Protection of Cultural Relics Debate in China Again

Thanks to Lu Yongxiang, vice chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, the great China protecting relics debate is back as it does every few years. It’s a familiar story – much hand wringing ensues, strong words are spoken, examples of tomb raiding and theft handed out, the existing Law on the Protection of Cultural Relics reiterated. And then….nothing….little enforcement and the debate moves on to something else. Of course the debate also usually only deals with ancient relics and leaves out any discussion of anything later or anything that might get in the way of property developers! However, Lu has specifically mentioned both rapacious property developers and lack of enforcement as two reasons why the 1982 law is looking a little impotent right now.

And if you think I’m always a bit hard on property developers, remember this is a senior Communist talking:

“A five-year census of the country’s fixed cultural heritage found several months ago that construction projects were responsible for more than half of 40,000-plus fixed cultural relics, including those located underground and underwater, “disappearing” over the past 30 years.”

The whole article here