Near the Village Qu of Quwo County in Shanxi Province, where located the ancient capital of Jin State, there are nine tombs of Jin marquises and their wives. During the early 1990s, grave robbing was rampant in that region, and many precious cultural relics lost overseas.

In December 1992, Ma Cheng Yuan, the head of Shanghai Museum, found this set of 14 antique bells in a Hong Kong antique shop. At that time, many other people thought it’s fake because of its carved insciptions. Mr. Ma is an expert on bronze wares, and he knew they are precious relics. So he bought them and mailed it back to Shanghai.