Customs officers examine the cultural relics they seized from a Japanese man at Huanggang Port in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, on Tuesday. Jiang Xin / for China Daily

Shenzhen customs officials have caught a Japanese man allegedly trying to take 58 precious Chinese cultural relics out of the country.

The Huanggang Port customs, which is affiliated with Shenzhen customs, said on Tuesday that the items it seized from a Japanese passenger on June 23 were confirmed precious relics by the Guangdong Provincial Relics Identification Station, and that for 57 of the 58 items, it was illegal to take them out of China.

The relics include 55 books from 1869-1890 of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), including works by famous historian Qian Daxin, writer and historian Wang Shizhen and thinker and historian Gu Yanwu. There was also a gold-overlaid iron incense burner with hollowing patterns, and a copper boat-shape lamp with flower and bird patterns, both from the late 19th century, and a silver pot with loop handle from the early 20th century.

Customs officer Zeng Ying said that at about 10:30 am on June 23, a man passing through the passenger inspection hall intending to leave with two very large suitcases caught her attention.

"The man was in his 50s, medium tall, and was dressed normally," she said. "When we asked him to put his cases on the X-ray machine, he said he didn't understand Chinese, so we communicated in English, and we found he was a Japanese passenger as we checked his passport," she said.

The machine showed that the suitcases were holding many handicrafts and books. When customs officers opened the bags, they found many exquisite handicrafts and old books wrapped by multiple layers of newspapers.

"We asked the man where he got them, and he said he bought them on the mainland. He said he bought them at a low price, but the pieces don't look like normal handicrafts because both their shape and craft are very delicate," Zeng said.

Customs officials seized the goods and sent them to the provincial relics identification station. A report from the station on Monday confirmed the items were relics.

The case has been transferred to the anti-smuggling department of Shenzhen customs for further investigation.

According to Huanggang customs, there are two categories of relics - one is banned from being taken out of the country, while the other is allowed to be taken out in certain circumstances.

Those who have relics in the latter category that they want to take out of the country for exhibition or trade must first go to the relics management department for identification, and obtain the relics exit permit and the seal wax as well as the relics' invoices. Those who intend to remove relics from China must declare them to customs.

huangyuli@chinadaily.com.cn