Tomb raider: Chinese live-streamer punished for defiling ancient burial site by opening coffins, rearranging bones and kissing a skull
- Man travels 2,000 kilometers to sacred site before prising open coffins to display contents for financial gain
- Mainland social media commenters abhor his actions and authorities insist on punishing him to ‘uphold social order and preserve cultural relics’
A Chinese man who opened coffins at an ancient burial site, rummaged through bones and even kissed a skull while live-streaming has been punished with a nine-month suspended jail term.
The 21-year-old, surnamed Chen, was caught at night by villagers trespassing at the ancient Guoli cave burial site in March last year.
The live-streamer travelled 2,000 kilometres to the centuries-old protected site in China’s southwestern Guizhou province from his home in northeastern Liaoning province.
In an attempt to make money from live-streaming, Chen raided the site with two friends, opened up three coffins resting on the ground for his audience and removed the bones from one of the coffins to pose for the camera.
He even told the police that he kissed a skull.
Chen was live-streaming on a lesser-known video platform called Anmo using an unidentified account, according to a report published by the Longli County People’s Procuratorate which pressed charges against him on February 16.