The Academic Lecture Hall of the Shanghai Museum welcomed a group of special attendees, who were not exactly typical audience members. They were young police officers who had just been selected to join the Chinese Cultural Relics Police Force. As a new profession in China, these young officers, dressed in their police uniforms, exuded a sense of confidence and excitement from their recent extracurricular activities at the police academy.

Under the guidance of their instructor, the prospective officers marched into the lecture hall.

"I didn't know the Shanghai Museum had such a large lecture hall in the basement," murmured one young man softly, drawing the attention of his colleagues nearby.

"If you didn't even know that, how can you become a cultural relics police officer?" replied a female officer with a hint of disdain.

"I may not have an interest in cultural relics, but I am interested in solving problems. I have an exceptional memory and always pass exams with flying colors," boasted the young man confidently about his special talent.

The female officer swiftly snatched a brochure from the young man's hand and challenged him, "Let me test you. What are the areas of expertise of today's guest lecturer?"

"That won't stump me. She is the Chief Engineer of the Shanghai Museum, one of the drafters of the Dunhuang Declaration, one of the founders of the international stolen cultural property database, and she has been involved in solving dozens of major cases of cultural relics smuggling, including the '12.10' case in Luoyang. She also authored our textbooks, such as 'Handbook for Preventing Illegal Transportation of Cultural Relics' and 'Protecting the Past for the Sake of the Future.' Furthermore, she is the editor-in-chief of the prestigious journal 'Journal of Cultural Relics'," recited the young man flawlessly, even though he had only glanced briefly at the brochure.

"You truly are a walking encyclopedia," shrugged the female officer. "Professor Shen's achievements go far beyond what's mentioned in the brochure. I admire her greatly, and it's because of her that I chose the path of a cultural relics police officer." Her expression was filled with anticipation, resembling that of a fan meeting their long-admired idol.

"Are you here to chat or to receive training?" the instructor glanced at his watch and said, "Chief Shen will be here shortly. Find your seats quickly."

Only then did the two young officers stop talking and take their seats, sitting upright and attentively waiting for the expert.

At 8:50 am, a slender middle-aged woman walked onto the stage. Her long years of academic research had taken a toll on her eyesight, evident from her thick glasses. Her work at the desk had aggravated her back injury, causing a slight limp in her walk. The wrinkles around her eyes revealed the fatigue of countless nights spent preparing for lectures, while the gray hairs at her temples made her appear older than her peers. In the midst of the crowd, she seemed ordinary, and it was hard to associate her with the numerous titles she held as a researcher in the field of Chinese cultural relics.

The assistant kindly brought a chair, but Chief Shen gently waved her hand and said, "I will be teaching while standing."

After adjusting the presentation slides, she announced, "Welcome to the opening ceremony of the fourth batch of Chinese Cultural Relics Police officers. I'm delighted to see so many young faces here. You will build a new Great Wall to protect Chinese cultural relics."

As the applause subsided, the sound of flipping pages filled the lecture hall.

She smiled and said, "You don't need to take notes; the presentation slides can be shared. Today, we will play a matching game, and tomorrow, we'll solve puzzles."

"What?" The lecture hall erupted in astonishment.

"Are we here to relax?"


"You need to excel at both matching games and puzzles to become a qualified cultural relics police officer," Chief Shen cleared her throat and said, "There are two types of stolen cultural relics. One type includes those that have been discovered and listed in the national cultural relics inventory.

The other type consists of relics that haven't been officially discovered but have been looted by thieves who beat the authorities to it, and therefore, these relics haven't made it into the national inventory. When you arrive at a looting site, you will only see scattered fragments of relics.

Even if you apprehend a suspect and find stolen goods, the suspect can still deny any wrongdoing, claiming that they obtained the relics through legal means. How would you prove that the relics were looted? In police academy, you have already learned the basics of criminal investigation skills and successfully passed the assessment of knowledge in archaeology and cultural relics. However, there is still a long way to go before you become a qualified cultural relics police officer.

Given that it is extremely difficult to identify and prove the illegal origin of relics that haven't entered the national inventory, the Dunhuang Declaration was born to tackle this thorny issue. It calls on all countries to take all necessary measures to ensure that all relevant information about archaeological discoveries is promptly and completely published and entered into the national inventory. It encourages countries to establish freely accessible national databases of stolen cultural property and link them with international databases, especially the stolen art database of Interpol."

She opened a webpage and said, "This is the stolen cultural property database created in our country. Who here has logged in before?"

Five people in the audience raised their hands.

"The female officer in the seventh row, can you tell us what information needs to be uploaded when entering stolen cultural relics into the database?"

"Photos of the relics from different angles, dimensions of the relics, the time of theft, unique features of the relics, and..."

Facing her idol, she answered somewhat hesitantly.

"Not bad. Do you know what 'unique features of the relics' means?"

The female officer apologetically shook her head repeatedly.

"Please have a seat," Chief Shen explained. "The 'unique features of the relics' refer to the identifying marks used to determine their identity."

She pressed the button to change the slide, and on the large screen appeared images of eight Buddha statues.

"These photos of eight Buddha statues are from four stolen Dazu rock carvings, with the same style. When we found the Buddha heads, the necks of all four heads had been skillfully smoothed by the cunning thieves, making it impossible to prove that the heads were chiseled off from the Dazu rock carvings by comparing the neck cross-sections. The thieves claim that these heads have been passed down through their family.

Fortunately, all the statues of the Dazu Rock Carvings were previously photographed and archived. Now, please match the complete Buddha statues in the first row with the Buddha heads in the second row."

"This is much harder than playing a matching game."

"They all look the same."

The feeling of difficulty quickly spread, and no one dared to take on this challenge.

"Is there anyone with good eyesight and a good memory? Step forward bravely," the instructor urged.

"Zhang Yiming, it's your turn," everyone cheered.

"I'd rather not," Zhang Yiming declined.

"Officer Zhang, the hopes of the crowd rest on you. Why don't you give it a try?" Chief Shen encouraged him warmly. 

Zhang Yiming concentrated and held his breath for three minutes. "The first statue in the first row and the fourth statue in the second row are the same Buddha. The third statue in the first row and the second statue in the second row are also the same Buddha. I can't distinguish the other four."

"What's your reasoning?" asked the instructor.

"The first statue in the first row and the fourth statue in the second row both have a droplet-shaped white mark above their right eyebrows. The third statue in the first row and the second statue in the second row both have a shallow crack on their earlobes."

"You've observed very carefully," praised Chief Shen.

Immediately, a network of laser scanning lines appeared on the large screen, covering the surface of all eight Buddha heads. As the images of the Buddha heads were slowly magnified, the distinctive markers became prominent. Professor Shen announced the remaining answers, "The second statue in the first row and the first statue in the second row are the same because they both have the same worn-out decoration on their topknots. The remaining two statues have a larger upward curvature at the corners of their mouths, or you could say they have a more exaggerated smile."

After finishing, everyone laughed and gained a deeper understanding of the "unique features of cultural relics."

Chief Shen continued, "With the advancement of technology, China's cultural preservation field has already been using advanced artifact scanners to collect structural and texture information from the surface of cultural relics. Through computer-based 3D modeling, the modeling accuracy can reach 0.05 millimeters. This not only standardizes the documentation of cultural relics but also facilitates future preservation, restoration, and digital exhibition of relics. The use of AI technology to identify cultural relics also reduces your workload."

Everyone burst into laughter, and a rebellious voice from below asked, "If we have AI, why do we still need to do anything?"

"AI is a tool that helps improve the efficiency of identifying cultural relics, but exposing the lies of looters and smugglers cannot rely solely on high technology," Professor Shen replied. "As cultural relic police, you need to be familiar with and master various knowledge about cultural relics in order to deduce their origin based on the characteristics of stolen relics, find the original crime scene, or identify stolen targets from a massive archive of relics using your expertise. This leaves suspects with no room for argument, and your requirements are no lower than those of archaeologists."

The morning lecture ended, and Chief Shen returned to her office to take a short break. Her assistant entered, pushing the door open. "Professor Shen, here are the new academic journals, and there's a package for you. It seems to be sent from abroad." After speaking, the assistant placed a square box and two journals on the desk.

The overseas mail puzzled her. Due to the impact of the pandemic, the Shanghai Museum hadn't conducted any international exchange activities for three years, so there shouldn't be any overseas packages. She picked up the box and shook it. It felt light, as if it didn't contain anything. She carefully examined the outer packaging, which had no signature but bore a stamp from a British airline courier. Several names of British museums that had collaborations with the Shanghai Museum flashed through her mind, but none matched. If it were an official delivery, it should have been sent directly to the Shanghai Museum's Department of International Exchange.

Curiously, she peeled off the sealing tape. The paper box was filled with plastic bubble wrap, protecting a small velvet jewelry pouch in the center. The sender was truly cautious! Putting so much thought into such a small item, it was like sending geese feathers over thousands of miles. She opened the final layer of soft protection, revealing a piece of mutton-fat jade pendant—a pendant she had once thought was lost in England and would never be found again. However, the handwoven hanging rope that used to be attached to the pendant was removed.

She gazed at the jade pendant, which had been lost and regained. Its color was as pure and translucent as congealed fat, and the carved characters on the pendant were still clearly visible, indicating that it had been carefully preserved.

Tears instantly welled up in her eyes. After returning to her home country, she had sent three long letters to England, but they had gone unanswered. She understood that he could never forgive her; she was, after all, the cause of his mental breakdown. However, she never expected that twenty years later, he would return the jade pendant to her, intact.

Her tears flowed uncontrollably.

She remembered how she had stored the jade pendant away at that time, determined not to let history repeat itself. She found a red string in the drawer and threaded the pendant onto it, intertwining it with memories of her time studying in England.