Expert: Research on the traceability of China’s cultural relics lost overseas should be strengthened and institutionalized

China News Service, Beijing, September 23 (Reporter Ying Ni Xu Crown) Wang Yunxia, ​​a professor at Renmin University of China and chair of the UNESCO Cultural Heritage Law, said in an exclusive interview with a reporter from China News Service during the 2026 Beijing Cultural Forum on the 23rd that the traceability research on China’s overseas cultural relics lost should be strengthened and its institutionalization and standardization should be promoted to provide important support for the recovery and return of lost cultural relics.

Wang Yunxia said that China has joined international conventions related to combating illegal trafficking of cultural relics and promoting the return of cultural relics, and has signed relevant bilateral agreements with the governments of the United States, Switzerland, Egypt, Italy and other relevant countries to better cooperate and promote the return of cultural relics. The "Cultural Relics Protection Law of the People's Republic of China" revised in 2024 clarifies that the state reserves the right to recover cultural relics lost overseas due to theft, illegal export, etc., and this right is not subject to statute of limitations, which is consistent with the spirit of relevant international conventions.

She pointed out that international conventions do not have retroactive effect. This provision of domestic law clarifies that China will not give up its right to recover cultural relics lost in history, and provides a basis for relevant domestic departments to collaborate, interact and perform their duties. At the same time, it is clear to the international community that China is willing to promote the return of cultural relics in accordance with relevant provisions of international conventions.

Wang Yunxia said that in recent years, there have been many international return practices that exceed the scope of the Convention. France’s previously passed framework law on the return of cultural relics clearly stipulates that any cultural relics stolen or involuntarily traded from foreign countries collected by the French National Museum system can be returned to France through certain procedures, but the premise is that the lost cultural relics need to be identified and evidence of theft or illegal trading of the cultural relics needs to be known.

She believes that international cooperation procedures for the retrieval and return of cultural relics should be refined, research on the traceability of cultural relics lost overseas should be promoted, a normalized and legalized retrieval work mechanism should be established, and more lost cultural relics should be returned to the motherland.