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Chinese anger at sale of Qing Dynasty seal

Sat, 2009-11-07 06:57 — ABN

The green jade seal, belonging to the emperor Qian Long (1736-1795) fetched £3.6 million, six times its estimate, at the auction on Wednesday following frantic bidding by eight competing collectors.

News of the sale was greeted with anger on the Chinese internet, where the country's growing nationalism frequently finds its voice.

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The problem with these reactions is they fail to recognize that vast amounts of art, architecture, books, and traditional items were destroyed after the revolution by Chinese themselves. Rather than get all mad, people should realize that even if some of these items were looted from China (and many were not), it is very likely they would have been destroyed in China had they not been. ABN