According to Yonhap News, on the afternoon of the 23rd, a handover ceremony for a pair of Qing Dynasty stone lions donated by South Korea to China was held at Jamsong Art Museum in Seoul's North District. The stone lion statues, which stood in front of Jamsong Art Museum since 1938, will be returned to China after 87 years.
Korean educator and cultural relic collector Jeon Yung-pil purchased relevant cultural relics with his personal money at an auction in Japan in 1933. After bringing the cultural relics back to Korea, Jeon Yung-pil began to build the "Baohua Pavilion" (the predecessor of Jansong Art Museum) in Seongbuk-dong, Seoul, for storing cultural relics. When Baohua Pavilion was completed in 1938, a stone lion statue was placed in front of it. This statue has been standing there for about 87 years. Jeon Yung-pil said during his lifetime that the stone lion statue was originally a Chinese cultural relic and hoped to return it to China someday.
According to reports, the Jian Song Art Museum commissioned the National Central Museum of Korea to handle the donation process at the end of last year, and conveyed its intention to return the statue to China. Subsequently, the China National Cultural Heritage Administration sent an expert team to Korea to appraise the stone lion statue.
The expert group evaluated that this stone lion statue is a work from the Qing Dynasty and is a precious cultural relic with historical, artistic, and scientific value. In January this year, during the state visit of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung to China, the National Central Museum of Korea and the National Cultural Heritage Administration of China signed an agreement regarding the return of the stone lion statue from South Korea to China, witnessed by the leaders of both countries.
