Chinese archaeologists beaten up in dispute over historic site
- Urban management officers attack researchers at dig approved by national heritage authority
A national heritage authority and local urban management officers in a city in eastern China are locked in a bitter dispute that has resulted in attacks on two archaeologists.
More than 10 urban management officers known as chengguan beat up two archaeologists working at a site in Sangshujiao near the Slender West Lake national park in Yangzhou, Jiangsu province, on Wednesday, news portal Js.people.cn reported on Friday, citing an unnamed witness.
“I yelled at them to stop. They didn’t listen. Instead, they told me to watch out for myself,” the witness was quoted as saying.
Sangshujiao dates back to the Tang dynasty (618-907) and the dig was approved at the site more than two years ago, the report said.
One of the two archaeologists beaten by the chengguan said they were “verbally” told to pack up and leave the site, even though their work was not complete.
“They didn’t show us any government document or ID and insisted that we just leave,” the researcher was quoted as saying.
In a statement on its website on Tuesday, the National Cultural Heritage Administration said the incident had interrupted work at the site and had a “vicious social impact”.
“What’s more unacceptable is that it is the local urban management officers that choreographed this incident. They are supposed to maintain order for society, but they carried out ‘law enforcement’ by using force against the archaeology work that has been approved by the National Cultural Heritage Administration and has been ongoing for nearly two years,” the administration said.
Urban management officers, known as chengguan in China, are notorious for resorting to violence to maintain order.
The Yangzhou municipal government announced on Monday that the officers involved had been detained and their team leader given a serious warning.
It said the conflict erupted after the officers ordered the researchers to take down a temporary net at the site but the archaeologists refused.
On Tuesday a commentary in Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily lashed out at the Yangzhou government.
“The heritage site in Sangshujiao is significant to research into Yangzhou’s history,” the commentary said. “Archaeology sites are non-renewable cultural heritage and they are vital for the future.”