Since Yuanmingyuan, or the Old Summer Palace, opened up to visitors in 1988, only six of its stone artifacts robbed by the foreign armies in the 19th century were returned, according to the Beijing Youth Daily.

Seven stone pillars stolen from Yuanmingyuan returned to China in 2013 from Norway by Huang Nubo, board chairman of Zhongkun Group, but he decided to put them on display at Peking University's museum because the university was his alma mater.

Liu Yang, a scholar who specializes on artifact protection, said he thinks it would be more monumental and educational if the artifacts could be returned to Yuanmingyuan, citing it would be easier to protect them and show them off to visitors.