On September 10th, an eight-piece set of bronze wares belonging to Chinese cultural heritage has been brought home from Japan. After nearly about five months of pursuit by the Chinese authorities, the bronze ware finally returned to China, announced by National Cultural Heritage Administration.
Being identified by the official researchers, the bronze wares were stolen from ancient tombs dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770 B.C. - 476 B.C.), which located in Suizhou, central China's Hubei Province. It already had the history of 2,000 years. According to official researchers, the bronze ware along with the 330 Chinese characters engraved onto them provide researchers with valuable information regarding to the ancient state of Zeng, which is mysteriously absent from historical articles.
The bronze ware's retrieval was conducted based on the international conventions, primarily the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, and also the cooperation of the Japanese government.