The French National Assembly recently passed a draft law aimed at simplifying the process of returning illegally acquired cultural relics in France. At present, the draft text still needs to be reconsidered by the Senate before the final legislative process can be completed. Does this mean that the return of a large number of Chinese cultural relics lost in France, especially the Yuanmingyuan cultural relics, is just around the corner? Huo Zhengxin, a professor at China University of Political Science and Law and vice president of the China International Private Law Research Association, expressed a positive attitude towards the passage of the draft law in an interview with reporters on the 16th. "It breaks through many legal barriers in French domestic law regarding the return of historical cultural relics, and is an important legislative progress worth paying attention to and celebrating in the field of international cultural relics recovery and return." Starting from the legislative background of the draft law, Huo Zhengxin introduced that shortly after becoming the President of France, Macron gave an important speech in Africa. It was in this speech that he acknowledged the suffering brought to Africa by French colonization in history, reflected on the act of plundering cultural property of African countries during the colonial period, and promised that France would take action from policies, laws and other aspects. Macron's move aims to enhance France's influence in the African region and establish a better national image. Huo Zhengxin pointed out that this law mainly applies to foreign cultural relics looted by France between 1815 and 1972. In terms of time coverage, the large number of lost cultural relics in China, especially the Yuanmingyuan cultural relics, do indeed apply to this law, which is a good opportunity for China. But this does not mean that the cultural relics of Yuanmingyuan will be returned immediately: the entire legislative process of the bill has not yet been completed, and a series of procedures will be submitted to the French President for signature before it can take effect; The bill itself has some restrictive provisions, such as excluding the return of certain categories of cultural relics, including military items, public archives, archaeological discoveries, and privately collected cultural relics. What is a military item? Some French lawmakers believe that military goods include spoils of war. He emphasized that if France excludes spoils of war, the scope of cultural relics that can truly be returned will be greatly reduced, so it still depends on how the subsequent legal provisions are interpreted and implemented. At the same time, when it comes to the return of cultural relics, the country of origin of the cultural relics needs to submit detailed relevant materials to prove that the cultural relics were illegally obtained during the French colonial period. It also needs to go through the review and approval of relevant French authorities. After all conditions are met, the French Minister of Culture will issue an administrative order to finally issue the return. Overall, the return process is quite complicated. Huo Zhengxin believes that this French bill has set an example for the world. He also pointed out, "On the one hand, we should highly evaluate the legislation passed by France, but we should also calmly, rationally, and objectively view the actual situation of cultural relics return in the future