In 1970, UNESCO drafted the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, and more than 90 countries have signed the convention. The mainland acceded to the document in 1989, and has since been actively working for the return of Chinese cultural artifacts smuggled abroad.
一九七○年聯合國教科文組織在通過「關於禁止和防制非法進出口文化財和非法轉讓其所有權公約」後，陸續已有九十多個國家加入公約，大陸在一九八九年加入公約後，就積極地追回走私海外的中國文物。