Download pdf
The Application of International Treaties in the Repatriation of Chinese Cultural Relics
- 1 School of Languages and Communication Studies, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The loss of Chinese cultural relics due to war plundering, colonial expropriation, and illegal trade has resulted in millions of artifacts being scattered across the globe. In response, China has actively engaged in cultural heritage protection through international treaties, including the Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, the Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects. However, the effectiveness of these treaties in repatriating lost artifacts remains limited due to temporal constraints (non-retroactivity), spatial fragmentation (asymmetry in treaty ratification), and judicial barriers (cross-border litigation challenges). The non-retroactivity principle prevents the restitution of relics lost before treaty adoption, while disparities in treaty participation among market and source countries hinder enforcement. Additionally, procedural obstacles in litigation, such as conflicts of laws and recognition of foreign judgments, further restrict legal avenues for restitution. To address these issues, this paper proposes enhancing treaty applicability, strengthening international enforcement mechanisms, and promoting a unified global legal framework to improve the effectiveness of cultural relic restitution under international law.
Keywords
cultural relic repatriation, international treaties, legal enforcement
[1]. Li Yuche, Chen Qian. Cultural Relics Restitution Requires Greater Cooperation [N]. Global Times, April 22, 2024 (013). DOI: 10.28378/n.cnki.nhqsb.2024.002438.
[2]. See 1995 Convention Contracting States, available at: <https://www.unidroit.org/instruments/cultural-property/1995-convention/status/> (accessed March 4, 2025).
[3]. See Evelien Campfens,“Whose Cultural Objects? Introducing Heritage Title for Cross-Border Cultural Property Claims,” 67 Netherlands International Law Review 257 (2020).
[4]. Fan Tianzhen. The Repatriation of Lost Cultural Relics from an International Law Perspective [D]. China Foreign Affairs University, 2012.
[5]. Huo Zhengxin, Chen Ruida. Jurisprudential Reflections on the Repatriation of Lost Cultural Relics from the Perspective of Cultural Sovereignty: An Analysis Based on Lost Artifacts from Grotto Temples [J]. Academic Monthly, 2022, 54(01): 112-126. DOI: 10.19862/j.cnki.xsyk.000346.
Cite this article
Liu,Y. (2025). The Application of International Treaties in the Repatriation of Chinese Cultural Relics. Communications in Humanities Research,58,7-12.
Data availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.
Disclaimer/Publisher's Note
The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of EWA Publishing and/or the editor(s). EWA Publishing and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content.
About volume
Volume title: Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Literature, Language, and Culture Developmen
© 2024 by the author(s). Licensee EWA Publishing, Oxford, UK. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. Authors who
publish this series agree to the following terms:
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the series right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this
series.
2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the series's published
version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial
publication in this series.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and
during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See
Open access policy for details).