Jia Lianxiang 賈連翔: Chutu shuzi gua wenxian jishi 出土數字卦文獻輯釋 [Organization and Interpretation of Unearthed Numerical Divination Symbol Texts]. 305 pp. Shanghai 上海: Zhonghua Book Company 中西書局, 2020. ISBN 978 7 5475 1691 1.

Southeast Asian countries need the frame of international law and conventions (including, but not limited to the 1970 Unesco convention) to facilitate cultural restitution efforts. No amount of domestic legislation (and chapters document many examples) stops looting and illicit antiquities trafficking. Convention signatory status triggers a range of international agency support. Collaborations between host countries and Western stakeholders take decades to complete restitutions successfully and may require governmental incentives (like dropping charges in exchange for repatriating materials). Creative solutions are needed to accommodate a range of different acquisition histories, varying scales of collections, and varying types of materials. The fact that many chapters emphasize restitution in building national identity may surprise non-specialists, but it surprises few Southeast Asian archaeologists. The virulent nationalism now surging across the globe generates geopolitical conflict, and has not left Southeast Asia untouched. Not only did nationalism and repatriation energy converge with anti-US sentiment in late 1980s Thailand (Phanomvan), nationalism and heritage stimulated a cross-border war in recent memory between Thailand and Cambodia: the Preah Vihear controversy. Beyond specific conflicts, some of Southeast Asia’s current political situations remain fragile: this can extend to their national borders. Most of the volume’s authors make clear that cultural restitution is a moral imperative, but they also emphasize the fact that repatriation offers a kind of cultural diplomacy. Generating international goodwill between the West and Southeast Asia’s countries in an era when Western colonial and post-colonial interventions in the region are under intense scrutiny is tactical. One need not be a justice warrior to support the returning of Southeast Asia’s past. Authors also illustrate that stakeholders who matter are not only government actors, but also grassroots activitists, reformed looters, and Cambodian “temple huggers”. Joining forces, using international law, and committing to career-long professional collaboration with Southeast Asian partners are all necessary to return Southeast Asia’s past. So is the kind of thoughtful and scholarly research that chapters in this book offer, and we are grateful to the authors and editors who published this volume.