Visitors photograph an embroiderer at work during Cultural and Natural Heritage Day celebrations at the Panlongcheng ancient city site in Wuhan, Hubei province, on Saturday. [Photo provided to China Daily]

To mark the nation's annual Cultural and Natural Heritage Day, which fell on Saturday, more than 7,000 exhibitions and cultural events, including 3,400 public service programs, have been held across China.

According to the National Cultural Heritage Administration, China now has 60 UNESCO World Heritage sites, the highest number of any country, and 7,188 registered museums. Over half of the museums offer free admission, and together they recorded more than 4 billion visits in the past five years.

Rao Quan, head of the administration, said that China will complete its fourth national cultural heritage survey this year, while pilot programs for a second nationwide survey of movable cultural relics are already underway.

Rao said that conservation efforts are being carried out at a range of heritage sites, including grotto temples, major archaeological sites and traditional covered bridges, with digital technologies increasingly used in preservation and management.

Meanwhile, all 31 provincial-level regions have incorporated cultural relics protection into their annual government performance assessment systems, he added.

The main heritage day celebration was held on Saturday at the Panlongcheng ancient city site in Wuhan, Hubei province, under the theme "Cultural Relics Belong to the People and Serve the People".

Explaining the theme, Rao noted that serving the people has always been at the heart of cultural heritage work. "Protecting and passing on cultural heritage is about safeguarding the collective memory and shared spiritual home of the Chinese people," he added.

Widely regarded as one of the most significant Xia Dynasty (c.21st century-16th century BC) and Shang Dynasty (c.16th century-11th century BC) settlements discovered in the Yangtze River Basin, the Panlongcheng site is considered a vital source of Wuhan's urban development.

A special exhibition, Tracing Xia and Shang, opened at the site on Saturday. Bringing together 163 cultural relics from 35 museums and cultural institutions, the exhibition highlights historical exchanges between the Yangtze River Basin and the Central Plains, reflecting the diversity and unity of China's development.

During the opening ceremony, 20 exemplary cases of high-quality development in the cultural heritage sector were unveiled, and 10 grassroots cultural relic guardians were recognized for their outstanding contributions to heritage protection.

The ceremony also marked the launch of "Cultural Heritage: Global Call for Submissions", an initiative jointly launched by the National Cultural Heritage Administration and China Daily. The program invites photo and video submissions from around the world on cultural heritage themes.

Rao said that cultural relics serve as a powerful bridge for telling China's stories. They are also important carriers of cultural confidence and platforms for cross-cultural exchanges.

To further promote public understanding of cultural heritage, a range of new media projects, including films, documentaries and lecture series, were introduced during the event.

In addition to the opening ceremony, a forum themed "Cultural Relics Belong to the People and Serve the People" and the Sixth Cultural Relics and Technology Innovation Forum were held at the main venue.

Participants shared the latest findings from the Chinese Civilization Origins Project, which has further confirmed China's more than 5,000 years of continuous civilization and established a chronological framework for archaeological cultures across different regions from 3500 BC to 1500 BC.

Li Deren, an academician of both the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, delivered a keynote speech titled "Spatiotemporal Intelligence Empowering Cultural Heritage". He introduced his team's innovative integrated surveying solutions, which combine both aerial and ground-based technologies and indoor and outdoor data collection. The technologies have already been applied at heritage sites across China and are starting to gain international recognition.

Experts and representatives from cultural heritage institutions nationwide also shared practical experiences and technological approaches to heritage protection.

Since its launch in 2006 and its renaming in 2017, Cultural and Natural Heritage Day has become a key platform for promoting heritage conservation and public awareness. Every year, museums and cultural institutions across China organize a range of activities to encourage public participation in preserving the nation's rich cultural legacy.

On a related note, the "Cultural Heritage: Global Call for Submissions" is open until Sept 30. Interested participants can send their works to culturalheritage@chinadaily.com.cn.