Antique vat marred by couple incites heated reaction

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Apart from random engravings, the Palace Museum has encountered several cases of scandalous behaviors this year.In March there was news that open-air relics were trampled and in May nude models were photographed riding on ancient artifacts in the museum's courtyard.

Defacing historic relics can have serious consequences, beyond severely damaging the original appearance of the objects and distorting the historic message they carry.

In recent years, with an increasing number of Chinese tourists travelling abroad, inscription scandals can blemish China's national image. (In 2013 a Chinese boy carved his name on a stone sculpture at an ancient temple in Egypt in and stirred widespread reaction worldwide.)

However, these kinds of indecent behavior are not entirely bad, it means that the most urgent issue is to raise people's awareness of protecting cultural relics. It is not only a moral issue but also a legal one and worth relentless efforts from both authorities and ordinary people.