China has been stepping up efforts to rescue its ancient artifacts looted from the country in the past, cankaoxiaoxi.com reported on Nov. 27.

UNESCO statistics show that over 1.64 million ancient Chinese artifacts are housed by some 200 museums in 47 countries around the world. The China Cultural Relics Academy estimates that the figure may even exceed 10 million.

In 2000, the state-owned China Poly Group acquired the bronze heads of an ox, tiger, and monkey at an auction that were removed from the Old Summer Palace fountain, spending 30 million Hong Kong dollars.

Macao billionaire Stanley Ho privately bought the bronze head of a pig in 2003 and the head of a horse in 2007 and donated it to the country. Despite this, the whereabouts of some of the 12 bronze heads of Chinese zodiac animals looted from the country in 1860s are still unknown.

The Financial Times said that patriotic Chinese collectors boost the market for ancient Chinese artifacts.

However, Chinese people are suggested to stay rational in rescuing the ancient artifacts, as some sellers overseas are likely to make use of Chinese people’s patriotism and raise the price, and China will strive for the return of Chinese relics one by one through legal and reasonable means.