BEIJING — China's cultural heritage administrative agencies carried out 266,278 checks and inspections for cultural relics protection in 2020, the national authority said.

The National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) said in a statement which was made public on March 24 that a total of 590 cases involving relevant violations were uncovered in last year's inspections, among which 103 involved national-level key cultural heritage protection sites.

These violations included irregularities with the site operators, illegal excavation of ancient tombs and theft of cultural relics, as well as fire and security risks at relevant sites, according to the statement.

The authorities have handed down administrative punishments in 63 cases and asked responsible parties to rectify their violations in 89 cases.

In six cases, the violators have been transferred to judicial agencies, the statement said.

The NCHA itself also directly oversaw the investigation of 236 major cases in this regard.

The statement said cultural heritage authorities also worked with the police in dealing with cultural heritage-related crimes, capturing 2,435 suspects and retrieving over 31,000 cultural relics.