A Buddha head from the Tianlongshan Grottoes was returned to its home in Taiyuan City, north China's Shanxi Province, on Saturday, marking the first time in nearly a century that a relic has returned to China from Japan.

The head belongs to a Buddha statue in one of the caves at Tianlongshan Grottoes. It was illegally shipped out of the country in 1924, and was only retrieved in December 2020.

The sculpture shows a Buddha with a round face, pursing his lips in a smile. Its carvings have the distinctive features of the late Northern Dynasty (386-581) to the early Sui Dynasty (581-619). The head is 33.7 centimeters long, 30.4 centimeters wide, and 44.5 centimeters high. It weighs 55.5 kilograms.

The Buddha head, which was brought back from Japan on December 12, 2020, is the 100th relic retrieved by China from overseas in 2020, according to the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA).

As the core exhibit of the "Return of National Treasures" theme exhibition, the head of the Buddha appeared in the Tianlongshan Grottoes Museum. The exhibition comprehensively tells the history of the loss and return of the relics of the Tianlongshan Grottoes through the use of precious cultural relics, historical pictures, digital restoration, and 3D printing of the grottoes.

Yu Hao, curator of the Tianlongshan Grottoes Museum, explained why the head of the Buddha was not put back in its original location. He said that the cave wall where the head of the Buddha was originally located was close to the cliff body, which was badly cracked. If the head of the Buddha was placed in its original position, it would be difficult to avoid some degree of weathering. So the Buddha head will be preserved and permanently displayed in the museum. Specially designed lighting and display cases in the exhibition hall will be able to protect the Buddha head to a greater extent.

Zhang Rong, an overseas Chinese living in Japan and the donor of the Buddha head, said, "The donation of the Buddha head is a milestone in my life. At least I have done what I should do. I have brought the Buddha head, which has been separated from its body for a hundred years, to return to my motherland."

In addition, Zhang has decided to donate the 300,000 yuan (about $46,286) awarded by the government to support the recovery of cultural relics, so that more national treasures can be returned to the motherland in the future.

Li Qun, head of the NCHA, stressed at the return ceremony that the lost cultural relics are an important part of China's cultural heritage and that the Chinese government reserves the right to recover historically stolen and illegally exported cultural relics. The Chinese government firmly supports the return of lost cultural relics to their countries of origin and stands ready to work with the international community to explore institutionalized arrangements for the proper settlement of the issue of the return of lost historical relics, and jointly build a more equitable international order for the recovery of cultural relics.