Posted on 02/20/2018 1:40:25 AM PST by Simon Green
Chinese authorities are livid over the theft of a thumb from a 2,000-year-old terracotta warrior on loan to a US museum, calling for the perpetrator to be "severely" punished.
The ancient statue is valued at $4.5 million and considered a "priceless part of China's cultural heritage." It was on display at Philadelphia's Franklin Institute when the vandalism took place.
"We call on the United States to severely punish those who have done [this]," Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Relic Exchange Center's director told the Beijing Youth Daily, a state-run Chinese newspaper.
The warrior statues date back to 209 B.C., when the Qin Dynasty ruled China. The life-size statues were constructed to guard the tomb of China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang. Now a UN world heritage site, they were discovered by a Chinese farmer in 1974 in Shaanxi province, according to the Franklin Institute's exhibit page.
Delaware-resident Michael Rohana was arrested last week, US officials said, accused of stealing the thumb in December during an ugly sweater party hosted by the museum.
During the event, Rohana and a few of his friends entered the closed off terracotta warrior exhibit, and after his friends left, Rohana took a selfie with one of the statues, according to surveillance footage and court documents.
He then put his hand on the left hand of one of the warriors and snapped something off, the documents said. Rohana pocketed the warrior's thumb and took it home with him to Delaware that evening.
A museum worker discovered the missing thumb on January 8, and the FBI Art Crime Unit began to investigate. Surveillance video helped lead the FBI to both the thumb and their suspect, Rohana.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Statue desecration is portrayed by the media as worthy of person of the year nomination. It was an act of civil disobedience, therefore, to be celebrated, not punished.
Communist China, get out of the NOT South ‘China’ Sea.
kma; then we’ll talk.
Well yes, and no.
How about China becomes as worried about American intellectual rights, trademark rights, and such.
They we will be more concerned with the rights of old pieces of stone.
Just saying. Sure it is bad. But so it the huge amount of intellectual property rights China has been violating, for the entire last thirty years.
The THUGS went into a CLOSED IFF SECTION!!! They ALL need to be arrested!!
Bingo
Cut his thumb off and call it even.
but there’s so much money to be made the SOB tech companies stayed but they did “protest”
My family went to see the exhibit in Seattle. It is pretty amazing - awe inspiring. It is surprising that the exhibits are RIGHT THERE - but of course with a little rope and numerous attendants so people don’t touch them. Even the younger kids there had an inkling of how neat it was, and were respectful.
I guess the punk thought he was pretty cool though.
And that is why we can not have nice things. /s
Send the thumb back with instructions on where to put it.
China needs reminded that Chinese “Civil War” veteran statues are racists and liable for destruction in America
Notheithsatanding Chinese trolls have been in Taiwan defacing Taiwanese symbols and probably are behind the Civil War Southern statues desecrations.
If the condition were perfect, this would be worth 4.5 million.
Now, note you are missing a thumb. That brings the value down to about $10. I’ll give you $8.
//sarc
In all seriousness, what a stupid thing to do to someone else’s property.
They lent it to the museum expecting it to be preserved. I think they are well within their rights to be pissed.
Ferals........
I despise the destruction or desecration of ancient artifacts, but in this case, when there are so many other examples of the same item, it is harder for me to get in a twist over it. It's not the Mona Lisa or the Taj Mahal.
Punish the jerk, of course... but I won't get as upset about his idiotic action as I am about all of the destruction of far rarer artifacts and locations by Islamic idiots globally for the past few decades.
Meanwhile somewhere else in Philly..yesterday
http://amp.fox29.com/news/police-seek-teen-caught-on-camera-with-gun-trying-to-enter-charter-school
>>considered a “priceless part of China’s cultural heritage.”
Chairman Mao had a holocaust on China’s cultural history. Called it a cultural revolution and destroyed the past.
When are the statues and memorials to Mao going to be taken down and destroyed?
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