56 lost Chinese cultural relics returned from Italy

This photo taken on Oct. 28, 2024 shows a batch of 56 lost Chinese cultural relics to be returned from Italy in Rome, Italy. (Xinhua/Li Jing)

A total of 56 lost Chinese cultural relics have been returned from Italy, China's National Cultural Heritage Administration announced on Saturday.

The return signifies yet another successful cooperation between China and Italy within the framework of their bilateral agreement aimed at preventing the illegal import and export of cultural relics, the administration noted.

It follows the previous repatriation of 796 Chinese cultural relics from Italy in March 2019.

In October 2022 and April 2024, the Italian Carabinieri military police notified China about the seizure of a total of 56 suspected Chinese cultural relics.

Upon receiving this information, China's National Cultural Heritage Administration provided detailed identification opinions and legal basis reports to the Italian authorities.

Through diplomatic channels, China officially requested the return of these cultural relics. Italy subsequently made the decision to return the 56 aforementioned artifacts.

Most of the artifacts were found to have been unearthed in the provinces of Gansu, Qinghai, and Shaanxi in China.

Among them is painted pottery of Majiayao culture, an ancient Chinese culture dating back more than 5,000 years, providing valuable material evidence for the study of the origin and early development of Chinese civilization.

The returned artifacts also include pottery figurines from the Han (202 B.C.- A.D. 220) and Tang (618-907) dynasties and animal-shaped ceramics from the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368).

Amid China's intensified efforts to recover cultural relics lost overseas, more than 2,100 pieces or sets of artifacts have been successfully brought back in the past 12 years.