Auction Houses in China: Christie’s vs. PLA
Licensed to operate in mainland China earlier this year, the auction house Christie’s has...
cultural relics
Looted Ancient Bronzes Returned to Beijing
Two ancient bronze animal head sculptures looted from the Summer Palace during the Second Opium War were returned to China in accordance with the offer businessman François-Henri Pinault made during his visit to the country...
Chinese Company to Mine 2600-Year-Old Buddhist Site
In Afghanistan, the world’s largest second largest copper deposit sits below a sacred Buddhist site, which contains more than 200 statues and a 100-acre monastery complex. The site is now in danger of being destroyed by...
Sam Crane: Beauty and Power on China’s Silk Road
Sam Crane travels the Silk Road in a piece for Kyoto Journal: Today, Dunhuang is a major tourist destination, especially popular with Japanese, Koreans and Southeast Asians. It is a highlight of any contemporary Silk Road...
The Mystery of the Ming Dynasty Galleon and China’s 16th-Century Exports
A group of fisherman diving off the Chinese coast near the Nan’ao island chain discovered a shipwreck and blue-and-white porcelain plates. The Telegraph blog reports: When the fisherman took the researchers to the site,...
Kashgar’s Vanishing Memory
RFA has produced a multimedia report on the destruction of old Kashgar: Chinese authorities plan to rebuild the ancient Silk Road city of Kashgar to make it earthquake-proof, but a sanctuary of ancient Uyghur architecture and...
On This Rare Map, China is the Center of the World
The Library of Congress is currently displaying a map of the world created by Matteo Ricci in 1602 for the Chinese emperor Wanli: “In olden days, nobody had ever known that there were such places as North and South America...
China’s Campaign to Reclaim Cultural Relics
A team of Chinese cultural experts has been traveling to museums throughout the U.S. in search of items removed from the Old Summer Palace by British and Americans in 1860. As mentioned yesterday on CDT, the New York Times...
Chinese Team Searches Museums for Art Treasures
From the NYT: For the past two weeks, the delegation of Chinese cultural experts has swept through American institutions, seeking to reclaim items once ensconced at the Old Summer Palace in Beijing, which was one of the world’s...
Fortune or Calamity? A Gift for Chongqing’s Indicted Police Chief
Inside-Out China tells an interesting anecdote about the arrest of former Chongqing Police Chief Wen Qiang in the corruption crackdown in the city: Among the huge amount of wealth Wen Qiang acquired for being the umbrella for...
China Renovates Former Palace Home Of Dalai Lamas
From AP: China has completed a seven-year renovation of Tibet’s Potala Palace — home to the Dalai Lamas until the region’s current spiritual leader fled during an aborted uprising against Communist rule 50 years ago....
China Denies Art Auction Bid Role
The Chinese government is denying any role in placing the winning bid at Christie’s on two sculptures which it says are looted objects. The winning bidder, Cai Mingchao, has since refused to pay for the pieces. BBC...
Chinese Bidder of Looted Sculptures Refuses to Pay, With Netizens’ Reactions and Photos
Last week, two bronze heads formerly located at the Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan) were sold at a Christie’s auction in Paris. Though the auction came under much heat, with many Chinese contending that the bronzes were...
Phone Bidders get China Bronzes of Saint Laurent
Two bronzes from the Old Summer Palace have been sold for $18 million to two unidentified phone bidders. From Reuters: Two rare bronze sculptures that disappeared from China nearly 150 years ago — and that Beijing now wants back...
China Seeks to Stop Paris Sale of Bronzes
The Chinese government plans to file a lawsuit to try to reclaim statues going on sale at a Christie’s auction in Paris this week. The statues were reportedly looted from the Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan) and are being...
Beijing Angry at Auction of Relics
Chinese officials are angry over the proposed sale of two bronze animal heads that were taken from the zodiac-themed fountain of the Old Summer Palace when it was looted by British and French troupes during the Second Opium War...
China Blasts U.S. for Theft of Ancient Relics
In an article by Reuters, the Chinese government identified the U.S. as the leading country guilty of harboring stolen Chinese relics. Shan Jixiang, director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, called on the United...
Chinese Vow to Halt Sale of Emperor’s Bronze – David Eimer
From Telegraph.co.uk: The proposed sale of a rare bronze statue, looted from Beijing by British and French soldiers in 1860, has run into powerful opposition from China, where there is rising anger over the millions of Chinese antiquities held by foreign museums and collectors. The beautifully preserved bronze horse head, which originally adorned the summer […]
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