Chinese customs seize 12,000 trafficked antiques since 2013

BEIJING -- Over 12,000 antiques have been seized by Chinese customs since 2013, according to a report on cultural heritage.

Chinese Minister of Culture Luo Shugang on Saturday read the report at the bi-monthly session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), which runs from Friday to Wednesday.

China has a total of 108 million movable antiques and nearly 767,000 immovable ones, as well as 52 World Heritage Sites, ranking No 2 in the world, the report said.

China also tops the world in the number of items of intangible cultural heritage with 39, and has been focusing on improving the work on them. Some 48,000 people have been trained for inheriting the intangible cultural heritage.

The ministry of culture has set up 21 state-level pilot areas for the protection of cultural ecology, and provinces have set up 146 ones on their level, according to Luo.

Since 2013, the central government has spent about 65.6 billion yuan ($9.98 billion) on protecting cultural heritage, the report said.