Six people have been sentenced to jail terms ranging from four to nine years for stealing relics from ancient kilns in east China's Jingdezhen city.
A former official with the city's administration for industry and commerce and three others dug tunnels to plunder the relics in the kilns.
Over the past three years, local police have handled 26 cases involving the looting of ancient kiln relics.
Jingdezhen, known as China's porcelain capital, has a porcelain-making history of more than 1,700 years. It is one of China's biggest producers and exporters of daily-use porcelain products.
The city has many imperial kilns, some dating back more than 700 years ago. Thousands of ancient kiln wares have been found in these kiln relics.
(Cri.com April 24, 2003)
