China’s social media is buzzing after the British Museum returned Chinese artefacts following an alleged theft of about 2,000 items.

An editorial in a state-run nationalist newspaper made demand the most trending topic on Weibo.

Global Times requested that all Chinese cultural relics be returned “free of charge” in its piece published on Sunday night.

There has been no comment from the Chinese government on this matter.

Around 2,000 items were reported “missing, stolen, or damaged” two weeks ago, putting the museum under pressure.

Global Times argues that the world-renowned museum has failed to properly care for “cultural property belonging to other countries.”

The huge loopholes in the management and security of cultural objects in the British Museum exposed by this scandal have led to the collapse of a widely circulated claim that ‘foreign cultural objects are better protected in the British Museum’, the editorial states.

In the West, the British Museum houses the largest collection of Chinese antiquities. Approximately 23,000 Chinese objects, dating from the Neolithic period to the present, are on display, according to the museum’s website.

It includes a wide range of precious items, such as paintings, prints, jade, bronzes, and ceramics. A masterpiece considered a milestone in Chinese art history is the reproduction of “Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies”.

In recent years, Chinese netizens have been calling on the British Museum to return artefacts amid rising nationalist sentiment.

Although this time around, an editorial about alleged thefts has generated more discussion.