References

The management climate. The discussion took place toward the end of the course, when the elements of the plan were falling into place and when participants and staff had established a degree of empathy difficult to achieve quickly, especially through language interpretation. Discussion came at last to focus on the significance of the site and on the nature of the Chinese “sense of place” and its implications for management. Many participants argued strongly for the validity of a more interventionist approach to conservation than is usual in current Western methodology, including a greater emphasis on reconstruction (Wei and Aass 1989:3-8). The discussion and its outcomes demonstrated the robustness of the planning framework and the necessity for local managers to “fill out” any such framework in accordance with the cultural traditions of their own society.

Teaching the course was a great experience. The enthusiasm and intelligence of the participants, the beauty and complexity of the site, and the challenging and fascinating differences between the Western and Eastern cultures, which the course forced us all to confront, made the experience most exciting and rewarding. It gave the participants great insights into the question that brings us all together: “What, then, shall we do?”

The author extends warm gratitude to the participants of the conservation management training course at Yungang grottoes, the Getty Conservation Institute, and the State Bureau of Cultural Relics, the People's Republic of China, for the opportunity to develop and offer this course; to Stephen Rickerby, Margaret Mac Lean, and Po-Ming Lin for their indispensable contributions; to Mike Pearson and Australia icomos for ideas, inspiration, and the Burra Charter methodology.

1988

Australia International Council of Monuments and Sites (Australia icomos) The Australia International Council of Monuments and Sites (icomos) Charter for the Conservation of Places of Cultural Significance (The Illustrated Burra Charter). 2d ed. Sydney: Australia icomos.

Gale, F., and J. M. Jacobs

1987  Tourists and the National Estate: Procedures to protect Australia's heritage. Special Australian

Heritage Publication Series 6. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service.

Kerr, J.

1985  The Conservation Plan. New South Wales: National Trust of Australia.

Wei, C., and A. Aass

1989  Heritage conservation East and West. icomos Information 3:3-8.

Yungang Grottoes Custody Committee

The Yungang Caves. Beijing: Wenwu Chubanshe (Cultural Relics Publishing House).