In China's headlong rush to modernize, few things have been so neglected as
its past.
Compared with, say, neighbors like Japan and South Korea, this much larger
country has rarely done a good job preserving ancient architecture. And despite
the incomparable riches of Chinese civilization, world-class museums are few and
far between.
For decades, collectors seeking a precious piece of China's past have found
overseas markets to be the best bet — like the auctions and antiques fairs of
Asia Week, an annual event that has attracted droves of collectors to New York
in recent days. For indignant Chinese officials and archaeologists, such sales
are a testament to smugglers' skill in funneling antiquities out of the country
and into markets where they will fetch top dollar.
According to some estimates, some 300,000 to 400,000 tombs have been raided
in China in the last quarter-century of accelerating capitalist-style
development. Although the numbers of looted items are much fuzzier, experts say,
the most valuable ones have made their way to the West, with the bulk going to
the United States.
For years, China has asked the United States to join its campaign against
antiquities smuggling, most recently pressing Washington to adopt a ban on
imports of any art or artifact predating 1911, the end of the Qing dynasty.
Progress on the issue has been slow, however, partly because of fierce
objections from art dealers and collectors.
Nicole Deaner, a spokeswoman for the State Department's Bureau of Educational
and Cultural Affairs, said yesterday that China's request was still under
consideration and that there was no timetable for when a decision would be made.
Recently there has been a bit of movement on other fronts. In January, China
and Italy signed a treaty providing for a new task force of Chinese special
agents who will travel to Italy to receive training from the Italian military
police in identifying and tracking cultural artifacts.
The two countries also plan a rapid exchange of information about suspected
smuggled goods. Chinese experts differ widely on the long-term prospects for
controlling the trade in contraband antiques. Yet they agree that the looting of
important archaeological sites has slowed somewhat over the last decade.
"It's impossible to absolutely stop this sort of thing, but the mid-1990's
was the crazy peak for this market," said He Shuzhong, an official of the State
Cultural Heritage Administration, which has been involved in the talks with the
United States on tightening import restrictions. "If you look now at the
tomb-raiding problem, and you look at the new pieces on the overseas market,
things are better than they were 10 years ago. Tomb raiding, although it still
exists, and exists seriously in some areas, has decreased by at least half."
Mr. He cited steps taken recently by China to rein in the trade, like new
requirements that auction houses and antiques dealers reapply annually for the
extension of their licenses. Motion-sensing and satellite-based technology are
now used to monitor the best-known sites, and volunteers have been recruited to
police them, particularly in the hinterlands.
Still, he said, the most effective remedy would be an American import ban on
antiques, adding that he was "annoyed and unsatisfied by America's reaction."
People who do not work for the government agree that the market for illicit
antiquities has dried up somewhat. "Smuggling was at its peak between the 1980's
and mid-1990's, but now it's relatively subdued," said Ma Weidu, owner and
founder of Guanfu, China's first private museum of classic and antique art, in
Beijing. "If you went to Hollywood Road in Hong Kong back then, you could see
lots of antiquities displayed right there on the street, and they were genuine.
Go there today, and you find lots of copies."
As recently as a few years ago, he said, "no one really cared" when
excavation work for a big construction project uncovered antiquities, "given the
heavy emphasis on economic development."
"Today, when a construction crew hits an ancient site," Mr. Ma said, "the
project will be paused, or forced to take a detour."
Still, Mr. Ma estimated that 20 percent of the items he viewed in overseas
auctions of Chinese rarities left the country under illegal circumstances.
Lu Jianrong, a professor in the department of heritage, culture and museum
science at Fudan University, in Shanghai, said there was little ground for
optimism, although he supports the treaty with Italy, which he sees as largely
symbolic.
"There is obviously a deep socioeconomic background to this, because our
country is in a transition period, and from the perspective of city, county or
provincial leaders, the focus should be on people's living standards," he said.
"Antiquities are just not part of the focus," he added, "especially in
central and western China, where the living standards are just too low, and
where for some, the easiest way to make a living is still to dig stuff
up."