Global EditionASIA 中文双语Français
Opinion
Home / Opinion / Opinion Line

Cultural relics require safekeeping

China Daily | Updated: 2018-12-13 07:33
Share
Share - WeChat
A bronze water vessel, known as Tiger Ying, is up for auction in Kent. The Canterbury Auction Galleries / For China Daily

An ancient Chinese bronze vessel, which was looted from Yuanmingyuan, the Old Summer Palace, and taken to the United Kingdom in the 19th century, was returned to China and transferred to the National Museum of China on Tuesday. ThePaper.cn comments:

The vessel, called the Tiger Ying because of the images of tigers on the top and spout, is from the late period of the Western Zhou Dynasty (c. 11th century-771 BC) and has great historical, artistic and cultural value. The Tiger Ying was taken by a British military officer during the ransacking of the Old Summer Palace and had been kept by his family ever since. In April, it appeared in an auction catalog at the Canterbury Auction Galleries in Kent in southern England and was donated to China after it was sold to a buyer.

China has stepped up the retrieval of its lost cultural relics and quite a few of them have been brought home, which has helped strengthen people's awareness of the country's historical artifacts and cultural treasures. China will continue its efforts to recover the cultural relics looted by some foreign countries in the past, but at the same time it should pay more attention to the protection of the cultural relics at home and prevent the destruction or loss of these treasures.

In 2015, the Ministry of Public Security captured 175 suspects and recovered 1,168 cultural relics in a series of cases related to the excavation of ancient cultural sites and tombs. Behind the cases are the rampant destruction and sales of the country's cultural relics.

The protection of cultural relics, ancient books and historical buildings still needs to be improved. Hopefully, the return of the Tiger Ying can help boost public awareness on cultural relics protection.

Most Viewed in 24 Hours
China Views
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US