More than 140 cases involving the safekeeping and theft of cultural relics were handled by the country's different levels of cultural heritage administration in 2015, according to a recent news conference of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

The cases included 23 fire accidents (five more than 2014), 29 cultural-relic thefts, and 83 tomb robberies. According to Liu Mingwei, who is charge of legal supervision office of the administration, fire is a major threat because of a lack of safety management and unregulated usage of electricity.

Among the cases under direct supervision and handling by the state administration, 78 percent were committed by its managers of cultural relics. Such cases included illegal demolishing of sections of ancient cities.

The state administration opened its informants center for the reporting of law violations related to cultural relics in August 2015, and had received 147 reports by the end of that year.

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