Irina Bokova, director-general of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Culture Organization (UNESCO) has said that protecting archives is safeguarding 'humanity's memory bank.' But much of China's recorded heritage is in danger of being lost.
Ling Bo, a senior editor at the China Record Corporation (CRC), a firm that collects many priceless audio archives, opened a Sina Weibo blog in 2014, on which he wrote that the CRC had consigned these audio materials to a Sino-Japanese cooperative enterprise. This firm brought a case against Ling’s allegations in 2015, claiming his words were untrue, but Ling won the lawsuit in 2017.
Ling stressed he cares more about whether the country could protect China’s precious audio archives, rather than the result of the lawsuit. Zhang Xiaojie, a technician at CRC, stated that the supposed technicians in the joint Sino-Japanese enterprise don't have the expertise to care for audio materials that record the words of dead Party leaders or other famous historical figures.
In 2006, about 40 members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference proposed a plan to protect China’s historical audio materials at the annual legislative sessions. But the CRC has not recorded its materials with the Administration of Cultural Heritage, and Ling suggested authorities should establish a department or museum and group talented workers to collect and arrange historical audio materials.
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