China's museums in no state to preserve valuable relics
- Source: Global Times
- [22:18 March 15 2010]
- Comments
Each year, plenty of cultural relics are destroyed due to air pollution, biological hazards and clumsy mistakes.
Due to the negligence in domestic cultural relics management and local corruption, some cultural relics have been lost again after returning to China. In 1993, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage successfully negotiated with Sotheby's, the London auction firm.
A white porcelain plate from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) was recovered and sent to a well-known Chinese museum. However, in 1995, the plate disappeared from China again. This is not an isolated case.
Instead of getting drawn into a war of words or spending huge sums of money, we should urgently strengthen our own cultural heritage management and protection. It's not too late to take precautions.
At the current stage, when cultural relics are still flowing abroad or being damaged at home, it's more meaningful to establish a sound cultural relics information database, improve the equipment at local museums and train museum personnel to a higher standard.
Nevertheless, this doesn't mean we should give up the ownership of looted cultural relics.
When these relics emerge in public auctions or exhibitions, we must firmly resist their sale. We should let the world hear our protest.
The author is a PhD candidate at the Department of History, Nanjing University. forum@globaltimes.com.cn
