Horse-head statue of Old Summer Palace comes home

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.

These animal-head taps took turns to spray water during different hours within a day, but a salvo would happen only at noon.

The statue was designed by Italian Jesuit artist Giuseppe Castiglione, who served the royal court of the Qing Dynasty. Its production mixed traditional Chinese craftsmanship and Western mechanics.

The statue appeared in Hong Kong for a Sotheby's auction in 2007, and the National Cultural Heritage Administration immediately contacted the auctioneer to register its disagreement at the auction as the cultural relic was stolen from China, and expressed hope that it would be returned to its motherland "in a suitable way in the future".

Echoing the country's initiative, Ho spent HK$ 69.1 million ($8.8 million) to buy the statue in September 2007, and publicly exhibited it in Hong Kong and Macao promoting patriotism and people's consciousness protecting cultural relics.

Ho decided to donate it back to the mainland on 20th anniversary of Macao's return to China on Dec 20, after he contacted the National Cultural Heritage Administration, which said the statue will be given back to the Yuanmingyuan administration.