Dutch collector told to return statue
Print Edition
A COURT in southeast China’s Fujian Province ruled in favor of local villagers demanding the return of a stolen Buddha statue from a Dutch collector.
It contains the mummified body of a Song Dynasty (960-1279) Buddhist monk. It had been housed in a temple in Fujian’s city of Sanming and worshipped by local villagers for more than 1,000 years before it was stolen in 1995.
The villagers learned of the lost statue when it was exhibited in Hungary in 2015. They later negotiated with the statue’s holder, Oscar van Overeem from the Netherlands, for its return, but to no avail.
The collector said he bought the object in Hong Kong in 1996 but denied it was the stolen statue.
The Sanming Intermediate People’s Court on Friday demanded the Dutch collector return the statue to the plaintiff, the villagers committees of Yangchun and Dongpu, within 30 days. Yangchun and Dongpu villages co-own the temple that stored the ancient statue.
The court verdict said it is a collectively owned relic, handed down in the villages for generations, and thus local villagers’ collective ownership is protected by law. Besides, the two villagers committees have the right to file a claim against the statue’s illegal holder on behalf of local villagers.
The court stated that the statue is an important token in its birthplace and long-term preservation place, which carries the spiritual sustenance of many local believers.
As the cultural property of human remains, it needs to return to its original cultural atmosphere and native environment, added the court.
The court registered the case in 2015 and held two public hearings of the case in 2018.
The villagers also filed a lawsuit in the Netherlands in 2016, citing Dutch law that prohibits ownership of a body of a person whose identity is known.
However, the court rejected the case in December 2018, ruling that the villagers committees are not legal entities and ineligible to file a claim.
The millennium-old Buddha statue is of Zhanggong Zushi, or Patriarch Zhanggong, a local man who became a monk in his 20s and earned fame for helping treat diseases and spreading Buddhist beliefs. When he died at the age of 37, his body was mummified as he wished and placed inside the statue.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔＄粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
