Shan Jixiang, curator of the Beijing-based Palace Museum and a member of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). [File Photo]

"It is dying out at an unprecedented rate," Shan Jixiang, Curator of the Palace Museum said when asked about traditional cultural heritage.

Shan pointed out that since 1985, the first national investigation on cultural heritage, around 44,000 registered immovable cultural relics have been destroyed due to natural calamities and man-made disasters. "The number is still increasing each year."

By contrast, the number of cultural heritages registered at the national level in the past two decades has quadrupled since the 1980s, with the expansion of the definition of cultural heritages. In 2014, China was second only to Italy in the number of cultural relics on the World Cultural Heritage List, and the number of National Famous Historical and Cultural Cities is rapidly growing.

However, for a long time, the destruction of cultural heritages has been considered the inevitable result of economic development. "Such notions should be dispelled and both officials and individuals should pay more attention to this issue."