Royal tomb raiders sent to prison
Print Edition
ELEVEN people have been jailed for looting a royal tomb in north China’s Hebei Province.
In October 2015, a chamber of the eastern royal tombs of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) in Zunhua, about 125 kilometers east of Beijing, was found to have been robbed.
The State Administration of Cultural Heritage summoned local officials and the committee overseeing the tombs for talks.
The robbers, after studying the routine of security staff, sneaked into the site at night. They used electricity from a nearby irrigation project to power an electric cutter to cut a hole into the tomb chamber, covering the machine with a quilt to deaden the sound.
“Some of us were in charge of keeping watch over security staff, some of digging, and others responsible for transporting the relics,” one of the accused said. “We usually started working at around 7pm and did not stop until 3am.”
The theft was not discovered until 10 days later.
The robbers have been sentenced to up to 14 years and nine months, along with fines. Some have appealed against the sentences.
The chamber in question was built for Wenxi, a concubine of the Kangxi Emperor.
Liang Xiao, a relics protection expert, said tomb raiders were putting Chinese history at risk, and the fervor for antique collecting also contributed to the problem.
In 2015, the tomb of Liu Yongfu, a hero of the Sino-French War who died in 1917, was almost emptied by thieves. The site in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, was placed under state protection in 2001.
In 2012, three stone sculptures in the mausoleum of the Jingjiang Prince, a member of Guangxi royalty during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), were spirited away.
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