Relics go on display to celebrate their return from France

Photo taken on July 20, 2015 shows gold ornaments displayed at a public exhibition of Chinese cultural relics returned by French private collectors, at Gansu Provincial Museum in Lanzhou, capital of Northwest China's Gansu province. [Photo/Xinhua]

Wang Hui, head of the Gansu Provincial Institute of Archaeology, said, "We cooperated with the French to compare the 32 pieces with what our archaeological team unearthed in Dabuzi Hill through comprehensive analysis, including metal components, soil samples and their artistic styles, and finally proved they shared the same birthplace".

Song said there are still other relics from Dabuzi Hill in private collectors' hands.

"Most collectors didn't know that these lost treasures were illicitly expatriated when they bought them," Song said. "So we don't expect them to immediately return their collections back to China. However, we hope they will at least keep the pieces in their hands rather than transfer them somewhere else."

Local villagers first found bronze vessels at Dabuzi Hill in the late 1980s, and about 10,000 people participated in tomb robbery at its peak.

Though the thefts almost ended after a three-year police campaign starting in 1994, Song said Dabuzi Hill remains one of China's two most seriously raided high-level tomb complexes from the Spring and Autumn Period.

While some domestic collectors are willing to buy lost Chinese relics and bring them back home from overseas, Song did not consider that the best solution.

"We don't encourage paying high prices to purchase lost national treasures, which were taken abroad through unusual means in the first place. Diplomatic and legal channels should be used more."