BEIJING, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- China made public 36 candidates for the annual selection of top ten archaeological discoveries and launched the first round of voting on Friday.

The candidates were proposed by units that are qualified for archaeological excavation and a total of 20 nominated candidates will enter the final selection, according to the official website of the National Cultural Heritage Administration.

Eighty-seven qualified archaeological excavation units and 137 council members of the Society for Chinese Archaeology (SCA) were required to send their ballots, each with no more than 20 selections, before Jan. 20.

The selection, which started in 1990, is organized by a professional archaeological newspaper and the SCA, to choose top discoveries that "are of historic, artistic and scientific significance while providing fresh knowledge and understanding" to archaeological studies.