U.S. returns 64 cultural relics, artworks and fossils to China

(ECNS) -- China received two batches totaling 64 items or sets of cultural relics, artworks and fossils returned by U.S. authorities in Washington and New York on Wednesday and Friday, respectively, according to the National Cultural Heritage Administration.

The returned items include the torso of a Bodhisattva figure from theTianlongshan Grottoes, as well as other sculptures, pottery figurines, dinosaur skeletal fossils, fish fossils and dinosaur egg fossils. All were seized by U.S. law enforcement authorities.

The two batches were returned by Homeland Security Investigations and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, with China’s cultural heritage authorities and diplomatic missions in the United States working with the U.S. side on the handovers.

China and the United States first signed a cultural property agreement in 2009 to restrict imports of designated Chinese archaeological materials and certain monumental sculpture and wall art. The agreement has since been extended three times.