CHENGDU, June 30 (Xinhua) -- An exhibition highlighting the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) opened Sunday in Chengdu, the capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province.

Nearly 3,000 historic pictures and 2,200 cultural relics are on display at the exhibition, with an area of more than 2,000 square meters.

The exhibits include 15 cultural relics under the state's first-class protection.

"As a witness of China's reform and opening up, I want to record the 70 years since the founding of the PRC with the exhibition," said Fan Jianchuan, curator of the Jianchuan Museum, one of the exhibition's three sponsors.