Invited by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, Associate Professor Zhang Yue was honoured to be a member of the Drafting Group of the Qingdao Recommendation on the Protection and Return of Cultural Objects Displaced in the Colonial Context or Acquired in an Unjust and Immoral Manner (Qingdao Recommendation), and was invited to participate in the International Symposium on Protection and Return of Cultural Objects Displaced in the Colonial Context, which was held in conjunction with the Second Meeting of the Governing Board of the Union for the Protection of the Cultural Heritage of Asia on 20 June 2024 to witness and participate in the historic moment of the release of the Qingdao Recommendation to the world. On 20 June 2024, he was invited to participate in the International Symposium on the Protection and Return of Cultural Objects Displaced in the Context of Colonialism as a side event of the second session of the Governing Board of the Union for the Conservation of Asian Cultural Heritage and witnessed and took part in the launch of the Qingdao Recommendation worldwide.
On 20 June 2024, the International Symposium on the Protection and Return of Cultural Objects Displaced in a Colonial Context was held in Qingdao, Shandong Province as a side event of the second meeting of the Governing Board of the Asian Cultural Heritage Conservation Union. Co-hosted by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH) and the People's Government of Shandong Province, the symposium was attended by representatives from 28 countries and 2 international organisations, who shared their views and exchanges by video. After discussions at the meeting, participants from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Cuba, Honduras, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Syria, Thailand, Turkmenistan, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen and other countries reached a broad consensus and issued the outcome document On the Protection and Return of Cultural Objects Lost or Acquired by Other Unjust and Immoral Means in Colonial Contexts. The Qingdao Recommendation concerning the Safeguarding and Return of Cultural Objects Displaced in the Context of Colonialism or Acquired through Other Injustice and Immoral Means was issued.
The Qingdao Recommendation encourages the strengthening of dialogue, communication and interactive cooperation in order to provide impartial, scientific and sustainable solutions to the issue of protection and return of such cultural objects. This is the second time that China's voice has been heard in the field of recovery and return of displaced cultural relics, following the Dunhuang Declaration on the Protection and Return of Illegally Exploited Cultural Properties from China, which China led in 2014, to create a favourable international environment to promote the protection and return of historically displaced cultural relics. This Recommendation provides food for thought for solving the international problem of the recovery and return of historically displaced cultural relics, and it is expected that the international initiative on the return of cultural relics promoted by China will spread far and wide to all corners of the world