Half of Cultural Relics in Museums Suffer From Corrosion

File photo of a corroded ancient iron caltrop (Photo source: bjww.gov.cn)

More than half of the relics in China’s cultural institutions are not being well preserved, yet only five percent of the funding for museums has been used for relic preservation, the Beijing Morning Post reported on Monday.

The State Cultural Relic Bureau has carried out a 3-year-long campaign to investigate the conservation of cultural relics stored in state-owned entities. The investigation is the first of its kind in China, according to Shan Jixiang, president of the bureau.

The investigation covered over 14.7 million relics collected by 2,803 state-owned entities around the country. The results show that 50.7 percent of those cultural relics are in degraded condition.

Funding for the preservation of cultural relics is far from enough, accounting for only five percent of the total amount allocated to the museum industry, according to the investigation.

A lack of scientific measures is another reason contributing to the damage of cultural objects, said Shan, who added that a national protection base will be established in Beijing.