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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: Should Britain, France, etc. return all the looted relics back to China?
No doubt about it, this is a huge face issue for China - recuperating all the artifacts that were looted in 1860.
Do you think Britain and France should just hand everything back, sell it, or just ignore China's angry vociferations?
Putting myself in China's shoes, I kind of understand where they're coming from...
If you think that's bad, Germany stole an entire ancient Greek city!
It's the same arguement as applies with the Greeks and Turks and Egyptians. Ever notice how Chinese museums are mostly filled with artifacts found in archaeological sites in the last 35 years, but European musuems have transmitted Chinese artifacts? Because a certain cute fat boy from China had his Chinese men went around destroying museums and universities and as many Chinese artifacts as possible. In order to, lol, revitalize Chinese culture. Now China finds itself a country practically devoid of heritage, by old world standards, and want to grasp onto the little bit that survived. The Chinese got what they asked for.
And, to be honest, as much as Chinese scream "FIVA THOUSANDA YEAR HISTORY", few of them have any respect for their own history and heritage. Most of those artifacts, if repatriated, would end up on the black market and right back in foreign hands. Or destroyed the next time a powerful cute fat boy woke up a bit cranky.
What the colonists did was reprehensible and horrific and arrogant. But also, lucky for Chinese ancients, by pure accident those artifacts being in more stable countries guaranteed their survival.
giadrosich:
Hehehe. Are you looking for a spot on Oprah? I heard she's doing a show on "telling it like it is!"
Shining_brow:
It's also the same argument as native cultures that got invaded (Canada, US, Mexico, Australia, most of Africa)... Come places are getting those relics back!! I can see a time in the not too distant future when a lot of those relics are returned to various countries, or the museums enter into a loan/lease agreement with the original country to keep them there.
In theory yes, but if they started doing that then they'd have to return all the stuff they stole from Egypt too, and that's A LOT of stuff.
Okay, lets draw up an arrest warrant for "Dr. Jones"!!!!
I think I agree with Kchur... while in theory I'd say yes, in practicality they should currently stay where they are. If they came back here, they'd disappear into someone's private collection - with the rest of what wasn't destroyed.
I've been to too many places where the foreigner has shown significantly more respect to Chinese history than the locals did... and this is to places that you have to go out of your way to get to , so you'd have to really want to see it!
I would wholeheartedly agree with both Kchur and Shining_brow.
Ideally: definitely
Someday: yes,
Now: no.
I think they should give them back but they're playing it smart. They're waiting for when relations with China are very bad and then they'll return the relics to get back to friendly relations.