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China Allegedly Hiring Robbers To Loot Stolen Chinese Art From European Galleries
Chinese artifacts on display in New York (Representative, Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)
Experts have attributed the thefts of several priceless Chinese artifacts from European galleries to Chinese billionaires. The stolen artwork is of great cultural significance to China.
According to a report by Daily Mail, many of the stolen artworks have not been found and it is speculated to have reached the communist nation. The first theft took place in 2010 at the Swedish Royal Family’s Chinese Pavilion while the most recent one is reported to have taken place this April at the Museum of East Asian Art in Bath, United Kingdom.
Despite experts claiming it to not be the case, rumour mills have been churning whispers that the Chinese government could be behind these thefts. Following the 2010 heist, around 56 items were stolen from the China Collection at the KODE Museum in Norway while a gang called the Rathkeale Rovers targeted museums in Cambridge and Durham in the UK and made of with items worth over 17 million pounds. The gang was subsequently arrested and sent to jail in 2016.
A bulk of the Chinese treasures in European museums and galleries were originally present in the Old Summer Palace of Peking from where they were looted by British and French soldiers during the Opium Wars in the 1860s. The palace was burnt down to prevent the Qing Dynasty from kidnapping Britsh soldiers.
Many Chinese believe that the thefts are a case of Chinese artifacts making their way back to their rightful home.
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