by KWAME OPOKU
These sculptures of a rat head and a rabbit head were among the objects looted in 1860 when French and British soldiers under the command of Lord Elgin sacked the imperial palace in Beijing. The eighth Lord Elgin was the son of the seventh Lord Elgin, who removed the Parthenon Marbles from Athens. These two sculptures have now been returned to China. (2) PHOTO/Modern Ghana
The barbaric Western imperialist (3) attack on the Summer Palace, Beijing, in 1860 resulted in the looting of over 1 million Chinese cultural artefacts by French and British troops, (4) and left a bitter memory of national shame with the Chinese; who have since tried by all means to recover their valuable and historical assets, held mostly in Western museums and other institutions. The British Museum has some 23,000 of these artefacts, including the official seals of the Chinese rulers. The recent purchase by a Chinese tycoon, Huang Nubo, of seven white marble columns for $1.6m from Norway has once again raised questions about Chinese policies and methods of recovery – especially the question of the legitimacy and wisdom of buying your own looted artefact from the looter or his successors. (5)
The Chinese institutions, NGOs and businessmen that have been involved in such purchases don’t appear to officially represent their government’s policy,but the relationship between such bodies and the Chinese government seems to be a close one. Many of the returned artefacts end up in the Poly Art Museum, Beijing, which has as one of its aims, ‘the recovery of Chinese artefacts now abroad.’ (6) The pretences here are not unlike those evoked when a request is made to the British Government for the return of an artefact from the British Museum that the British Museum is independent of the British Government.
To pursue a policy of purchasing your own looted artefacts is clearly not what was envisaged by United Nations and UNESCO resolutions which request the holders of such artefacts to return them to their countries of origin. (7) Moreover, China may be seen as breaking ranks with the African, Asian, and Latin American States that attended the Cairo Conference in 2010 which requested holding States to return looted artefacts. (8)
Pambazuka News for more