According to CCTV News, on April 17, local time, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage successfully recovered 38 lost cultural relics and artworks from the United States. The repatriation ceremony was held at the Chinese Consulate General in New York, and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Manhattan handed over 38 pieces of seized Chinese cultural relics and artworks to the Chinese government.
After preliminary identification, experts judged that most of the cultural relics were Tibetan Buddhist cultural relics in the mainland during the Ming and Qing dynasties, involving pagodas, Buddha statues, Buddhist ornaments and other categories, covering copper, clay, ivory, wood and other materials, rich in content, well-preserved, and with important historical, artistic and scientific value.
According to the Xinhua News Agency, China and the United States signed the first Sino-US intergovernmental memorandum of understanding on preventing Chinese cultural relics from illegally entering the United States on January 14, 2009, and its validity period was extended for the third time from January 14 this year.
