Village awaits return of Buddha statue with monk inside

A CT scan shows a body, whose internal organs were removed, concealed in an ancient Chinese statue of a Buddha. [Photos provided by the Drents Museum]

Li Zhen, overseas liaison for Yangchun village, confirmed Lin Yongtuan's words. "After I came back from Hungary, I paid a visit to the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, and we learned that the official had done abundant research to identify the statue, and has been trying to communicate with the collector," he said.

"The Dutch collector said at first that he's willing to return the statue, and we were encouraged. But now we feel we've been fooled, and he's not showing respect to the Yangchun villagers' pleas," Li said.

On June 2013, French businessman Francois-Henri Pinault donated bronze rabbit and rat head statues to China, which were taken by British-French expeditionary forces from the Old Summer Palace in Beijing during the Second Opium War (1856-1860).

This July, it was reported that the Pinault family has returned to China another four golden heads, which were made in AD 700. These relics were also stolen and sold in Europe decades ago.

Li said that he hopes the Zhanggong statue returns to China soon, as keeping a stolen relic is not only immoral, but also is against the law in many countries.