Archaeologists preserve and restore sculptures at the Dazu Rock Carvings in Chongqing in January. [DU LIANYI/CHINA DAILY]

Protection efforts

Officials and experts have illustrated attempts to protect cultural heritage across the country. A major one was the start of the fourth national census of cultural relics in November.

According to Zhang Wenrui, director of the Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, this census is being conducted 12 years after the previous one.

"Since the relics are often located out in the open or buried underground, they may have disappeared or changed due to the influence of human activities. As a result, the census is important to provide a reference for our future protection efforts," said Zhang.

According to Deng Chao, director of the artifact and historical site department of the National Cultural Heritage Administration, this census is different from the previous three as publicity departments at different levels have jumped on board this time to help the cultural heritage authority accomplish the tasks.

All ancient architecture, sites, tombs, cave temples and carvings made before 1911 will be covered in the census.

At the same time, efforts to crack down on criminals threatening the safety of cultural relics and heritage sites have been intensified.

"The number of criminal cases related to cultural relics has dropped by 43 percent, from 2,300 in 2020 to 1,300 in 2023. And the number of accidental fires at heritage sites decreased from 15 to five in the past four years," said Chen Peijun, director of the supervision department of the National Cultural Heritage Administration.

He stressed the role of technology in protecting such sites, and said all key historical and cultural sites under national-level protection will be installed with satellite remote sensing for monitoring and law enforcement by 2026.

"Shandong and Zhejiang provinces and Shanghai have started monitoring with satellite remote sensing. Other provinces should follow suit and cooperate with natural resources authorities to promote the sharing of such technologies," said Chen.

Wang Wanfu, a deputy to the 14th National People's Congress who is also deputy director of the department of conservation research at the Dunhuang Academy, proposed to establish a National Key Laboratory on the protection of cultural heritage.

"China has abundant cultural heritage resources of various types, which face threats from the environment and others," said Wang on the sidelines of the second session of the 14th NPC. "As a result, I hope to establish such a laboratory to gather top professionals so that they can study and tackle the bottleneck problems in the protection of cultural heritage and support the development of this industry."