Cultural heritage is irreplaceable and irreplaceable, it is a precious treasure left to us by history. The relationship between the protection and utilization of cultural heritage must be understood and handled well. During the 17th collective study session of the Political Bureau of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized the importance of respecting history and loving culture, adhering to the principles of protection first, rational utilization, and minimal intervention, and promoting systematic protection and unified supervision of cultural heritage. The scattered cultural heritage on the land of China inherits the long-standing historical and cultural heritage, maintains the national spirit of unity between the family and the country, and proves China's human history of millions of years, cultural history of ten thousand years, and civilization history of more than five thousand years. Adhering to the principle of protection first and minimal intervention is the foundation and starting point of cultural heritage work, as well as the political, cultural, and historical responsibility that we cannot shirk and must shoulder. Currently, many places are actively promoting the inheritance, protection, and open utilization of cultural heritage, exploring the path of integrated development of culture and tourism. However, issues of improper utilization and excessive commercialization also exist to varying degrees. Whether it is barbaric use, lack of maintenance, or unauthorized construction that is neither good nor bad, or building new and demolishing old, damaging the essence, these practices not only destroy the body of cultural heritage, but also sever the original historical context. The loss of cultural relics and damage to heritage are typical examples of sacrificing the fundamental for the trivial, pursuing small gains at the expense of the greater good, abandoning the primary and focusing on the secondary, which is heartbreaking and infuriating. The revised Cultural Relics Protection Law emphasizes that "basic construction and tourism development must prioritize the protection of cultural relics", further clarifying the relationship between utilization and protection from a legal perspective, and delineating red lines such as "preventing constructive destruction and excessive commercialization" and "preventing excessive development". Clear legal requirements, coupled with strict law enforcement supervision, will provide fundamental guarantees for building a solid bottom line for cultural relic safety. Effective protection is the prerequisite and destination for utilization. Cultural heritage can only gain broader recognition and constantly radiate new vitality in the era through interaction with the people; Only through reasonable and open utilization can cultural connotations be continued and sustainable vitality be obtained. But all utilization must be based on effective protection, with effective protection as the value standard and code of conduct for rational utilization. Beijing requires the use of subject evaluation to assess the impact of open utilization on cultural heritage buildings, scientifically formulate and publish open measures and plans; Xi'an, Shaanxi Province has set up more than 8000 settlement monitoring points, horizontal displacement monitoring points and other locations for the ancient city walls in the city, and standardized the scope, scale and form of cultural activities based on monitoring data. From practical experience, following laws and regulations is a prerequisite for rational utilization. A rigorous feasibility assessment should be conducted before utilization, and real-time monitoring and regular physical examinations should be carried out during the utilization process to effectively implement the principle of "protection first" and turn the process of "use" into a process of "protection". The progress of the times, the development of technology, and the burst of human wisdom and creativity have expanded new space for the protection and utilization of cultural heritage. The digital exhibition center of Xiangtangshan Grottoes in Handan, Hebei, fully restored the relevant cultural relics through 3D data acquisition, modeling processing and high-definition projection. It not only protects the essence of the grottoes, but also achieves digital preservation while meeting the needs of visitors, achieving multiple benefits at once. The protection and utilization of cultural heritage is a professional and long-term project that requires a balance between the new and the old, people and objects, and use and management. With both sophisticated protection and high-level management and humanistic services, cultural heritage will shine in the new era and provide rich cultural nourishment for promoting Chinese path to modernization. (New Society)