According to media sources, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage will successfully recover 12 exquisite cultural relics and artworks from the United States, and these cultural relics will be allocated to large provincial museums in the western part of the country as a whole. It is reported that as early as March this year, the State Administration of Cultural Relics has learned that the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Manhattan District of New York has seized a number of cultural relics, which are cultural relics that are explicitly prohibited from the mainland from leaving the country, whether from the perspective of the sense of shape and art or from the perspective of historical and cultural research value, and are exquisite cultural relics and art treasures, which have been verified and finally determined to be illegally lost cultural relics. To this end, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage officially put forward a recourse request to the Us side, so that the cultural relics lost from foreign countries can return to China smoothly.
It is reported that after the State Administration of Cultural Relics discovered this batch of cultural relics in March, after verification and confirmation, the cultural relics entry and exit examination agency has never received an application for the export of these cultural relics, nor has it issued a cultural relics exit permit, which can be determined to be illegal loss of cultural relics. After research and discussion, on April 15, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage officially issued a note to the United States to make a request for recourse. After a series of recourse processes, which lasted for two months, on July 16, all 12 cultural relics and artworks were successfully transported back to Beijing.
After careful appraisal by cultural relics experts, the age of this batch of cultural relics and artworks is mainly from the Ming and Qing dynasties to the Republic of China period, of which 6 belong to precious cultural relics, 4 works of art, and 2 general cultural relics. Among them, there are 5 gold and bronze Buddha statues and 1 bronze gilded crystal inlaid gem offering tower that attracts people's attention, and the workmanship is very exquisite, which has been designated as a third-level cultural relic, reflecting the meticulous professionalism of the previous craftsmen. In particular, one of the brass statues of the Buddha of Wuliangshou created in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, which integrates different styles, and the pedestal of the statue is mostly found in Thangka art works, and it is very rare to appear in bronze statues.
Judging from the overall artifact modeling style of these cultural relics, they are typical southwest artifacts, which have high historical, artistic, humanistic and scientific value, and are of great help to understanding the history and humanistic customs of the southwest region. These 12 cultural relics and artworks are valuable national treasures, both from the perspective of workmanship and material and historical value. Apparently, there are traffickers of antiquities smuggling out of the country through illegal means in an attempt to seek violence. Since cultural relics and works of art are one of the important achievements of human civilization, all countries generally take a cautious attitude in the field of cultural relics and establish a sound communication mechanism to ensure that some cultural relics lost in other countries have channels to be pursued and recovered.
But even so, many precious cultural relics are still scattered in foreign countries, including many rare treasures. Moreover, a considerable part of these artifacts have been included in national museums and galleries in other countries, and are not tradable commodities and can hardly be returned. Unless the two countries want to strengthen cooperation in other fields, to reflect the sincerity and friendship of both sides, it is possible to take out a few of them for gifts.
With the development of information technology, society has embarked on the fast lane, more and more traditional arts are fragmented under the impact of fast-food life, in fact, the friendship and camaraderie between many people has also been diluted by the fast-paced society. If we quietly appreciate these cultural relics, people may rethink where our civilization can last for 5,000 years, become the world's oldest civilization, and continue to develop for a long time. Therefore, only by attaching importance to cultural relics can we respect history, respect our predecessors, and protect the soul of the nation.