Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng speaks at the handover ceremony. Photo: Official WeChat account of the Chinese Embassy in the US

A total of 58 cultural relics, works of art and paleontological fossils were returned to China by the Cultural Property, Art and Antiquities Program of the US Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) at a handover ceremony held by the Chinese Embassy in the US on Wednesday, according to an article published by the embassy's official WeChat account on Thursday. 

Among the returned items is a Bodhisattva statue from the Tianlongshan Grottoes in North China's Shanxi Province. The statue is a treasured work of art looted more than a century ago and taken overseas. Other items such as terracotta figures, stone statues and paleontological fossils also hold significant historical, cultural and scientific value, Chinanews.com reported. 

Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng said at the ceremony that the return of these cultural relics is a tangible outcome of the two countries' implementation of the consensus reached by the two heads of state during their meeting in Beijing and their efforts to build a constructive relationship of strategic stability. 

It demonstrates both sides' sense of responsibility toward history, respect for civilizations and commitment to justice, setting a positive example for other countries. It once again shows that China-US cooperation can deliver major, practical and positive results that benefit both countries and the wider world, said Xie. 

Rao Quan, vice minister of culture and tourism and head of China's National Cultural Heritage Administration, also noted that the return of the cultural artifacts is the latest outcome of implementing the China-US consensus in the field of cultural heritage. 

It also represents an important collaboration between government departments of the two countries under an intergovernmental memorandum of understanding on restricting the illicit import of Chinese cultural objects into the US. The cooperation will further promote people-to-people exchanges between China and the US and strengthen mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples, Rao said. 

Zhang Yiwu, a professor in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Peking University, told the Global Times on Thursday that the return of 58 cultural relics, artworks and fossils from the US is of great significance.

"Within the broader context of China-US friendship and the overall bilateral relationship, this is a very important people-to-people and cultural exchange, and a very meaningful endeavor," Zhang said. 

"At the current stage of China-US exchanges, it is highly significant. It shows that the two countries still engage in deep exchanges in various fields."

He added that it also represented a look back at the past. The repatriation of Chinese relics lost overseas, Zhang noted, is a way of coming to grips with the past and restoring precious cultural wealth to the people. 

As history has advanced, China has reached a new height: The return of such relics gives society a valuable cultural resource and enables the inheritance of Chinese civilization to be carried forward and to spread and evolve in a deeper and broader way, Zhang said. 

In October 2025, two volumes of Chinese silk manuscripts dating back about 2,300 years, namely the Zidanku Silk Manuscripts, were returned to Central China's Hunan Province, 79 years after they were smuggled out of the country, through cooperation between Chinese and the US cultural institutions.