An ancient watertown close to Ningbo in Zhejiang Province has been honored by UNESCO for protecting its cultural heritages. Cicheng is the only Chinese town praised by the UNESCO this year.

Beatrice Kaldun, program specialist at the UNESCO office in Beijing, issued the honor to the government official of Cicheng. The honor bestowed on the ancient town was the "Asia-Pacific Heritage Award" for its outstanding protection of its cultural heritages.

Cicheng lies at western suburb of Ningbo City and was the first settlement of ancient Chinese around 473 BC. It's one of the best-kept ancient township on the southern side of the Yangtze River. Cicheng also belongs to the honored group of thirty-seven well-known townships with rich historic relics nationwide.

Local government worked ten years to protect the town's architecture and cultural legacy. To keep as much as possible of the relic information, the renovation project used authentic materials and workers employed traditional skills. The renovated buildings feature the original flavor of the past, as well as the comforts of modern buildings.

UNESCO official Beatrice Kaldun said that Cicheng set a fine example for the protection of ancient towns in Yangtze River delta, while allowing the town to adapt to people's modern lives.

Local government reveals that the local tourism would gain a great leap in the near future with the highly honored praise from UNESCO just coming in.