94Ha Viewpoint
In the early morning of March 4th, Beijing time, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage received 41 cultural relics and artworks returned to my country by the Manhattan Attorney’s Office in New York, USA. Including copper money trees and pottery bases, plain pottery tripods, plain copper flanks with lids, pottery rap figurines, etc., covering pottery, jade, bronze, Buddha statues, portrait bricks and Tibetan Buddhist cultural relics.
After preliminary picture identification and legal judgment by experts, this batch of cultural relics and artworks spans from the Neolithic Age to the Qing Dynasty, with rich categories and exquisite craftsmanship, and has certain historical, artistic and scientific value. They are Chinese cultural relics and artworks that have been illegally exported.
In November 2024, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage learned from our Consulate General in New York that the Manhattan Attorney’s Office in New York, USA, seized 41 suspected Chinese lost cultural relics and artworks during the case handling process. After learning the news, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage carried out verification and other related work, worked closely with the Chinese Consulate General in New York, and successfully achieved the return of cultural relics and artworks with the cooperation of the US functional departments.
On January 14, 2009, China and the United States signed the first intergovernmental memorandum of understanding on preventing Chinese cultural relics from illegally entering the United States, and renewed it three times in 2014, 2019, and 2024. Since the signing of the memorandum, China and the United States have successfully cooperated to achieve the return of 20 batches of 594 pieces/sets of cultural relics and artworks lost in the United States to China.
