Architectural heritage, as an important form of the past, has been attracted increasing awareness. Nowadays there is a shared common view in the world that to protect architectural heritage reasonably and based on scientific methods is a necessity of our age. This dissertation intends to analyze and compare the policies for the protection of the architectural heritage in East Asian and European countries. Japan, China, Singapore, Italy, Britain and Germany are selected as representative countries. This dissertation is a non-empirical study, the main method for research is the documentary analysis. The contents of relevant literature and documents were comparatively analyzed by focusing on three issues: legislation, administration, finance. Each issue within six representative countries is described respectively. Based on such descriptions, a comprehensive comparison of each issue is conducted. These descriptions and comparisons can form the results of study and provide a remarkable insight into such issues of architectural heritage conservation in East Asian and European countries. The conservation legislation of the representative countries is examined respectively in the process of reviewing their conservation movement. As a result of the review process, the main laws that apply to their present conservation practices are presented. Important provisions concerning architectural conservation of the main laws are described; some possible similarities and differences of these provisions are analyzed and compared. This can deliver a general understanding about the policy framework or institutions in these countries\' architectural conservation. The administrative structures of the representative countries are analyzed from four levels: national, regional or local, consultation commissions and civic organizations. This dissertation summarizes some main authorities or organizations responsible for architectural conservation and their duties. In reference to previous descriptions, this dissertation analyzes and compares the characteristics of administrative structures of architectural conservation in East Asian and European countries based on the national and regional/local authorities. It can be concluded that most countries have been moving towards decentralization with varying degrees since the last decades of the 20th century. This dissertation also explores some possible motives for decentralized administration, analyzes the status quo of decentralization in the field of architectural conservation in different East Asian and European countries. This dissertation also provides an overview of their different financial policies in the field of architectural conservation from two aspects: direct public finance and indirect finance. In their conservation practices, direct public funds invested in architectural conservation projects mainly come from central and local subsidies. Two proportions of central and local subsidies in conservation projects are summarized. This dissertation concludes that direct public finance is the main source of their conservation funds but the supply of direct public finance is often limited. In this context, this dissertation argues the important role of indirect finance in the field of architectural conservation, gives some possible ways to improve the efficiency of indirect financing.