Returned Qin-kingdom artifacts to be exhibited

Ornaments stolen from ancient Chinese tombs and recently returned from France after complex negotiations are set to go on show to the public at an exhibition in the northwestern province from which they were taken.

The 32 gold items were returned by private collectors Francois Pinault and Christian Deydier earlier this year, said Song Xinchao, deputy head of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, on Tuesday.

The tombs in Dabuzishan of Lixian County in Gansu Province belonged to residents of Qin, one of the small kingdoms during the Spring and Autumn period (770 BC-476 BC) of Chinese history. In 221 BC, the king of Qin united China's kingdoms, founded the Qin Dynasty and become the country's first emperor.

The Dabuzishan tombs are valuable resources for historians researching the life and culture of early Chinese people.

However, the tombs were badly looted during the 1990s. Although some of the stolen relics were retrieved by police, a large number of them, including these gold ornaments, were smuggled abroad, Song said.

These relics had been donated to the Guimet Museum in Paris by Pinault and Deydier when China approached France for their return. French law forbids national museums giving away their collections.

Through careful negotiation, however, the two sides found a way out. The donations were withdrawn and the relics were returned to their previous private owners, removing the legal barrier to getting them back to China.

The exhibition, to be held at the Gansu Provincial Museum in Lanzhou City from July 20 to Oct. 31, will include displays on the process by which the exhibits were returned. Visitors will learn about China's work to fight antique smuggling and retrieve stolen items.

After the exhibition ends, the relics will become part of the museum's regular display.

Many stolen and missing artifacts from the Chinese mainland have been seen in the United States, Japan, Britain, Belgium, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Endi