More than 50,000 antiquities from the Yin Ruins, home to China's earliest characters, have been lost to overseas, and China will not rule out the right to demand return of the treasures, said a Chinese cultural official in Beijing Thursday.

The official made the remarks as the Yin Ruins were added to the U.N. World Heritage List at the meeting of the United Nations Environmental, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage committee, in Lithuania's capital Vilnius.

Located in Anyang, central China's Henan Province, the Yin Ruins is the earliest remains of an ancient capital city in China, which can be dated back to some 3,300 years ago in the Shang Dynasty (1,600 BC-1,100 BC), also known as the Yin Dynasty.

Since its excavation in the early 20th century, over 150,000 tortoise shells and animal bones bearing inscriptions that recorded harvest, astronomical phenomena, worship rituals and wars have been unearthed.

Tang Jigen, an archaeologist leading the research at the Yin Ruins from the Institute of Archaeology under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told Xinhua that at least 50,000 antiquities have been stolen and smuggled to overseas since the discovery of the site.

In the early period of the 20th century, foreign missionaries and explorers bought a large number of antiquities of Yin Ruins from the local residents at very low prices and smuggled them to their own countries, said Tang.

And during the wars of foreign invasion in the first half of 20th century, the Yin Ruins suffered greater losses, Tang said.

When the Japanese army occupied Anyang in 1937, the Yin Ruins were looted by the invaders many times, and all of the treasures were transported to Japan, Tang said.

More than 10,000 tortoise shells are now housed in Japan, Tang added.

He estimated that at least 80 museums, foundations, auction agencies and private collectors all over the world are housing Yin antiquities including precious tortoise shells, and bronze, pottery, jade, bone and stone objects.

Tang noted that Japan, Canada, the United States, Britain, Germany, France, Russia and Sweden have the largest number of collection of Yin antiquities.

Li Peisong, vice director of Museum Department of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, told Xinhua in an telephone interview that China will not give up the right to claim the return of the antiquities from Yin Ruins lost overseas according to relevant international conventions.

Li said although the United Nations have already passed conventions on return of antiquities looted during wars to the original country, yet those countries benefited from wars adopt an "ambiguous" attitude.

Their reluctance to return the treasures is the major obstacle to fulfill the conventions, Li added.

The Yin Ruins witnessed the prime of China's Bronze Age. They are home to the biggest bronze ware ever discovered in the world--the Simuwu Ding, an 875-kilogram four-legged boiler.

Experts say some unique Chinese traditions also originated from the Yin Ruins, like the axisymmetric style in city layout, which has been followed by most Chinese cities for over 3,000 years, including Beijing.

Tang said many of the treasures collected by Japanese, Canadian and American museums are regarded as the symbol of Yin culture and ancient Chinese culture.

He said the figure of 50,000 is only a conservative estimation, because many organizations and private collectors didn't publicize their collection.

Source: Xinhua