On chinadaily.com.cn

Visit for breaking news and exclusive content

Culture: China bans sale of looted relics

China's cultural relics watchdog has issued a regulation banning the auction of stolen, smuggled or looted relics. The ban was imposed by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage. The regulation also stipulates that SACS retains purchasing priority and the right to set prices for artifacts that make it to legal auction. Cultural relics from China have been auctioned many times in recent years, upsetting both the government and the public. In 2009, bronze sculptures of a rabbit and a rat were auctioned in Paris. They were looted when the Old Summer Palace of Emperor Qianlong (1736-1795) was burned down by Anglo-French forces during the Second Opium War in 1860.