Dear CPAC:

On behalf of Saving Antiquities for Everyone (SAFE), our worldwide members and petitioners, we urge you to support the Bilateral agreement with China. China’s government and citizens are taking steps to protect their cultural heritage but, without concurrent efforts to stymie the markets for illicit trade, the looting will continue to be an incentive for China’s poor. Thus, we urge you to sign the Bilateral treaty and take action against the sale of illicit antiquities; we urge you to take action against the market for stolen goods.

To quote UNESCO on the 2001 Seminar on Fighting Against Illicit Traffic of Chinese Cultural Heritage (Oct. 23-26, 2001):

“China is an ancient civilization with a long history. Chinese cultural history, fantastic and abundant, is an important part of the world’s cultural heritage. During recent years, the Chinese Government has made great achievements in protecting the Chinese cultural heritage, and fighting against illicit traffic and smuggling of cultural heritage. … [They have been] cooperat[ing] closely with UNESCO.”

In 2004, The Ministry of Culture, the State Administrator of Cultural Heritage of China, the UNESCO Chinese National Commission and UNESCO sponsored the World Historical and Cultural Cities Exposition in the City of Nanjing. This Exposition “provide[d] a forum for discussion on cultural heritage preservation between officials, young people and cultural experts from the Chinese World Heritage Cities….” (Apr. 30-May 6, 2004)

It is precisely this effort, on behalf of the people and government of China, which I would like to take the time to highlight. The following is a list of citizen action, government intervention, arrests and seizures, as well as legislation to protect existing sites, which have taken place over the past five years.

  • In 2000, Members of the People’s National Congress (PNC) call for increased cultural protection and openly criticize local government who, they believe, have not properly enforced laws for the protection of cultural heritage.
  • European trafficker in illicit carpets caught
  • 14 illicit excavators in Xinjiang caught and sentenced to 2yrs to life
  • Illicit excavators of the Fangshan Ancient Tombs are sentenced
  • China signs treaty with Peru to combat trade in illicit antiquities (UNESCO/UNIDROIT) (March, 2000)
  • arrest of local government officials involved in trafficking of illicit antiquities
  • Two illicit excavators are sentenced
  • 4 arrests made in regard to the Shuangtashi Buddhist Figure Pagoda
  • Legislation is introduced and passed to limit the number of visitors to sites endangered by high visitor traffic (i.e.: PalaceMuseum, Mogao Grottoes)
  • Local authorities arrest Wang Haijun for stealing and destroying over 100 Buddha statues
  • Cultural Committee of the PNC out lines 5 largest problems in the preservation of China’s Cultural Heritage
  • Customs officers seize 412 illicit pieces from Shipping Container—pieces to be illegally exported included wooden Buddha figures, pottery, porcelain and antique stone
  • Stolen cultural property (from archeological dig) is identified at another museum and returned to its region of origin.
  • 9 illicit excavators punished in Henan
  • In response to dealings in illicit antiquities by some museum directors, a special license is introduced to regulate museum directors and stop them from participating in the illicit trade

While government undertakings are critical to the success of anti-looting, the actions of everyday citizens are more inspiring and offer hope for a future of cultural appreciation and cultural heritage preservation.

  • He Shuzhong founds Cultural Heritage Watch (CHW) and later Cultural Heritage Preservation Research Centre (CHP) to preserve the cultural heritage of China and to educate the public about cultural heritage
  • CHW praises efforts of 76-year old peasant who is one of many peasants protecting archeological sites from looters (government financial support for this effort)
  • Mass media coverage of illicit exported material, discussing loss of Chinese cultural heritage
  • CCTV broadcast on Sotheby’s and Christies attempts to auction Chinese Cultural Heritage, believed to be looted
  • A letter from a 12-year old girl in Beijing expresses her outrage at graffiti on The Great Wall: “'Why are they so hateful? They are selfish. They are damaging cultural heritage. They scar [The] Great Wall permanently.” (CHW translation) She urged immediate action to stop the destruction of cultural heritage.

The above list is intended to highlight some of the actions taken by the people, government and media to protect China’s Cultural heritage and to prevent trade in illicit Chinese antiquities.

To offer a more comprehensive view, one may consider statistics on government seizures and arrests: between the start of 2000 and Jan 29, 2003, police arrested over 4,000 thieves and robbers of artifacts and, from Jan 1998 to Jan 2003 Customs retrieved over 25,000 illegal exports of antiquities.

Over the past ten years, China has taken steps to both preserve, restore and protect her cultural heritage. Whether it be a project on “preserving the Intangible Cultural Heritage of China’s Ethnic Minority Groups” (UNESCO Beijing, Chinese and Japanese Governments), the conservation and restoration of the Kumatra Thousand Buddha Caves with their unique frescoes combining Eastern and Western cultural influence, the restoration of the Hanyuan Hall of the Daming Palace, which turned a Tang Dynasty hall for national ceremonies into a national educational and historic museum dedicated to educating the public, He Shuzhong’s founding of CHW and later CHP to preserve the cultural heritage of China, or the legalistic aspects of over 4,000 arrests, 25,000 seizures, China’s treaty with Peru, or China’s request for a bilateral UNESCO agreement with the United States, it is clear that China has heard her people’s desire to preserve their cultural heritage and is taking the steps to protect it for future generations of world citizens.

So, yes, China is taking steps to prevent looting and preserve her cultural heritage. But the seeming wealth of heritage is NOT a renewable resource, and the retroactive arrest of looters is merely a drop in the bucket and does nothing to stem the demand. As one man relates in Time: "I know someone who was executed for looting a tomb. He made 580 yuan [$70]. Now, I hear the tricolor female statue he dug up was recently resold in New York for 150,000 yuan [$18,000]. No one is getting arrested in New York. How fair is that?" (Oct. 20, 2003; v. 162: no. 15) The monetary incentive remains, millions of dollars in exchange for denuding a country of its most valuable resources: its knowledge, history and hope for the future.

"There is a feeling that Asia is filled with endless supplies of cultural relics. But if the looting continues at this pace, we'll soon have nothing left to remind us of our glorious past. Baghdad was just a few weeks of destruction—our heritage is experiencing a major blow every week, every month, every year." (He Shuzhong, director of the NGO Cultural Heritage Protection Research Centre and former director of Cultural Heritage Watch, in Time, v. 162: no. 15)

We, the members of SAFE and the world community, urge you to sign the bilateral treaty to preserve China’s cultural heritage and the invaluable knowledge attached to it, such that our future generations may have the knowledge of their past.

Jennifer Makrides

Director of Education, SAFE

Professor, Department of Political Science, PaceUniversity