Two 2,300-year-old silk manuscripts, once smuggled to the U.S., have finally come home to Beijing! 🎉 The fragile texts—part of the legendary Chu Silk Manuscripts—arrived Sunday after a historic repatriation deal with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art.
A Journey Through Time
Discovered in 1942 in Hunan Province, these manuscripts were illegally shipped overseas in 1946. Now, the Wuxing Ling and Gongshou Zhan volumes are back, completing a trio of priceless Warring States Period relics. Imagine: these silks survived empires, wars, and even TikTok’s rise! 📜💪
Coming Home
A Chinese cultural heritage team flew to the U.S. to escort the artifacts. After quarantine checks (yes, relics get those too 🔍), they’ll head to the National Museum of China for a July debut. Mark your calendars—this is history you can see.
Fun fact: These manuscripts are the only known silk texts from China’s Warring States era. Think of them as ancient Instagram captions… but way more philosophical. 😉
