Speaking at a national conference on cultural heritages protection Tuesday in Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, the officials with the Education, Science, Culture and Health Committee of the National People's Congress, the Ministry of Culture and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage said that Chinese culture and protection of cultural heritages play an important part in the world's cultural history and modern development.

Chinese culture includes tangible historical relics, revolutionary articles, immaterial folk literature, ethnic art, performing skill and traditional art crafts, according to the officials.

Cultural relics and art forms are the basis of Chinese cultural development and are priceless because they can not be reborn, the officials said, adding that in recent years, many cultural relics and art forms were damaged or lost in the midst of economic development.

The officials pointed out that in the development in the western areas of China, saving and protecting cultural relics has become an urgent task for the country's cultural departments.

Yunnan, rich in historical sites and cultural relics, has recently launched a regulation on protecting ethnic art and folk culture.

The Education, Science, Culture and Health Committee of the National People's Congress has also carried out a series of nationwide investigations and surveys on lawmaking in the field of cultural relics protection.

(Xinhua 11/07/2000)