their ancient dwellings and encourage them to stay and pass down the precious cultures.

Wang Li, director of Jincheng's culture and tourism bureau, said researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have been invited to help the city collect and edit documents required for world heritage status, which will result in more systematic studies of the sites.

"We hope to attract extensive attention from society, gain support from talent in universities to promote Taihang ancient castle and boost local economic development," she said.