INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The Zidanku Silk Manuscript volumes II and III, the earliest silk texts discovered in China, arrived in Beijing from the U.S
on Sunday morning. The silk manuscripts are the only ones unearthed so far from China's Warring States Period (475-221 BC).They were stolen
in 1942 by grave robbers who plundered a sealed tomb from the Warring States Period in the Zidanku area near Changsha City, central China's
Hunan Province, and were illegally taken to the United States in 1946, according to the National Cultural Heritage Administration.The
Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art deaccessioned the manuscripts from its collection and formally transferred them to the National
Cultural Heritage Administration, the Washington-based museum said in a statement on Friday.Chinese Ambassador to the United States Xie Feng
called the return a "cultural milestone" and a "testament" to China-U.S
cooperation in heritage preservation.
