Hydrographic relics in China, Egypt seek to inscribe joint world heritage

CHONGQING -- Baiheliang Ancient Hydrological Inscription in Southwest China's Chongqing municipality looks to step up the joint inscription of new world heritage with Nilometers in Egypt, officials of Fuling district, Chongqing municipality, said at the opening ceremony of the 2023 Baiheliang Tourism and Culture Festival on Friday.

Baiheliang, literally the "White Crane Ridge," is a 1,600-meter-long and 15-meter-wide stone ridge engraved with inscriptions about the Yangtze River dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). It recorded the 72 low-flow years of the longest river in China from 763 to 1963 and is claimed to be the world's oldest hydrographic survey device.

Likewise, for thousands of years, Nilometers measured the water level of the Nile River during the annual flood season, and were used to predict the fortunes of the annual harvest and the prices of foodstuffs.

"Both Baiheliang and Nilometers are hydrographic relics and related to the two of the greatest rivers in the world," said Yang Bangde, the curator of Chongqing Baiheliang Underwater Museum. "They reflect how different agricultural civilizations of Asia and Africa relate to their respective river resources."

At the opening ceremony, a memorandum was signed to prepare the establishment of the water and heritage committee under the Chinese National Committee for the International Council on Monuments and Sites. Also, Fuling District and Peking University jointly signed a memorandum for cooperation on the protection and utilization of the Baiheliang Ancient Hydrological Inscription as part of efforts to push forward the application of world heritage.

The Baiheliang Ancient Hydrological Inscription and Nilometers were inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List in 2008 and 2003, respectively.