Society

Campaign targeting gangs that rob tombs

By Zhang Zixuan and Wang Huazhong (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-05-12 08:12

XI'AN - China's police and heritage protection authorities on Wednesday kicked off a nationwide operation to fight the theft of cultural relics.

"Gangs committing the crimes are becoming professional and organized ... The crimes are getting more intelligent, professional and modernized," Zhang Xinfeng, vice-minister of public security, said on Wednesday.

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"Tomb robberies are especially serious."

The Ministry of Public Security and State Administration of Cultural Heritage on Wednesday stated the aim of the eight-month operation is to "tackle the underground market and decisively reverse the high-rate of crime".

Zhang pointed out that the prices of Chinese cultural relics on international and domestic markets are continuing to rise, fueling "collection fever" and "investment fever" on the pieces.

The Chinese art market has seen strong growth in recent years. According to a report released in 2010 by artprice.com, a website focusing on art market information, China reported annual revenue of $830 million, accounting for 17.4 percent of the global market, up from 7.7 percent in 2008.

A rare hand scroll copy of ancient Chinese calligrapher Wang Xizhi's work sold for a staggering 308 million yuan ($47 million) at an auction in Beijing in November.

Zhang said the latest revision of the Criminal Law that took effect on May 1, eliminated the death penalty for robbing ancient tombs, which may lead to more tomb robberies.

According to an annual report on crimes, tomb robbers have shifted from less populated regions to State-level or provincial-level cultural heritage protection regions, from breaking into unnamed tombs to those belonging to emperors and nobles, and from unearthing gold, silver and china to stealing sculptures and pagodas.

Jin Gaofeng, assistant professor at the Chinese People's Public Security University and a co-author of the report, told China Daily that "tomb robbers tend to be more family-based. They even pass down the know-how and skills from generation to generation".

The Ministry of Public Security and State Administration of Cultural Heritage dismantled 71 gangs, detained 787 suspects and recovered 2,366 cultural relics from December 2009 to June 2010.

Shan Jixiang, head of the administration, said China has signed agreements with 13 countries including Italy, India and the United States, to prevent illegal imports and exports of cultural relics.