An ancient coin dating to the reign of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) Shunzhi Emperor (1644-1661). Photo: VCG

A delegation of Chinese officials from the Chinese Embassy in Egypt and officials from the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities inspected and sealed dozens of smuggled ancient Chinese coins in Egypt's coastal city of Alexandria, a Chinese official said on Monday.

Egyptian customs in Alexandria seized in 2018 more than 30 ancient Chinese coins. While most of them are from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the oldest date back to the fourth century BC, said Chinese Cultural Counselor to Egypt Shi Yuewen, who was a member of the delegation.

More than 20 of these coins have been identified as national cultural relics by experts from the Chinese State Administration of Cultural Heritage and Egypt will officially return the coins to China in the near future, according to Shi. 

"The move by the Egyptian side shows Egypt's determination to fight illicit trafficking of cultural property and its willingness to strengthen cooperation in the cultural field with China," said Shi.

China and Egypt enhanced cooperation in the field of archeology in recent years. 

In November 2018, the first Chinese archeological team in Egypt began an excavation at Montu Temple in the Karnak Temple Complex in Luxor.

A team from the School of Archaeology and Museology of Peking University will start excavation in a Ptolemy site near Alexandria soon, Shi said.