The bronze rat head was taken from the Imperial Summer Palace in Beijing in 1868
A hare bronze which, with the rat figure, was used as a fountain head. They are expected to fetch 10 million euros each in the Paris sale
Posted on 02/25/2009 12:29:38 PM PST by JoeProBono
As nationalistic passions burn over the fate of looted Chinese artworks auctioned in Paris this week, Beijing is attempting to keep the focus on past humiliations by Western powers and away from delicate issues like human rights and China's handling of Tibet. The twisted tale of two animal heads, cast in bronze, that once adorned the Qing Dynasty pleasure gardens in Beijing and disappeared, allegedly in pillaging by the British and French armies in 1860, took another turn last week when their current owner suggested he would return them if Beijing agreed to free Tibet. "I would be very happy to go myself and bring these two Chinese heads to put them in the Summer Palace in Beijing," Pierre Berge, Yves Saint Laurent's former business partner and companion, told the media in Paris. "All they have to do is to declare they are going to apply human rights, give the Tibetans back their freedom and agree to accept the Dalai Lama on their territory," Berge said. State media reports have downplayed Berge's statement, focusing instead on the efforts of patriotic Chinese overseas to block the sale and recover the stolen artworks. A group of 85 volunteer lawyers had submitted an application to a Paris court asking it to stop auctioneer Christie's from putting the two sculptures under the hammer this week. "Personally, I have little hope that this single lawsuit would succeed in recovering the two animal heads,....
(Excerpt) Read more at atimes.com ...
The bronze rat head was taken from the Imperial Summer Palace in Beijing in 1868
A hare bronze which, with the rat figure, was used as a fountain head. They are expected to fetch 10 million euros each in the Paris sale
“...Pierre Berge, Yves Saint Laurent’s former business partner and companion, told the media in Paris...”
Yes, the offer makes perfect sense because the Chinese Communists are always in the habit of negotiating ridiculous blackmail on their national sovereignty with Western homosexuals.
(sarc)
Very little, if any. For centuries, the Chinese, particularly ethnic Hans, have had a superiority complex in relation to other cultures. Other peoples were looked upon as barbarian, even if those peoples had inventions or methodologies that were superior to those in China.
The East Asian cultures of Japan and China are notorious for being racist towards other Asians such as Vietnamese, Korean, or Malay, as well as Westerners. Centuries of unbroken cultural lineage (as opposed to Egyptian culture overtaken by Arabs and Europe broken up during the Dark Ages) have fostered that view.
However, they have learned well from the West to play the victim card. As an American of Chinese descent, I have seen all too often Chinese officials exhibiting the lessons of Sun Tzu while feigning weakness or naivete.
French fairy tries to blackmail Beijing.
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