A bronze horse head which was looted by foreign forces from Yuanmingyuan, or the Old Summer Palace, in Beijing returned home on Tuesday after 160 years.

Twelve animal head sculptures once formed a zodiac water clock in Beijing's Yuanmingyuan, built by Emperor Qianlong (1736-1796). The original items were looted from the royal garden by Anglo-French allied forces during the Second Opium War in 1860. 

The horse head, designed by Italian artist Giuseppe Castiglione and crafted by royal craftsmen, is an artistic blend of the East and the West.

Macao's billionaire Stanley Ho bought the bronze horse head in 2007 at an auction and publicly displayed it in the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions for many years. In November 2019, Ho decided to donate it to China's National Cultural Heritage Administration and return it to its home. 

(Cover: Yuanmingyuan's bronze horse head. Chen Xi/China Culture Daily)