4 sacked after candle holders go missing
Print Edition
FOUR officials have been sacked after a pair of 400-year-old candle holders went missing from the Ming imperial tombs, authorities in Beijing said yesterday.
The officials, from Changping District, included the head and the Party chief of the Ming Tombs Special Area Agency, and two people in charge of security and cultural heritage.
The mausoleums were built for the emperors of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The white marble candle holders, which were about 90 centimeters tall and weighed 200 kilograms each, stood in front of the mausoleum of Ming’s last emperor Chongzhen.
According to police, they went missing last May but local officials said they had been sent for repairs.
The candle holders became a hot topic last month when a visitor posted photographs of the tombs online. In some photos, two vases and an incense burner were there but the candle holders, which could be seen in older photographs, were gone, leaving only their bases.
A media official with the Changping government said the Ming Tombs Special Area Agency admitted that the candle holders had gone missing on March 20. He said the four officials were sacked for their “incompetence in protection of cultural relics,” adding that security will be improved.
No further details were given and the case is still under investigation.
About 40 kilometers north of downtown Beijing, the Ming Tombs were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2003.
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