Xie Weidong, a deputy to the 14th National People's Congress from Liaoning province, has focused on Hongshan culture for the past three years.

During the annual session of the NPC, Xie, who is also the director of the standing committee of the Chaoyang municipal people's congress, proposed the acceleration of the application of the Niuheliang site for UNESCO World Heritage status.

Covering an area of 58.95 square kilometers in Chaoyang, the site is home to relics from the peak period of Hongshan culture, dating back 5,800 to 5,000 years.

Hongshan culture is a significant component of the diverse and unified pattern of Chinese civilization, tracing back to the late Neolithic period.

Its exquisite jade artifacts, large-scale stone tombs and goddess temples demonstrate the highly developed civilization of the time, pushing the origins of Chinese civilization further back in history and providing crucial physical evidence for exploring the origins, formation and development of Chinese civilization.

In 2023, the National Cultural Heritage Administration released the latest results of the project to trace the origins of Chinese civilization, identifying the Niuheliang site as an empirical representative of the first stage of the ancient state era.

"Niuheliang fills a gap of over 1,000 years in Chinese civilization history and provides the most solid evidence for the theory of the origin of Chinese civilization," said Xie. "The value of Hongshan culture at Niuheliang has long surpassed the scope of academic research and has become a shared spiritual wealth of the whole nation."

Xie said although the Niuheliang site has been included in China's World Heritage Tentative List, its road to UNESCO World Heritage status is not smooth.

He proposes to strengthen top-level design and consolidate efforts for world heritage application.

"The establishment of a national authoritative academic committee on Hongshan culture can provide think tank support for the application text and site protection planning," he said.

He also hopes to increase special investments to solidify soft and hard foundations.

"I suggest setting up a special fund for the world heritage application of Hongshan culture, supporting the construction of national key archaeological specimen warehouses, and upgrading the Hongshan culture protection and utilization laboratory," he said. "At the same time, policies for talent introduction and cultivation should be formulated to attract more young people to engage in Hongshan culture research."

He also suggests deepening archaeological excavations and expanding international influence.

"Relying on major projects like'Archaeological China', the excavation area of the Niuheliang site should be appropriately expanded to conduct systematic and refined archaeological excavations," he said. "Coordination with major media to create a publicity matrix and support academic seminars related to Hongshan culture is essential to let it reach the world and allow the world to understand Hongshan."

In 2025, Chaoyang saw a year-on-year increase of 18 percent in tourist visits, and the number of visitors to the Niuheliang Site Museum increased by nearly 122 percent.

The second International Communication Conference on Hongshan Culture will be held in the city this year, providing another important opportunity to showcase the culture's charm to the world.

"Located in the core area of the Northeast Asian economic circle, Liaoning is an important node in the Belt and Road Initiative," said Xie. "Hongshan culture can fully become Liaoning's cultural card for opening up to the outside world."

"Using Hongshan culture as a medium, hosting high-level international cultural exchange activities, and telling the story of the origin of Chinese civilization to Northeast Asia and the world is a manifestation of cultural confidence and a path of open cooperation," he added.