Chinese President Xi Jinping and Italian President Sergio Mattarella paid a visit together in Beijing on Friday to see a batch of cultural relics returned by Italy.
Mattarella introduced to Xi some returned potteries of China's Majiayao culture. Italy's government confiscated the Chinese relics which were illicitly traded in the country.
Xi told Mattarella that when he was in Italy for a state visit in 2019, he witnessed the signing between the two countries of an agreement to return 796 illicitly traded Chinese artifacts to their home, which marked a milestone in the cooperation between the two sides on cultural heritages and set a fine example for international cooperation in repatriation of cultural relics.
Xi said Italy's latest return of 56 Chinese cultural relics showed its respect to Chinese cultural heritages and proved bilateral friendship.
The Majiayao culture is in the upper reaches of the Yellow River and its tributaries. With more than 5,000 years of history, it forms a significant part of the origin of the Chinese civilization.
Xi, Mattarella view cultural relics returned to China
