This year should see greater efforts to enhance cultural heritage, said participants at a national conference attended by sector officials.

The conference, held in Beijing on Friday and Saturday, summarized the work of cultural heritage authorities over the last year, and pointed out key tasks for the coming 12 months.

"Major progress was made in the cultural heritage field last year," said Li Qun, director of the National Cultural Heritage Administration.

The level of cultural heritage protection and management has achieved significant improvement, promoting the preservation of cultural relics and protection of their security, officials said.

Moreover, they have deepened major archaeological studies, increased cultural heritage exchange and cooperation, established a sound modern museum system, and promoted technological innovations in this field.

They hope to promote the rule of law to better protect cultural heritage, promote major archaeological studies and increase communication in archaeology between Chinese scholars and their overseas counterparts.

A highlight of work in the last year is the start of the fourth national census of cultural relics, which continues to be carried out intensively.

According to Deng Chao, an official at the National Cultural Heritage Administration, the census is different from before with the participation of publicity departments, and ancient buildings, cultural sites, tombs, cave temples and stone carvings built or made before 1911 should be covered.