Recently-returned artifacts stolen from ancient Chinese tombs are set to be displayed at an exhibit in the northwestern China's Gansu Province.

Earlier this year, private collectors Francois Pinault and Christian Deydier returned the 32 gold items after complex negotiations, according to Song Xinchao, deputy head of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

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 became the country's first emperor.

The Dabuzishan tombs are valuable resources for historians studying the life and culture of early Chinese people. However, the tombs were looted during the 1990s. Although some of the stolen relics were retrieved by police, a large number of them, including the gold ornaments, were smuggled abroad, Song said.

They had been donated to the Guimet Museum in Paris by Pinault and Deydier when China approached France for their return.