Increased funding to preserve historical buildings in Shanxi province

The central government allocated 2.22 billion yuan ($340 million) for the preservation of cultural relics in North China's Shanxi province over the past five years.

The Shanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau announced the figure, which was 4.08 times larger than that of the 11th Five-Year Plan (2005-2010), at a meeting on March 9.

The funds used by Shanxi province to protect cultural relics over the same period rose to 130 million yuan from 33 million yuan in 2011 alone.

Over the past five years, 105 historical buildings predating the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), as well as 215 national level culture relic protection sites and 291 sites at provincial and below levels, have been restored.

Maintenance and protection for Shanxi's world cultural heritage sites the Yungang Grottoes, Wutai Mountain, and the Ancient City of Pingyao have increased.

As many as 101 state and provincial archaeological studies were undertaken with 7,578 cultural relics unearthed over the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015).

The province also conducted 28 archaeological research projects, excavating 45,000 cultural relics, including the site where primitive humans made stone tools in the Dingcun ruins, Xiangfen county, and the Taosi ruins, in the northeast of Xiangfen county, Linfen city, which is believed to have been the capital of the sage emperor Yao.

The stone-built houses and city walls of the Longshan culture were found for the first time in the western Shanxi plateau through archeological digs in Bicun village of Xingxian county.

The temple on the roof of the Yungang Grottoes won the award for "2011 China Top 10 New Archeological Discoveries".

Significant actions were taken to crack down on crimes involving cultural relics. There were 309 cases in which 59 criminal gangs were broken down, 326 criminals were arrested, and 447 cultural objects of different categories were recovered.

Museums and public cultural service sites progressed as well. The 131 museums across the province held 1,568 exhibitions and received over 100 million visitors over the past five years.