Come back! More than 700 pieces of Italian returned Chinese lost cultural relics unveiled at Guobo

（Party Secretary and Minister of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Mr. Qi Shugang, Italian Ambassador to China Xie Guoyi, Director of the National Museum of China, Wang Chunfa, etc., watched the exhibition Photo: Yu Guanchen）

On April 24, 2019, the "Return - Italy Returns China Lost Cultural Relics Exhibition" hosted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China and the State Cultural Relics Bureau was held at the National Museum of China. Secretary of the Party Committee of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Minister Yu Shugang and Italian Ambassador to China Xie Guoyi delivered a speech. Minister Yu Shugang announced the opening of the exhibition. Wang Chunfa, director of the National Museum of China, presided over the opening ceremony.

Member of the Party Committee of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, deputy director Guan Qiang, Sun Jinfeng, deputy director of the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security, Counsellor of the European Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and representatives of some embassies in China attended the opening ceremony.

（Opening ceremony of the exhibition Photo: Yu Guanchen）

The successful holding of the exhibition stems from the personal care of President Xi Jinping and reflects the deep friendship of the Italian people towards the Chinese people. On March 23, 2019, under the witness of President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Conte, representatives of China and Italy exchanged 796 certificates of Chinese cultural relics return in Rome. On April 10th, after a 12-year return to this batch of Chinese cultural relics, they finally arrived in Beijing and returned to the embrace of the motherland. In the past 12 years, the Chinese and Italian governments have jointly upheld the determination to protect cultural relics, overcoming many unfavorable factors such as the large number of cultural relics, difficulties in transnational evidence collection, and changes in litigation procedures. They persisted in cooperation through judicial and diplomatic channels, and finally joined hands to promote the return of this cultural relic. Good news.

（Exhibition site）

Minister Yu Shugang said in his speech that 796 pieces of Chinese cultural relics are full of the deep friendship of the Italian people and return to their homes. It has opened up a beautiful spring for the retreat of Chinese cultural relics. The return of 796 pieces of Chinese cultural relics is rooted in the love of the Chinese and Italian peoples for their cultural heritage. They have written the chapters of the Silk Road civilization exchanges and mutual recognition. Both China and Italy are both ancient civilizations of the world. The return of these cultural relics and witnesses has witnessed the profound historical friendship between the Chinese and Italian peoples, and also indicates the beautiful future of China-Italy civilization exchanges, mutual cooperation and win-win cooperation. The return of 796 pieces of Chinese cultural relics benefited from the long-term bilateral mechanism construction of China and Italy, and established a milestone in the cultural heritage protection cooperation between the two countries. China and Italy are both cultural heritage countries. We will return this cultural relic as a new starting point and build a broader international cooperation platform through the “Belt and Road” to carry out all-round and multi-dimensional cooperation in various fields of cultural heritage protection. .

（Exhibition site Photography: Fan Li）

In his speech, Xie Guoyi said that there is a beautiful proverb that cooperation can only last for a long time. Today, we witnessed the results of the cooperation in the National Museum of China, that is, these Chinese cultural relics returned to the embrace of the motherland and were grandly exhibited. This is the most reclaimed cultural relic from Italy to China in the past 20 years. As two ancient civilizations and cultural heritage countries, China and Italy can achieve such cooperation and success, indicating that our cooperation is indeed intentional and wholehearted.

（Exhibition site Photography: Fan Li）

In an interview, Wang Chunfa said that the 796 pieces of cultural relics were returned to the motherland and exhibited at the National Museum of China under the cordial care of President Xi Jinping. The National Museum of China resolutely implements the spirit of the important instructions of the internship, Mr. Jin Ping, arranges the most capable exhibition team and the most experienced production masters, carefully designs and innovates the exhibition, and fully demonstrates these precious cultural relics. These “going home” cultural relics have a long history, many kinds of utensils, good preservation, and high historical, cultural and scientific value. From the return to the exhibition, China and Italy have jointly established a new paradigm for recollecting cultural relics through cooperation and cooperation, and jointly opened a new chapter in the mutual understanding of the two civilizations of the Silk Road.

（Exhibition site Photo: Yu Guanchen）

This exhibition focuses on the more than 700 pieces of China's lost cultural relics returned to China through the three parts of the common rites of respecting historical civilization, creating relics of cultural relics, and coordinating civilizations and mutual learning. The production and life scenes, the spiritual and cultural features, and the process of civilization development provide a physical witness. These relics include the quaint Neolithic red clay pots, the smooth Han Dynasty pots, and the elegant and elegant Song Dynasty black glazed porcelain. They are solemnly displayed in the National Museum of China, telling the colorful Chinese culture and awakening contemporary People's common national memory.

（Exhibition site Photo: Yu Guanchen）

The return of 796 pieces of lost cultural relics in China is not only a reflection of long-term friendly cooperation between China and Italy, but also the largest return of Chinese cultural relics in the past 20 years. Cultural relics, only in the hometown can make the cultural relics information fully presented, in order to best play the role of recording history and inheriting civilization. A large number of Chinese-language logistics have left the country and the Chinese cultural heritage has suffered huge losses. Nowadays, with the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, a batch of national treasures have returned to the motherland. They are undoubtedly the treasures of all mankind, shining more brilliantly on the land of the motherland.

（Exhibition site Photo: Yu Guanchen）

The National Museum of China is the highest institution that collects, collects, preserves, displays, and interprets the representative evidence of China's outstanding traditional culture, revolutionary culture, and advanced socialist culture. It has been exploring various effective ways to promote the return of national treasures, including The state allocates, encourages overseas donations, recovers cultural relics according to law, and applies for special national funds to purchase key cultural relics. In recent years, a large number of national treasures such as “Zilong” Bronze Ding, Wang Zhizhi Tomb painted embossed samurai stone carvings, Tianlong Mountain Grottoes Bodhisattva statues, Yuanmingyuan bronze rats, rabbit heads, Northern Dynasties, and bronze “Huyu” have successfully returned. The National Museum has received the best protection and display.

The exhibition will be open to the public free of charge in the South Fourth Exhibition Hall of the National Museum of China and will be held until June 30, 2019.