It took UNESCO's World Heritage Committee just 15 minutes to elevate the city of Hangzhou's iconic West Lake to its list of historically significant global sites last month. It took the city more than a decade and billions of yuan to get there.

While the city celebrated the international recognition of the 2,000-year-old West Lake, experts worry that many of the country's 40 other World Heritage sites are not living up to promise.

"It would have been better if some had never made it to the list," said Ruan Yisan, a professor at Tongji University in Shanghai, an expert on the preservation of ancient cities. "At least that way they would have continued to be protected," Ruan told the Global Times.

While UNESCO's criteria for making the list focus on sites that are "of cultural and historic value and exceptional natural beauty," many World Heritage sites in China are seen as cash cows and career advancers.

"Officials are putting their political performance ahead of site protection," said Ruan who has witnessed heritage sites turn into mega development projects as soon as they receive UNESCO's endorsement.  He said the incentive behind the application is not so much preservation as it is economic growth.

"Over commercialization and crowds of tourists pose an actual threat to the antiquities and architecture," said Liu Zheng, a cultural relics expert in Beijing.

Reprimands sent to six sites

The World Heritage Committee has sent warnings to six Chinese sites for excessive development that is aimed at bringing in tourist money. These include Beijing's Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven. The re-built old town in Lijiang, Yunnan Province and Lhasa's famous Potala Palace in the Tibetan Autonomous Region have also received yellow cards from the committee, which has not "de-listed" any site in China.

"Administrators need to take a different perspective, instead of focusing on short-term economic gains," said Liu. "They need to understand that the better protected their sites are, the more visitors they can attract, which means better development in the long run."

In 1998, six years after Wulingyuan in Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province, was inscribed as a World Heritage, it got a warning from the World Heritage Committee. The committee was concerned about the numerous hotels, restaurants, stores and cable cars that had been built near the idyllic scenic area that is home to a number of endangered species.

Experts are also worried about the state of the unique and ancient circular communal apartment buildings in Fujian Province, known as tulou, since they received UNESCO's seal proving significant heritage.

"Part of Tulou's value was its remoteness, but now they're building cable cars, roads and large parking lots," said Ruan indignantly. "They should make people trek to these places, as they do in other countries," he added.

A number of World Heritage sites have gone far overboard with investments that don't match the economic potential. A county in Hunan Province spent 400 million yuan ($62 million) - twice its fiscal revenue, upgrading the geological wonder of Danxia landforms in order to win the World Heritage designation in 2010.

A more sophisticated approach

Many experts agree that Hangzhou's city planners have taken a much more thoughtful approach to the development of West Lake, which sits as a jewel in the center of this city of 8 million people.

In the push and pull between conservation and preservation versus public access and economic development, Hangzhou planners sided with the former. 

"Here preservation has always been our top priority," said Wang Shuifa, Party Secretary of the West Lake district who led the application process to gain World Heritage Site designation.

"When experts from the World Heritage Committee visited, they were surprised that the landscape seems like it hadn't changed in thousands of years," said Wang proudly.

For 2,000 years West Lake has inspired poets, artists and revolutionaries. Its vistas are an indelible reference to the classic Chinese landscape.

A duel approach

Hangzhou took a dual approach to its application which focused on preserving the lake's history while providing for increased opportunities for tourism. 

City officials calculate West Lake is visited 29 million times a year. The lake is expected to help propel the city's tourist industry past the 100 billion yuan mark this year.

Earlier last decade the city also made almost all the attractions around the lake free of charge. It lost 60 million yuan in revenue but free public access helped boast over all tourism to the city, said officials.

Although the city's application for World Heritage designation didn't officially kick off until 2008, restoration and preservation started more than a decade earlier.

Wang Qihuang, a local scholar of culture and history, was among the first experts to suggest the city seek World Heritage status in the 1990s. He was also on the city's expert panel during the application process.