Article 5 of Chapter I of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Cultural Relics clearly stipulates: "All cultural relics left in the underground, internal waters and territorial waters of the People's Republic of China belong to the state. ..... The ownership of state-owned cultural relics is protected by law and inviolable. " This first clarified the ownership of unearthed cultural relics.

and which cultural relics can citizens legally collect? Article 6: "The ownership of memorial buildings, ancient buildings and ancestral cultural relics owned by collectives and private individuals and other cultural relics obtained according to law shall be protected by law. Owners of cultural relics must abide by the laws and regulations of the state on the protection of cultural relics. " The concept of ancestral cultural relics is vague, but according to the actual cases, we can probably know that the handed down cultural relics that have been handed down from generation to generation and have not been buried after the founding of the People's Republic of China are within the protection scope of this article, but have been buried in your ancestral grave for hundreds of years, and the recently unearthed cultural relics are not ancestral cultural relics. (I understand it this way, please ask legal professionals to point it out if it is incorrect.)

There is also Article 5 in Chapter 5: "Citizens, legal persons and other organizations other than cultural relics collection units may collect cultural relics obtained in the following ways: (1) Inherit or accept gifts according to law ..." I have never heard that things in ancestral graves can be inherited according to law ... I don't know how the Law of the People's Republic of China on Succession of China stipulates. This makes it clear that you have the obligation to hand over the cultural relics you dig to the state, and you can't destroy, throw them away or hide them secretly.

and what are your rewards for handing in cultural relics? Article 12: "The state shall give moral encouragement or material rewards to units or individuals who have the following deeds: …… (4) Reporting or handing in cultural relics in time when they are discovered, so that the cultural relics can be protected." This material reward does not give a specific amount standard, so the reward you get for handing in cultural relics is basically awarded by the relevant departments that receive cultural relics at their discretion.