Beijing launched its second annual autumn auction season for cultural relic fine art pieces on Wednesday.

The event will run until late October, with 20 live auctions, one online auction and six lectures.

"The public used to have a misunderstanding that auctions of cultural relics are far from the lives of ordinary people'," said Dong Guoqiang, head of Beijing Council International Auction Co Ltd, one of about 20 auction companies participating in the event.

"However, we'd like to tell people that many ancient fine art pieces are still at relatively low prices, and are affordable for the general public. We should work together to explore their unfound value."

According to Yu Ping, deputy head of the Beijing municipal administration of cultural heritage, the turnover of the city's auction market for cultural relic fine art pieces in 2013 surpassed 25.6 billion yuan ($4.16 billion), which accounted for 73 percent of the Chinese mainland's total turnover of 35 billion yuan that year.

She said the city has become one of the four major auction centers for cultural relic fine art pieces, together with New York, London, and Hong Kong.

The first auction season last year attracted 42,100 participants (exclusive of online participants), and achieved a 945-million-yuan turnover.

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