Police officers attend an exhibition of 4,431 recovered stolen cultural relics, mostly bronze ware from the Shang and Zhou dynasties, at Shanxi Museum in Taiyuan May 27. [Photo/Shanxi Daily]

An exhibition highlighting 4,431 recovered stolen cultural relics, mostly bronze ware from the Shang (c.16th century-11th century BC) and Zhou (c.11th century-256 BC) dynasties, was held at Shanxi Museum May 27.

Among the pieces on display, 25 have been classified grade 1 national relics, with 80 classified grade 2 and 199 grade 3.

The exhibition is the largest ever presentation of the results of the efforts of Shanxi public security departments over the past two decades to stop the theft and destruction of cultural relics.

Shanxi has intensified a crackdown on the theft of ancient tombs, architecture, stone carvings, frescoes and sculptures in the past three years, and has so far apprehended 296 suspects and 29 gangs in cultural heritage-related crimes. According to the provincial public security department, some 230 cases have resulted in 2,525 items being retrieved in Shanxi.

Shanxi is home to 452 sites containing cultural relics under State-level protection, and to more than 28,000 ancient architectural sites, the most of all provinces in China.

The exhibition will run until August.