The Parylene Conservation Laboratory has been officially set up in Nanjing, capital city of east China's Jiangsu Province.

It was jointly built by the Nanjing Museum and Penta Vacuum Technology Co Ltd of Singapore.

The laboratory is devoted to the study and production of parylene coating, which is used for the preservation and protection of cultural relics, such as ancient silk, clothes, books and fossils.

"However, our product will not only be used by museums to preserve their precious cultural relics, but also for people to protect metal objects in their daily life in the future, which is the long-term goal of the laboratory," said Xu Huping, curator of the museum.

According to Xu, the two organizations have actually cooperated with each other for about half a year.

The Singaporean corporation provides capital and the museum offers technology.

"For example, they gave a set of equipment which is worth 880,000 yuan (US$106,000) to the laboratory the other day.

"Until recently, we have achieved great success in the construction of the laboratory," said Xu, at the inaugural ceremony on Tuesday.

The research institute of Nanjing Museum has been studying the technology used to create parylene coating since 1993.

(China Daily October 16, 2003)