Opinion / You Nuo
Protect our cultural treasures
By You Nuo (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-05-15 06:04
Last week we read about China's top 10 archaeological finds in 2005 with
both joy and sadness.
Joy came from reading about the significance of the discoveries. Sadness
came from learning about the archaeologists' work and thinking about the
many deplorable things that have been done to the nation's historical
assets.
There were reports about unearthed treasures, although many of them are
yet to be released for public viewing. Some murals in old tomb chambers
and silk paintings covering the caskets were reported to be stunningly
beautiful.
But more impressive was how widespread the discoveries were. In fact,
archaeological sites identifying various early communities exist far
beyond the Yellow River Valley, known as the cradle of Chinese
civilization.
The 2005 finds included evidence of rice-planting in the highlands of
Yunnan and Guizhou provinces in southwestern China, and traces of a
previously unknown culture (that included barbecuing) of 8,000 or more
years ago in Zhejiang Province, on the coast of the East China Sea.
At the same time, however, we learned that some archaeological treasures
had potentially already fallen into the hands of cultural thieves.
Five of the top 10 archaeological sites had reportedly been invaded by
tomb diggers. And among the 25 candidates for experts' voting in 2005, 10
had been victims of serious cultural theft, virtually plunder in some
cases, in the previous couple of years.
Of the 25 sites, only six received police protection. In another 17
cases, as Xinhua News Agency reported, the police failed to take any
action after archaeologists notified them of their ongoing work in the
areas of their jurisdiction.
In one case involving the salvage of a sunken ship of the old porcelain
trade off the Fujian coast in East China, there was a virtual race
between archaeologists and 25 boats commissioned by illegal treasure
hunters working during typhoon alarms.
Before archaeologists could finish their work there were already early
Qing (17th century) blue-patterned porcelain objects on offer in
collectors' flea markets in Beijing, costing as much as 80,000 yuan
(US$10,000) apiece.
At a time of rampant tomb-raiding and relics theft, the inadequate police
presence in the nation's most important archaeological sites is hard to
justify. It is not hard to point out what the government should do about
the problem: setting up law-enforcement units, signing more anti-crime
treaties with foreign governments, increasing budgetary allocations, and
even defining certain protection areas.
The key, however, is to persuade citizens about the value of our culture,
and to bring a sense of shame to those who attempt to trade the nation's
cultural assets for their own personal gain. This is an area where the
better educated people, at least those who regard themselves as such, and
those who are in the cultural business, should help by offering
themselves as examples.
As viewed from this perspective, the environmental mess left behind by
filmmakers in the scenic areas of northern Yunnan after shooting "The
Promise," directed by Chen Kaige, is similar to the ugly hole left by
tomb robbers in an imperial cemetery.
In both cases, cultural wealth belonging to the public to be appreciated
by future generations is sacrificed for the immediate financial return of
just a few individuals.
It is odd that the industry has been basically quiet in response to the
environmental damage wrought by the filmmakers, as if it was the
misfortune of a few individuals to get caught behaving irresponsibly. Why
can't they say something? At least to say they will ensure due care is
taken to protect the nation's environmental and cultural areas next time
they are using them to give us a better promise?
Email: younuo@chinadaily.com.cn
(China Daily 05/15/2006 page4)
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