A team of local archaeologists is racing against time to excavate cultural relics from thousands of ancient tombs discovered at an airport's construction site in northwest China's Shaanxi Province. The phase-three expansion of the Xi'an Xianyang International Airport covers areas with the most densely distributed underground cultural relics in the province.

The Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archeology has conducted explorations within the scope for the airport's expansion and discovered more than 3,500 ancient tombs so far, including nearly 100 large ones. To facilitate the construction, more than 1,000 archaeological workers are on duty during the Spring Festival holiday.