The Japanese government has granted 280 million Yen (about US$2.3 million) to China for the initial funding of a cultural heritage protection project.
Long Yongtu, vice minister of China's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC) and Japanese Ambassador to China Koreshige Anami signed an agreement on the conservation project in Beijing on Thursday.
The sum will be used for the preservation and restoration of the ruins and gardens of Hanyuan Hall, once an integral part of Daming Palace which was built in the Tang Dynasty (618-907).
Located in Xi'an, capital of north China's Shaanxi Province and the national capital during the Tang Dynasty, the palace was the political heart of China at the time.
The conservation project is being jointly planned by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and experts from both China and Japan.
(Xinhua News Agency November 22, 2002)
