China to build national cultural relics gene bank

BEIJING -- China's National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) will team up with Peking University to jointly build a national "gene bank" for cultural relics of the Chinese civilization, according to a strategic cooperation agreement signed in Beijing on Thursday.

The national cultural relics gene bank aims to collect and preserve typical specimens of archaeological discoveries across the country. The two sides will jointly build a high-level cultural relics protection and archaeometry laboratory, a national cultural relics database and an archaeological big data research center.

The two will deepen strategic cooperation in fields such as personnel training, scientific research and think tank services. They will also work together to build the Institute of Chinese Cultural Relics Museum and the NCHA'S archaeological research center.