A bronze horse head sculpture, a treasure of China’s Old Summer Palace that went missing 160 years ago, returned to its original palace home Tuesday. It is the first time that a priceless cultural artifact from the Old Summer Palace has been sent from abroad and then returned to be kept there.

Twelve animal head sculptures once formed a zodiac (生肖) water clock in Beijing’s Yuanmingyuan, built by Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty. The originals were looted (抢劫) from the royal garden by Anglo-French allied forces in 1860 during the second Opium War.

Macao billionaire Stanley Ho bought the bronze horse head and decided to donate it to the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) and return it to its original home. The NCHA has spent one year refurbishing (刷新) the old Zhengjue Temple, the main place of worship for Qing Dynasty emperors in the garden, to an exhibition venue.

An exhibition in memory of the return of the horse head has kicked off at the temple, displaying about 100 items including relics and photographs. “The horse head sculpture was returned to its original palace home amid the challenges brought by COVID-19,” said an official. “It also led to an all-round upgrade of security at the Old Summer Palace, which allows for long-term exhibitions.”

“There is international consensus (共识) on returning lost cultural relics to their original homes, and China’s efforts to bring relics home in recent years have enhanced that consensus,” he added.

For Lydia Koniordou, a famous Greek actress and former Greek minister of culture and sports, cultural preservation is essential to help people know who they are and learn what they should do in the future.

“The taller you want to grow, the deeper your roots must be. Our cultural past is our roots. If we don’t have really strong roots and depth in our perception (认识) of our identity, we cannot grow. Without these roots, we will be torn out very easily with the currents,” she told the journalist in a recent interview, adding cultural heritage is in fact very much alive and relevant today.

Speaking of her teaching experience overseas, Koniordou said she was very much impressed by her Chinese students when she gave seminars on ancient Greek tragedy at the Shanghai Theatre Academy in 2014-15. When the students worked on Alcestis, an Athenian tragedy by ancient Greek playwright Euripides, they thoroughly researched the costumes they would be wearing, the set, and the lights, among others, she recalled. “I feel they evolved and were transformed by this experience as I was transformed. They did not just play a role, but created a whole world and that is why the production had so much interest also for the spectators,” she said.

Koniordou participated in the production of Euripides ‘Electra’ together with Greek director Kostas Tsianos. “Tsianos did something very important for Greek culture. He connected folk forms of art, folk dances, songs and poetry with our classical past. We presented this performance in many places around the world, and the feeling that it stirred in the audience was quite similar, even though they didn’t always understand the language,” she said.

The Chinese civilization is a huge tree with very deep roots, and Greece also has a rich ancient civilization, she said, adding she believes that the two countries could promote cooperation and exchanges in many fields, such as in preservation of antiques.

From December 1936 to March 1937, three archaeological(考古学的)diggings were earned out in the suburbs of Hangzhou, where loads of black ceramics and stoneware were brought to light.

Inspired by these relies(遗迹), an archaeology lover named Shi Xingeng, who came from West Lake Museum in Hangzhou, wrote several detailed reports on the diggings. However, he had to put his work aside when China started to fall into Japan's military aggression. He joined the resistance movement against Japanese invasion and died of disease in 1939. What passed away along with him during the war were many of Liangzhu's precious relics.

Fortunately, his reports were finally published in Shanghai in 1938, which caught considerable attention of archaeological circles. In 1959, the name Liangzhu Culture was given to the independent regional culture by archaeologist Xia Nai. It represented an earlier civilization between 3,300 and 2,200 B.C that had remained unknown to historians. It is commonly believed that the earliest known Chinese written language dates back to more than 3.000 years ago, when oracle bone script(甲骨文)appeared in Shang Dynasty. But Liangzhu Culture might provide evidence of a written language that appeared in China at least 1,000 years earlier.

In 2007, Liangzhu Ancient City was reported to be discovered in Hangzhou, where archaeological diggings revealed a large and early walled city in Chinese history. There were man-made hills and streams in the city area, which were very likely part of the early designed urban landscape. To protect the urban space which was formed by waterways and entrances both inside and outside the city, a flood control system was connected to the river networks and 11 dams. In the fields outside the wall, archaeologists discovered ruins of the residences, tombs, workshops, and docks with wooden boats.