BEIJING, Sept. 26 (Xinhuanet) -- China launches a one-year-long drive to collect Chinese tablet engraving , stone inscriptions and seals by way of the Internet Monday.

    Under this program, launched jointly by the Chinese Culture Research Society and the China Cultural Relics Research Institute,people are invited to take pictures of these artifacts and send them to the website www.china-can.com for display.

    Tablet engraving, stone inscriptions and seals are considered to have utility in historical study as well as cultural and artistic value.

    "Lots of people have launched inscription-collection drives in history, but none has reached the scale of this one," said Tong Mingkang, deputy director general of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

    Nine kinds of awards are established for the contributions based on factors including antiquity, length of the inscriptions, historical value, aesthetic value and efforts towards their preservation.

    The program constitutes part of a bigger project launched by the Chinese Culture Research Society in June to display Chinese civilization from ancient times through the end of Chinese feudal society in 1911 on the Internet. Enditem