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The bronze horse-headed statue is on display in the Wenshu Pavilion of the Zhengjue Temple in Yuanmingyuan. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li He
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, December 2, Cable Caption: The Hundred-Year Dream Returns: The Bronze Horse Head Returns to the Old Summer Palace
Xinhua News Agency reporter Luo Xin Shi Yucen
After a lapse of 160 years, the Yuanmingyuan “Ten Thousand Gardens Park” marked the beginning of the return of the bronze horse head statue, an important cultural relic from abroad. On the 1st, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the Beijing Municipal Government jointly held a ceremony for the transfer of the bronze horse-head statue to Tibet.
In the cultural relic building during the Qianlong period of the Qing dynasty, the Manjusri Pavilion of the Zhengjue Temple in Yuanmingyuan, the deep-colored bronze statue of the horse’s head stands calm, realistic, and the hair is fully visible, displaying an extremely high level of craftsmanship. The refined red copper material makes it resistant to oxidation after hundreds of years of wind and rain.
The bronze horse head statue was reportedly cast during the Qianlong period and was one of the main components of the beast head fountain of the twelve zodiac signs outside the Haiyan Hall of Yuanmingyuan in the Dynasty. Qing. The bronze statue is a fusion of eastern and western artistic concepts and design styles. It is produced using a variety of techniques, such as the casting method, the lost wax method, and the riveting process. It is an extraordinary ancient Chinese artwork. Later it was lost abroad with 11 other bronze statues of beast heads. .
“If a nation is weak, cultural relics will be lost, and if a nation is strong, culture will prosper.” Liu Yuzhu, director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, said that the return of the bronze horse-headed statue deeply interprets this principle and sets a successful example of the return of lost cultural relics in the new era.
In 2007, the bronze horsehead statue appeared on the auction market and was bought back by Ho Hongshen, a well-known Hong Kong and Macau businessman and patriot; In 2019, under the active promotion of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, Ho Hongshen decided to officially donate the bronze horse head statue in Yuanmingyuan to the State Administration of Cultural Heritage; At the donation ceremony, Liu Yuzhu, director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, announced that he would send the bronze statue of the horse’s head “home” and return to the original Yuanmingyuan.
Visitors view the bronze horse head statue in the exhibition hall Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li He
The return of the bronze horse head statue to the Old Summer Palace is the epitome of China’s growing efforts to recover cultural relics and protect the brilliant civilization. In recent years, bronze bull head, tiger head, monkey head, pig head, rat head, and rabbit head statues have returned to China in different ways. In 2019, they and the bronze horse head statue “met” at the “Road to the Return-Return of Lost Cultural Relics on the 70th Anniversary of the Founding of New China Exhibition” organized by the Administration State of Cultural Heritage.
China has joined relevant international conventions and signed bilateral agreements with 23 countries on the recovery and return of lost cultural relics, and has promoted the countries that lost cultural relics and the entry of cultural relics into the country to jointly explore effective ways of properly solve historical problems and build a fairer and more equitable way of recovering lost cultural relics. Order contributes to Chinese power. Over the past 70 years, the cooperation of various departments and the participation of the entire society have facilitated the return of more than 300 lots of more than 150,000 cultural relics.
He Yan, director of the Beijing Urban Planning Society Sanshan Five Park Research Center, believes that the transfer of the bronze horse head statue to the Beijing Yuanmingyuan Administration Office has overcome the difficulties caused by the epidemic, promoted the comprehensive improvement of Yuanmingyuan security protection and provided long-term development. Necessary conditions for the exhibition. The return of lost cultural relics to their original place is an international consensus, and China’s promotion of “returning cultural relics home” has greatly deepened this consensus in recent years.
On the same day, “One Hundred Years of Dreams: The Return of the Bronze Horse Head Statue in the Old Summer Palace” was inaugurated at the same time. The exhibition area is 1,172 square meters and around 100 pieces of cultural relics and photographs are on display. The exhibition focuses on the return of the horse head, narrating the important value of the Old Summer Palace and the horse head, and recreating the path to the return of cultural relics.
“The return is not the end. After the return of the horse head, we must increase relevant research and interpretation, tell the stories behind the cultural relics, and be aware of the thorns and blows in the return of cultural relics. “He Yan said.
Publisher: Tian Ke
