Hundreds cheer abbot's efforts to return Buddha head

The Buddha head attracted more than four million visitors when it was placed in Fo Guang Shan. It landed in Beijing on Feb 26.

Liu Shuguang, deputy director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, describes its arrival in Beijing as the return of a lost national treasure.

Teams from the cultural regulator and Fo Guang Shan cooperated to confirm the head belongs to a Youju Temple Buddha statue. In May, Hsing announced it would be given back to the mainland.

An ongoing calligraphy exhibition dedicated to the abbot's efforts - Roots of Wisdom: Calligraphy by Venerable Master Hsing Yun - runs through March 25. It displays some 300 works.

"My eyesight started to decline 10 years ago, but visitors might be able to read my mind through the characters (on display)," Hsing Yun says.

More than 40 of his writings will be permanently donated to the national museum.

Chen Lihua, director of China Red Sandalwood Museum and a follower of the abbot, says, "Master Hsing Yun's broad mindedness is deeply touching and the returning of the Buddha head reflects his virtue."

Her museum has loaned 28 pieces of sandalwood furniture to the national museum to help create an accurate setting for the calligraphy show.

According to a recent agreement reached by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and Fo Guang Shan, a series of cooperative exhibitions ranging from Buddhist culture and fine arts, to architecture and folklore, will be held in the next five years.

If you go

9 am-5 pm, closed on Mondays. National Museum of China, 16 East Chang'an Avenue, Dongcheng district, Beijing.

010-6511-6400