The Chinese Customs Office has started to implement a new regulation concerning cultural relics allowed exit from the country. The new regulation also expands the scope of items that are forbidden to be removed from China, the Guangming Daily reported.

According to the new regulation, all cultural relics made before 1949 cannot be taken out of China. Previously, only relics produced before 1795 (the last year of the Qing Dynasty Emperor Qianlong's reign) were not allowed exit from the country.

According to the new regulation, the year 1949 serves as a landmark year for judging whether a cultural relic may be taken out of China. The regulation states that, generally speaking, all cultural relics that bear some historical, scientific or artistic value and were produced in and before 1949 should not be taken out of China. Items produced in and before 1911 (the last year of the Qing Dynasty) are expressly forbidden to leave. For cultural relics produced by ethnic minorities, the year 1966 serves as the landmark year.

Cultural relics that might be detrimental to national interests or whose exit might lead to some negative influence upon society should not be taken out at all, no matter when they were produced, according to the new regulation.

(China News Service September 18, 2007)