Two volumes of 2,300-year-old silk books – the earliest known in China – arrived in Beijing from the United States in the early hours of Sunday, marking the end of their 79-year journey abroad.
The Zidanku Silk Manuscripts – dating back to around 300BC, during the Warring States Period – are considered the oldest ancient classics ever found in China. They are more than a century older than the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Volumes II and III of the three-volume manuscripts were transferred from the National Museum of Asian Art, part of the Smithsonian Institution in the United States.
Volume I, a larger and more complete work, remains privately owned by the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said efforts were under way to enable the return of Volume I to China.
The repatriation of the volumes followed diplomatic efforts by the National Cultural Heritage Administration of China, which began formal negotiations after the Smithsonian published a new ethical returns policy in 2022 on returning objects that it “would not have acquired under present-day standards”.
