Tomb raiders nabbed, rare relics returned
Print Edition
Police in north China鈥檚 Shanxi Province have caught 1,179 suspects involved in cultural relic-related crimes and solved 724 such cases since the start of 2018.
More than 17,000 historical artifacts were retrieved in the province during the period, according to the provincial public security department.
The numbers of suspects, cases solved and retrieved relics have all surpassed the total numbers of the previous eight years.
The province launched a three-year campaign against cultural relic crimes such as tomb raiding and relics smuggling in 2018.
In late January, Shanxi police announced that they had recovered a precious bronze plate, a long-lost cultural relic under top state protection.
The plate, engraved with dragons, turtles, water birds, frogs, fish and other animals, is seen as an auspicious symbol of royalty, longevity and fortune in Chinese culture.
As one of the dowries given to his eldest daughter by the Duke Wen of the Jin Kingdom, the 2,600-year-old bronze ritual vessel had changed hands in many provinces before being sold overseas.
The police spent months identifying the location of the lost treasure and associated tomb raiders and smugglers.
In another case, a set of bronze bells dating back to the Shang Dynasty (16th century-11th century BC) had been smuggled and traded several times before police traced them to a Hong Kong antique trader.
Shanxi boasts abundant cultural heritage.
The province has more than 53,000 immovable cultural relics, including ancient ruins, tombs and architecture.
It is home to 452 cultural relics sites under state protection.
This week, Shanxi police handed over a total of 12,633 retrieved cultural relics including more than 700 items under state protection to the Shanxi Cultural Relics Bureau.
A large number of the cultural relics are bronze wares dating back to the Shang and Zhou (11th century-221 BC) dynasties in the Yellow River basin.
Liu Xinyun, vice governor of Shanxi and head of the provincial public security department, said the handover to the cultural relics authority will ensure that they are properly protected.
Li Boqian, a professor with the School of Archeology and Museology of Peking University, said these items can provide valuable material for researchers to study the history, culture and art of ancient times.
In early January, the National Cultural Heritage Administration said it would work out a plan to better protect cultural relics and speed up the creation of a safety oversight platform this year.
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