Discuss the problem of the return of lost cultural relics

Reporter Chen Qian

Editor's note: On the morning of June 19, the second meeting of the Council of the Asian Alliance for the Protection of Cultural Heritage was held in Qingdao, Shandong. The next day, the International Symposium on the Protection and Repatriation of Cultural Relics Lost from Colonial Background was held, attended by 150 representatives from 27 countries, 2 international organizations, relevant Chinese ministries and commissions, universities and universities, scientific research institutions, and cultural and museum units. The restitution of cultural objects removed from the colonial context has become the focus of the international community, as more and more countries have been displaced from cultural objects requesting the return of cultural objects. Why is the return of artifacts so important but so difficult? What proposals did China make during the meeting? What is the current attitude of the countries that have lost cultural objects in this regard? Chinese and foreign participants had in-depth discussions.

Some of the holding countries remain silent

The second meeting of the Council of the Asian Alliance for the Protection of Cultural Heritage attracted cultural heritage representatives from non-Asian countries such as Cuba, Honduras and South Africa. Before the event, the delegates told the Global Times that although the journey was long, the participation was worth the time because they had always been concerned about the return of lost cultural relics. Delegates expressed high expectations of how the participating countries, especially the host country, China, would address this issue.

"This meeting is very, very important," Arman Mkhitaryan, chairman of the Armenian-China Center for the Development of Cooperative Relations, told the Global Times with a serious face. He said that Armenia, like China, has many artifacts that have been lost overseas, several of which are on display in the British Museum.

Melina Niardis, a Canadian international law lawyer, is the founder of a London-based consultancy on the restitution of cultural heritage. During the meeting on the 20th, she told the Global Times reporter that she herself is half Greek and half Cambodian descent, and both countries are troubled by this problem. On this occasion, she also consulted many institutions on the issue of the return of Parthenon sculptures from the British Museum. "The Parthenon sculpture is one of the biggest examples of this issue, and I know a lot of countries are looking at it right now."

In an interview with the Global Times, Sri Lankan culture official Judy Nilan Kuray said that the return of cultural relics is not about "emptying all museums" or asking the countries that own cultural relics to return all lost cultural relics. For some lost artefacts, they can show Sri Lankan history and culture to foreign audiences overseas, while for national treasures such as the 8th-century A.D. gilded bronze Tara Bodhisattva icon from Sri Lanka that is currently on display in the British Museum, they represent "the dignity of our nation" and need to be returned.

Speaking at the meeting, Asma Ali, Finance Executive of the Ministry of Dhivehi, Culture and Heritage of the Republic of Maldives, said that in today's society, there is a growing awareness of the need to address these injustices. The protection and restitution of these cultural objects is not just about getting things done, it is about restoring dignity.

While many countries have demanded the return of cultural relics, some of the countries holding cultural relics remain silent. At the meeting, Duan Yong, director of the China Overseas Cultural Relics Research Center, introduced the situation of the Tang Honglu Well Monument, which was looted by the Japanese army after the end of the Russo-Japanese War, and called on the Japanese government to return it to China.

Between October 1906 and April 1908, the Japanese garrison in Lushun Town Garrison dismantled and shipped the Tang Honglu Well Monument and the Tablet Pavilion back to Japan as so-called "war trophies", which were received by the Admiralty and "handed over to the palace" on April 30, Meiji 41, 1908, and reinstalled the front yard of the Ken'an Mansion (dedicated to commemorating the Russo-Japanese War), one of the Imperial Palaces (i.e., war memorials) displayed in the Japanese Imperial Palace, until today, and has been kept secret for a long time.

Duan Yong said that after the end of World War II, China and the international community have completely denied all kinds of rights and interests illegally seized by Japan in China from the legal point of view, and they should be reclaimed and returned in accordance with the spirit of international conventions and ethical and moral principles. "We hope that the Japanese government and the international community will actively promote the return of the Tang Honglu Well Monument, and use this as an example to jointly promote the establishment of a new order of fairness and justice in the field of international cultural heritage with a future-oriented and cooperative attitude, under the premise of respecting the national sentiments of cultural relics, acknowledging the universal value of cultural relics, adhering to the moral standards of exchange, facing up to the inheritance of history, and acquiescing to the limited role of the law," Duan Yong appealed.

Cultural relics go home, and China makes another suggestion

Why is it so difficult to return these lost artifacts? After talking with many international law experts and scholars, the Global Times reporter found that the biggest obstacle at present is that many lost cultural relics have passed the traceability period, and some museums are more "stubborn" and must abide by the provisions of international conventions formulated a long time ago, making it even more difficult to return cultural relics.

The outcome document of the symposium was the Qingdao Recommendation on the Protection and Repatriation of Cultural Relics Lost in the Colonial Context or Acquired by Other Unjust and Immoral Means (hereinafter referred to as the "Qingdao Recommendation").

The Qingdao Recommendation encourages dialogue and interaction to provide fair, scientific and sustainable solutions to the protection and return of such cultural relics.

Following the issuance of the Dunhuang Declaration on the Protection and Return of Stolen and Excavated Cultural Property Illegally Exported from the Territory in 2014, the mainland has once again voiced China's voice in the field of recourse and return of lost cultural relics, creating a favorable international environment for promoting the protection and return of cultural relics lost in history.

Many experts who participated in the event told the Global Times that the return of cultural relics requires some new actions and policies to keep pace with the times, rather than "sticking to old habits" like some museums. A number of cultural representatives said China's Qingdao Recommendation was "timely".

Huo Zhengxin, a professor at China University of Political Science and Law and vice president of the China Society of Private International Law, told the Global Times that the Qingdao Proposal is an important measure to practice the Global Civilization Initiative and promote the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind.

Sri Lankan cultural official Kurei told the Global Times after the meeting that China's Qingdao Recommendation has set a good example for the industry. Sri Lanka was also currently making representations on the return of looted cultural objects in the colonial context and the Netherlands, the holding country of cultural objects, and he believed that some of the lessons learned at the current meeting could help to better return those cultural objects.

Olivia Whiting, head of the cultural heritage department of the British "Lost Art Registry", told the Global Times after the meeting that the Qingdao Proposal is a bridge of communication between the country that traces the origin of cultural relics and the country that owns it. She was impressed by some of the recommendations in the Qingdao Recommendation, such as collective cooperation and consensus through the study of the origins of cultural objects and the objects themselves, which she believed should not be done in just one country, but in all countries in the world.

"I think it's very difficult to move forward without that consensus. It's crucial to allow people from other countries to study and look at the items themselves, and then let the country that traces the artifacts decide," Whiting told the Global Times.

The Chinese side has received physical evidence of the transfer of cultural relics in the United States

In the past decade, cultural relics with both historical and practical significance have become a hot spot for the international return of lost cultural relics, and the traditional stubborn stance and rigid attitude of European and American countries represented by France, Germany and the Netherlands towards lost cultural relics are undergoing positive changes.

After attending the meeting, the Global Times reporter could also clearly feel the friendly and supportive attitude of some scholars and officials from the countries that hold cultural relics on this issue.

Whiting told the Global Times that as a British, she could sense that the British public had become more open to the return of looted antiquities and "the recognition of colonialism and imperialism." In addition to the cultural relics themselves, they also began to pay attention to the countries of origin of these cultural relics and the history of the origins of these cultural relics.

During the meeting, heads of relevant cultural and museum institutions from the United Kingdom, the United States, Norway, Germany and China shared their practices and understandings with university experts and scholars on international cooperation in the research on the origins of cultural relics, protection and repatriation.

Pet Snell, director of the Bergenkode Museum in Norway, introduced the seven stone pillars of the Old Summer Palace that were returned to China last year through a video speech. These seven stone pillars were originally part of the Old Summer Palace, which were looted by the British and French forces in 1860 and lost overseas, and were later collected by the Bergencord Museum and the Western Norwegian Art Museum in Norway.

Christine Hovalt, Deputy Director of the Central Archives of the Berlin State Museum in Germany and a researcher on the origins of Asian art, introduced the cultural relics related to the Boxer Rebellion in the Qing Dynasty in the German museum collection through a video speech. Since September 2022, the German project team and seven museums have jointly carried out research work with the Palace Museum to conduct systematic research on the Chinese cultural relics in the German collection that are suspected to have been looted during the invasion of China by the Eight-Nation Alliance, and to sort out the archival information of cultural relics, so as to verify the historical context of the loss of these cultural relics.

Lou Wei, deputy director of the Palace Museum, said that a guide will be issued within the year to provide reference and guidance for museums in Germany and around the world, especially small and medium-sized museums that lack the ability to study Chinese cultural relics, to help them identify suspected Chinese cultural relics in their collections that were looted during the invasion of China by the Eight-Nation Alliance.

During the meeting, Professor Xia Dean of the University of Chicago handed over the second and third volumes of the Warring States Chu Silk Book from the Changsha Bullet Depot in the library to the State Administration of Cultural Heritage. The physical evidence was the lid of a box that once contained fragments of a bullet vault.

The bullet library silk book is the earliest silk book that has been discovered, and it is also the first ancient book in the sense of classics found in the mainland. The bullet depot was unearthed in 1942 when the Bullet Kuchu Tomb in Changsha, Hunan Province was illegally excavated, and was transferred to the United States in 1946. The relatively intact portion of the silk book is now owned by the M. M. Sackler Foundation; The remainder is in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Asian Art (formerly known as the Freer-Sackler Art Museum).

Xia Dean told the Global Times that this move is a good cultural diplomacy between China and the United States, "My goal is to do my best to help the bullet depot return to China as soon as possible...... I think we're doing the right thing. ”▲