News Plus慢速英语:收藏家从日本购回唐代佛首促成首身合一 恒星西里申遗实地资源调查启动

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A Chinese collector found the head of a Buddha statue in Japan, and has taken it back to north China's Hebei province, where it has been reunited with the body.
The white marble, headless statue in the provincial museum is 70 centimeters in height. It was unearthed in 2006, and has a history of more than 1,500 years.

Former professor of art at Hebei Normal University, 41-year-old Guo Peng found the statue at an exhibition in Japan in 2013 and was impressed by its fine craftsmanship.
After negotiations with the Japanese collector, Guo bought the head in October last year, for a sum of money he declined to disclose.
The curator of the museum said the head and the body of the statue were probably separated in the late Tang Dynasty some 1,000 years ago, when Buddhism suffered a setback in China. It is not known when the head was taken to Japan.

This is NEWS Plus Special English.
The largest field survey in China's remote western Hoh Xil Nature Reserve has begun with a goal to evaluate the area's natural resources.
The survey involves evaluation of bio-diversity, geographical and geological conditions as well as water resources in the reserve.
Researchers will also inspect the safety of the region's infrastructure amid fears that an increasing number of newly formed lakes in the area might flood nearby roads and affect power transmission lines.
The survey results will provide data support to Hoh Xil's application for world natural heritage status. The application process started last November.
The reserve covers an area of 45,000 square kilometers that encompasses China's largest area of uninhabited land. The nature reserve is home to the Tibetan antelope, one of the most endangered species under top-level state protection.