Today, an auction house in the United Kingdom is going to sell a relic suspected to have been taken from Beijing's Old Summer Palace in 1860, despite calls from China for the precious bronze artifact not to be sold.
The 3,000-year-old piece, referred to as the Tiger Ying, is a bronze water container with tiger-shaped decorations and carved inscriptions. Experts generally consider it to be from the Western Zhou Dynasty (c.11th century-771 BC).
There are only seven known ying artifacts around the world.
The auction has attracted international attention, with China's national cultural relics watchdog calling for the .
"We don't agree with any organization, from home or abroad, taking part in the auction," said a statement released on Tuesday by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.
"We also call for people with a humanitarian spirit to commonly the auction of cultural relics that were lost illicitly."
To be considered in the auction for the Tiger Ying at The Canterbury Auction Galleries, bidders are required to register and place a deposit of 25,000 pounds ($35,400). It is with an anticipated selling price of 120,000 pounds to 200,000 pounds ($168,000-$280,000).
Documents found by the auction house suggest Royal Marines Captain Harry Lewis Evans (1831-83), who fought in the Second Opium War between 1856 and 1860, could have looted the so-called Tiger Ying when the Old Summer Palace was destroyed and sacked by British and French troops in 1860.
The garden resort was destroyed by invading Anglo-French military forces in 1860 during the Second Opium War. Many treasures from the Old Summer Palace were taken overseas.
Consequently, when it was announced that the Tiger Ying would be offered for sale through the Canterbury auction house on April 11, objections were raised in China.
According to the administration's statement, the auction house was contacted and asked to stick to international law and respect Chinese people's sensitivity on the matter. The Canterbury Auction Galleries responded on Monday, refusing to withdraw the artifact from the auction catalog.
"We strongly condemned the action taken by Canterbury Auction, which ignored our protest, insisted on putting the cultural relic up for auction and even promoted it as war booty," the statement said.
The administration also vowed to keep close tabs on follow-up incidents and take countermeasures.
"We will take any action necessary to bring stolen Chinese cultural relics home," the statement added.
In recent years, the administration has investigated many Chinese artifacts lost overseas and endeavored to prevent them from being resold.
In 2016, some Dunhuang scripts, illegally taken from Gansu province by a Japanese abbot in the early 20th century, appeared in a Yokohama auction house, but that auction was canceled in the wake of Chinese protests.
Cheng Xiaohe, an associate professor of international relations at Renmin University of China, said the issue is of importance to the Chinese people because the "burning of Yuanmingyuan has been a symbol of shame for Chinese people for many years".
"The Tiger Ying was taken by the British soldier, who is a real historical figure. Therefore, this act of plunder is an eternal pain in the hearts of the Chinese people," Cheng said.
"The evidence that the Evans family illegally possessed the relic is a strong support for China to claim it back," he said, noting that if it were returned to Beijing, the act would enhance Sino-British relations.
But legal experts in the UK said China has little or no legal claim in international courts because it was taken more than a century ago.
Ian Fox-Williams, deputy head of the School of Law at Birmingham City University, said China has been trying to secure the return of looted items of national importance ever since the first international treaty dedicated to fighting illegal trafficking in cultural property was introduced in 1989.
"However, whilst it did sign the 1970 UNESCO convention concerning the protection of world cultural and natural heritage, China as a country can only seek the return of artifacts illegally exported after it joined the convention," Fox-Williams said. "Under English law, the innocent purchaser of the Tiger Ying vessel... will be given priority over rights to the vessel."
Fox-Williams suggested that another possible solution in such situations could have been found under the 1995 International Institute for the Unification of Private Law Convention, which requires prospective buyers of artifacts to perform due diligence before buying items. But China did not sign that convention until 1997.
"The quickest and easiest way of returning the Tiger Ying home to China will depend upon the wishes of the highest bidder," he said. The urn is not the first relic to be auctioned in Britain that likely came from the Old Summer Palace.
French tycoon Franois-Henri Pinault, CEO of the Kering Group (formerly PPR), handed over two bronze statues — one of a rat's head, the other a rabbit's head — to the National Museum in Beijing in June, 2013.
The two priceless treasures came home for the first time since being pillaged by Anglo-French invaders from a fountain at the Summer Palace during the Second Opium War in October 1860.
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Return looted relics to China!
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