Taiwan body donates cultural relics to national heritage administration

The United Association of Humanistic Buddhism in Taiwan recently donated 30 precious cultural relics that were lost overseas to the National Cultural Heritage Administration, a Chinese mainland spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

Zhu Fenglian, spokeswoman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said that each Chinese cultural relic carries the profound and extensive history of the country, and bringing back lost overseas cultural relics is a common wish of all Chinese, including compatriots in Taiwan.

In 2014, Hsing Yun, a late Buddhist master, and the Fo Guang Shan Monastery donated a national first-level cultural relic, the head of a Northern Qi Dynasty (550-557) statue of Sakyamuni to the National Cultural Heritage Administration. An event was held at the National Museum of China in March 2016, drawing widespread attention from all walks of life across the Strait.

In recent years, people in Taiwan have continuously donated lost overseas Buddhist cultural relics to temples such as Fo Guang Shan Monastery, hoping to donate them back to the mainland, Zhu said.

The Buddhist cultural relics returned this time are generally considered to be from the Song (960-1279) to Qing dynasties (1644-1911). A ceremony for the donation was held at the National Museum of China on March 25, according to Zhu.

"These cultural relics carry the profound accumulation of China's long history and are vivid witnesses to the splendid and colorful Chinese culture. They demonstrate the deep love and lofty respect of the vast number of Taiwan compatriots for Chinese culture," she said.