A Chinese Buddha statue with the mummified body of a Buddhist monk inside is on display at the Hungarian Natural History Museum in Budapest, Hungary on March 3, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua]

The fading banner hanging across the gate posts of Puzhao Temple reads "We hope that the statue of Patriach Zhanggong will come home soon."

The statue, which contains the body of a Buddhist monk and is the heart of Yangchun village in Southern China's Fujian province, remains abroad, as worldwide attention that called for it to be returned by a Dutch collector faded just like the banner.

"The Dutch collector said he would return the statue of Patriach Zhanggong this April, and we have been expecting this for the past several months," Lin Jianfei, a Yangchun village teacher, said. "Yet what we have learned now is that the Dutch collector ate his words and is not willing to return the statue, which shocked me and I feel angry."

In March, the Buddhist statue, was part of the Mummy World exhibition at the Hungarian Natural History Museum. The statue was proved to be the one that was stolen from Fujian province's Yangchun village in 1995.

Oscar van Overeem, a Dutch architect, who acquired the statue, said he would ask for nothing to return it to Yangchun village, where it belongs. But as time went by, he changed his mind.