Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, November 18 Title: The Call for Spanning 25 Years -- 68 Lost British Cultural Relics Return to the Embrace of the Motherland
Xinhua News Agency reporter Shi Yucen
On October 16, in London, England, a secret from the Cultural Affairs Department of the Chinese Embassy in the United Kingdom, representing the State Administration of Cultural Heritage of China, and Agent Sophie Hayes, representing the Metropolitan Police, signed a confirmation of receipt of cultural relics. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Han Yan
London, UK, October 16, Cultural Section, Chinese Embassy in the UK. In the bright sunshine, Young Chinese diplomat Yu Guo and London Metropolitan Police Detective Sophie Hayes smiled and enthusiastically elbowed to celebrate the confirmation of the receipt of the artifacts they had just signed.
At this point, the ownership of a batch of 68 lost British cultural relics was officially transferred to the Chinese government.
25 years back in time, in the same place, Chinese learned the clues of the cultural relics for the first time from the British police report, thus starting a 25-year long recourse journey. "This is an important landmark achievement made by China and the UK in the field of cultural relics recovery and return in recent years." At a press conference held by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage on the 18th, Guan Qiang, deputy director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, summed it up.
A long recourse opened by a briefing
This long story began with a phone call 25 years ago.
In February 1995, the British police called the Cultural Section of the Chinese Embassy in the UK to inform them of the discovery of suspected Chinese cultural relics in the course of cracking an international cultural relics crime. Yu Peng, the second secretary of the Cultural Affairs Department who received the call, immediately reported the situation.
After preliminary appraisal by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, it is indeed a cultural relic that is prohibited from being exported from China. In March of that year, British police carried out "Operation Water Candle" to intercept a large number of cultural relics transported to the United Kingdom by the suspects. The State Administration of Cultural Heritage sent personnel to the UK for identification and confirmed that it was smuggling Chinese cultural relics.
Under the unified deployment of the State Council, the "Working Group for The Seizure and Seizure of Smuggled Chinese Cultural Relics by the Police of Tracing the British" jointly formed by multiple departments immediately launched relevant work.
In February 1998, under pressure from the Chinese side, the two main suspects in the case signed an agreement on the return of cultural relics with the State Administration of Cultural Relics, and in May, more than 3,000 returned cultural relics were shipped back to Beijing; in August, the other suspect in the case reached a settlement with the State Administration of Cultural Relics and returned seven cultural relics. However, one of the cultural relics purchasers in the case refused to participate in the negotiation and negotiation, and the cultural relics involved in the case have been seized by the British police.
Time flies, Yu Peng, who has become a minister counselor, once talked about this "unsolved case", and the younger generation Yu Guo summed up the legend of this hearing with "thrilling".
On October 16, in London, England, staff assisted the Cultural Department of the Chinese Embassy in the United Kingdom in inventorying cultural relics. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Han Yan
What he did not expect was that he had become a member of the "continuation" legend - in January this year, Yu Guo received an email from the Metropolitan Police in London, informing him that because the buyer's whereabouts were unknown and the seizure time exceeded the prosecution period, the cultural relics involved in the case were defined as unowned, and he offered to return the cultural relics to the Chinese government.
When the news was transmitted back to China, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage immediately organized the restart of the recourse mechanism, formulated a recourse plan, organized expert appraisal, formed a recourse list, and issued a recourse letter to the British side, formally submitting a return request on behalf of the Chinese government. After on-site inventory, a total of 68 cultural relics were finally determined to be recovered, and the London Metropolitan Police agreed to return all of them.
On October 20, with the smooth landing of Flight CA938 at Beijing Capital Airport, the treasure that had been lost in a foreign land for many years finally returned to the embrace of the motherland.
A cultural gem that has never been abandoned
During the period of detention by the British police, the artifacts were not forgotten. "The State Administration of Cultural Heritage has never given up the pursuit, maintained contact with our embassy in the UK and the British police, and paid long-term attention to the progress." Guan Qiang said.
At the end of July this year, Yu Peng, Yu Guo and others went to the British warehouse to count the cultural relics that had been sleeping for many years. When the results of the recourse that condensed the painstaking efforts of generations of cultural relics workers and diplomats were truly placed in front of them, the people who had worked hard for it were full of emotions.
After the return of these cultural relics, the State Administration of Cultural Relics immediately organized experts to carry out appraisal work.
Deng Chao, deputy director of the Department of Policies and Regulations of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, said that after expert discussion and research, among the 68 cultural relics, 13 were tentatively designated as 3 groups of second-class cultural relics, 30 third-level cultural relics, and 25 general cultural relics. They have several characteristics: a large time span, from the Spring and Autumn Warring States to the Qing Dynasty; the distribution of production areas is wide, seen in Jiangxi, Anhui, Fujian, Henan, Shaanxi, Hebei, Guizhou and other places; the instruments are rich, the quality is better, there are more fine products, and some cultural relics have important historical, artistic and scientific value.
This is part of the artifacts returned from the UK (file photo). Xinhua News Agency
Cultural relics are the epitome of splendid civilization, recording important information such as politics, economy, culture and society in ancient China.
"For example, this set of Tang Sancai seven-star disc is composed of a bearing plate, 6 small cups and 1 large cup, and the outer wall of the plate and the body of the cup are glazed with yellow, green and white, and the glaze color is bright. They are a reproduction of the real life of the Tang Dynasty, and also reflect the superb level of pottery craftsmanship in the Tang Dynasty. Deng Chao said.
The "international weather vane" that has gradually changed in 25 years
From receiving a notice from the police in January this year to the return of cultural relics in October, the recourse operation appeared to be unusually smooth. Compared with 25 years ago, what "secrets" have been mastered in the recovery of lost cultural relics in China?
In fact, the recovery of lost cultural relics not only involves extremely complex legal problems, but also often involves national feelings and international relations, which is a systematic project that requires the unremitting efforts of generations of people, and is recognized as a worldwide problem.
For more than 20 years, China has continuously improved its ability to protect cultural relics and recover lost cultural relics, committed itself to the reform and improvement of international rules in the field of cultural relics return, and promoted the evolution of international rules in the direction of more fairness and justice. China has signed bilateral agreements with 23 countries on the recovery and return of lost cultural relics and established an international cooperation mechanism with Chinese characteristics.
"At the same time, the international legal order in the field of repatriation of cultural relics has undergone historic changes." Guan Qiang said that the concepts of "illegally lost cultural relics should be returned to the country of origin" and "cracking down on illegal trafficking in cultural relics is the common mission of all mankind" have become international consensus. Many cultural relics market countries, including the United Kingdom, have joined the 1970 Convention, providing a broader space for countries to carry out cooperation in recovery and return.
Detective Sophie Hayes of the Metropolitan Police in London's view of the matter is a testament to this "international weather vane" – the artifacts "should be returned in accordance with the law".
Looking back from a more far-reaching historical dimension, this is not only a response to the unremitting call of generations of Chinese "treasure hunters", but also the inevitable trend of the development of international law and order.
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