https://www.scmp.com/rss/326909/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Lisa Cam Lisa Cam Walnuts have been setting social media ablaze – no, really. TikTok and Instagram users have been trying to “turn walnuts into jade” by rhythmically twirling two walnuts in one hand until the nuts take on a polished, jade-like texture. An Instagram reel shared on March 31 by Jessie Jacobson (@growithjessie), who is experimenting with hand-rolling her walnuts and putting another two in a rock tumbler, has more than 8 million views to date. It is the latest iteration of the “Chinamaxxing” or... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3349592/turning-walnuts-jade-tiktok-instagram-go-nuts-over-ancient-chinese-tradition?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3349592/turning-walnuts-jade-tiktok-instagram-go-nuts-over-ancient-chinese-tradition?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 12 Apr 2026 23:15:10 +0000 Chloe Loung Chloe Loung To understand Chinese culture, it is necessary to go back to the very beginning of its civilisation. In this series, we look at the most influential dynasties in Chinese history and how each, with its technological inventions and cultural advancements, helped propel the nation forward. The Han dynasty (206BC-AD220) is generally regarded as a golden age of stability and prosperity in Chinese history. It retained the strong central government structure and bureaucracy of the despotic Qin dynasty... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3328806/how-chinas-han-dynasty-forged-unified-cultural-and-national-identity?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3328806/how-chinas-han-dynasty-forged-unified-cultural-and-national-identity?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Oct 2025 09:22:22 +0000 Lawrence Chung Lawrence Chung On October 10, 1925, the Forbidden City in Beijing became the Palace Museum. The massive complex of ancient imperial palaces that was home to the royalty of the Ming and Qing dynasties for centuries became a museum for the people. Today, there are four Palace Museums: the original in Beijing, the National Palace Museum in Taipei, with a Southern branch in Chiayi which opened in 2015, and the Hong Kong Palace Museum which opened in 2022. In this series, we explore the stories behind the centenary... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3328348/how-national-palace-museums-anniversary-became-battleground-over-taiwans-identity?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3328348/how-national-palace-museums-anniversary-became-battleground-over-taiwans-identity?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 Oct 2025 22:00:09 +0000 Dave Besseling Dave Besseling “The publisher of a local leftwing newspaper [Ta Kung Pao], Mr Fei Yi-ming, who was recently elected a Standing Committee member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in Peking, is to head an eight-member committee to supervise the work on next month’s exhibition in Hongkong of archaeological finds from China,” reported the South China Morning Post on March 25, 1978. “In all, 99 items unearthed in 14 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions of China since 1949 will be... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3306538/when-terracotta-army-came-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3306538/when-terracotta-army-came-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 21 Apr 2025 00:00:13 +0000 Ashlyn Chak Ashlyn Chak Man Wa Lane is an alley in one of Hong Kong’s oldest neighbourhoods, Sheung Wan. A 100-metre length of it nicknamed “Chop Alley” has been the home of Chinese stone seal makers since the 1930s. Today, more than a dozen stalls specialising in stamps still line the alley, but the know-how involved in this ancient craft is fading, with only a few of the owners still making stone seals by hand. Seal carving dates back to the Spring and Autumn period in China (770-476BC), when the tradition of signing... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts/article/3296122/trump-stamps-animal-carvings-stone-seal-maker-keeps-ancient-chinese-art-alive?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts/article/3296122/trump-stamps-animal-carvings-stone-seal-maker-keeps-ancient-chinese-art-alive?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 26 Jan 2025 03:15:08 +0000 It was 50 years ago, in March 1974, that farmers digging a well in Shaanxi province in northwest China unearthed fragments of clay figures, leading to one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of all time. Beneath their feet stretched an incredible treasure: a vast underground city guarded by an army of life-size terracotta figures buried there for more than 2,000 years. The statues – 8,000 have been unearthed to date – mostly depict soldiers, but also servants, entertainers and... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3266943/netflix-documentary-explores-chinas-terracotta-army-excavation-and-qin-dynastys-origins?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3266943/netflix-documentary-explores-chinas-terracotta-army-excavation-and-qin-dynastys-origins?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 17 Jun 2024 10:17:30 +0000 Six major Chinese museums are among the international collaborators of a new exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA), a reminder that active cultural exchanges between China and America can continue despite continuing political tensions. “Right now, it is very important to work with China in a time of tense relationship. And culture offers the possibility to connect, to collaborate and communicate,” says Clarissa von Spee, the curator behind “China’s Southern Paradise: Treasures from the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3231749/us-museums-major-ancient-china-show-featuring-artefacts-loaned-chinese-museums-exemplifies-cultural?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3231749/us-museums-major-ancient-china-show-featuring-artefacts-loaned-chinese-museums-exemplifies-cultural?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 21 Aug 2023 16:00:08 +0000 A sting operation at a London hotel helped authorities recover a 15th-century Chinese vase worth about 2 million pounds (US$2.5 million) and break up the criminal ring believed to have stolen the artefact from a Swiss museum, British police said on Saturday. The vase, which dates to the Yongle period of the Ming dynasty, was one of three items stolen from the Museum of Far Eastern Art in Geneva in 2019. The Metropolitan Police Service made the announcement after a London court on Friday found... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3231665/british-police-recover-stolen-ming-dynasty-vase-worth-us25-million?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3231665/british-police-recover-stolen-ming-dynasty-vase-worth-us25-million?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 19 Aug 2023 15:45:22 +0000 One fateful day in the early 1970s, Joseph Hotung’s flight leaving San Francisco was delayed. With two hours to spare before heading to the airport, the then forty-something Hong Kong businessman wandered into an art gallery, where he became suddenly, instantly enamoured by a pair of translucent, identical jade bowls. Born into one of the wealthiest Hong Kong families, Hotung followed a career path in property and investment, until his Bay Area jade encounter. After buying the matching Qing... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3195953/inside-private-chinese-art-collection-joseph?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3195953/inside-private-chinese-art-collection-joseph?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 16 Oct 2022 01:15:08 +0000 As archaeologists dug up a 19th-century home amid the constant wind and sandy soil of northwest Utah, it would be hard not to daydream about this bustling outpost described by Pacific Tourist in 1882 as “a railroad town on the edge of the Great American Desert”. But one artefact discovered in these ruins told a far more important story: a Chinese inkstone, used for grinding and storing ink for writing. “The inkstone is that personal connection,” said Chris Merritt, a Utah state historic... https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/social-welfare/article/3155318/chinese-inkstone-among-artefacts-found-utah?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/social-welfare/article/3155318/chinese-inkstone-among-artefacts-found-utah?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 08 Nov 2021 14:00:17 +0000 Lian Chengchun has a unique job: fixing ancient Chinese books. For the past decade, the 32-year-old antique book fixer has painstakingly restored dozens of frayed, rotted, and torn manuscripts – all by hand. China classifies antique books as those printed before 1912. According to one report, there are an estimated 50 million in China, and only about 20 million have been preserved, creating a daunting task for antique book fixers like Lian. Many books have been damaged over time by man-made... https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/article/3126443/delicate-and-dying-art-fixing-ancient-chinese-books-hand?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/article/3126443/delicate-and-dying-art-fixing-ancient-chinese-books-hand?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 22 Mar 2021 08:54:40 +0000 Beijing on Tuesday welcomed home a 160-year-old bronze horse head statue to the Old Summer Palace from which it was stolen, a donation from Macau’s late casino king Stanley Ho Hung-sun. It is one of 12 bronze animal head sculptures representing the Chinese zodiac that were part of a fountain at the palace known as the Yuanmingyuan. The pieces were stolen from Beijing in 1860 when Anglo-French troops invaded China during the Second Opium War and left the site burned and reduced largely to... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3112071/bronze-horse-head-donated-late-stanley-ho-becomes-first?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3112071/bronze-horse-head-donated-late-stanley-ho-becomes-first?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 01 Dec 2020 06:15:28 +0000 The Hong Kong Palace Museum (HKPM) is keeping quiet about the precise content of its opening exhibitions. But this week, the appearance of an image on its website has raised hopes that its namesake in Beijing will allow some of its best-known pieces to travel to the new institution when it opens in June 2022. Five Oxen, owned by The Palace Museum in Beijing, is believed to be the earliest surviving paper painting in China and is traditionally attributed to the Tan -dynasty politician and... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3111308/hong-kong-palace-museum-hints-content-its-first-exhibitions?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3111308/hong-kong-palace-museum-hints-content-its-first-exhibitions?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Nov 2020 23:15:13 +0000 The city’s airport is shaped like a vase, the high-speed railway station was inspired by two hands holding a teacup, and the white lamp posts lining the streets are adorned with classic artisanal patterns. For Jingdezhen, in Jiangxi province, it all comes back to one thing: porcelain. “I guess no other place has survived 2,000 years doing just one thing,” says Xiong Jianjun, founder of the prestigious porcelain company that bears his name. In 2019, nearly 15 per cent of the city’s 1.1 million... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3105628/china-town-porcelain-capital-jingdezhen-2000?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3105628/china-town-porcelain-capital-jingdezhen-2000?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 18 Oct 2020 02:15:12 +0000 In Beijing’s Jiugongshan Public Cemetery, staff silently perform rites for 25-year-old Liu He’s grandparents, cleaning their tombstones, placing flowers and fruits, and taking bows on behalf of Liu’s family a day ahead of Ching Ming Festival, or China’s “tomb-sweeping day”. At the family's home, Liu’s mother also bows three times in the direction of an iPhone surrounded by fruits and incense, which is streaming the proceedings live. “Mom and dad, sorry we can’t come to visit you this year due to... https://www.scmp.com/tech/apps-social/article/3078298/ching-ming-festival-more-opt-virtual-tomb-sweeping-and-online?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/apps-social/article/3078298/ching-ming-festival-more-opt-virtual-tomb-sweeping-and-online?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 03 Apr 2020 22:00:15 +0000 Hong Kong’s art dealers experimenting with digital marketing say the move is starting to pay dividends, even as the Covid-19 pandemic and last year’s social unrest continue to plague the local market. Macey and Sons, an auctioneer and valuer, has seen an uplift in business after it started using virtual marketing in December. “We do a lot of FaceTime with clients,” said founder Jonathan Macey. “You can sit in your house and the gallery comes to you.” He added that all the galleries in Hong Kong... https://www.scmp.com/business/money/article/3075087/hong-kong-art-dealers-decimated-months-protests-and-coronavirus-turn?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/money/article/3075087/hong-kong-art-dealers-decimated-months-protests-and-coronavirus-turn?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Mar 2020 04:30:12 +0000 Most women choose what they wear to flatter their bodies. For Chinese artist Kong Ning, though, fashion is a soapbox she can employ to call people’s attention to some of the most pressing issues affecting the world. And when she uses that soapbox, Kong goes the whole hog. In 2015, she wore an outfit dotted with hundreds of 3M N95 masks (anti-pollution breathing masks) and traipsed around smog-choked Beijing. In 2013, she stitched 999 respirators onto a wedding dress which she titled “Marry the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/fashion-beauty/article/3044797/weight-world-her-shoulders-chinese-artist-takes-fashion?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/fashion-beauty/article/3044797/weight-world-her-shoulders-chinese-artist-takes-fashion?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 06 Jan 2020 21:00:15 +0000 Walk along Hong Kong’s Hollywood Road, past its many antique shops and those selling Chinese fans, Mao souvenirs and other paraphernalia, and you’ll find the Liang Yi Museum. Behind an unassuming door, the museum is a dedicated space for the antiques collection of millionaire and collector Peter Fung Yiu-fai. The museum was set up five years ago and houses a collection that incudes four-poster beds, scholarly articles, paintings, screens and a permanent collection of ladies’ ornaments, which are... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3030966/imperial-beauty-china-japan-explored-hong-kong-show-salute?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3030966/imperial-beauty-china-japan-explored-hong-kong-show-salute?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 02 Oct 2019 05:15:10 +0000 For his upcoming series China’s Greatest Treasures, art critic and BBC host Alastair Sooke shows how important works of Chinese art continue to influence the nation today. In the first episode entitled “Family and Ancestors”, Sooke, 37, goes to the Shanghai Museum to see the 3,000-year-old Da Ke Ding, a large bronze cauldron used for ritual sacrifices to powerful ancestors during the Zhou dynasty. Sooke later goes to a town called Baogai in Hunan province during Ching Ming, the annual... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3030599/chinas-greatest-treasures-antiquities-apps-bbc-series-looks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3030599/chinas-greatest-treasures-antiquities-apps-bbc-series-looks?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Sep 2019 04:45:06 +0000 Would you pay HK$25 million for a painting of a girl with protruding fangs? Or would you have HK$8 million to splash on a nebulous black sculpture instead? Since its first auction in 2012, China Guardian Auctions’ Hong Kong subsidiary has earned a reputation for putting fine Chinese art, calligraphy and ceramics, contemporary Asian art, antiques and jewellery on the auction block. With a specialised focus on Chinese art and artefacts, China Guardian has leapt from strength to strength, setting... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/3029992/style-edit-more-us750-million-asian-art-grabs-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/3029992/style-edit-more-us750-million-asian-art-grabs-china?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 24 Sep 2019 01:00:11 +0000 Britain and other nations holding looted Chinese relics and artworks in their museums have no excuse not to hand them back. The days when Beijing could not be counted on to properly preserve and display them have long passed. Inexpensive flights and the internet negate claims that London and New York are the best places in the world to permanently put artefacts on show. To insist otherwise is to support cultural imperialism.  These are strong words, but China is no longer a scientific slouch. It... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/3010832/no-excuse-ancient-chinese-treasures-be-hoarded-western?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/3010832/no-excuse-ancient-chinese-treasures-be-hoarded-western?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 21 May 2019 01:00:17 +0000 I grew up in a very different China than the one that exists today. The China of my youth faced years of Japanese invasion and occupation followed by civil war. It wasn’t until after I moved to the United States that the People’s Republic was established and a new nation began to take shape. Over the decades, China has gone through many changes. Some, like the economic reforms and opening up, benefited the people. At the same time, however, much of traditional culture has been diluted or... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3006514/where-are-xi-jinpings-works-calligraphy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3006514/where-are-xi-jinpings-works-calligraphy?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 17 Apr 2019 21:00:04 +0000 This article has been withdrawn because the author felt the headline did not accurately reflect the content. There will be no replacement. https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2185937/if-xi-jinping-wants-chinese-culture-flourish-he?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/hong-kong/article/2185937/if-xi-jinping-wants-chinese-culture-flourish-he?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 13 Feb 2019 17:00:45 +0000 Two faces press against a glass case, mobile phones raised. The object of their interest looks like a single succulent piece of braised pork purloined from the museum cafe downstairs. Closer inspection reveals it to be a delicately carved lump of stone. Nearby resides an almost perfect stalk of bok choy (complete with a pair of insect stowaways) made of jadeite. These two objects are among the most sought-out artefacts on display at the National Palace Museum in Taipei. While perhaps not as... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2185155/chinas-competing-legacies-show-national-palace?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2185155/chinas-competing-legacies-show-national-palace?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 Feb 2019 23:30:15 +0000 Archaeologists have unearthed the ruins of a mint that is believed to have been used to produce coins 2,000 years ago in central China. The workshop was discovered at the site of an ancient government office in Nanyang, Henan province, local newspaper Dahe Daily reported. “The ruins were uncovered by pouring rain,” He Yujian, head of the Nanyang cultural relics bureau, told Xinhua. China’s beastly bronze designs found in stone carvings at prehistoric settlement Archaeologists first uncovered... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2183056/ruins-2000-year-old-coin-workshop-found-central-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2183056/ruins-2000-year-old-coin-workshop-found-central-china?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 21 Jan 2019 13:48:00 +0000 A sunken imperial Chinese warship has been found off the coast of northeast China, 124 years after it was wrecked. The Jingyuan cruiser took part in battles during the first Sino-Japanese war in 1894. It is the second cruiser of the war recently discovered, after the Zhiyuan was found in 2015. Check out our video above for more. https://www.scmp.com/china/century-old-chinese-shipwreck-found/article/2165987?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/china/century-old-chinese-shipwreck-found/article/2165987?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 27 Sep 2018 10:30:30 +0000 An intricately carved limestone Buddha head was removed from a Sotheby’s auction in New York this week, after evidence emerged that it may have originated from a Unesco heritage site in China. Investigations are under way to determine if the sculpture is indeed one of the 100,000 statues from the ancient Buddhist Longmen Caves, a kilometre-long system of grottoes carved in limestone cliffs in central China’s Henan province The item was pulled from sale ahead of the auction on September 12, but... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2164296/buddha-statue-pulled-sothebys-auction-suspicion-it-may-be-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2164296/buddha-statue-pulled-sothebys-auction-suspicion-it-may-be-china?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 14 Sep 2018 13:03:28 +0000 The botched restoration of a historic stone Buddha statue in southwest China has prompted a storm of protest after photos of the “cartoonish” paint work came to light. The work on the Song dynasty (960-1279) relic in Anyue township, Sichuan province was actually carried out in 1995 but the authorities have only offered an explanation after the photos went viral on Chinese social media. The work, apparently conducted by unqualified amateur restorers, has prompted comparisons with other botched... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2158603/move-over-monkey-jesus-chinas-technicolour-buddha-joins-wall?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2158603/move-over-monkey-jesus-chinas-technicolour-buddha-joins-wall?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 07 Aug 2018 11:33:39 +0000 Archaeologists working in China’s central Henan province have discovered a tomb complex dating back to the Spring and Autumn period (770-476 BC) – roughly the same time as the founding of Ancient Rome. Around 500 burial objects were found, with bronzeware, pottery and jade trinkets all indicating that the owner of the tomb was a Chinese nobleman. https://www.scmp.com/china/archaeologists-uncover-2700-year-old-chinese-tomb-complex/article/2153894?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/china/archaeologists-uncover-2700-year-old-chinese-tomb-complex/article/2153894?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 05 Jul 2018 08:45:00 +0000 Police in eastern China’s Zhejiang province said that they have apprehended a man they suspect of being involved in robbing a 1,500-year-old tomb. Wang Jiangtao was arrested in Tiantai county in Zhejiang province on Saturday, but his detention was only announced by local police on Thursday afternoon, news portal Chinanews.com reported. He was accused of taking part in a raid of one of the most mysterious tombs in Qinghai province in November last year. Tomb raider gangs arrested after Chinese... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2152001/police-arrest-suspected-member-gang-which-raided-ancient-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2152001/police-arrest-suspected-member-gang-which-raided-ancient-and?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 22 Jun 2018 07:11:39 +0000 Chinese civilization has long been hailed as one of the oldest in the world – up to 5,000 years old. Now, after 15 years of intense research as part of a nationwide project to explore the origins of that civilization, Chinese archaeologists claim that they can back up that statement with solid physical evidence. The findings discovered show signs of civilization as early as 3,000 BC in areas around the Yellow, Yangtze and Western Liao rivers. https://www.scmp.com/china/china-officially-sets-age-its-civilization-5000-years/article/2148482?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/china/china-officially-sets-age-its-civilization-5000-years/article/2148482?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 30 May 2018 09:45:00 +0000 Traces of an old village that was flooded over 50 years ago to make way for a reservoir have resurfaced after the authorities in southeast China drained most of its water, according to local media reports. The remains of the village can now be seen once more in Donghuli in Shanggao county in Jiangxi province. Dozens of families had to move in 1961 when construction began on the Nangang Reservoir.  The village was slowly submerged after the reservoir was completed and filled with... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2143048/lost-chinese-village-re-emerges-after-reservoir-drained?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2143048/lost-chinese-village-re-emerges-after-reservoir-drained?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 24 Apr 2018 04:45:45 +0000 The Palace Museum in Beijing’s Forbidden City is undergoing a major expansion of its underground warehouse to improve storage for its collection of priceless artefacts. The museum, which has over 1.8 million cultural relics, hopes to expand its underground storage areas by 40 per cent when the new facilities open at the end of 2020. The new warehouse will cover more than 29,000 square metres (312,150 square feet) and will allow the museum to store more than 1.1 million artefacts underground, it... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2142315/beijings-palace-museum-plans-vast-underground-vault-hold?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2142315/beijings-palace-museum-plans-vast-underground-vault-hold?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Apr 2018 00:01:28 +0000 How much would you pay for a stolen kettle? A rare bronze vessel believed to have been pillaged from a Chinese imperial palace in 1860 sold at auction for $580,000 on Wednesday – and not everyone’s happy about it. Dubbed the “Tiger Ying” because of the feline decorations the cover and spout of this ying vessel, the relic dates back to the Western Zhou dynasty (1027-771BC). Only seven yings are known to exist, with five in the hands of museums. The ancient vessel was sold to a telephone buyer... https://www.scmp.com/society/bronze-tiger-ying-looted-summer-palace-sold-auction/article/2141451?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/society/bronze-tiger-ying-looted-summer-palace-sold-auction/article/2141451?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 Apr 2018 10:30:30 +0000 A rare 3,000-year-old bronze vessel looted by a British soldier from an imperial palace in Beijing has fetched £410,000 (US$581,600), more than double the estimated value at auction. The vessel, referred to as a Tiger Ying because of its tiger decorations, was auctioned as planned at Canterbury Auction Galleries in the southeast of England on Wednesday despite calls from the Chinese government to halt the sale. The water vessel, which dates back to the Western Zhou dynasty (1047-772BC), is... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2141425/ancient-looted-chinese-bronze-sells-double-expected-price-british?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2141425/ancient-looted-chinese-bronze-sells-double-expected-price-british?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 Apr 2018 07:11:09 +0000 China has condemned the British auction of a rare 3,000-year-old bronze water vessel seized by a British soldier from an imperial palace in Beijing in the 19th century, calling for a boycott. Due to be auctioned in Kent in the south of England on Wednesday, the elaborately adorned water vessel with cover – referred to as a Tiger Ying because of its tiger decorations – was made between 1100BC and 771BC during the Western Zhou dynasty and has an estimated value of up to £160,000 (US$226,000),... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2141129/china-urges-boycott-british-auction-looted-ancient-bronze-vessel?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2141129/china-urges-boycott-british-auction-looted-ancient-bronze-vessel?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 10 Apr 2018 11:15:51 +0000 China’s government is investigating whether a 3,000-year-old bronze vessel to be auctioned in Britain next month was looted from an imperial palace in Beijing. The rare water vessel dates back to the Western Zhou dynasty (1047BC-772BC) and is one of only seven similar vessels known to exist, auction house Canterbury Auction Galleries told the Antiques Trade Gazette in the UK earlier this month. The auction house will sell it on April 11 in Kent, southern England at an estimated price of £120,000... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2139508/china-probes-if-ancient-bronze-vessel-be-auctioned-uk-was-looted?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2139508/china-probes-if-ancient-bronze-vessel-be-auctioned-uk-was-looted?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 29 Mar 2018 10:15:00 +0000 A 3,000-year-old bronze vessel believed to have been looted from Beijing by British troops in 1860 will soon go under the hammer in the UK.  The vessel, known as the ‘tiger ying,’ dates back to the Western Zhou Dynasty (1027-771BC).  With tiger decorations on its lid and spout, the ying vessel would have been used during ceremonies paying respect to ancestors, according to the London-based Antiques Trade Gazette. The piece was recently discovered in Kent, a county east of London, by a British... https://www.scmp.com/china/ancient-chinese-vessel-allegedly-looted-brits-go-under-hammer/article/2139465?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/china/ancient-chinese-vessel-allegedly-looted-brits-go-under-hammer/article/2139465?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 29 Mar 2018 09:45:00 +0000 A visitor to an archaeological site in southwestern China caused a stir online after being photographed lying on one of the exhibits, a huge slab of raw jade. The incident happened at the Sanxingdui Museum in Guanghan, Sichuan province, which is on the site of a former walled city that dates back about 3,600 years, Beijing Youth Daily reported. Photographs of the man, who was not identified, reclining on the massive rock were widely circulated on social media. According to the newspaper report,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2135620/chinese-man-kicks-back-ancient-jade-exhibit-during-visit-sichuan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2135620/chinese-man-kicks-back-ancient-jade-exhibit-during-visit-sichuan?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 04 Mar 2018 07:30:37 +0000 Damage caused to one of the world-famous terracotta warriors while on display in the United States has caused a furore in China in recent weeks. Delaware resident Michael Rohana, 24, has been charged with theft after he allegedly broke off a thumb on one of the statues, which are over 2,000 years old, and put it in his pocket while visiting the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. China urges US to get tough on man who stole thumb from US$4.5 million terracotta warrior It is not the first time... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2134714/five-more-chinese-relics-came-cropper-display-abroad?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2134714/five-more-chinese-relics-came-cropper-display-abroad?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 26 Feb 2018 23:31:04 +0000 China will send two experts to the United States to assess the damage to an ancient terracotta warrior vandalised while on display at a museum in Pennsylvania, according to a Chinese newspaper report. A 24-year-old American man, Michael Rohana, was charged earlier this month with breaking off and stealing the left thumb of the 2,000-year-old sculpture from the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia on December 21. The Shaanxi Cultural Heritage Promotion Centre, which arranged for the loan of 10... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2133826/chinese-terracotta-warrior-experts-visit-philadelphia-assess?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2133826/chinese-terracotta-warrior-experts-visit-philadelphia-assess?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 Feb 2018 09:17:47 +0000 The remote village of Liangjiahe in China’s bleak northwest can take some getting to, even for the most committed “red tourist”. The dusty outpost was where Xi Jinping launched his political career and spent seven years of hardship, a formative time that shaped the outlook of the man who would eventually become president. Even today, anybody wanting to see the place for themselves to get some sense of what makes Xi tick would have to travel into the depths of Shaanxi province, more than 600km as... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2133443/how-china-using-technology-bring-its-ancient-heritage-world?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2133443/how-china-using-technology-bring-its-ancient-heritage-world?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 18 Feb 2018 05:24:26 +0000 A man in eastern China has been accused of hiring 12 thieves to raid a historic tomb and using one of the artefacts he had stolen as a coffee table at home, mainland media reported. The man, who was only identified by his surname Cai, is an antique dealer in Hangzhou the capital of Zhejiang province, the local radio station fm918.net, reported on Monday. Cai had previously been given a suspended sentence in 2014 for a similar offence, the report said. Cai is accused of hiring 12 people,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2127635/chinese-antique-dealer-hired-gang-tomb-raiders-and-used-stolen?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2127635/chinese-antique-dealer-hired-gang-tomb-raiders-and-used-stolen?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 10 Jan 2018 07:25:00 +0000 Eight gangs have been arrested in western China for tomb-raiding and smuggling imperial burial objects from 2,000 years ago, according to state media. Over 1,100 ancient artefacts were recovered and a total of 91 people arrested in Shaanxi province in the year-long crackdown by police, which was the largest campaign of its sort in China in recent years, CCTV news reported on Saturday. Some of the relics are so precious that even the Forbidden City had not seen the like, the report said. For... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2120598/tomb-raider-gangs-arrested-after-chinese-police-smash-ring-stole?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2120598/tomb-raider-gangs-arrested-after-chinese-police-smash-ring-stole?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 Nov 2017 11:22:56 +0000 Chinese tourists have been making news again, this time for the long-held but illogical tradition of throwing coins and banknotes at auspicious targets for luck. The Qianjiang Evening News in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou reported on Thursday that a three metre high cultural relic, the ruins of the millennium-old Leifeng Pagoda, now looked like a “money mound” covered in a vast carpet of one-yuan coins and banknotes, tossed there by superstitious tourists from across the country. 42 times... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2102473/luck-seeking-chinese-tourists-build-mound-coins-atop-ancient?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2102473/luck-seeking-chinese-tourists-build-mound-coins-atop-ancient?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 13 Jul 2017 04:12:01 +0000 China has just completed an extensive four-year survey of the country’s “movable” relics, including porcelain, paintings and ancient books, and concluded that were has 108 million relics in hands of the state as of October, 2016, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage said earlier last week. The millions of artefacts across China – about 12 times of the number of works in the British Museum – can testify to the nation’s 5,000-year-old civilisation with many items surviving tumultuous... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2087997/five-thousand-years-chinese-civilisation-through-108?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2087997/five-thousand-years-chinese-civilisation-through-108?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 16 Apr 2017 02:32:30 +0000 A man in northwestern China has been arrested on suspicion of illegally planning to sell ancient artefacts he dug up from a tomb found buried in his backyard, local media reports. Vanishing artefacts: China’s cultural treasures stolen or destroyed from lack of resources The man, identified only by his surname of Gao, found the ancient tomb below ground behind his home in Tongchuan, in Shaanxi province on March 12 , the Shaanxi-based Chinese Business View reported on Friday. The tomb was... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/1930570/chinese-man-arrested-suspicion-planning-sell-ancient-artefacts-he?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/1930570/chinese-man-arrested-suspicion-planning-sell-ancient-artefacts-he?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Mar 2016 05:47:10 +0000