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This is NEWS Plus Special English.
Wildlife advocates have cheered the removal of the Tibetan antelope from the endangered species list, but pledged to continue their protection efforts.
Environment and animal protection authorities announced last month that the Tibetan antelope was no longer an endangered species.
Thanks to effective protection efforts, there are now around 200,000 Tibetan antelopes in the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau area, and the population is steadily climbing.
Tibetan antelopes mainly live in western China, including Qinghai Province, and Xinjiang and Tibet autonomous regions, with the majority living in northern Tibet.
Poachers in search of the animal's pelts resulted in the sharp decline of the antelope population in the 1990s. By the beginning of 2000, only 70,000 of them were left.
Shahtoosh, ultra-soft shawl made of yarn from the down fur of the animal, can fetch upward of 40,000 U.S. dollars each. On average, it takes the hide of three antelopes to create one Shahtoosh.
In 1996 and 1997, a total of more than 840 kilograms of yarn were seized by two customs offices in Lhasa, the regional capital of Tibet.
This is NEWS Plus Special English.
Tusi Sites, the remains of an ancient political system adopted by the central authorities to govern ethnic minority regions in southwest China, have been inscribed on the World Heritage List.
The World Heritage Committee made the decision at its annual meeting in Germany, in recognition of the "universal value" reflected in the Sites.
The Tusi Sites are located separately in the mountainous areas of Hunan, Hubei and Guizhou provinces.
Tusi means hereditary tribal headmen appointed by the central authorities to govern the often unruly ethnic minority regions in southwestern China.
The committee said the system aimed at unifying national administration while simultaneously allowing ethnic minorities to retain their customs and way of life.
The inscription of the Tusi Sites increased the total number of China's world heritage sites to 48, second only to Italy.
