View

Stolen relics

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-10-21 07:51

The Old Summer Palace, known in China as the "Gardens of Perfect Brightness", is, unfortunately, a reminder of an age of darkness in Chinese history. The aggressive troops sent by Britain and France sacked the Old Summer Palace in 1860 and the British and French armies, joined by those of Germany, Japan, the United States, Czarist Russia, Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, plundered through what remained in 1900.

Various relics from these gardens now grace the galleries and storehouses of museums worldwide, when their rightful place is here at home. Yet hardly anything abroad is being done to return them to China, the relics' rightful home.

It took emperors of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) 150 years to build the Old Summer Palace, an extensive collection of royal mansions and gardens and other works of art. When the Chinese people commemorate the destruction of the palace and the humiliation of the nation 150 years ago, it is worth recalling that those countries continue to shamelessly profit from assets and property stolen from the Old Summer Palace.

In recent years countries such as Egypt, Italy and Greece have been stepping up their efforts to recover stolen national and cultural artifacts from abroad. Egypt has certainly not remained silent over the fate of its national heritage. Indeed, Egyptian antiquities officials have been waging a vigorous campaign aimed at regaining the country's countless relics that were pilfered over centuries by various European explorers, scientists, archeologists and museums.

China has every reason to do the same, to seek the return of priceless Chinese relics stolen from the Old Summer Palace.

In 2004 Ethiopia succeeded in getting back a 1,700-year old obelisk that had been looted by Italian troops in 1937. And in 2007, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles returned two ancient artworks to Greece.

These cases all underline the fact that, by standing firm on moral principle and historical truth, a nation can often bring about the return of its stolen goods.

Joint action is likely to be the most effective strategy. In April, the Conference on International Cooperation for the Protection and Repatriation of Cultural Heritage brought together 25 countries to Cairo to discuss how to work cohesively to repatriate pilfered artifacts. Its key aim was to build a consensus on amending a UNESCO convention banning the ownership or export of stolen antiquities acquired after 1970.

According to researchers, about 1.5 million relics from the Old Summer Palace are housed in more than 2,000 museums in 47 countries.

These pieces of stolen heritage should be returned to their rightful owners, the Chinese people.

)