Cultural relics and heritage carry the genes and bloodline of the Chinese nation. Cultural relics lost overseas for various reasons constantly touch the hearts of Chinese people. Behind the simple words' go home 'are magnificent and tumultuous journeys. The rabbit and mouse heads from the Yuanmingyuan return home, the bronze vessels are returned home, and the lost gold ornaments from Dabaozi Mountain return home... These three stories are fully portrayed in the documentary "National Treasures Return Home". Recently, the "Returning to the 'First' and Starting from the 'Beginning' -60th Anniversary of the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between China and France and Special Commemorative Event for the Return of the Rat Head and Rabbit Head of Yuanmingyuan" jointly organized by the National Museum of China and the French Kering Group was held at the National Museum of China. At the event, the documentary "National Treasure Returns Home" was also screened for the first time. 2024 marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France. Over the years, China and France have continuously promoted cultural exchanges and mutual learning. The story of 'National Treasures Returning Home' also tells the journey of national treasures returning home through cooperation between China and France. The Return of Rabbit Head and Rat Head: Correcting the Wrong Gift. In the 24th year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1759 AD), the Haiyan Hall, which is famous for its twelve bronze statues of the Chinese zodiac that "report the time with water", was officially completed in the Yuanmingyuan. The twelve bronze statues of the Chinese zodiac were designed by the Qing Dynasty court painter and Italian artist Lang Shining, and were cast by Chinese craftsmen using the traditional lost wax method. At that time, this was an outstanding work under the integration of Chinese and Western cultures. In 1860, the British and French coalition burned down the Yuanmingyuan, and the glory of the "Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens" was no longer there, reduced to ruins. Many precious cultural relics have been lost overseas. The 12 animal heads of Haiyan Hall left their homeland and scattered in various places. Among them, the story of the return of rabbit and mouse heads is quite full of twists and turns. At first, they appeared at an auction at the Grand Palace in Paris, France in 2009. Two animal heads were sold for a high price of 14 million euros. Although the auction was successful, five days later, the buyer stated that they would not make payment. Cultural relics failed to be captured, and the briefly appearing rabbit and mouse heads seem to have disappeared once again. However, the willows are dark and the flowers are bright. Four years later, Fran ç ois Henri Pinault, Chairman and CEO of Kering Group, who was visiting China with then French President Hollande, gave China a precious gift - the rabbit and mouse heads of the Yuanmingyuan. This is just our modest contribution to correcting mistakes Francois Pino, founder of Kering Group, said. The next day, a meeting was held in full swing. The Pino family has expressed their wish - to have rabbit and mouse heads collected by a public museum and seen by more people. Two months later, the rabbit and mouse heads were packed into specially customized wooden boxes and flown back to China, where they were transferred to the National Museum of China. These two animal heads traveled for 153 years on a 9-hour journey. When the staff of the National Museum wore white gloves and opened the box, the rabbit and mouse heads, which had been absent for over a hundred years, revealed their true faces in front of the Chinese people. Cai Jinqing, the President of Kaiyun Group in Greater China, recalled, "At that time, everyone present expressed admiration! We were moved by the beauty of this art." These animal heads had no welding marks on their bodies and were cast as a whole in one go. Their facial hair is lifelike, and their eyes seem to be able to speak as well. At the special commemorative event for the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France and the return of rat and rabbit heads to the Yuanmingyuan, Gao Zheng, the director of the National Museum of China, said that currently, 7 animal heads have returned to China, and 5 are still missing. He hopes that the 12 animal heads can reunite as soon as possible. Combining the body and lid of the dish with a square brush: working together to complete the "auction". Nowadays, at the Hunan Provincial Museum, visitors can see the famous dish with a square brush both at home and abroad. It is the largest and most exquisite bronze square shaped pottery unearthed so far, known as the "King of Square shaped pottery". However, for a long time before this, the Hunan Provincial Museum only had the lid of the dish shaped pottery, and the body of the pottery drifted overseas. In 1919, the bowl shaped pottery was unearthed in Taoyuan, Hunan. At that time, China was in turmoil. Not long after, the dishes were scattered and the bodies were sold overseas by vendors, leaving only the lids. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the lid was nationalized and handed over to the Hunan Provincial Museum (now the Hunan Provincial Museum). Where is the body of the device? This is also the regret and concern in the hearts of Hunan cultural and museum people. One day, Xiong Chuanxin, who was then the director of Hunan Provincial Museum, received a phone call. The other party told him that the body of the bowl shaped pottery had gone missing and was at the place of Japanese collector Shinta Toshiichi. In 1993, a group of people from the Hunan Provincial Museum set off to visit a family in Xintiandong and saw the body of a bowl shaped pottery. According to Xintian Dong, it is possible to invest heavily in building it; The museum group mobilized him to donate the body of the artifact to the Hunan Museum. Both parties have not reached an agreement. In 2001, Fang Wan appeared at Christie's auction and sold for a sky high price of about 90 million yuan, setting a record for the highest price of bronze ware at that time. I don't know where the dish was sold and disappeared from my sight Chen Jianming, former director of Hunan Provincial Museum, sighed. In 2014, Fang Wan returned to the auction market with the number 1888. Christie's has created an auction session for it, scheduled for March 20th, the same day as the last auction. How can we make the bowl shaped pottery go home? At that time, Chinese collectors wrote an open letter calling on Chinese collectors at home and abroad not to inflate prices; The national cultural relics department is also in talks with Christie's, hoping to facilitate the purchase from Hunan. In March 2014, a team led by the Hunan Provincial Government and composed of representatives from Hunan cultural and museum institutions, the business community, and the collection industry went to the United States to negotiate purchases. Chen Jianming recalled that they brought 3D printed machine covers at that time. Behind the device, it should be tightly sealed. It is impossible to achieve such a level of fraud. Hunan has started difficult negotiations with the seller, and the price they can offer is obviously lower than the seller's expectations. When the negotiations were deadlocked, the Chinese people's expectation for Fang Wan to return home and reunite once again moved Fran ç ois Pinault. Kaiyun Group is a major shareholder of Christie's, and with the help of Fran ç ois Pinault, the seller ultimately decided to privately sell the dish to the museum. Hunan reached a purchase agreement with the seller and Christie's at a price far below the expected auction price. In June 2014, the dish shaped pottery returned to Hunan and was in the hands of the people. Hunan held a grand ceremony for its return. The body and lid, which have been separated for 100 years, finally come together. If cultural relics have spirits, they will also hold hands and look at each other with teary eyes. Golden jewelry returning to China: opening up a new path for cultural relics retrieval. Dabaozi Mountain in Lixian County, Gansu Province is an important birthplace of Chinese Qin culture. In 1992, local farmers were digging for dragon bones (a type of ancient fossil that is said to be a precious traditional Chinese medicine) on Dabaozi Mountain when they discovered an ancient tomb with magnificent bronze vessels covered in green rust. This news caused tomb raiders to flock in. After a large number of cultural relics were looted, they flowed overseas. The stolen cultural relics from the Dabaozishan site are valuable materials for studying the early history of the Qin state. In 2005, the National Cutural Heritage Administration launched the investigation project of the lost cultural relics in Dabuzi Mountain, established a complete evidence chain of the stolen and lost cultural relics together with the public security organ, carried out international conventions and relevant national applicable laws and case studies on the return of cultural relics, formulated a work plan for recovering the lost cultural relics, and opened a 10-year road for the return of cultural relics. In 2014, the National Cutural Heritage Administration again requested the French government to return cultural relics. In July of the same year, a joint expert group from China and France conducted field investigations in Dabaozi Mountain and other places in Lixian County, Gansu Province. Through comparative analysis of vessel morphology and metallography, it was finally confirmed that the 32 gold jewelry pieces collected by the French National Jimei Asian Art Museum were stolen and lost from Dabaozi Mountain. However, according to French law, state-owned assets cannot be transferred. Cultural relics that have been stored in museums are state-owned assets. How can we break the deadlock? In the end, the French government decided to return the gold pieces collected in the Guimet Museum to the donors Fran ç ois Pinault and Christian Dedian. In April 2015, the Pinault family returned 4 pieces of bird shaped gold jewelry for free through the Chinese Embassy in France, while Diane went directly to Beijing and handed 28 pieces of small gold jewelry to the National Cutural Heritage Administration. Later, the "Qin Yun - Special Exhibition on the Return of Lost Cultural Relics from Dabaozi Mountain" was held at the Gansu Provincial Museum, which comprehensively introduced the unusual stories of these cultural relics. This is also the first official case in China to successfully recover cultural relics in accordance with the law. At that time, experts believed that this recovery and innovation mechanism broke through the existing legal barriers of the country where the cultural relics were located, achieved the return of cultural relics, and opened up a new path for cultural relics recovery. If a nation is weak, cultural relics will be lost; if a country's fortunes are strong, culture will thrive. The story of the return of lost cultural relics is a vivid embodiment of this sentence. Cultural relics returning home are thanks to the unremitting pursuit of government departments, the call of ordinary people, and the just assistance of international friends... Chinese cultural relics lost overseas also carry the historical sentiment and cultural memory of the Chinese people. The journey home may be long, but respect for history and civilization is the beacon of their return. (New Society)