A bronze horse head, stolen from an old imperial summer palace 147 years ago by invading British and French troops, is to return to China after Macao gambling tycoon Stanley Ho bought it for 69.1 million Hong Kong dollars (US$8.9 million) and announced his intention to donate it to China.

The head, dating back to the Qing Dynasty, is one of 12 bronze animal heads representing the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac, which were situated on the water clock fountain in Yuanmingyuan Park, or the Old Summer Palace, situated in northwest Beijing and burned down in 1860.

Ho bought the sculpture from a collector in Taiwan in a deal brokered by Sotheby's auction house before it was due to be put up for auction in October.

"I feel honored to play a role in helping save lost cultural relics from overseas," Ho said.

"We are very happy to see the horse head sculpture return home after being away for nearly 150 years," said Song Xinchao, director of the museum department of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

In 2000, the ox, tiger and monkey heads were bought by Chinese collectors and returned home, and Stanley Ho, who is also a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), bought the boar head with six million HK dollars and returned it to Beijing in 2003.

The four head sculptures are currently all on display in the Poly Art Museum in Beijing.

A source with China's Lost Cultural Relics Recovery Program said sculptures of the mouse head and rabbit head are kept in Paris. However, the dragon head, snake head, rooster head, dog head and sheep head are still untraceable.

Statistics show 1.67 million Chinese cultural relics are housed in over 2,000 museums in 47 countries, accounting for 10 percent of all lost Chinese cultural treasures. Most of the lost treasures are owned by private collectors.