Past Treasures Can Strengthen Present Ties

By Dickson David Agbaji

In Beijing lies one of Chinas most historical sites， the Yuanmingyuan or the Old Summer Palace， a royal garden built in the Qing Dynasty （1644-1911）. Over 800，000 relics are alleged to have been plundered from the Yuanmingyuan by the Anglo-French forces in October 1860 during the Second Opium War（1856-60） and are today in museums across the world.

The theft of cultural artifacts is not peculiar to China. Africa is also a victim of the appropriation of cultural relics owing to its history of colonialism. From Egypts Rosetta Stone， a stele with a decree inscribed in 196 B.C.， Nigerias Nok Terracotta， sculptures going back to 500 B.C.， to Benins half human-half animal statues， the cases are numerous. Up to 90 percent of sub-Saharan Africas material cultural legacy is said to be outside the continent.

Over the years， China and African nations have adopted several approaches to reclaim their national heritages. These include using international conventions， bilateral cooperation， civil litigation and negotiations to facilitate the return of illegally appropriated relics and protect inventoried and yet-to-be excavated artifacts from illegal exportation across borders.

Over 140 nations including China and others in Africa are signatories to the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import， Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property and the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects. China has signed memoranda of understanding with over 28 countries including Egypt and Ethiopia on prohibiting illicit trafficking of cultural property.

These approaches have yielded some successful repatriations. For instance， in 2019， the U.S. returned 361 controversial collections to China， and Nigeria received eight artifacts held by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in 2014. Also， China recovered 156 cultural relics from Denmark following a local court ruling in 2008. In 2015， China successfully negotiated with France for the return of a collection of 56 golden ornaments dating to the Spring and Autumn Period （770-476 B.C.）

As China experienced an economic boom， its ranks of billionaires also grew. The recovery of Chinas cultural artifacts took a new look—as gifts. This approach is facilitated by Chinese institutions and patriotic entrepreneurs. These individuals and institutions have become private art collectors， buying Chinese artifacts housed abroad and donating them to Chinese museums.

For instance， Stanley Ho， the billionaire with businesses in Hong Kong and Macao who passed away in May， bought two of the 12 missing zodiac animal heads that once adorned the famous water clock zodiac fountain at Yuanmingyuan. Ho gifted the boar and horse heads to the Poly Art Museum and National Museum of China， respectively. China Poly Group Corp.， a state-owned enterprise， bought three more missing zodiac heads—the monkey， ox and tiger—in 2000. After a failed auction at Christies in Paris in 2009， French billionaire Fran？ois-Henri Pinault returned the rabbit and rat bronze heads to China in 2013.

Many African institutions cannot utilize this largely successful approach because of existing economic dilemmas. Nations like Libya and Angola， with their infrastructure deficit， cannot allocate funds for the purchase of their cultural relics.

So， there exist opportunities to strengthen China-Africa cultural relations. One step can be the establishment of an international institution. This body can boost knowledge， technology and resource exchanges between countries that share common cultural heritage repatriation challenges.

Sharing resources and technical know-how can facilitate the creation of an online inventory of all member states movable and immovable cultural artifact collections conserved in museums at home and abroad. Another step is the redirection of funds to support public programs， business enterprises and organizations capable of improving China-Africa cultural exchanges. This will improve people-to-people relations and peaceful coexistence， essential ingredients for successful partnerships in trade， investment and education.