Overview of Longmen Grottoes Cultural Relics Dispersed Overseas
During the first half of the 20th century, as foreign scholars began to pay attention to and report on the Longmen Grottoes, the value of Chinese stone carving art gradually became known to the world. This led to a surge in the looting and vandalism of Longmen Grottoes sculptures, resulting in a large number of exquisite statues being lost both domestically and overseas. According to an on-site investigation conducted by a task force established in 1965, there were 720 traces of theft and vandalism on the statues at Longmen Grottoes, affecting 262 main statues and 1,063 other statues of various types. The Longmen Grottoes Research Institute continues to conduct investigations into the current status of scattered cultural relics. To date, nearly 200 scattered artifacts from Longmen Grottoes have been identified, with the largest number lost to the United States and Japan. This is only the result of current investigations. A significant number of lost stone carvings remain undiscovered, and due to the difficulty in obtaining relevant information, continuous attention and further research are still needed.
