Palace workers fired in bid to stop web mole
By Xu Chi |
May 19, 2011, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
ALL workers at Jianfu Palace of Beijing's Palace Museum have been fired by top officials trying to stop a "mole" from revealing information to the media, it was reported yesterday.
A new batch of armed police has also been appointed to replace the previous group of officers guarding the palace, while security guards must now hand in their cell phones to supervisors during work time, news website eeo.com.cn claimed.
Workers and guards are not allowed to have conversations with people outside the palace, especially reporters, the website reported.
This follows online accusations that the Palace Museum had turned its Jianfu Palace into a private club targeting billionaires, with membership fees of 1 million yuan (US$153,726).
The museum issued a public announcement on Monday denying those accusations, insisting that Jianfu Palace would never be a private club. It shifted the responsibility of issuing membership to a subsidiary company.
However, more evidence, including pictures and documents, indicating that the palace was planning a private club have been uploaded online by a web user via the microblog on Weibo.com.
Some of the pictures appear to show a grand opening ceremony for the club.
The anonymous netizen, who claims to be a museum insider, issued an apology on their microblog yesterday to all staff workers sacked as a result of their postings.
Jianfu Palace was destroyed by fire in 1924. Rebuilding was completed in 2005. It is not open to the public. It has been used as a venue for receiving guests, including George W Bush and the curators of the Louvre Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the British Museum.
A new batch of armed police has also been appointed to replace the previous group of officers guarding the palace, while security guards must now hand in their cell phones to supervisors during work time, news website eeo.com.cn claimed.
Workers and guards are not allowed to have conversations with people outside the palace, especially reporters, the website reported.
This follows online accusations that the Palace Museum had turned its Jianfu Palace into a private club targeting billionaires, with membership fees of 1 million yuan (US$153,726).
The museum issued a public announcement on Monday denying those accusations, insisting that Jianfu Palace would never be a private club. It shifted the responsibility of issuing membership to a subsidiary company.
However, more evidence, including pictures and documents, indicating that the palace was planning a private club have been uploaded online by a web user via the microblog on Weibo.com.
Some of the pictures appear to show a grand opening ceremony for the club.
The anonymous netizen, who claims to be a museum insider, issued an apology on their microblog yesterday to all staff workers sacked as a result of their postings.
Jianfu Palace was destroyed by fire in 1924. Rebuilding was completed in 2005. It is not open to the public. It has been used as a venue for receiving guests, including George W Bush and the curators of the Louvre Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the British Museum.
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