Lost Buddha sculpture returns to North China grottoes

This 44.5-cm-high Sui Dynasty Buddha head is the first among these stolen items to be returned from Japan, according to Li Qun, director of the National Cultural Heritage Administration.

"The fate of cultural relics is linked to the destiny of a country," Li said at the return ceremony on Saturday. "Its journey home reflects Chinese people's patriotism, no matter whether they live at home or abroad, and it's a note marking a nation's rejuvenation."

The National Cultural Heritage Administration learned in September a Chinese Buddha head statue labeled as from the Tang Dynasty (618-907) was about to be auctioned in Tokyo, and was suspected to be a stolen piece from Tianlongshan.

The administration soon began the process of repatriation. In October, the auction house in Tokyo, whose board chairman Zhang Rong is a Chinese from Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, agreed to cancel the auction.

After negotiations between the National Cultural Heritage Administration, Zhang, and the local holder of the relic in Japan, the Buddha head was bought by Zhang and finally donated back.

The lost relic was transferred to the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo in November, and it arrived in Beijing in December.

Zhang was given 300,000 yuan ($46,000) by the Chinese government as a bonus for his contribution rescuing the lost relic, but at the return ceremony in Taiyuan, he announced the donation of the entire reward to support repatriation of more lost Chinese relics.