A national priority protected site is the highest-level national protection for immovable cultural relics in China. The designation was first created under the 1961 Provisional Regulations on the Protection and Management of Cultural Relics, which evolved into the Law on the Protection of Cultural Relics.

According to the 2002 Cultural Relics Protection Law of the People's Republic of China, the National Cultural Heritage Administration of the State Council selects those with significant historical, artistic, and scientific value as national key cultural relics protection units. National key cultural relics protection units shall not be demolished; if they need to be relocated, they must be reported to the State Council for approval by applications from the people's government of the provincial administrative region.

Statistics

In 1999 it was reported that there were some 350,000 immovable cultural properties in China, of which 70,000 were protected at one of the three main levels, in addition to some 10,000,000 movable cultural properties held by state institutions alone. Of these, as of October 2019, 5,058 Sites Protected at the National Level have been designated by the State Administration. They were announced in eight batches and several supplemental batches:

Batch No.DateAddedMergedRef.
14 March 1961180
1a26 October 1964−1
1b16 October 19811
223 February 198262
313 January 1988258
420 November 199625012
525 June 2001518 (-1)23
5a22 November 20021
5b2 March 20031
5c3 April 20031
625 May 20061,080106
6a20 August 20091
75 March 20131,943 (+1)47
7a25 April 20141
87 October 201976250
Total5,058

Sites protected at various levels

Sites (to Be) Protected for Their Historical and Cultural Value or Historical and Cultural Sites Protected (文物保护单位) at various levels include:

  • Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level (全国重点文物保护单位)
  • Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the Provincial Level (省级文物保护单位)
  • Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the Level of a City Divided into Districts or at the Level of an Autonomous Prefecture (设区的市、自治州级文物保护单位)
  • Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the County Level (县级文物保护单位)

See also