Tourists visit the Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 7, 2013, the last day of the seven-day National Day holiday. (Photo: Xinhua)

The executive deputy curator of the Palace Museum told the Global Times on Thursday that the museum will not be listed. 

Reports of whether the Palace Museum would go public went viral on Chinese social media after the museum was reported to have raked in 1.5 billion yuan ($223 million) in 2017 by selling cultural and creative products in late February. 

However, Wang Yamin, the museum executive deputy curator, denied the possibility, saying that they do not have plans. Wang is also a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). 

He called for simplified declaration procedures for firearms, cultural and endangered wildlife relics in and out of China for exhibits, according to a proposal released on the website of the National Cultural Heritage Administration. 

Wang said that import and export certificates of endangered species cultural relics must be examined and approved by the administrative departments, and a large amount of documents and materials need to be prepared, which causes a lot of problems.

"For example, the approval of certificates for terrestrial endangered species takes at least 50 working days, which is a long process," said Wang.

He suggested that the declaration procedures for the import and export of these firearm exhibits should only be registered with local police.

The exhibits should be registered with both local and airport police before they can get in or leave China for display, according to Wang.  

He noted that firearm relics are not dangerous as they cannot fire. And there is no need to apply for firearms and ammunition transportation permits with the police, which is required at current.

Wang suggested that the management department issue an identity label to each cultural relic, and the label shall be exempted from the permit for import and export certificates, and the entry and exit endangered species management department could directly handle all approval procedures.