Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region will invest 1 million yuan (120,000 US dollars) in 2005 to protect 3,000-year-old cliff carvings.

Located in the Tianshan Mountains, 75 km southwest to the Hutubi County, the cliff carvings are composed of hundreds of human figures, the height of which varies from more than two meters to less than 20 cms.

Archaeologists consider the figures, with bushy eyebrows, big eyes, a big mouth and Roman nose, to be cultural relics of the local people living in the Tianshan Mountains some 3,000 years ago.

Having covered an area of 126 square meters of 14 meters long and nine meters high, the area of those paintings is reduced to only 100 square meters now due to poor protection.

(Xinhua News Agency February 16, 2005)