The statue is donated by Taiwan collector Andy Yeh when the Tianjin delegation visited Taiwan for cultural communication in July 2012.

A stone Buddha statue from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) was sent back to its hometown in Zhumadian city, Henan province, by Tianjin municipality on Aug 12, 2013, Tianjin Daily reported.

The statue was donated by Taiwan collector Andy Yeh when the Tianjin delegation visited Taiwan for cultural communication in July 2012. Yeh donated altogether 23 stone Buddha heads and nine complete figures to Tianjin's Wuqing district in the hopes that the district government could help him find the statues' hometowns on the Chinese mainland.

The Buddha statues arrived in Wuqing district in January 2013. One of them was examined and approved by cultural relic experts from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan to date back to the Ming Dynasty under the Wu Emperor's reign. The sitting Buddha stone statue originated from Zhengyang county in Zhumadian city, Henan, which has a history of more than 500 years.

Wu Poh-hsiung, honored chairman of the Kuomintang; Huang Xingguo, mayor of Tianjin; and Chan Foon Lum, consultant of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, witnessed the cross-Straits event by escorting the statue back to Henan.

Wu Poh-hsiung said the cultural relic was able to "go home" thanks to the close relationship between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan. He hoped that more similar cultural events could promote cross-Straits relations.

Huang also praised the event for how it benefited both sides of the Taiwan Straits. He supported the Wuqing government's efforts to find the statues' hometowns.

Other officials that participated in the event included Li Yingjie, vice-chairman of the Henan Provincial CPPCC, and officials from the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office.

A stone Buddha statue from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) is sent back to its hometown in Zhumadian city, Henan province.

The sitting Buddha stone statue originates from Zhengyang county in Zhumadian city, Henan, which has a history of more than 500 years.