Visitors appreciate a marble statue of Mithras at the National Museum of China in Beijing on March 1, 2017. [Photo by Jiang Dong/Asianewsphoto]

Cultural relics exhibitions have become more important for China in improving cultural exchange, the head of the country's cultural heritage authority said Monday.

From 2011 to 2016, a total of 293 exhibitions were held abroad to display Chinese cultural items, and 116 foreign relics exhibitions were held in China, said Liu Yuzhu, director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, at a symposium on cultural relics and cultural exchange.

One of the most recent exhibitions was held in February in San Francisco. A collaboration between the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco and China's Nanjing Museum, it brought more than 160 Chinese treasures, dating back thousands of years, to the United States for the first time.

At the beginning of this month, "A History of the World in 100 Objects," a travelling exhibition curated by the British Museum, arrived at the National Museum of China in Beijing. Running until May, it will later move to Shanghai.

Liu said China has deepened cooperation with other countries in the field, and more than 100 pieces or sets of Chinese cultural objects managed to return home from the countries, including the United States, France and Japan, from 2011 to 2016.

China will hold more exhibitions abroad to present items that showcase Chinese culture and will welcome more exhibitions of foreign objects in China, Liu said.