Time for Justice

“Two robbers breaking into a museum, devastating, looting and burning, leaving laughing hand-in-hand with their bags full of treasures; one of the robbers is called France and the other Britain.”

Victor Hugo wrote that in 1861, when he was asked on his opinions on the China expedition by the French forces. And in particular, he was referring to the event known in China, and around the world as the burning of the Summer Palace. The story remains a very sensitive topic in modern day China, because it is the prime example of the hundred years of humiliation suffered by the Chinese, brought onto us by a combination of an incapable and corrupt government, a string of natural disasters, and most importantly, by the foreign invaders from the West.

It is laughable that, for a country whose name is synonymous with military defeat, France was able to march alongside of her fellow criminals and cause so much devastation and sorrow on China. Let us skip the historical discussions of the cause and effect of the first and second Opium War, and generalize it as an unfortunate byproduct of the Age of Imperialism led by the Europeans. That is not my central theme today. I want to talk about this upcoming French auction event that will auction two pieces that was looted from the Summer Palace. The two objects are sculptures of the head of a rabbit and that of a rat. These are two of the twelve Chinese zodiac fountain that belonged in the Summer Palace.

They should be returned to China. Plain and simple. They should be returned to China. They should be returned, and be allowed to be put in a local exhibit in China. Not in the Louvre, or the British Museum, which are two of the foremost examples of the legacy of Imperialism in the U.K and France. Think about it, someone had the will and drive to kill, rape, and pillage your property, your fellow human beings, and years later, would still have the audacity to put these objects acquired illegally up on an auction block for sale. These objects are stained by blood, and should be returned to its rightful country, to serve as a silent witness to the crimes that has been committed. These auctioneers decry the petitions from the Chinese by arguing that they are simply housing a private, civilized auction focusing on personal property, but if we analyze that argument, we would find that there is nothing civilized about how these objects came to be in the hands of a private French collector, there is no support of the personal property argument, when, if we trace the billings of transaction on it and find that it was once burnt, sawed off, and hastily spirited out of China.

Here in the U.S, we have the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which is a Federal law that provides a path for museums to return Native American artifacts back to the affected Indian tribes. Some museums, and individuals (e.g Victor Hugo mentioned above) are enlightened and, in my opinion, following the right course of action by voluntarily returning certain artifacts that was obtained illegally. We need to be more vocal, and voice our opinions to a wider audience. Let us tell the world of the story of China in the 19th century, let us tell the story of why we call it the 100 Years of Humiliation, let us tell the story of Hong Kong and Macao, and the story of the signs in Shanghai neighborhoods that read “Chinaman and dogs cannot enter”.

Then perhaps the world can judge, and decide on where these artifacts belong in.