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The world biggest bronzeware, Simuwu Ding, arrived in Anyang at 9:00 AM Monday, boosting the city's last spurt to declare its hometown Yin Ruins to be listed by UNESCO as world culture heritage.
It is the first time that the over 3,000-year-old national treasure returned to its hometown in the past 59 years.
The bronzeware came to Anyang from Beijing after a three-month lease contract was signed between the municipal government and China's National Museum.
It will be displayed to the public on Sunday, together with nearly 600 other extremely precious pieces of cultural relics at the newly-complete Yin Ruins Museum.
Simuwu Ding was discovered in 1939 in the Yin Ruins, where the capital of the ancient Shang Dynasty (1600-1100 BC, also known as Yin Dynasty) was located.
The four-legged bronze cauldron, measuring 133 cm high and weighing 875 kg, is the world's biggest bronzeware item that has ever been excavated.
Archaeologists said it was used in worship ceremonies and it was also a symbol of the aristocrats at that time.
Wu Peiwen, the discoverer of the priceless cultural relic, who also protected it from being robbed by the Japanese invaders, said Simuwu Ding was handed to the government in 1946 and is treated as the most precious item in the National Museum.
"In view of this, it is our great honor to have the treasure back, adding a very heavy weight to Yin Ruins declaration," said Jin Suidong, a top official of the Anyang City.
The official said it is one of the efforts that the government made as their final sprint in declaring the Yin Ruins as world culture heritage.
The UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) experts will come to Anyang in late September to carry out a three-day evaluation which will be the last time before the result comes out.
Jin said Anyang submitted its application to declare Yin Ruins UNESCO world culture heritage in 2001 and since then many experts have come to the place to do research and evaluation.
Accepting the advice from the UNESCO evaluating group, the Anyang city government invested a lot in improving the environment around the Yin Ruins during the past years.
The official said they also established an information and archive database for all the cultural relics unearthed in the place and spent 28 million yuan (US$3.5 million) in building the Yin Ruins Museum to display them.
At the 29th World Cultural Heritage Convention in South Africa this July, the Yin Ruins were finally appointed to be China's sole candidate that may be listed as world culture heritage in the 2006 convention.
"We will continue our efforts in preserving the cultural relics here and hopefully the invaluable bronzeware will bring us good luck," said the official.
(Xinhua News Agency September 20, 2005)
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