China's State Council designated the second Saturday in June as the Cultural Heritage Day in the hope of boosting public awareness of heritage protection in China.

A national committee for cultural relics protection will also be set up to promote healthy development of cultural relics, reports the Beijing News.

A circular released by China's State Council recently said improper or excessive development of heritage sites have threatened the country's cultural relics.

Some cultural relics have been destroyed due to improper handling and storage.

A new set of standards and the new national committee are tasked with avoiding further losses caused by technical mistakes in the handling of relics, Zhang Bai, deputy director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, was quoted by the paper as saying.

The State Administration of Cultural Heritage will formulate a series of rules and standards to manage and protect cultural relics and create national standards, Zhang said.

(Xinhua News Agency February 10, 2006)