Nine bronze pieces that date back to the 11th century B.C. have been retrieved and brought back to China. The ancient cultural relics were illegally transported overseas, but have now been donated by private collectors and returned to their country of origin.

Chinese American couple Fan Jirong and Hu Yingying made the donation. These nine bronze wares date back to the Western Zhou Dynasty and the Spring and Autumn Period. Six of them came from the Qin Mausoleum in northwest China's Gansu province. They other three are from the tomb of a high government official in north China's Shanxi province. They represent the highest achievement of bronze forging techniques in the early period of Chinese civilization.

Unfortunately, these cultural relics were excavated by illegal diggers in the 1990s and then transported overseas. Finally, they came into the private collection of Mr. Fan, and he volunteered to donate these relics back to their home country.

Fan Jirong, donor, said, "There's one thing I believe that only Chinese people can truly understand these objects. So, we just wanted them to be returned to their native home."

Since 1990s, Mr. and Mrs. Fan have been actively donating precious cultural relics such as bronze wares, painting, and calligraphy works to China. To laud their patriotism and generosity, they were given the "cultural exchange contribution award" by the Chinese government.

For a long period beginning in mid-19th century, the western powers, in a succession of wars of aggression against China, plundered and looted countless Chinese cultural relics. According to statistics, more than ten-million Chinese cultural relics were lost to Europe, North America, Japan, and southeast Asian countries and regions due to war and illegal trafficking.

China has insisted on its right to seek the return of cultural relics that have been illegally taken abroad and opposes auctions of these cultural relics. Right now, the main source of retrieving the lost relics are through the donation of foreign friends and overseas Chinese.

Experts say that as symbols of identity of a nation or a people, cultural property represents a valuable asset of human civilization. The illicit appropriation of and trafficking in cultural property is a sacrilege to history and civilization.

China is committed to actively participate in UNESCO's activities in promoting the return of cultural property to its countries of origin, and seek appropriate solutions in this regard.