Theft and fire are two of the biggest risks to cultural relics in China as the country steps up supervision and cracks down on crime at cultural sites.

In 2020, authorities carried out nearly 500,000 safety enforcement inspections, according to a report released by the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) on Wednesday.

A total of 68,295 cases of potential safety hazards were discovered, among which 57,395 were sorted out, accounting for 84.04 percent of the total.

Another 266,000 law enforcement inspections were carried out last year with 590 violations registered. Of the total, 103 involved national-level key cultural heritage protection sites.

Some of the locations inspected included Jinyang Ancient City Site in Taiyuan, north China's Shanxi Province, and Sanfangqixiang, the historical and cultural block of the Three Lanes and Seven Alleys in Fuzhou, southeast China's Fujian Province.

Violations included irregularities with the site operators, illegal excavation of ancient tombs and theft of cultural relics, as well as fire and security risks.

In cooperation with the Ministry of Public Security, the administration last year handled 2,134 cultural relic-related crimes with 2,435 suspects caught. 

The crime rate in question dropped by 20.15 percent from a year earlier. More than 31,000 pieces of historical artifacts were also retrieved – almost three times the figure in 2019.

The report also shows that fire remains a great threat to all of the cultural treasures. Last year, the authorities conducted more than 115,100 fire risk assessments, inspecting more than 217,200 cultural relics museums around the country.

Last year alone, China launched 847 projects for safeguarding cultural relics and early warning of potential risks nationwide.

Along with theft and fire, illegal excavation is a major threat to cultural relics, an official with the NCHA's inspection and supervision department told Chinese media. They added that the administration will continue to cooperate with the police to carry out campaigns to safeguard cultural relics against potential risks and crack down on crimes.