China has signed bilateral cultural relics return agreements with many countries.
20 1 1 March11day, cherry blossoms are in full bloom outside Washington, D.C., and a signing ceremony is underway.
Under the witness of the US Department of Homeland Security and the Embassy of China in the United States, 14 precious China cultural relics officially returned to China after more than a year of "wandering".
There are many treasures in this 14 cultural relic: the Terracotta Warriors and Horses of the Northern Wei Dynasty about 1600 years ago, the lime Buddha statue of the Northern Qi Dynasty about 1500 years ago, the Terracotta Warriors and Horses of the Sui Dynasty about 1400 years ago, and the head of the Bodhisattva in the Song Dynasty.
Thanks to the bilateral agreement between China and the United States, they were able to go home. On June 5438+ 10, 2009, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in combating cultural relics smuggling to strengthen information sharing and law enforcement cooperation. The United States also launched "Operation Great Wall" to crack down on illegal activities of smuggling China cultural relics to the United States.
This 14 cultural relic is the result of "Operation Great Wall" and was seized by American law enforcement departments in new york, Alaska and New Mexico.
The international community has formulated some international treaties aimed at cracking down on cultural relics crimes and promoting the return of illegally lost cultural relics. For example, 1954 Hague Convention, 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illegal Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property adopted by UNESCO (referred to as "1970 Convention"), 1995 International Institute for the Unification of Private Law on Stolen and Illegal Exports adopted by UNESCO. Among them, "1970 Convention" has been ratified by more than 100 countries, and it is the most important international convention to control the illegal circulation of cultural relics.
Multilateral international conventions have great influence, but they also have shortcomings: poor pertinence. "Multilateral conventions are the result of the game between all parties, and most of the terms are abstract and have no retrospective effect. Therefore, in recent years, China has signed bilateral agreements with the United States and other 18 countries to prevent illegal entry and exit of cultural relics and promote the return of cultural relics, and successfully returned a number of precious cultural relics from the United States, Australia and Denmark. " Huo introduced. Huo has been committed to the recovery of cultural relics lost overseas for many years. He was the main drafter of the Dunhuang Declaration on the Protection and Return of Stolen Cultural Property Illegally Exited by China and other countries last year.
Transnational litigation
After 1.5 years, Samurai finally came to China in the Five Dynasties.
When the agreement fails, you have to resort to law.
The National Treasure-level cultural relic "Painted Relief Warrior Stone Carvings in the Tomb of the Five Dynasties" now in the National Museum of China has finally returned after more than a year of soul-stirring transnational litigation.
At the beginning of 2000, National Cultural Heritage Administration received news that Christie's auction house in the United States would auction a China cultural relic in March-a painted relief warrior stone carving stolen from the tomb of King Chu, the five-generation ambassador of China.
1994, a group of grave robbers stole the tomb of the king of Chu by means of explosives and shaft digging, looted the funerary objects, stole ten reliefs embedded in the tunnel and the front room wall, and then sold them to Hongkong, China. In the past six years, these cultural relics were transported to different places, until 2000, when they appeared in the auction of China cultural relics in new york.
National Cultural Heritage Administration and the Ministry of Public Security immediately contacted the United States, hoping that it would stop the auction and return the cultural relics to China. The U.S. government agreed to assist, but the Chinese side needs to provide legal documents and evidence to prove that this lot is a stolen cultural relic, such as stolen scene investigation report, photos, police filing report, etc.
On March 2 1 2000, the U.S federal district court for the southern district of new york, after receiving the evidence provided by China, informed Christie's auction house to stop the auction, and at the same time issued a civil confiscation order, authorizing the new york Central Bureau of the General Administration of Customs to confiscate the samurai statue. A week later, American customs officials seized the China cultural relic.
However, the client argues that this samurai relief is an ancestral relic with a history of more than 10 years. In this regard, Hebei Province produced evidence that the relief was the same size as the traces left at the stolen scene, and issued a certificate from an archaeological expert. The judicial department of the United States decided to prosecute the Hong Kong client according to law, and National Cultural Heritage Administration participated in the lawsuit on behalf of the China government.
In the face of a large amount of evidence, the US judicial department finally made a ruling and returned the relief warrior statue to the China government for free. On May 26th, 200 1 year, the painted stone warrior statue in the tomb of Wang Chu returned to China.
"Legal litigation channel is the last resort, but it is also a very useful and important means." Huo said that in most countries, litigation needs first, second and third trials, and it is limited by the bona fide acquisition and effectiveness of local civil laws, so "litigation is time-consuming and laborious." However, litigation also has its advantages. "Once a civil lawsuit is filed, it will put a lot of pressure on the other party, especially the institutions specializing in cultural relics trading and cultural relics dealers. They not only have to deal with lawsuits, but also face the risk that the credibility of buying and selling illegally lost cultural relics will decline. "
Huge repurchase
"Auction of cultural relics will give legitimacy to illegally lost cultural relics"
The data shows that at present, 90% of international and overseas cultural relics are returned by repurchase, that is, individuals or institutions participate in commercial auctions in the international market and buy cultural relics back; China has also set up a repurchase fund for lost cultural relics.
From 65438 to 0957, China bought back the famous painter Han Huang's "Five Cattle Map" with a huge sum of money. In 2002, the state started the collection of precious cultural relics and turned to funds, spending 29.99 million yuan to buy back the national treasure cultural relics: Mi Fei's "Yan Shou Juan" in the Song Dynasty, and then spending more than 200 million yuan to buy back many cultural relics, including the Tiger-shaped Pei in the Warring States Period. Institutions, enterprises and individuals also bought back many cultural relics: Shanghai Library bought back 4.5 million yuan from Christie's auction house at 1998; In 2000, Poly Group repurchased three bronze statues of the bull's head, the tiger's head and the monkey's head in Yuanmingyuan.
However, this practice has also caused controversy and raised the repurchase price. Take bronze animal heads as an example. In the 1980s, the highest transaction price of an animal head was only $250,000. In 2000, Poly Group bought back the head of a bull's head monkey at a cost of HK$ 654.38+059.3 million. Subsequently, a tiger head sold for HK$ 6.5438+0544 million, and the price of bronze horse head soared to HK$ 6.965438+10,000.
Huo disapproves of buying back lost cultural relics and going home. He believes that state-owned institutions should be prohibited or at least discouraged from participating in the auction of illegally lost cultural relics, and state-owned enterprises should not be encouraged to buy back. "If state-owned cultural and artistic institutions participate in the commercial auction of illegally lost cultural relics, it will leave evidence to the outside world that China recognizes the legitimacy of these illegally lost cultural relics, which is legally unfavorable for future recourse." Huo said, "A few years ago, the cultural relics lost in China were auctioned abroad, and finally two institutions in China were bidding."
Reward, negotiation
Reciprocal arrangement for exchanging stolen bodhisattva statues
In 20 13, Pino's family donated priceless bronze mouse heads and rabbit heads to China, which became an instant hit.
In 2000, China's pursuit of the painted relief warrior stone carving in the tomb of the King of Chu was learned by new york collector An Siyuan. He also bought a samurai relief of the same size in Hongkong, so he contacted National Cultural Heritage Administration and sent the color photos to China for verification. By comparison, the carving technique, painting and stone processing of this relief are the same as the lot, and they are a pair. After consultation, An Siyuan agreed to donate this cultural relic to China for free.
But the cultural relics that come home like this are, after all, a minority.
In addition to the above four ways, Huo also introduced one way: direct negotiation, that is, negotiation between cultural relics institutions in China and other institutions such as museums. 1994 The exquisite Bodhisattva statue of the Northern Dynasties in Boxing County, Shandong Province was stolen in this way.
In 2000, National Cultural Heritage Administration learned that this stolen Bodhisattva statue appeared in the exhibition of Japanese Meixiu Museum.
"Japan did not join the international conventions in this field at that time, and the evidence provided by Meixiu Pavilion also shows that it was purchased in good faith at the beginning, so it is difficult to recover it legally." Huo recalled that National Cultural Heritage Administration started negotiations with Meixiu Museum through various channels at that time, and the latter also hoped to have more cultural exchanges with China in the future. After a year or so of negotiations, Meixiu Museum agreed to return the cultural relics to China free of charge.
"We have also made reciprocal arrangements. At that time, Meixiu Museum celebrated its 70th anniversary. We agreed to extend the commemoration and hand it over to us after the event. " June, 5438+October, 2008 10, this bodhisattva finally returned to the motherland from Japan and entered the Shandong Provincial Museum after being exhibited in Japan for seven years.
In addition, Huo said that some foreign countries, such as Egypt, Greece, Italy and Turkey, also hope to return the lost cultural relics through the mediation of a third party. He introduced that UNESCO has an intergovernmental committee to promote the return and restitution of cultural relics, mainly to help the two countries resolve the ownership disputes of related cultural relics when the existing international treaties cannot be applied.
How do countries recover cultural relics?
Many ancient civilizations have experienced aggression and plunder. In modern society, they have made efforts to restore them, and there are many successful practices.
Stolen cultural relics
Bring criminal proceedings against the curator
In order to recover stolen cultural relics, Italy's means can be said to be the most severe. In 2005, Italy formally filed a criminal lawsuit against teruel, director of the Getty Museum, a famous American museum, accusing him of buying stolen Italian cultural relics. The Getty Museum realized the seriousness of the matter. The museum quickly rejected teruel and reached an agreement with Italy at a cost of 654.38+06 million US dollars: 40 museum collections with suspicious sources were returned to Italy, far exceeding the number of cultural relics demanded by Italy at that time. After the case, major museums in the United States were "afraid" of Italy. The following year, major museums also returned the collections with doubtful sources to Italy: the Metropolitan Museum of New York returned 20 Italian cultural relics; Boston Museum of Art returned 13 important cultural relics to Italy. ...
War loss
Return the same number of similar cultural relics
Europe has a relatively systematic practice of returning cultural relics. The Treaty of Versailles signed after World War I explicitly mentioned this issue, stipulating that defeated countries such as Germany and Austria must unconditionally return cultural relics looted from other countries. Germany must rebuild the library of Leuven University, which was burnt down by Germany in the war, within three months required by the Belgian government. For precious manuscripts, books, maps and other cultural relics burned in the war, Germany must return them with the same number, the same or similar cultural relics in accordance with the principle of "returning books with books and returning manuscripts with manuscripts".
World war ii plunder
Civil society organizations initiated negotiations.
Japan also plundered many cultural relics on the Korean peninsula. 1965, Japan and South Korea signed the Basic Treaty of Japan and South Korea, and bilateral relations were normalized. Japan returned a large number of cultural relics to South Korea at this time. Korean non-governmental organization "Korea Dynasty Records Restoration Committee" negotiated with the University of Tokyo many times and successfully returned the Korean ancient book "Korea Dynasty Records" collected in the library of Tokyo University in 2006, which set a good precedent for East Asian countries, especially China, to solve the problem of returning cultural relics looted by Japan during World War II.
After World War II, Germany returned many cultural relics to Jews according to laws and agreements. Since then, the United States and the Soviet Union have returned to Germany some artworks and cultural relics that originally belonged to Germany.
Aggression and plunder
Lease method "return"
In A.D. 1866, the then French Empire sent troops to the Korean Peninsula, and when it was defeated and retreated, it plundered a large number of books from Kuizhangge of the Korean Dynasty (Kuizhangge was the court library of the Korean era, and Waikuzhangge was its branch). The Korean government began to negotiate with France from 199 1 and demanded the return. However, France claims that these books are now in the National Library of Paris and belong to French state property. 1993 French President Mitterrand visits South Korea. At that time, South Korea wanted to build a high-speed rail, and France wanted to create a good atmosphere of cooperation, so Mitterrand rented one of the books to South Korea at that time. Since then, South Korea has continued to negotiate, and the G20 summit in 20 10 was held in South Korea. Li Mingbo and Sarkozy once again talked about the return of ancient books. Subsequently, the two sides signed an agreement, and France agreed to return all the books of Waikuizhangge to South Korea by lease, each with a lease term of five years, when the contract will be automatically renewed, which is equivalent to returning them to South Korea indefinitely.
Egypt's Supreme Council for Cultural Relics established the Cultural Relics Return Administration. Since 2002, Egypt has recovered more than 5,500 lost cultural relics from Switzerland, the United States, Britain, Spain and the Netherlands through communication, negotiation or consultation with museums, major auction houses and individual collectors around the world. In 2009, the Chairman of Egypt's Supreme Council for Cultural Relics announced that Egypt would suspend all cooperation with the Louvre Museum until it returned the lost cultural relics. At that time, the French Ministry of Culture responded that the French government had decided to return five ancient Egyptian pharaonic cultural relics collected by the Louvre Museum to Egypt.