Official vows better conditions for cultural relics

To tackle such problems, the top cultural agency has been working with cultural management departments in countries like Italy to jointly host training sessions, in a bid to foster China's younger generation of artisans.

Chinese museums have been dedicating their efforts to technology exploration. For example, the Palace Museum in Beijing is building the country's largest cultural relic restoration and research center at more than 40,000 square meters.

Capital Museum exhibits Jiangxi cultural relics

Meanwhile, the Palace Museum is hiring veteran artisans from across the country to participate in current repair projects. They are also expected to pass down their time-honored craftsmanship to younger artisans.

"The corrosion could cause a loss of hundreds of millions of yuan a year. It's not a problem that can be solved by only throwing money at it. We need to take responsibility for the cultural relics," said Shan Jixiang, director of the museum.

The protection of cultural heritage will continue to be a key emphasis of work in 2014, Minister of Culture Cai Wu said on Monday. The Ministry of Culture recently launched the first nationwide census on State-owned movable cultural heritage, and the State Council announced the seventh list of State-protected historical and cultural sites.

Besides preservation, the safety of cultural relics is a major concern, according to the administration.

Following a few nationwide incidents in previous years in which cultural relics were damaged or destroyed by fires, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage has announced it is ready to work with the Ministry of Public Security on a series of measures for fire prevention.

The administration has also signed governmental agreements with counterparts in Nigeria, Switzerland and Cyprus to fight cultural relic smuggling.

Sun Yuanqing contributed to this story.