A campaign themed "Discover Relics and Stories along the Yangtze River" was carried out on Oct 31 in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu province, as part of the 2014 China (Zhangjiagang) Yangtze River Culture and Art Festival.

The event will run for a year in four stages: launching, collection, selection and exhibition. Participants can email wenwuzhengji@gmw.cn from Dec 1, 2014, to April 30, 2015, with photos of an authentic relic and a related story with at least 1,800 words.

According to Huang Jianqiu, one of the campaign's judges, they will focus on the relics' cultural value instead of their economic value.

Co-sponsored by Guangming Daily, the Yangtze River Culture Promotion Society and the Zhangjiagang municipal government, the campaign aims to explore the history of the Yangtze River, further promote the culture industry, call for more attention to protect culture, and drive the economic growth of the Yangtze River area.

The Yangtze River region boasts rich cultural relics, including 2-million-year-old ape men fossils in Hubei province, carbonized rice in Hunan and Jiangxi provinces that date back to 10,000 years ago, and jade relics of the Liangzhu culture in the Jiangnan area (regions south of the Yangtze River), which all contribute to a profound Yangtze River culture.