Around 9,000 smuggled cultural relics were handed over to the Cultural Heritage Administration of Tianjin, a north China port city, by the General Administration of Customs Monday.
The handover, including nine second-level and 226 third-level state-protected relics, was the biggest one in recent years, said Mou Xinsheng, commissioner of the General Administration of Customs.
Mou said that the General Administration of Customs is now extending close cooperation with relevant departments to establish a long-term system against cultural relics smuggling.
He said that China's customs offices at all levels use the latest technology to form an information network for the management of Chinese cultural relics.
According to customs statistics, since 1995, customs offices at all levels have salvaged 45,725 smuggled cultural relics, of which 4,065 pieces were rescued this year.
"The customs department plays an important role in the crackdown on Chinese cultural relics smuggling, and people of all walks of life should make efforts to protect cultural relics," said Dong Baohua, deputy director of the State Cultural Heritage Administration.
(Xinhua News Agency December 23, 2003)
