Chinese experts estimated that more than 10 million Chinese
cultural relics have been lost overseas, Monday's overseas edition
of the People's Daily reported.
Most of the cultural relics were robbed and illegally shipped out
of
China during the
war times before the founding of the People's Republic of China,
the Chinese Culture Relics Society said.
The newspaper said about 1.67 million of these items are housed
in more than 200 museums in 47 countries, accounting for just 10
percent of all lost Chinese cultural relics.
"But those in the hands of private collectors are ten times
higher," the newspaper quoted the United Nations Educational,
Scientific, and Cultural Organization as saying.
The lost treasures are said to cover a wide range of categories
including painting, calligraphy, bronze wares, porcelain, oracle
bone inscriptions, and ancient books and records.
The newspaper also said most of the artifacts are currently
owned by museums or private collectors in the United States,
Europe, Japan and Southeast Asian countries.
There are more than 23,000 pieces of Chinese culture relics in
the British Museum, most of which were robbed or purchased for
pennies more than 100 years ago.
Experts said that the main method used to recover the national
treasures is to buy them back. In some cases, private collectors
donated the relics to the government. Under certain circumstances,
the Chinese government can also go through official channels to
demand the return of relics.
In 2003, a priceless bronze pig's head dating from the imperial
Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) was returned to its home in Beijing after
it was removed by invading Anglo-French Allied forces over 140
years ago.
Macao entrepreneur Stanley Ho donated 6 million yuan (about
US$722, 892) to buy back the sculpture from an American art
collector, after which it was donated to the Poly Art Museum in
Beijing.
"Although to buy-back is the most feasible way to recover the
lost treasures, limited funding is always a big headache," the
newspaper quoted Zhang Yongnian, director of China's Lost Cultural
Relics Recovery Fund, as saying.
In recent years the Chinese government has improved efforts to
retrieve the precious cultural relics lost overseas by launching a
national project focused on the recovery of the treasures and
setting up a database collecting relevant information.
The Chinese government has enacted the Convention on the Means
of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export, and
Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property as a means to help fix
the problem; bilateral protocols have also been signed with
countries including Peru and Italy on this matter.
The government is also seeking international cooperation to
retrieve the relics by liaising closely with the International
Criminal Police Organization and the World Customs
Organization.
(Xinhua News Agency January 30, 2007)
