Organizations' violation, tomb-raiding, fire major threats to cultural heritages

BEIJING - Violations by organizations, tomb-raiding and fire risks are the top three threats to the safety of cultural heritage and relics in China, according to an official with the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA).

Chen Peijun, director of the NCHA's supervision and inspection department, said in an interview with Xinhua that the greatest threat comes from violations committed by organizations.

Unlike individual violations, organizations' cultural heritage violations usually involve damage to a greater extent, such as illegal construction and real estate development projects near heritage sites or illegal destruction of historic structures.

China has launched a special campaign targeting such violations, handling 673 cases between 2016 and 2018.

During the campaign, illegal constructions near some world cultural heritage sites have been demolished. Violations causing damage to the country's revolutionary sites and relics were also seriously punished, Chen said.