During the 33rd Session of the World Heritage Committee at the end of June, Wutai Mountain in north China's Shanxi Province was inscribed on the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage List as a cultural landscape, becoming the country's 38th world heritage site.

Wutai Mountain, literally the Five-Terrace Mountain, has been revered by the country's Buddhists as a sacred mountain for centuries. The buildings on the site feature 53 surviving monasteries constructed as early as the 4th century, colored clay sculptures from seven dynasties and murals from five dynasties.

In recent years, local authorities throughout China have shown mounting interest in putting their sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List. However, with a surge of applicants worldwide, the World Heritage Committee has adopted stricter standards on the proposed landscapes with a corresponding higher failure rate.

In the eyes of many Buddhists in China, Wutai Mountain is remarkable for its morphology, which is characterized by precipitous sides with five open treeless peaks, and its long Buddhist traditions. They worship the mountain itself as much as the Buddha in temples, which mirrors and extends the "human-heaven unity," a philosophical belief shaping the Chinese culture. Some experts believe that Wutai Mountain's history as a Buddhist holy mountain for more than 1,600 years helped it win a spot on the World Heritage List.

It has taken 10 years for Wutai Mountain to make the World Heritage List. Early in its preparation stage, the site's most imminent task was to tear down the unplanned modern buildings on it, the result of overdeveloped tourism. The local government spent a large amount of money on a campaign of eliminating modern architecture on Wutai Mountain to restore the serenity that a sacred Buddhist site deserves.

As a country with a long history, China boasts myriad ancient sites. However, some spots have been excessively commercialized and developed for moneymaking purposes at the cost of the sites' original looks and cultural value. Thus Wutai Mountain's strenuous journey of entering the World Heritage List can teach the Chinese Government and cultural heritage preservation authorities an important lesson—natural and cultural landscapes should be protected and their development should be supervised. Only by doing so can the outstanding value in these landscapes be admired for generations to come.