The National Cultural Heritage Administration of China (NCHA) received two shipments of cultural properties from the US, including paleontological fossils. These shipments, delivered on September 16 and 18 Beijing time, totaled 64 items.
The transfer of the shipments was carried out by representatives of the US Bureau of Internal Security in Washington, D.C., as well as the Manhattan District Attorney's Office in New York.
Among the returned items seized by US law enforcement agencies is the torso of a bodhisattva statue from the Tianlunshan Caves in Shanxi Province, China. Statues, terracotta figures, dinosaur skeleton fossils, fish, and dinosaur eggs were also returned.
NCHA reported that it cooperated with Chinese diplomatic and consular missions in the United States and relevant American authorities to facilitate the return of the artifacts. This return marks the fifth instance where the Manhattan District Attorney's Office has returned cultural relics to China.