On July 5, 2019, at the 43rd session of the World Heritage Committee held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, 21 Committee Countries unanimously approved the amendment proposed by the Australian delegation to the "Migratory Bird Sanctuaries along the Coast of Yellow Sea-Bohai Gulf of China (Phase I) " project in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, China, and inscribed it on UNESCO's World Heritage List.

The Yancheng Yellow Sea Wetlands has become the 54th World Heritage Site and the 14th World Natural Heritage Site in China, making China top the world in the number of world heritage sites.

The Migratory Bird Sanctuaries along the Coast of Yellow Sea-Bohai Gulf of China (Phase I) showcases a unique interplay of land, air, and sea. Within this space, dynamic and static states emerge seamlessly, and both biological and natural environments coexist  in harmony. Notably, it stands as China's first World Natural Heritage site located in an economically developed and densely populated area.

The Migratory Bird Sanctuaries along the Coast of the Yellow Sea-Bohai Gulf of China is situated in the Yellow Sea ecological region, recognized as one of WWF's (World Wide Fund for Nature) Global Top 200 ecological regions. The sanctuaries boast the world's most expansive intertidal mudflats. Positioned centrally within the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF), these sanctuaries are home to a significant number of endangered species facing intense threats. Given that the sanctuaries are 7000km away from both the breeding grounds and wintering grounds of many shorebirds, this site acts as an essential stopover site for various plovers and snipes. These crucial habitats encompass rich mudflats, silty shores, sandy coasts, estuarine mud shores, islands or rocky coasts, and reed swamp wetlands.