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Tang Dynasty sarcophagus
brought back home
Fri, Jun 18, 2010, China
Daily/Asia News Network
XI'AN, CHINA - The return of a smuggled Tang Dynasty
(AD 618 - 907) sarcophagus from the United
States to China may serve as a good example
for international collaboration to curb the rampant pillaging and smuggling
of treasures, researchers have said.
The
27-ton stone coffin of Tang empress Wu Huifei (AD 699-737) arrived at the Shaanxi History Museum
on Thursday, four years after it was smuggled out of the country.
The
sarcophagus is 4 meters long, 2 meters wide and 2 meters high. It features
flowers and maiden figures in relief. Robbers stole it from Wu's tomb in the
southern suburbs of Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province, in
2006.
"It
is a rare cultural relic with high scientific, historical and artistic
value," said Liu Daiyun, director of the research department of the Shaanxi provincial
archaeological research institute.
Xi'an
police found out about the sarcophagus in February 2006 during an
investigation over a tomb robbery. They seized a computer containing a number
of its pictures in a suspect's house and local archaeologists soon identified
the relic's origin.
After
two years of investigations, police discovered the sarcophagus had been
smuggled out of China and
sold to a businessman in the US
for $1 million, police sources said.
"We
contacted the businessman through mediators and told him we had to get the
relic back. If necessary, we would seek help from Interpol," said Han
Yulin, head officer of the heritage investigation team of Xi'an's public security bureau.
"After
three rounds of negotiations, he agreed to return the relic to China
unconditionally."
The
sarcophagus was shipped back on March 16 from Virginia
and arrived in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, on
April 17.
"Although
this is not the first time smuggled antiques have been returned through legal
means, it is still encouraging," said Tan Ping, head of the museum and
cultural relics department of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage
(SACH).
The
pillaging of Chinese antiques is a serious problem in China.
Chinese art analysts have blamed a thriving global market for the relics as
the reason behind widespread tomb robberies.
"Pillaging
at archaeological sites and smuggling of relics have become rampant in recent
years," SACH deputy director Tong Mingkang said last Saturday, which was
China's
Cultural Heritage Day.
Driven
by high profits, a number of people have put numerous looted and smuggled
Chinese artifacts on sale in foreign countries, Tong said.
Foreign
museums have a collection of about "1.64 million Chinese relics",
Tan said, adding that it was impossible to provide an exact figure for those
relics in the hands of private collectors.
SACH
has reiterated its objection to any auction or purchase of smuggled Chinese
cultural relics.
Tan
said China
continues to seek the return of its looted relics through "legal or
diplomatic means".
To that
effect, the country has reached agreements with 11 countries including Peru, India,
Italy and the US to impose
import restrictions on relics.
These restrictions
will reduce the economic incentive behind the pillaging, said Professor Li
Boqian, an archaeologist at Peking
University.
"If
looters cannot send the items to buyers in the United States or other foreign
countries, they are less likely to risk raiding an archaeological site,"
Li said.
The
professor also stressed the importance of local police efforts in fighting
the problem.
"Xi'an police set a good
example by keeping a close eye on the looting of antiques," Li said.
China
has retrieved nearly 4,000 antiques through legal and diplomatic means since
1998, SACH archives showed.
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