Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region said archeological work should be used to counter anti-secessionist purposes, by using cultural relics to teach people that Xinjiang has always been part of China.



Xinjiang Party chief Chen Quanguo wrote to a regional archeological work meeting on Wednesday in Urumqi that Xinjiang needs to use their work to "cultivate and promote core socialist values, deepen patriotic education and strengthen anti-secessionist thoughts."



Xinjiang vice chairman Arken Tuniyaz also said that archeological work and the preservation of cultural relics need to help maintain social stability and safeguard ethnic unity.



"Many of our excavations in Xinjiang have revealed that the region has been connected to and under the influence of Chinese culture for thousands of years," said Liu Xuetang, an archeologist at Xinjiang Normal University.



He cited the discovery of painted pottery in Xinjiang dating back to prehistoric times as an example. "Ethnic Han owned the technology to make painted pottery at the time, and the discovery shows the region began to culturally integrate with other parts of China centuries ago, which paved the way for the Han Dynasty's (206BC - AD220) governance of Xinjiang." Liu added that the archeological findings have proven that Chinese culture has always been inclusive.



Xinjiang invested over 2 billion yuan ($300 million) for the preservation of relics from 2010 to 2015, officials said at the meeting.



