The head was stolen from the body, the body caught up with the head, then the body and head came back home together. It is not a tale from ancient myth, but the real-life journey of a Buddhist statue and an example of great cultural cooperation across the Taiwan Strait.

Stolen ancient Buddha head to return to the mainland

Master Hsing Yun, the monastery's founding abbot, prayed for blessings at the returning ceremony Sunday, with thousands from both sides of the Taiwan Strait in attendance.

The sculpture, made of white marble, originally came from the Youju Temple in Lingshou County, Hebei province, but the head was stolen in 1996.

The Taiwan monastery received the head in May 2014 and, after painstaking enquiries and verification, traced it to a headless statue at Youju Temple.

In May 2015, the two parts came together in Taiwan and now, after nine months on display, will return to the Mainland. The first stop will be the National Museum in Beijing for a ceremony March 1 to welcome the sculpture back, after which it will move to the permanent collection of the Hebei Museum.