Zhang Wenbin, director of China's State Cultural Relics Bureau, said at the National Conference of Cultural Relics Bureau directors that the strategy for developing the western region of China has offered a rare opportunity to the protection work of China's cultural relics.

The western region is one of the important birthplaces of China's civilization as well as a region inhabited historically by many nationalities in compact communities, said Zhang. People of different nationalities have created glorious ancient culture in this vast land and left behind precious cultural heritages here.

Zhang stressed that energetic effort should be made to protect famous religious temples and heritages in the western region.

The State Cultural Relics Bureau will conduct archaeological prospecting and excavation work mainly in the Three-Gorges regions and Xinjiang and other frontier areas this year.