In 1994, tomb robbers sold national treasures overseas, and experts searched for 6 years without giving up.

Jackie Chan has a movie called "Zodiac", the film is about, in order to obtain a huge prize money from cultural relics dealers, the male protagonist went through various thrilling difficulties to find the last four beast heads lost in the Twelve Zodiac signs of the Yuanmingyuan.

On the way, he was touched by the patriotism of the archaeologist who searched for cultural relics, and at the last moment, the male protagonist gave up money and chose to return the head of the beast to the motherland.

The plot of the film is thrilling and exaggerated, but it is very vivid and vivid to show everyone the difficulty of the return of the national treasure.

In real life, national cultural relics have been robbed by war, looted by tomb robbers, some of whose whereabouts are unknown, and some of them are exiled overseas.

In order to recover cultural relics, people from all walks of life at home and abroad have made every effort to strive for the process of making countless films that touch people's hearts.

The National Museum of China has a beautiful work of art, the Tang Dynasty painted relief samurai statue, which was racked by experts and traveled for 6 years to bring it to everyone. Let's talk about the story.

1. Rare burial items were stolen

During the five dynasties of the late Tang Dynasty, Wang Chu directly divided the north and was an important general of the clan town, who died of imprisonment and depression at the age of 61 and was buried in the mountain village of Hebei.

Here is a treasure of feng shui, high mountains and long roads, inaccessible. As early as the Jin Dynasty, this ancient tomb was stolen by tomb robbers and some of the burial goods.

Due to the ingenious design of the burial chamber, the front chamber of the burial chamber has not been discovered.

I thought I would no longer be bothered, but in 1994 there was a gang of tomb robbers who did not know where to get the news of the "treasure".

Armed with "advanced" tools and "scientific" technology, the remaining front room was looted.

By the time the staff of the National Archaeological Team arrived at the scene, there was very little left but what could not be taken away and those that had not been taken away.

After excavation and investigation by the staff, in addition to the well-painted murals in the ancient tomb, there are also ingenious stone carved and painted relief works - samurai statues made of White Jade, Zodiac signs and sanle, and service.

These artistic treasures with realistic human figures and vivid and smooth carved lines are rare before.

According to experts, on both sides of the corridor behind the tomb door, there should be two reliefs of the samurai gate god, the purpose of which is to guard the tomb and drive away evil spirits.

The theft of the samurai statue has always touched the hearts of all cultural relics workers, and everyone has not given up the search for it.

Second, the treasure first appeared

In early 2000, when Yuan Yunsheng, a painter who had held many exhibitions abroad, visited the United States, he learned that Carlsk Auction House was about to hold an auction in New York, and the auctions included Chinese paintings and ceramics.

When he flipped through the auction album, he found that the 209 lot was a white jade painted relief samurai statue, the samurai wearing the famous Tang Dynasty bright light armor, the phoenix wing helmet on the head, the bull-shaped monster with the feet, the sword in both hands, the tip of the sword pointed directly at the lotus flower held by the mouth of the beast, and the phoenix bird on the shoulder contained beads.

This is so similar to the relief style of a batch of Scattered Drawings and Fengshi Tu excavated from the tomb of Wang Zhizhi a few years ago, he quickly told the Hebei painter Mr. Fei Zheng, who realized the seriousness of the matter, did not delay for a moment, and reported the news to the Hebei Cultural Relics Bureau.

After comparison, it was found that this was the stolen samurai relief in the tomb of wang zhizhi that everyone had been looking for. The Bureau of Antiquities then requested the state to use diplomatic means to prevent the auction of Lot 209.

Third, the return of national treasures is a long road

After many efforts and a large amount of evidence, the auction was stopped by the local court. While the seller of the damaged samurai statue firmly opposed, insisted on the auction and proposed:

1. The samurai statue is different from the other reliefs in the tomb of the king.

2. The samurai statue is brightly colored as ever, and the color of the reliefs of sanraku and serving is dim, so the samurai statue does not originate from the tomb of the king.

In this regard, mainland experts gave an explanation: the samurai statue is used to guard the tomb chamber and defend the tomb owner, and the shape is bound to be exaggerated and the expression is majestic.

The purpose of scattering music and serving is to show the prominent position and rich life of the tomb owner, and it is not surprising that there are differences in relief styles.

As for the color - the location of the tombs where these statues are located is different, because there are tomb robbers entering the Jin Dynasty, the tombs are exposed to a large amount of air, and there is water immersion, and the reliefs of the scattered music and service are oxidized and soaked all year round, so the color is diluted.

Samurai statues that have been stolen and have not been corroded by nature, so the colors are brilliant.

Despite reasonable explanations, the U.S. side still demanded conclusive and direct evidence that the samurai statue came from the king's tomb.

After many years, one is far away in Hebei (it has been rescued), and the other is far away on the other side of the ocean, how to prove the connection between the two? For a moment, everyone was anxious.

The cultural relics experts held a meeting, worked day and night, and finally came up with a solution. The burial soil found on the samurai statue is compared with the soil of the original samurai statue on the burial chamber.

Using high-tech means, it was finally concluded that the two were exactly the same, and the 209th samurai statue was indeed from the tomb of the king.

In 2001, the U.S. government held a handover ceremony in New York, and in May, the samurai statue returned to the motherland by special plane, and this precious cultural relic, which lasted for 7 years, finally returned to the motherland with the efforts of all parties.

There are two samurai statues in total in the town guard tomb, so what about the other one?

An Siyuan, a Chinese collector known as the "Godfather of Chinese Antiques", bought a stone carving of a samurai statue in Hong Kong and Macao in his early years.

After seeing this news, he found that his collection was the same as in the news, and he took the initiative to contact the Chinese government and returned the samurai statue to the China Cultural Relics Bureau free of charge.

It is reported that he is passionate about public welfare undertakings and has donated cultural relics many times in his life.

Now, the two samurai statues are positioned as national first-class cultural relics and are treasured in the National Museum of China. There are many more stories like this.

Fourth, the motherland is strong, and national treasures are returning home one after another

At the end of 2018, the bronze tiger of the Yuanmingyuan, which has been lost overseas for more than a hundred years, returned to the embrace of the motherland. In April 2019, Italy returned 796 sets of lost Chinese cultural relics and artworks. In September, Zeng Boke's father bronze set of tools, which was lost to Japan, also returned to the embrace of the motherland. The cultural relics came home one after another, which made people happy.

How should cultural relics lost overseas be recovered? What is the main basis? How many cultural relics have China lost overseas?

According to the Statistics of the China Cultural Relics Association, since the Opium War in 1840, more than 10 million Chinese cultural relics have been lost to the United States, Europe, Japan, and Southeast Asia and other countries and regions.

The mainland has successfully promoted the return of more than 300 batches and 150,000 cultural relics to the motherland.

At present, the mainland's external recovery of cultural relics is in accordance with two international conventions, the first of which is the Convention on the Prohibition and Prevention of the Illegal Import and Export of Cultural Property and the Method of Illegal Transfer and Ownership, which stipulates that States parties have the right to demand the restitution of stolen cultural property.

The other is the Convention on the Accused or Illegal Export of Cultural Relics, which requires that the owner of the accused cultural relics should return the stolen objects and should return the illegally exported cultural relics. The two international conventions, while highly influential, also have significant limitations.

The Convention imposes corresponding limitations on the duration of the restriction, and the limitation period for the recovery of cultural objects is usually 75 years, or longer than the law of the Contracting State.

This means that China's pursuit of a large number of cultural relics lost from the Yuanmingyuan, Dunhuang and other places in the early 19th century cannot be based on the Convention. Moreover, the Convention is valid only for States parties and cannot be recourse against States not parties.

There are many ways to seek recourse, ranging from diplomatic consultation to judicial proceedings (litigation), to purchases, donations, criminal recourse by public security organs, and a mixture of several methods.

The work of recovering cultural relics is very difficult, every time it is twisted and turned thousands of times, it is difficult to achieve it by one's own efforts, and it needs the support of all sectors of society at home and abroad.

Many countries have deeply felt the difficulty of recourse, but in any case, the matter of recovering cultural relics has never stopped, let alone stopped. But all national treasures, although far away will be chased!

Today, the country is strong and the nation is confident, and it is a powerful force for us to pursue illegally lost cultural relics. Even with difficulties, we will face the past, present, and future in a more rational way.

The artistic value of cultural relics is immeasurable, and it is of greater significance to the study of human history. And the national memory contained in it is always a wake-up call for future generations. Cultural relics that are still wandering away will one day return home!