The Shanghai Museum Photo: Courtesy of Shanghai Museum

Suzanne Fratus Photo: Courtesy of China's National Cultural Heritage Administration

The two donated pottery figurines Photo: Courtesy of China's National Cultural Heritage Administration

US citizen Suzanne Fratus donated two Chinese pottery figurines that were lost overseas over 100 years ago to China's Shanghai Museum during an online ceremony on Monday, demonstrating the long-lasting friendship between the two countries. A Chinese expert said the move shows that the foundation of China-US cultural exchanges remains solid despite the current tense political situation.  

"It is my honor and pleasure to return these works of art to you, the people of China. I celebrate your beautiful culture and artistic accomplishments," Fratus said in a recorded video message.

In 1983, four years after China and the US established formal diplomatic relations, the exhibition the Shanghai Museum: 6,000 Years of Chinese Art was held at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco to celebrate the three-year anniversary of Shanghai and San Francisco becoming sister cities.

Living in California, Fratus had the opportunity to visit the exhibition. She was deeply impressed by the terracotta sculptures on display as her grandfather Doctor John Herbert Waite had two similar pottery figurines that he had received as gifts from Chinese patients he treated while working in China as a doctor in the early 20th century. He later brought the two relics back to the US, and the story became an unforgettable memory from her childhood.

In April, Fratus contacted the Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in San Francisco and expressed her willingness to donate the two pottery figurines. 

Fratus said in the video that the two figures have witnessed two world wars, numerous epidemics, floods and famines. 

"If they could talk, I know that they would tell the world many things: Be kind to each other, respect each other, help each other. It is not through money or politics that these figures have come home to you. They were returned through the power of love and respect for you the Chinese people," she said.

Chinese experts have confirmed that the two relics are burial figures from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and will be valuable references for the study of ancient China's tomb system and the history of pottery. Classified as third-level cultural relics, the two pottery figurines are sure to feel at home at the Shanghai Museum as it has other burial figurines that are of a similar shape and were made using the same production methods.  

It is for this reason that the National Cultural Heritage Administration later decided upon the Shanghai Museum as the home for the donations, which were formally introduced to the collection on Monday.

Guan Qiang, deputy head of the administration, said at the ceremony that Fratus' donation shows the friendly feelings of ordinary people in the US towards the Chinese people, and expresses the common wish of people around the world to join hands to protect the cultural heritage of humankind. 

Huo Zhengxin, an expert on art repatriation and a law professor at the China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times that the return of relics lost overseas to the motherland has become an international trend driven by new moral norms.  

China is one of a number of countries that have suffered serious losses of cultural relics. According to Yang Zhigang, Curator of the Shanghai Museum, the museum has more than 1.02 million items in its collection, including more than 140,000 precious cultural relics. Among these precious cultural relics, 23.6 percent entered the collection through donations. 

He added that nowadays cultural relics are returning through a more diverse range of channels. In addition to national government and agencies, individual donations like Fratus' will surely lead to more support from people around the world and promote the return of more lost cultural relics.

"Though the relationship between China and the US is at a difficult time, cultural communication, especially in the field of repatriating cultural relics, is still continuing. This can be seen that a total of 361 relics were returned from the US in 2019 and two relics in 2021," he noted. 

Deputy Consul General Zhou Maoyi from the Consulate General of China in San Francisco also pointed out that the move holds positive significance considering the current xenophobic environment in the US. 

"We hope that through the exhibition of the two pottery figurines, more people will appreciate the value of China-US friendship and help promote the healthy and stable development of China-US relations," Zhou said at the ceremony. 

The two donated relics are making their debut at the museum's new exhibition The Vibrant World in Miniature: Polychrome-glazed Pottery Figurines of the Ming Dynasty. The exhibition, which displays 68 cultural relics, is set to end until January 9, 2022.