NEW YORK, April 18 – Chinese officials received 38 pieces of cultural relics returned by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office on Wednesday.
The handover ceremony, held at the Chinese Consulate General in New York, was attended by Li Qun, deputy minister of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, along with Chinese Consul General in New York Huang Ping, and Matthew Bogdanos, chief of the Antiquities Trafficking Unit at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
In his remarks at the ceremony, Li, who is also director of the National Cultural Heritage Administration, said that the renewed cooperation between China and the United States in cultural relic returns signifies mutual trust and progress in artifact repatriation efforts.
Most of the 38 pieces of cultural relics returned Wednesday are Tibetan Buddhist artifacts from China, dating from the Yuan to Ming and Qing dynasties, with a rich variety and exquisite craftsmanship. Among them, ivory carvings, wooden sculptures, and fragments of murals are particularly rare and hold significant historical, artistic, and scientific value.
These artifacts were seized by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in March.
After receiving the artifacts in New York, the National Cultural Heritage Administration will arrange for their timely return to China.
China and the United States signed a memorandum of understanding that aims to prevent the illegal importation of Chinese cultural artifacts into the United States in January 2009.
