More than 80 years later, hope has resurfaced of reuniting the precious artifacts with China from the return of a box cover that is viewed as evidence of their circulation in the US handed over from the University of Chicago to China. The box was used to hold the manuscripts, with labels from Fogg Art Museum that can prove the manuscripts were collected at the museum on Sept 16, 1946, an important piece of the evidence chain of the manuscripts' complex journey in the US.

The returning ceremony was held at the International Conference on the Protection and Return of Cultural Objects Removed from Colonial Contexts in Qingdao, Shandong province, on June 20 as part of the 2nd council meeting of the Alliance for Cultural Heritage in Asia.

"Since its unearthing in Changsha in 1942, the Zidanku silk manuscript story has spanned 82 years. It's a fragmentary story with bizarre plots that make people feel heartbroken," says Li Ling, a veteran archaeology professor at Peking University, who has devoted himself to studying the manuscripts for 44 years.

He explains that the story of looted artifacts has many similar versions in colonial and semi-colonial countries, where items from ancient sites were sold or robbed and are now spread around the world.

"As a result, when we want to study these sites, we need to investigate where the relics are now and piece together information," says Li.

Li says from the Warring States Period to the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), silk coexisted with jiandu, or bamboo and wooden slips, as writing materials before the wide use of paper.