According to the website of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage recently issued a notice saying that in accordance with the decision and deployment of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, the fourth national census of cultural relics will be launched in 8.
The circular makes it clear that the expenses required for the Fourth National Census of Cultural Relics shall be borne jointly by the central and local people's governments at all levels in accordance with the relationship between the central and local powers and financial powers. Local administrative departments for cultural relics shall take the initiative to communicate and coordinate with the financial departments, reasonably estimate the demand for census funds, and include them in local financial budgets to ensure the smooth development of census work.
The circular mentions that the fourth national census of cultural relics will carry out field investigations with counties as the basic unit, and all provincial-level administrative departments for cultural relics should fully consider the actual situation of the number and distribution of immovable cultural relics resources within their jurisdiction, such as the number and distribution, traffic conditions, and institutional teams, and study the organizational form of the census work. Mobilize administrative departments for cultural relics at all levels, institutions for cultural relics protection and archaeology, management institutions for cultural relics protection units, museums, institutions of higher learning, scientific research institutions and social forces to study the formation of census teams. Regions receiving counterpart support and fixed-point assistance may include the tasks related to the Fourth National Census of Cultural Relics into the content of counterpart support and fixed-point assistance.
The circular emphasizes that all provincial-level administrative departments for cultural relics should refer to the working methods of establishing the list of provincial-level cultural relics protection units to publish the list and the actual list, organize a comprehensive collection of documents approved and published by the people's governments of districted cities, autonomous prefectures and counties (the publication date is until July 2023, 7), and establish a list of cultural relics protection units at the city and county level. Organize and sort out the upgrades, mergers, and information changes of cultural relics protection units at the city and county levels after they are announced (information changes are as of July 31, 2023), and establish a real directory of cultural relics protection units at the city and county levels.
The administrative departments for cultural relics at the provincial level guide the administrative departments for cultural relics at the municipal and county levels to comprehensively collect the documents for the identification and publication of immovable cultural relics (the date of publication is as of July 2023, 7), and establish a list of immovable cultural relics that have been identified and published. The list of immovable cultural relics that has been identified and published is compared with the list of cultural relics protection units at all levels, and the level of protection is clarified one by one.
The circular requires that all provincial-level administrative departments for cultural relics comprehensively sort out the newly discovered cultural relics in archaeological work since 2012, the newly discovered cultural relics in the investigation of revolutionary cultural relics, cave temples, the Yellow River, the Yangtze River and other special resources organized by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the newly discovered cultural relics in various regional thematic investigations organized and carried out by their jurisdictions, and establish a list of newly discovered cultural relics clues. Strengthen communication and docking with relevant departments, and master the list of historical buildings and industrial cultural heritage, such as China's important agricultural cultural heritage, national industrial heritage, and China's time-honored brands. Understand the management and use of cultural relics such as the military and railway departments.
All provincial-level administrative departments for cultural relics shall take the list of newly discovered cultural relics clues, the list of historical buildings and the list of industrial cultural heritage as important clues of the fourth national census of cultural relics, and include them in the scope of field investigation of the census. Supervise and urge all localities to establish a pre-protection mechanism for census subjects included in the lead during the preparatory stage of census, and must not be moved or demolished until the procedures for identifying cultural relics are completed. In the preparatory stage of the census, all localities will not handle matters such as the withdrawal of immovable cultural relics.