China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism has begun to accept applications from local governments for establishing "state reserves of cultural ecology."

Each provincial-level region will have one quota, and the ministry will recognize a maximum of five "state reserves of cultural ecology" annually in 2019 and 2020, said a statement on the ministry's website Thursday.

The reserves aim to protect unique and long-lasting regional cultural systems, which the ministry calls "cultural ecologies."

A regulation on the establishment and operation of "state reserves of cultural ecology" took effect from March 1, marking the formal start of the project.

As a pilot project, the Chinese government has already founded 21 state-level reserves of cultural ecology since 2007, including reserves of southern Fujian culture, Hakka culture, the Qiang ethnic group and other ethnic groups in southwest Yunnan and Guizhou provinces.

Candidates will have to meet criteria such as having unique regional features, being deeply embedded in local life and reaching a balance between the protection of intangible cultural heritage and tangible cultural heritage as well as natural environment, according to the ministry.

The application procedure will last until Sept. 30.