I’ve been following this saga of the looted bronzes and today it got even more interesting: the winning bidder, a Chinese collector who phoned in the winning bid, said he “cannot” pay for the two sculptures. Was he in collusion with the Chinese government or is it a statement of his own morals? The story is still unfolding.
But the location of the looting was what got me interested in the first place. Some news sources cited the original location of the bronzes as the Summer Palace and others stated it was the Old Summer Palace in Beijing. Still others said it was an "imperial garden". So where did these bronzes come from?
There are two imperial gardens in Beijing with similar names. The Old Summer Palace, indeed looted in 1860 by European powers during the Second Opium War is the original location of the bronze animal heads, formerly forming a 12-point water clock with the zodiac animals. This location shouldn't be confused with the Summer Palace, another imperial garden but popular with later Qing rulers. While both were looted in 1860, the Summer Palace was given a much more extravagant makeover by Empress Cixi (something Chinese are also quite bitter about), only to be destroyed again after the Boxer Rebellion in 1900.
So there you have it: two Summer Palaces, two very expensive bronzes still in limbo. You can visit either of the Summer Palaces on a visit to Beijing, but you won't see the bronzes.
I was searching internet about this news and curious to see how people from western world comments on this? And everybody was talking about will Chinese government behind this? From your point of view, most of Chinese citizen is still being brainwashed and don’t have their own ideas or thought
Hi Tom, interesting that you took my meaning as such. I think it’s a fair question to wonder if the Chinese government has anything to do with the (non-)purchase. But I think it’s rather a jump to state I think most Chinese citizens are “still being brainwashed and don’t have their own ideas or thought[s]“. In my direct experience, Chinese people have very strong opinions. However, they don’t always have a channel in which to voice them. But this is not at all the point of my post. In fact, I indeed wonder if the buyer “cannot” pay for the bronzes because he feels it’s morally wrong.
I, for one, haven’t quite decided where I stand on the issue. My first impression is that if objects are looted and are in the hands of foreign governments, then those governments should work at getting them back to their original locations. But once items get sold to individuals and those individuals pay a lot of money for them, it gets a bit tricky, doesn’t it?
I welcome other opinions.
Sara
Hi Sara,
i have been following this sage as you do. I agree with you that it is complicated.
But, what more complicated and significant is the feeling of Chinese to Western. During the last few decades, Chinese do think that they are way behind the Western in technology, political system, social system, quality of life, you name it. They started learning from the Western, which they wanna catch up with in the future. However, an accident like this reminds the Chinese the history that the Western, their role model, destroyed their garden, both the Royal and civilian’s, a hundred years ago. That really confuses the Chinese.
Best Wishes,
Kwan