"The two bronze zodiac heads from Beijing's Old Summer Palace that were given back to China by the Pinault family of France arrived at Beijing's National Museum in late June. The return of the rabbit and the rat, two among twelve original sculptures from the palace looted during the Second Opium War in the 1860s, was announced back in April. The rat and rabbit, which had been part of the collection of fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent, join the ox, monkey, tiger, pig and horse, which have already returned to China. The current whereabouts of the five remaining statue heads is unknown. Bringing the zodiac sculptures back to China has become a significant, if sometimes controversial, source of national pride".
See: "French collector returns looted relic to China" Pakistan Defence blog.
Moment crate opened to reveal looted China head statues - BBC shows the objects' arrival at the museum.
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| Reconstruction of original look of the Haiyantang fountain before being broken up |
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