Global Times: China’s earliest known silk texts return from US, signifying valuable example for recovering artifacts displaced through unethical means

BEIJING, May 18, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — China’s earliest known silk texts, the Zidanku Silk Manuscripts volumes II and III, have returned to China as a flight touched down at Beijing Capital International Airport at 3:55 am on Sunday, ending their 79-year exile in the US.

These manuscripts will be publicly displayed for the first time in July at the National Museum of China as part of an exhibition on the repatriation of cultural relics, according to a press release issued by China’s National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) on Saturday.

Lothar von Falkenhausen, a professor at the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at the University of California, Los Angeles, who has dedicated many years to the return of the manuscripts, sent his congratulations on the final return.

“I am extremely happy that these important and unique artifacts, which should never have left China in the first place, have finally been returned there. It is the right thing. I hope this will set a positive precedent,” Falkenhausen told the Global Times on Sunday.

Falkenhausen, as an expert on the protection of Zidanku Silk Manuscripts, expressed his confidence in China for the further research and protection of the ancient silk texts. 

“China’s conservation labs are state-of-the-art and will be able to handle any conservation-related issues that may arise,” he said.

The Zidanku Silk Manuscript volumes II and III, named Wuxing Ling and Gongshou Zhan, were unearthed in 1942 from the Zidanku site in Changsha, Hunan Province, and were illegally taken to the US in 1946. The silk manuscripts are currently the only known silk manuscripts from the Warring States period (475BC-221BC), according to the press release.

As the only known silk manuscripts from the Warring States period unearthed in China, the Zidanku Silk Manuscripts – over 2,000 years old – are the earliest silk texts discovered to date, representing the earliest known example of a classical Chinese book in the true sense, historian Zhou Xueying, a professor with the School of History at Nanjing University, told the Global Times on Sunday.

“The manuscripts are of foundational significance for the study of ancient Chinese script and literature, as well as for the history of Chinese scholarship and thought,” he said. 

The Zidanku Silk Manuscripts are divided into three volumes. The primary Zidanku silk manuscript, Volume I, Sishi Ling, has yet to be returned to China. Officials from the NCHA said it will continue to work toward the early return of Sishi Ling.

Joint efforts

The return of these manuscripts was made possible through the joint efforts of various parties.

On Friday, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art officially returned the cultural relics to the NCHA at a handover ceremony held at the Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC.

The ceremony began with a video talk by Li Ling, a veteran archaeology professor at Peking University, who has studied silk manuscripts for more than four decades. 

Li compared the Zidanku manuscript to the Dead Sea Scrolls, one of the oldest surviving Hebrew Bible manuscripts. 

The scrolls, dating back to 200-100 BC, were discovered five years after the Zidanku manuscript, which dates back to 300 BC. 

Just as the Dead Sea Scrolls are crucial for understanding Western and Christian culture, the Zidanku manuscript offers insights into the ancient Chinese world of occultism, according to Li.

The repatriation of Wuxing Ling and Gongshou Zhan “ensures that these invaluable artifacts can now be fully and rightfully protected and studied in the soil from which they came,” Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism Rao Quan, who is also head of the National Cultural Heritage Administration, said in a video address.

This will allow for a more accurate and comprehensive understanding and interpretation of their heritage value, transforming them into shared academic and civilizational assets for China and the world, Rao said.

At the ceremony, Chase F. Robinson, director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, said that the return of the manuscripts “reflects a carefully considered decision,” calling it an example of “mutually beneficial and collegial international collaboration.”

Huo Zhengxin, a law professor at the China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times that this year alone, over 40 cultural relics have been returned to China through China-US treaties, underscoring stable bilateral cooperation in this field despite broader geopolitical strains.

Amid global challenges and the resurgence of isolationism, Huo emphasized that human civilizations thrive through exchange and mutual understanding. The evolution of civilizations has always relied on dialogue to foster comprehension, Huo said.

Proactive recovery model

An expert who asked to be anonymous and participated in the cultural relics’ escort event on Sunday, told the Global Times that this historical return resulted from rigorous academic tracing of the Warring States-period manuscript’s ownership history and diplomatic negotiations with US holding institutions. 

“This sets a valuable precedent for recovering artifacts displaced through colonial or unethical means,” she told the Global Times.

Experts emphasized that the success aligns with principles outlined in the Qingdao Recommendations, a Chinese-proposed framework addressing restitution of artifacts acquired through historical injustices. 

The document calls on all countries to engage in open and inclusive international dialogue to facilitate the return of cultural relics to their countries of origin, beyond the scope of existing international conventions, in order to strengthen social cohesion and the intergenerational transmission of cultural heritage. 

Huo noted that the Qingdao Recommendations reflect the growing consensus and development trend of the international community on the issue in recent years. The policy on returning unethically obtained items released in 2022 by the Smithsonian Institution also reflects a shift in international museum ethics. 

“The increasing common ground between China and the US on this issue directly contributed to the successful repatriation of the Zidanku Silk Manuscripts,” he said.

Beyond bilateral dynamics, the return reverberates across the Global South.

On social media, including the video-sharing platform YouTube, users urged other cultural institutions, including the British Museum, to take similar actions by returning looted historical items to their countries of origin out of respect for their cultural and historical significance.

Sun Yuzhou, a Fudan University historian, told the Global Times that platforms like the Alliance for Cultural Heritage in Asia, a collaborative initiative aimed at protecting and promoting cultural heritage across the continent, also advocate cooperative archaeology and joint stewardship – a vision embodied in the Zidanku Silk Manuscripts’ homecoming.

SOURCE Global Times