The Chinese government has established a national "Cultural Heritage Day" to be celebrated annually on the second Saturday of June, Culture Minister Sun Jiazheng said in Beijing yesterday.
Sun said the first "Cultural Heritage Day" would fall on June 10, with the theme "Protecting cultural heritage and safeguarding the spiritual homeland."
"The celebration will include a series of performances and exhibitions," Sun said.
It would feature an exhibition of ancient Chinese books and a selection of the best folk art.
The State Administration of Culture Heritage would undertake a nationwide review of cultural heritage protection work, while the National Library and Academy of Social Sciences would host seminars and forums and offer advice to the public on cultural heritage.
Sun called on museums, memorial halls and relic sites at all levels to open free to public on the first "Cultural Heritage Day."
China has 2,351 historic sites and 518 articles of intangible cultural heritage. Nearly 400,000 fixed relics have been registered on the mainland and another 20 million movable relics in museums.
China attaches importance to the collection and protection of cultural relics and materials including those relating to the period of turmoil in the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976, Minister of Culture Sun Jiazheng said in Beijing yesterday.
Sun noted that China holds four of the 19 "masterpieces" of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity listed by the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO).
Sun said the National Museum, the National Library and other museums have collected cultural materials relating to the Cultural Revolution.
This month marks the 40 anniversary of the launch of the tumultuous 10-year Cultural Revolution in China.
The Cultural Revolution, a political storm unprecedented in scale and scope in Chinese history, began in May 1966.
It made China suffer the greatest setbacks and losses ever since its founding in 1949.
Fan Jianchuan, a private collector in southwest China's Sichuan Province, has collected more than 300,000 cultural relics relating to the Cultural Revolution.
Fan, now a real estate developer, has invested more than 10 million yuan (US$1.25 million) to collect the relevant cultural relics. And he plans to set up an exhibition hall for his collections.