A team of technical experts from Canada will join in the preservation of cultural relics in China's Three Gorges region.

The announcement was made Monday in Beijing at a donation ceremony in which the Canadian Foundation for the Preservation of Chinese Cultural and Historical Treasures presented China with a Biris 3D laser scanner.

The equipment, developed by the National Research Council of Canada, is suitable for archaeological field recording applications.

It will be used to aid the experts in their preservation efforts of the Zhang Fei Temple in Yunyang County in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.

China is one of the oldest civilizations in the world, with a vast expanse of cultural wealth that transcends time and national boundaries.

"To protect these cultural treasures and historical sites, whether for appreciation or for scientific purposes, is an enormous and continuous task," said Nelly Ng, foundation chairperson. "We hope our assistance has helped achieve the common goal of preserving magnificent treasures."

Both the Canadian experts and the equipment will "help take the preservation of cultural relics in the Three Gorges area to a higher level," said Zhang Wenbin, head of the State Bureau of Cultural Relics.

In late 1998, a protocol on cultural heritage preservation was signed in the presence of Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien.

The protocol has a special emphasis on the foundation's help in preserving Chinese treasures, especially those in the Three Gorges region.

(China Daily 10/16/2001)