Two dozen properties from all around the world have been added to the list of World Heritage Sites, with a good chunk of them located in Asia. We picked out five in Asia and the Middle East to add to your must-visit checklist.
Compiled by Ari Fajar
1. Rock Art in the Hail Region of Saudi Arabia
You’re not the only one with the desire to immortalise moments and objects with your camera. People in the ancient times had it as well, albeit with different mediums. Not far from the outskirts of the modern-day city of Hail you can find countless individual rock outcrops rich with rock arts. The art on these rocks, some dating back 10,000 years old, are representations of human and animal figures. In the ancient times, Hail was an important trade centre with links to the Assyrians, Babylonians and the Levantines. Today, visitors to Hail can also surf the sand dunes of Nafud Genna, hike to Nafud Al Kabir, visit the 12th century Airif Castle, and shop at Barzan Souq.
2. Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining, Japan
Japan’s rapid economic development after its isolation from the rest of the world from 1603 to 1867 is worth admiring. UNESCO granted the World Heritage status to 23 sites in Kyushu and Yamaguchi where you can learn how the Meiji restoration sparked the industrialization process in feudal Japan from the middle of the 19th century to the early 20th century. These include coal mines, steel factories and shipyards–testament to what is now considered as the first successful transfer of technology from the West to a non-Western society.
3. Tusi sites, China
A Tusi was a chief appointed as the ruler of a particular ethnic group by the emperor of ancient China from the 13th century to the mid-20th century. An insight on how these non-Han chiefs ruled over their dominions can be seen through castle ruins, ink slabs, porcelain and many more. The UNESCO inscription includes 3 of the 101 Tusi chieftain sites: the Hailongtun in Guizhou Province, the Laosicheng Site in Hunan Province, and the Tangya Site in Hubei Province.
4. Singapore Botanical Gardens, Singapore
Singapore finally has its first UNESCO World Heritage site, a sweet gift for the island country as it celebrates its 50th year of independence. The botanic gardens are the green lung of the modern city and a home to 47 heritage trees, some of which are more than 200 years old. There are only three other botanical gardens listed on UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Singapore’s 156-year old garden is the first tropical one, as well as the first in Asia on the list.
5. Baekje Historic Areas, South Korea
Culture vultures will love going on a trip back in time–700 years of history, to be more specific. UNESCO inscribed eight of these historical sites which represent the later period of the Baekje Kingdom (18 BCE to 660 CE) – one of the three earliest kingdoms on the Korean Peninsula–which saw substantial technological, religious, cultural and artistic exchanges between the ancient kingdoms in East Asia. These sites spread from Gongju and Buyeo in South Chungcheong Province to Iksan in North Jeolla Province.
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