5 more Chinese sites inscribed on UNESCO World Heritage List

UNESCO has added five sites in China to the World Heritage List. They are Mount Wutai, Fujian Tulou, Mount Sanqingshan National Park, Kaiping Diaolou and Villages and South China's Karst mountains. All five were inscribed during the three years from 2007 to 2009.

China's famous Buddhist mountain, Wutai is the country's first site added under the category of cultural landscape. Mount Wutai is home to 41 monasteries including the east main hall of Foguang Temple, the highest surviving timber building of the Tang Dynasty with life-size clay sculptures.

Kaiping Diaolou and Villages feature the Diaolou, multi-level defensive village houses in Kaiping in southern Guangdong province. It displays a complex and flamboyant fusion of Chinese and western structural and decorative forms.

Fujian Tulou is a property of 46 buildings constructed between the 15th and 20th centuries over 120 kilometers in south-west of Fujian province. Set among rice, tea and tobacco fields, the Tulou are earthen houses that are technically sophisticated and strong defensive buildings.