Sino-British Opium War

:... ... The official Xinhua news agency said the two head sculptures were taken from Beijing's Imperial Summer Palace, burnt down by invading French and British forces in 1860. "China has incontrovertible ownership of those objects and they should be immediately returned," ... ...

Xinhua said China and France signed a 1995 convention on stolen or illegally exported cultural objects, "which stipulated that any cultural object looted or lost because of reasons of war should be returned without any limitation of time span."

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Nick Macfie)

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PRC can easily do many concrete things. :nana:

If France court does not stop and block the Auction, then France as a country violates the 1995 convention on stolen or illegally exported cultural objects.

Thus, the PRC can easily start freezing France assets in China immediately.

Let's say that all the Sales of French Perfumes in PRC, French car such as Renault, Peugeot, Citroen, Designer Clothing and bags will be frozen and all the profits will be confiscated until the looted relics are returned to PRC.

Since French president Sarkozy who is Jewish by the way had already gone out of his way to offend Chinese people, and this Sarkozy joo may even escalate the issue and interfere with the French court and ask the French court to ignore the 1995 convention.

GreenestGDP said:

Since French president Sarkozy who is Jewish by the way had already gone out of his way to offend Chinese people, and this Sarkozy joo may even escalate the issue and interfere with the French court and ask the French court to ignore the 1995 convention.

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How in the world does it matter if Sarkozy is Jewish?

:china::china::china:

China formally demands halt of bronze heads sale

Tue Feb 24, 7:42 am ETBEIJING (Reuters) – The Chinese government formally demanded cancellation of the auction in Paris of two historic bronze sculptures claimed by China, after a previous effort by a cultural group was rejected by a French court.

The sculptures, of a rat and a rabbit head, are part of an art collection from the estate of French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent, which went on sale at a Christie's auction that started in Paris on Monday.

China claims ownership of the heads that were taken from Beijing's Summer Palace when it was razed by invading French and British forces in 1860 during the Second Opium War.

"The State Administration of Cultural Heritage has formally informed the auctioneer of our strong opposition to the auction, and clearly demanded its cancellation," Ma Zhaoxu, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, told a news conference.

APACE, an association representing Chinese cultural and heritage interests, had filed an appeal to have the sale blocked but was turned down by the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Paris.

Ma scorned an offer by Pierre Berge, Saint Laurent's former business manager and companion, to exchange the sculptures for promises to guarantee human rights and allow exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, back into Tibet.

"Using the pretext of human rights to infringe on the Chinese people's fundamental cultural rights is just ridiculous," Ma said.

Interest in the case goes beyond the art world because of the tensions between Paris and Beijing over French President Nicolas Sarkozy's decision to meet the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing considers a separatist.

China's State Administration of Cultural Heritage also directly condemned the auction, saying any such sale was "in contravention of the basic spirit of the relevant international treaties."

An Administration official also told the web site of the People's Daily () newspaper of the ruling Communist Party, that the auction "would seriously harm the cultural rights and national feeling of the Chinese people."

Christie's values the sculptures at 8 to 10 million euros each. Five of the original 12 heads are now in China.

(Reporting by Liu Zhen; editing by Lucy Hornby and Valerie Lee)

Anger builds over sale of looted China relics

Nickkita Lau and agencies

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Members of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong gathered outside the French consulate yesterday to protest against today's auction in Paris of two bronze relics looted from the Summer Palace 150 years ago.
"Many have expressed discontent that the auction is a sale of stolen goods," legislator Gary Chan Hak-kan said. "The sale of stolen national treasures shows disrespect to the Chinese people."

A French judge ruled on Monday the 18th- century bronze heads depicting a rabbit and a rat can be auctioned as part of the estate of late designer Yves Saint Laurent.

The Association for the Protection of the Art of China in Europe had attempted to block the sale but was ordered to pay a fine of 1,000 euros (HK$9,870) to the auction house and Pierre Berge, Saint Laurent's business partner and companion.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said the State Administration of Cultural Heritage had demanded the auction be canceled.

The administration said last night the sale of looted heritage pieces is against international agreements and harmful to the cultural rights and national sentiments of the Chinese people.

The auction house insists the heads, valued at about US$10 million (HK$78 million) each, have a clear chain of ownership and can be resold because they changed hands several times over the course of the 20th century. It also said if China wants the heads back, it could bid for them.

"It is really shameful. They are like kidnappers demanding ransom for your child," said Li Xingfeng, one of a group of 81 lawyers who filed the lawsuit in Paris last week. They have vowed to pursue the case even after the auction.

Berge offered to trade the bronze heads for political concessions. "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," he said.

But Ma said using the pretext of human rights to infringe on the Chinese people's fundamental cultural rights is ridiculous.

The two bronzes were among 12 made for the Zodiac fountain in the old Summer Palace in Beijing. They were looted by British and French forces during the Second Opium War in 1860.

Beijing's Poly Corp purchased three bronze heads in 2000 for HK$31.37 million.

In 2003 and 2007, casino tycoon Stanley Ho Hung-sun bought the pig and horse heads for HK$6 million and HK$70 million respectively and donated them to Beijing. The whereabouts of the five other heads are unknown.

>_> If they won't give it back, buy it back...!

China needs something like the Getty Trust Fund.

The Getty center Museum, paid for by the J Paul Getty Trust Fund, has an endowment of over $10 billion USD. Nobody out-bids them on art.

China Slaps Controls on Christie’s After Bronzes Sale (Update2)

By Le-Min Lim

Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) -- China said it will tighten control on Christie’s International’s activities in the nation, hours after the company auctioned a pair of Qing Dynasty bronzes in Paris, ignoring China’s calls to return the allegedly looted items.

In a statement today, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, or SACH, ordered officials to scrutinize artifacts the London-based auction house imports and exports from China. The company would need to detail the ownership and provenance of items. Antiques missing papers won’t be allowed to enter or leave.

Christie’s, in an e-mailed statement, denied wrongdoing.

“Christie’s regrets that the State Administration of Cultural Heritage has taken the unusual step of announcing reprisal measures as a consequence of Christie’s legal auction of the fountainheads in Paris this week,” the statement said.

This decision, which implies added paperwork on antiques, may make it tougher for mainland Chinese to bring home artifacts they buy from Christie’s auctions. Hong Kong, where Christie’s and main rival Sotheby’s holds biannual art sales, is the company’s hub for the sale of Chinese antiquities, with sales of more than HK$1 billion ($129 million) last year.

“It may mean more trouble buying from Christie’s than Sotheby’s,” said Lu Feifei, a China-based dealer who paid more than HK$70 million for Emperor Qianlong’s jade-hilted saber-and- scabbard and armor at Sotheby’s Hong Kong auction in October. “I’m a law-abiding businessman and we don’t want to be embroiled in unnecessary trouble, so we may buy our antiques elsewhere.”

Severed Bronzes

The circular was issued after Christie’s sold two Qing sculptures in Paris as part of the Yves Saint Laurent art auction. The bronzes, the heads of a rabbit and a rat, were severed from a water clock in China’s Summer Palace by foreign troops in 1860.

At yesterday’s auction, they were sold for a combined 31.4 million euros ($40 million) to an unidentified telephone bidder. Christie’s had maintained before the auction, in response to China’s protests, that “the fountainheads have a clear and extensive history of ownership.”

In today’s statement, Christie’s said “ the legal ownership of the fountainheads was clearly confirmed, and we have directly and honestly engaged with SACH in discussing the sale over the past months.”

China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu, at a regular press conference on Feb. 13, called the relics “stolen and robbed,” and urged their return to China.

Cultural Group

On Feb. 23, a Paris administrative court ruled Christie’s could proceed with the sale of the two bronzes, ruling against a suit brought by Chinese cultural defense group, Apace.

The same day, Chinese bloggers blasted the ruling, calling it a “second raiding.” China’s state-run Xinhua news agency featured these comments in bold headlines on its Web Site.

The Administration said it will “continue to seek the return of the sculptures by all means in accord with related international conventions and Chinese laws.”

Christie’s counts Hong Kong as its third-biggest auction market after New York and London.

“We continue to believe that sale by public auction offers the best opportunity for items to be repatriated as a result of worldwide exposure,” the Christie’s statement said.

To contact the writer on the story: Le-Min Lim in Hong Kong at [email protected]

Last Updated: February 26, 2009 03:52 EST

1. While it is true communism was established in Europe, the point is Euro Communism is much different and impractical in third world countries in Africa, South America or Asia. Soviet Communism just doesn't work in a country where there is little or no industry and everyone is uneducated. Maoism worked because its communism was tailor to agricultural countries.

2. I believe the Opium War was a good thing, I mean if we all hung out one day and I started accounting all arrogant, I am sure one of you would slap me. Same thing with China, I mean don't get me wrong, we have a rich and wonderful history, but that has nothing to do with how we can drop kick countries. How can China act arrogant when her armies were horrid. If China didn't go through the war, I believe China would be a much worse country today. The reason for that is China would have been invaded with a much more powerful country, the sphere of influence nonsense would have actually turned into spheres of colony.

The Qing Empire was indeed incredibly inept since the regime was not even capable of organizing more than only token resistance. After the demonstration of superior British firepower at the Taku forts battle the entire military structure simply collapsed and an Empire of 280 million people got scrubbed by a tiny expedition force.

Only decades later Liu Yongfu (刘永福) the commander of the Black Flag Army demonstrated during the war with France (1883-85) that a determined peoples war could repel a well equipped but comparably small european expedition force. Unfortunately this was an exception and not the rule...

In retrospect most embarrassing is the fact that in Qing wars against imperialist powers (except the Boxer Rebellion) Chinese casualties were absolutely neglegible in comparison to the vast population of the Empire. During the war with Russia (1904/05) Japan lost 250000 casualties (75000 killed) but won a decisive victory against a major european power showing instructively that only with steely resolve and sacrifice the tide could be turned. Nevertheless China took another three humiliating and painful decades to learn that bitter lesson...

Qing was ruled by a minority group. The main goal of the leadership was to make sure the emperor does not get overthrown by the Han majority. A long time ago, a very smart guy invented a version of a rapid firing gun. Kangxi Emperor's reward was to slaughter his entire family and send him to work in slave labor. Kangxi was worried that weapon would weaken the Manchu's rule. That same attitude were also held by Empress Dowager Cixi as well, especially after the Taiping Rebellion.

The overthrown of Qing left a messy political situation. It wasn't until 1949 did China become unified, for the most part.

optionsss said:

Qing was ruled by a minority group. The main goal of the leadership was to make sure the emperor does not get overthrown by the Han majority. A long time ago, a very smart guy invented a version of a rapid firing gun. Kangxi Emperor's reward was to slaughter his entire family and send him to work in slave labor. Kangxi was worried that weapon would weaken the Manchu's rule. That same attitude were also held by Empress Dowager Cixi as well, especially after the Taiping Rebellion.

The overthrown of Qing left a messy political situation. It wasn't until 1949 did China become unified, for the most part.

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Kangxi himself has a group of musket imperial guard. How can he not support implementation of such good weapons?

As for Manchu or Han rules, when emperor blood are so cross between Han and Manchu that already has difficulties disinguish between Han and Manchu.

And another reason why Kangxi is successful in unifying China and contain the Han was his great acceptance of Han culture and his stance of Man/Han one family. It was so successful that Manchu culture was wiped out after 1911 uprising....