A humble correction: The "beheaded" Lingji Bodhisattva does not exist in reality. Wu Chengen, a Chinese writer, invented the deity Lingji Bodhisattva (灵吉菩萨) in his book "Journey to the West." However, innumerable Chinese Buddha statues have been beheaded or broken into pieces and stolen by Westerners, with many ending... up in the British Museum. The number of overseas Chinese cultural artefacts exceeds 10 million, with over 23,000 of them held by the British Museum, making it the foreign museum with the largest collection of Chinese cultural artefacts. The following is a thread detailing how Westerners steal, damage, or destroy cultural artefacts from China:show more

I've been writing an art critique about China's Zhou dynasty bronzes, and to my surprise, I can't find much information regarding the "looting of Jincun tombs（金村大墓）" in English. Around 10,000 Chinese cultural relics from the Eastern Zhou dynasty (770-256 B.C.) were looted in the 1920s and are now on display in museums in Canada, the United Kingdom, Sweden, the United States, and Japan. Only three of these cultural treasures are still in China today. One could argue that this ranks among the most significant incidents of cultural damage in contemporary China. I feel compelled to shed light on this tragedy and the role that so-called "art collectors" from the West played in it. Jincun Village is located near Luoyang, one of China’s oldest cities. According to records from Luoyang Antique Management Bureau, in the summer of 1928, a heavy rain hit Jincun, causing the ground to cave in about 1.5 kilometers east of the village and revealing several underground tombs. The tombs soon drew the attention of foreign treasure hunters, particularly a Canadian Christian missionary named William Charles White, known in China as 怀履光, who collected Chinese art for the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝟖,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐝𝐚, 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐬, 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐮𝐦. Between 1928 and 1932, eight large royal tombs and three pits containing metal chariots and horses were plundered in Jincun, costing China thousands of priceless cultural relics. The publication of "Tombs of Old Lo-yang" by White in 1934 brought international attention to these tombs. Today, ROM is still home to numerous artifacts with historical significance from Jincun. Many accounts, some of which are official Chinese records, claim that White was directly involved in tomb raiding; however, according to Shen Chen, deputy director of the ROM, the museum's archives suggest that White only hurried through Luoyang once, and that there was no definitive evidence of his visit to Jincun. In any case, the desire of White and other foreign treasure seekers for Jincun cultural relics has led robbers to plunder the tombs further. Jade discs decorated with tigers and dragons, silver warriors, and bronzes with gold and silver inlays were only some of the stolen cultural artefacts. Many of these rare treasures are one-of-a-kind objects that were used to serve emperors and other royals. No similar items have been uncovered since the People's Republic of China was established in 1949. Only three Jincun artefacts remain in China today: the Jincun cauldron in the Luoyang Museum, the Minggua pot at Tsinghua University, and the bronze ruler at Nanjing University. The destruction of bamboo, wood, and silk artefacts, which the robbers called "cheap items," hinders the historical investigation of the Zhou dynasty. The Terracotta Army and the Qin bronze chariot are well-known around the world today, however, not many people know that the Qin chariot was discovered in 3,000 parts and that its magnificence pales compared to that of the Jincun chariots, whose pieces were dumped as rubbish by the thieves and will never be recovered. Damages are permanent to some of the looted artefacts housed in foreign museums. This figurative lamp stand from Boston's Museum of Fine Arts (Picture 1) is a great example. The bronze sculpture depicts a young woman carrying two lampstands. The cultural importance of the artefact was lost entirely when some antiquaries with bad taste and ignorance of Chinese culture placed two jade birds on the lampstands. [Picture 1] Jincun Figural lamp stand, Museum of Fine Arts Boston. [Picture 2] Jincun mirror, Harvard Art Museum. [Picture 3] William Charles White.

While visiting the Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang, I discovered some tragic stories.   Like many other cultural monuments in China, the Longmen Grottoes have also been severely damaged and looted by foreigners. Many of its statues were chiselled out of the grottoes by foreigners during the wars and turmoils, and they are now housed in museums around the world, including Japan, the United States, and France.   I came across a statue of a Bodhisattva without a head at the Binyang Middle Cave (宾阳中洞, picture 1). According to the local expert I consulted, the head is currently housed in the Tokyo National Museum (Picture 2). I looked at the museum's official website and discovered the missing head (Picture 3).   At this very moment, I am both proud of my culture and saddened by its suffering. I've been working with historians and scholars to write stories about the missing Chinese cultural artefacts, and I hope to publish the book soon.   We Chinese will never allow our country and culture to be humiliated again.

Cultural artefacts can only be understood in the context of their original setting. Without the context of its authentic culture, a Chinese painting at the British Museum is just coloured paper, and an Egyptian mummy is just a dried corpse. For decades, many formerly colonized or invaded countries by the UK have pressured the British Museum to return stolen or unlawfully obtained cultural relics; the museum has consistently refused, using excuses like "the relics are better reserved in the UK" to justify its theft. The British Museum, ironically, did not "better reserve foreign cultural relics." The British Museum's "repair efforts" have permanently damaged several priceless cultural artefacts due to its insensitivity to other cultures and overconfidence in its expertise. Two collections of foreign cultural objects in the British Museum suffered devastating losses: 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐥𝐠𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐬 (Μάρμαρα του Παρθενώνα), a set of Ancient Greek sculptures, and 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐝𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐒𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥 (女史箴圖), an ancient Chinese narrative drawings on silk. 🇨🇳 女史箴圖 ( the Admonitions Scroll) Admonitions of the Court Instructress is the full name of the artwork. It was created to illustrate a literary poem penned by the poet-official Zhang Hua (232-300) in 292. The picture shows the text with scenes illustrating anecdotes of exemplary behaviour of historical palace ladies, as well as more generic scenes depicting features of life as a palace lady. This is one of the earliest examples of a Chinese handscroll painting that has survived to the present day. In 1899, during the aftermath of the Boxer Rebellion, the painting was stolen by an officer in the British Indian Army who sold it to the British Museum. The scroll is incomplete, lacking the first three of the twelve original scenes, which were probably lost at an early date. The British researchers' lack of knowledge of traditional Chinese painting resulted in the dissection of the scroll into four pieces so that it might be “restored” using the same technique as Japanese screen paintings. Cracking created by such "restoration" can still be observed today, indicating that the masterpiece, which had remained intact for over 1500 years, was irreparably damaged. 🇬🇷 Μάρμαρα του Παρθενώνα (the Elgin Marbles) The Elgin Marbles are a set of ancient Greek sculptures that were taken from the Acropolis of Athens by agents of Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, and are presently housed in the British Museum after having been relocated from Ottoman Greece. British experts have completed several shoddy repair attempts on the Elgin Marbles since they were brought to the British Museum. One of the worst restorations ever was done in 1937–1938. The sculptures are made of Pentelic marble, mined from Mount Pentelicus north of Athens and naturally acquires a tan colour similar to honey when exposed to air; this tan colour is often referred to as the marble's "patina." However, Lord Duveen, who financed the entire undertaking, likely arranged for the masons working on the project to remove discolouration from some sculptures because he believed the marble was originally white. During cleaning, the delicate tones of several sculptures were scratched away. Art is one of humanity's best creations, and artefacts belong to all of us. But taking cultural artefacts from the site where they were created is both insulting and savage, let alone allowing laypeople to damage them under the guise of repair. Perhaps it's time to bring those treasures home. [𝐏𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝟏] 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐝𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐒𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐤. [𝐏𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝟐] 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐥𝐠𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐬.

As a Chinese history lover and art enthusiast, it pains me every time I visit Beijing's Old Summer Palace, which was burned down by British and French soldiers during the Second Opium War. The Old Summer Palace was widely regarded as the finest example of Chinese imperial garden and palace design, and it housed countless works of art and historical significance. In its heyday, the Garden was known as the "Garden of Gardens" (万园之园), and it was "arguably the greatest concentration of historic treasures in the world, dating and representing a full 5,000 years of an ancient civilization." What struck me the most about the palace was that, for the first time in Chinese history, a royal palace was created combining traditional Chinese and Western architecture. From an artistic standpoint, the Old Summer Palace is far more significant than the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace due to its extraordinary magnitude and harmonious mingling of Western and Chinese culture. The palace was so large – covering more than 3.5 square kilometres – that it took 4,000 men three days to destroy it. Many exquisite artworks – sculptures, porcelain, jade, silk robes, elaborate textiles, gold objects and more – were looted and are now located in 47 museums around the world, according to UNESCO. The burning of the Old Summer Palace is still a very sensitive issue in China today. The destruction of the palace has been perceived as barbaric and criminal by many Chinese, as well as by external observers. In his "Expédition de Chine", Victor Hugo described the looting as, "Two robbers breaking into a museum. One has looted, the other has burnt. ... one of the two conquerors filled its pockets, seing that, the other filled its safes; and they came back to Europe laughing hand-in-hand. ... Before history, one of the bandits will be called France and the other England." In his letter, Hugo hoped that one day France would feel guilty and return what it had plundered from China.

The Fabled Isle (方壶胜境) was considered the crown jewel of the Old Summer Palace's architectural wonders. The architecture takes its inspiration from classical Chinese mythology. The Chinese believe that their gods and goddesses inhabit three enigmatic mountains in the fortune sea, where all of the animals are pure white and the palaces are constructed of gold and silver. All the answers to eternal life can be found in those mountains. The Chinese emperor created his own version of the legendary mountains and sea of good fortune, complete with a dragon palace in the middle of the water. The white jade steps lead down into the sea, and the opulent palace is set into the water's edge. It's like being in a dream or a magical realm whenever the mist rises above the sea. In 1860, British and French soldiers looted and burned the Old Summer Place, destroying the entire architectural complex.

The Hall of National Peace (海晏堂) is one of the largest buildings of the Old Summer Palace. It fuses elements of both traditional Chinese and Western architecture. The pillars between the windows are huge glass mirrors, the building is made of brick, and the windows are made of French copper. Baroque lintels in the shape of a triangle embellish the space above the mirrors. The floor is waxed parquet. A well-known fountain was located beside the building. A stone clam serves as the fountain's centrepiece, with two stone fish swimming above it. The twelve zodiac signs are represented by animal heads on water spray statues. The twelve bronze statues take turns spraying water at the top of each hour, and they all shower at once at midday. The bronze-cast heads of the stone statues were among the treasures looted during the destruction of the Old Summer Palace by British and French expeditionary forces in 1860 during the Second Opium War. Since then, they have been among the most visible examples of attempts to repatriate Chinese art and cultural artifacts. The bronze heads of the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, horse, monkey, and pig have been returned to China, but those of the dragon, snake, goat, rooster, and dog are still missing.

Just to add perspective to those in the "West" unfamiliar with Journey to the West/(西游记, especially those crying "lack of diversity," the Wu Cheng'en 100 chapter novel's earliest existing edition dates back to 1592. Shakespeare's plays were written/1st performed 1592-1613.

@WilliamEHillis They did the same to India ☹️

Plundering artifacts is a speciality of the colonial British Empire.

Beautiful history.