The newly revised law on Protection of Cultural Relics, which has been issued and implemented over the past year, has pushed forward the protection of China's abundant culture heritage.

Shan Jixiang, director of the State Administration of Culture Heritage (SACH), made the remarks in Beijing Tuesday, at a symposium on the 1st anniversary of the newly revised law.

He said the law has taken effect in six aspects. First, the Chinese people have learned more about culture relics protection through various activities hosted by the government. Secondly, government administrations at all levels attached much importance to cultural relic protection. Third, SACH and another 11 provinces and regions have set up specific organizations to handle illegal cases.

Fourth, the setting up of a culture relics archive and relevant software development have been facilitated, with special funds launched by government at all levels, said Shan.

Fifth, the SACH has worked together with other government administrations to prevent damage to culture relics involved in large national projects, including the construction of the Three Gorges reservoir, the project to divert water from the south to the north, and the projects to divert natural gas and electricity from western to eastern regions.

Shan stressed the SACH has given training lessons to staff, to strengthen their consciousness of cultural relic protection.

According to Mei Ninghua, director of the culture heritage administration in Beijing, the city, with the legal system, has solved conflicts between urban construction and culture relics protection, with residents smoothly moving out of the cultural relic areas.

The law has facilitated cultural relic traffic and museum construction. Statistics showed Beijing now has 123 museums receiving 30 million people annually, and the total sale of culture relics and artistic works has exceeded 2 billion yuan (about US$241 million).

(Xinhua News Agency October 29, 2003)