A stone Buddha head stolen from one of the statues in north China s Tianlongshan Grottoes almost a century ago has been retrieved, the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) said Thursday.
The Buddha head, which was brought back from Japan on Dec. 12, is the 100th relic retrieved by China from overseas in 2020, according to the NCHA.
The NCHA first identified the Buddha head in September 2020 when the sculpture resurfaced at a Japanese auction house. The house cancelled the auction after the NCHA contacted it and requested that the sale be halted.
The NCHA said it contacted Zhang Rong, a Chinese national and board chairman of the auction house, in an effort to retrieve the relic. In late October, after buying the Buddha head from the Japanese owner, Zhang decided to donate the sculpture to the Chinese government, according to the NCHA.
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