China has set up a database to help reclaim cultural relics from abroad, said Shan Jixiang, director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage on Thursday.

"The Chinese government is doing its utmost to reclaim and collect the precious cultural relics lost overseas," he said.

Incomplete statistics show, about 1 million Chinese cultural relics are being kept at more than 200 museums in 47 countries, Shan said.

China has signed the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, and signed bilateral protocols with countries including Peru and Italy on this matter.

The government is seeking international cooperation to retrieve the relics by liaising closely with the International Criminal Police Organization and the World Customs Organization, he said.

Source: Xinhua