BEIJING, April 12 (UPI) -- A total of 156 Chinese cultural relics once smuggled out of the country have been returned and put on display for the first time.
A group of Chinese officials, historians and reporters were on hand Friday to witness the unveiling of the relics brought back to China a day earlier, the China Daily reported Saturday.
The exhibition at the China Cultural Heritage Circulation Center was possible because of the efforts of Danish police who learned in 2006 of a stash of "suspicious antiques" and located the relics during their ensuing investigation.
The police contacted the Chinese embassy in Copenhagen and the relics were authenticated.
Dated between 2,000 B.C. and the Ming Dynasty, which lasted from 1368 to 1644, the relics were awarded to the Chinese government Tuesday by a Danish court. That ruling cleared the way for the relics to travel to China Thursday and debut at the center the following day, the Daily reported.
