He wrote to the Japanese government! Requesting the return of the Chinese Shishi that was looted before the Yasukuni Shrine | Japan | Japanese government
Tong Zeng, President of the Chinese Civil Claims Association for Japan, recently submitted a letter to the Japanese government and Yasukuni Shrine through the Japanese Embassy in China, demanding that Japan return a pair of Chinese stone lions in front of the Yasukuni Shrine.
This pair of Chinese stone lions, which were stolen by the Japanese army and transported to Japan 128 years ago, are from Sanxue Temple in Haicheng City, Liaoning Province, China. During the First Sino Japanese War, Haicheng City was occupied by the Japanese army, and Sanxue Temple was used as a temporary field hospital for the Japanese army. Around June 1895, this pair of exquisitely carved Sanxue Temple stone lions were looted by the Japanese army and enshrined in the Yasukuni Shrine in Japan.
The Dianshizhai Pictorial of the Qing Dynasty recorded the process of the stone lions from Sanxue Temple being stolen and transported to Japan. Picture Tong Zeng stated in the letter that in January 2021, Wang Jinsi, the Minister of the Cultural Relics Recovery Department of the Chinese Civil Claims Association against Japan, wrote a personal letter to Yasukuni Shrine requesting the return of these Chinese stone lions, but has not received any response so far. The move by Yasukuni Shrine is a blatant provocation to today's peaceful world, a ruthless trampling on China's precious cultural relics, and a recruitment of Japanese militarist war criminals who launched aggressive wars.
![He wrote to the Japanese government! Requesting the return of the Chinese Shishi that was looted before the Yasukuni Shrine | Japan | Japanese government](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/f09e1c8edf6e526790446d2d4c9c6ee1.jpg)
A civil society group, represented by renowned Japanese lawyer Keiichiro Icase, gathered Japanese scholars to conduct research on this pair of stone lions and initiated the establishment of the "China Cultural Relics Return Movement Promotion Association" to promote the return process. On the day of the July 7th Incident in 2022, the "China Cultural Relics Return Movement Promotion Association" submitted a written appeal and action petition to the Yasukuni Shrine, demanding that the stone lions be returned to China. In the same month, the Yasukuni Shrine replied with a promise to "investigate the facts and events again", stating that "it is difficult to solve it alone.".
On June 2, 2023, Tong Zeng wrote a letter to the Japanese government and Yasukuni Shrine, requesting the return of the Chinese stone lion. Provided by the Chinese Civil Claims Association for Japan
Tong Zeng called on the Japanese government and the Yasukuni Shrine to take practical actions to return the Chinese stone lions as soon as possible, give an explanation to the long-awaited people of Haicheng City in China, set a precedent for the return of Chinese cultural relics illegally plundered to Japan in various periods of the past, and demonstrate to all Chinese people the sincerity and determination of the Yasukuni Shrine and the Japanese government to correct erroneous history.
![He wrote to the Japanese government! Requesting the return of the Chinese Shishi that was looted before the Yasukuni Shrine | Japan | Japanese government](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/051ae766076f57664e5967ef33f7168e.jpg)
According to research conducted by scholars from the Japan Association for Promoting the Return of Cultural Relics, a third Haicheng Stone Lion was stolen and transported to Japan at the same time. It is currently housed in the Youpeng Memorial Museum in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. In February last year, the China Civil Claims Against Japan Federation and Haicheng citizens jointly wrote a letter to the Youpeng Memorial Museum in Yamaguchi Prefecture, requesting the return of the stone lion, but no response was received.