The Guangzhou police have drafted a regulation on the management of lost property recently. The new regulation stipulates that if no one claims to own a piece of lost property, the property will be sold by auction and the person who turned it in will get 10 percent of the auction earnings, said the police in Guangzhou, capital city of south China's Guangdong province.

Compared to the existing protocols for lost property, awarding the individual who turned in the property is a new idea which can encourage people to turn in lost property, explained the police.

After receiving the lost property, the local police station will issue a lost-and-found announcement and wait for 15 days. If no one claims the property, the police station will deliver it to the bureau of public security at the district and county level. After 30 days without claim, the property will be delivered to the municipal public security organ and be kept for 90 days. If there is still no claimer, the property will be auctioned and 10 percent of its sale price will be given to the founder as a reward, according to the regulation.

To claim lost property, owners should show their ID cards and other certificates that can prove their ownership. They can also pay the founder 10 percent of the value of their returned property to reward their upright behavior.

Peng Peng, senior researcher at Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences, believes that someone who finds property and follows the right channels to return the object to an owner should be rewarded.