Year-ender: Top 10 cultural events from 2019 (3)

Pansy Ho Chiu-king (left), Stanley Ho's daughter, and Luo Shugang, Minister of Culture and Tourism, lift the curtain for the newly returned statue at National Museum of China on Nov 13, 2019. [Photo/Xinhua]

3. Horse-head statue of Old Summer Palace comes home

A red bronze horse-head statuewas donated back by Macao-based tycoon and collector Stanley Ho Hung-sun and handed over to the National Cultural Heritage Administration in Beijing in November this year.

The statue appeared in the National Museum of China and joined a temporary exhibition on cultural relics that have been returned from overseas since 1949.

The newly returned horse-head red bronze statue was one of 12 decorative taps - in the form of 12 Chinese Zodiac Signs - which were set for a foundation in Xiyang Lou area (or Western Mansions), a group of Baroque architecture in the Old Summer Palace.

Ho spent HK$ 69.1 million ($8.8 million) to buy the statue during an auction in September 2007 and decided to donate it back to the mainland on 20th anniversary of Macao's return to China on Dec 20.