中英文对照 嵩山(描述).doc

Description Application of Four Sacred Mountains as an Extension of Mt. Taishan is an extension application of Cultural and Natural World Heritages of Mt. Taishan. The Five Sacred Mountains of China is a cultural integration with long history. Mt. Taishan of The Five Sacred Mountains of China has already been listed on the World Heritages in 1987. And the four nominated sites for application include: the Southern Mt. Hengshan (Hunan Province), Western Mt. Huashan (Shaanxi Province), Centural Mt. Songshan (Henan Province) and Northern Mt. Hengshan (Shanxi Province). The core scenic area of the four nominated sites is 54769 ha, and total buffering area is 44658 ha. The Five Sacred Mountains has been worship for over three thousand years from Neolithic Age due to its unique geographical locations and majesty of relative altitude over a kilometre. In 219 BC, Qin Shihuang (First Emperor of Qin Dynasty) held a ceremony of offering sacrifices on the top Mt. Taishan when special national sacrifice codes and systems originated, which was followed by later emperors to show their imperial powers validity and authority. Offering sacrifices to Five Sacred Mountains was held to make the emperors achievements informed to all the people and Five Sacred Mountains were regarded as boundaries of their reign. Therefore, as an integration which cannot be divided, Five Sacred Mountains symbolizes the unification and territory in the era of Chinese agricultural civilization. The political position of Five Sacred Mountains makes them become the common target to which different nationalities worship and sacrifice and contributes to national fusion and unification. Meanwhile, Five Sacred Mountains have also gained their fame of cultural meanings. Five kinds of cultures are the most prominent ones. Firstly, the culture of five elements. The five elements consisting of water, fire, wood, gold and earth are considered as the basic substances composing everything on the earth and are considered