China beefs up prosecuting efforts for cultural heritage protection

BEIJING -- To further safeguard China's cultural heritage, the country's top procuratorate issued studies of eight typical cases on Saturday to guide prosecutors nationwide in handling related public litigations.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) said that these cases involved common illegal acts, such as damaging and illegally occupying cultural relics, which include historical buildings, revolutionary sites, and ancient cultural relics.

One notable case involved prosecutors in Jiangsu Province, east China, who initiated an administrative public litigation case in 2023 against a township government.

This action came after the local government failed to implement corrective measures suggested by prosecutors regarding the protection of a renowned 16th-century writer's tomb.

Since October 2019, procuratorates nationwide have handled over 17,000 public litigation cases related to cultural heritage preservation, the SPP said in a statement.

Chinese procuratorates are committed to enhancing the country's judicial legal system for cultural heritage protection, the SPP statement noted, pledging further efforts to track and recover Chinese cultural relics lost overseas.

The release of the case studies coincides with China's Cultural and Natural Heritage Day, which is observed annually on the second Saturday of June.