Five trained dogs have been introduced in a cultural relic protection drive in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province to fight against rampant tomb robberies.

The five Germany-originated huntaway will watch over Wulingyuan, a historical site in Xianyang City, where tombs of five emperors and many aristocrats of the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) are located.

The tombs are strong lures to robbers due to their large number and high value of historical relics buried in the tombs, according to local officials engaged in cultural relic protection.

The dogs will help officers observe situation around the tombs at night, bark to make alert in case of any abnormal happenings and catch suspects when they attempted to carry out robberies, the officials said.

From July, the dogs began to receive special training to get acquainted with surroundings of the tombs and learn robber-controlorders produced by cultural protection officers.

Now, the major "work" of the dogs is to smell out suspects hidden in crop fields during night while receiving further training in daytime.

The city is planning to introduce more watchdogs in the next two years for better protection in local museums and tomb sites.

Built more than 2,350 years ago, Xianyang, 20 kilometers northwest of Shaanxi's capital city Xi'an, was the capital of the Qin Dynasty (221 B.C.- 207 B.C.), the first feudal dynasty in Chinese history.

Xi'an, with a history of more than 3,100 years, was the capital of 13 feudal dynasties, including those in the period of great prosperity such as the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.) and the Tang Dynasty (6l8 A.D.- 907 A. D.).

The Chinese government has put into great investment and efforts in protection of cultural and historic projects in the two cities as the world-renowned terracotta warriors and horses in Xi'an and more than 200 tombs from the Han and Tang dynasties in Xianyang.
 
(Xinhua News Agency October 26, 2006)