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Historical studies help bring ancient silk manuscripts back to China from U.S.

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Historical studies help bring ancient silk manuscripts back to China from U.S.

2025-05-17 17:13 Last Updated At:17:47

The return of the ancient Zidanku Silk Manuscripts from the United States to China marks a case of lost cultural artifacts successfully recovered thanks to extensive historical investigation, according to officials of the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA).

In a handover ceremony at the Chinese Embassy in the United States in Washington, D.C. on Friday, the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art officially returned the Zidanku Silk Manuscript volumes II and III: Wuxing Ling and Gongshou Zhan from the Warring States period (475-221 BC) to China's NCHA.

The silk manuscripts were unearthed in 1942 from the Zidanku site in Changsha, Hunan Province, and were illegally taken to the United States in 1946. The silk manuscripts are currently the only known silk manuscripts from the Warring States period.

The Zidanku Silk Manuscripts are divided into three volumes. The returning texts, the Wuxing Ling and Gongshou Zhan, are the second and third volumes, respectively.

The agreement to return the manuscripts was made possible by a collection of evidence that not only showed the origin of the relics, but tracked their passing through different hands over the decades. Based on these efforts, the two countries held many rounds of talks and reached a consensus that the historical mistake should be correct, according to Zhu Ye, deputy director of the Office for the Recovery and Restitution of Lost Cultural Property of the NCHA.

"The repatriation of the Zidanku silk manuscripts is a successful case in which we reclaimed the historically lost cultural relics on the basis of a chain of evidence formed by research on the origin and circulation history," Zhu said.

After World War II, two international treaties were adopted to prevent the theft, illicit excavation, and trafficking of cultural property. Namely, these were the 1970 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.

However, these two conventions do not apply retroactively in some cases, according to Zhong Ming, a researcher at the China Cultural Relics Exchange Center.

"In fact, they have no retroactive effect on cultural relics lost before the conventions came into effect for the contracting parties, including the 1995 convention. Both conventions have a limited retroactive effect," Zhong said.

"Under the 1970 Convention, we signed bilateral agreements with 27 countries on preventing the theft, illicit excavation and import and export of cultural relics. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (in 2012), we have brought 59 batches of 2,180 lost cultural relics back home," Zhu said.

The manuscripts will be publicly displayed for the first time in July 2025 at the National Museum of China as part of an exhibition on the repatriation of cultural relics.

The NCHA said it will continue to work toward the early return of the Sishi Ling, another volume of the Zidanku Silk Manuscripts.

Historical studies help bring ancient silk manuscripts back to China from U.S.

Historical studies help bring ancient silk manuscripts back to China from U.S.

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China secures power supply to tackle summer heatwaves

2025-07-13 23:45 Last Updated At:07-14 02:17

As temperatures soar across the country, China is taking measures to maintain a stable electricity supply.

The country's peak power load has hit record highs twice this summer, reaching a maximum of 1.467 billion kilowatts -- an increase of about 150 million kilowatts compared with the same period last year, according to the latest data released by the National Energy Administration (NEA).

In particular, the power grid load in 10 provinces, including Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui, and Fujian, has reached record highs 22 times, the data shows.

To ensure a stable power supply, all 162 key power grid projects designed to meet this summer's peak electricity demand were put into operation by the end of June.

Meanwhile, China has made full use of ultra-high voltage power grids to boost cross-regional and cross-provincial power transmission. The maximum power transmitted by the State Grid Corporation of China (State Grid) has exceeded 225 million kilowatts.

According to the NEA, the national coal supply is stable and well-managed, with coal stockpiles at major power plants continuing to grow.

As for oil and gas reserves, the natural gas supply is secure, with cumulative injections into underground storage facilities exceeding 11 billion cubic meters.

China secures power supply to tackle summer heatwaves

China secures power supply to tackle summer heatwaves

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