Auction Controversy

[ReverendJay]

I have quickly become a big fan of Chip Tsao's Politically Incorrect column in HK Magazine.

This week he did a great job uncovering the history behind the looting of the bronze heads from the Summer Palace. As those who've read my posts know, I'm a big believer in historical accuracy and context...


China has fallen out with the French over the auction of a rabbit’s head and a rat’s head in Paris—a diplomatic spat that has done the Chinese heads in but left the French scratching their heads. The two controversial bronze heads were allegedly looted from the Summer Palace in Peking by the joint Anglo-French army in 1860.

The term “burning of the Summer Palace” (in Chinese, “huo shao Yuanming Yuan”) has become synonymous with nationalistic humiliation, and anything that invokes it would deeply hurt the feelings, as the jargon has it, of the Chinese people. But why was the Summer Palace burned in the first place? Chinese history textbooks tell only half the story.

In June 1858, Hsian Fung, the Chinese emperor, had surrounded himself with a gaggle of hawkish ministers while the British and the French were knocking on the door, demanding more trade. The diplomatic row soon escalated into a military crisis, as a large flotilla of Anglo-French forces sailed northwards from Hong Kong, threatening a full-scale invasion. Hsian Fung responded by fleeing to his Royal Garden Villa in Manchuria, and ordered his ministers to open urgent talks with the white devils.

The British sent an envoy named Harry Parkes, who with his entourage, were arrested in Tientsin. Parkes was made to kowtow to the Chinese officials, who smacked his head on the ground a few hundred times, apparently as a violent retaliation for the refusal of the previous envoy, Lord McCartney, to pay necessary deference when he arrived at the court of the late emperor Ch’ien Lung. Then as the British navy approached off of Bohai Bay, Parkes and his followers were tied up with waterlogged leather straps and removed to Peking.

The British prisoners, still tied up in belts, were locked in a small cell in the Summer Palace. Parkes then supposedly sang “God Save the Queen” to the grinning prison guards, who had no idea what it meant. Not long after, the prisoners fell ill and their bodies were infested with maggots. A reporter for the Times was the first to die and his body was fed to the dogs. Some prisoners were mutilated. The group was eventually released. Out of the 39 the Chinese captured, only 19 survived.

The tragedy sent shockwaves back to Europe, and both the British and French peoples’ feelings were deeply hurt. The French suggested burning down the Forbidden City as revenge. But a more lenient Lord James Elgin, the British High Commissioner to China, proposed that the summer palace, where the crime was committed, should be destroyed instead. Should we blame the British and the French?

Not quite, according to the logic of someone such as John Pilger, a left-wing Australian journalist who blamed Pol Pot’s massacre of 2 million Cambodians on President Nixon, who had originally bombed Cambodia and thus triggered the Khmer Rouge terror.

When you read history, context is paramount. Whether it’s a rabbit’s head or a rat’s head as the point of discussion, it is always hard to keep a cool head when you have your head up your ass.
A Question of Context | HK-magazine.com

[Safran]

In June 1858, Hsian Fung, the Chinese emperor, had surrounded himself with a gaggle of hawkish ministers while the British and the French were knocking on the door, demanding more trade.

First this made me laugh. How can a country (Britain or France) dare starting a war against another country because the latter doesn't want to trade with it? But then it made me think: isn't this why the US hates communism so much? Because its multinationals can't invest and trade in communist countries? Isn't this the reason why the US hates North Korea and Cuba so much? And Putin, Saddam, etc? It's funny how the need for "free trade" affects the relationship between countries. But then, isn't free trade a synonym of usurpation, and aren't all wars "unlawful takeover of governments"?

Should we blame the British and the French?

Not quite, according to the logic of someone such as John Pilger, a left-wing Australian journalist who blamed Pol Pot’s massacre of 2 million Cambodians on President Nixon, who had originally bombed Cambodia and thus triggered the Khmer Rouge terror.

I don't really see the similarity here. But I guess that since you have decided that John Pilger is left wing, then he must be wrong and everything he says must be wrong. Right?

[Zenon]

I read the article.

I think the point that historical context needs to be given to the whole episope is fair. Certainly haven't heard anything in the media about the full historical context other the the burning of the summer palace.

[kombuchakid]

One word not used in describing the "winner" of the auction is 'Infantile'. The seller has rightly taken it off the market.
One unforseen reaction might be the reduction in the number of Chinese works of art being put up for auction as one would never know when a faux bid was made.
--
If I remember correctly Old Chip was on the radio earlier this week-I will see if I can dig up the link-But Uncle Steve certainly was and his coloum today is a verbatim account of his interview


Ransacking history in the name of nationalism


Stephen Vines
Mar 06, 2009


No doubt you have been following the heated controversy over the bronze animal head statues designed by the Italian Jesuit and Qing court painter Giuseppe Castiglione, which were looted from the grounds of the Old Summer Palace where they formed part of a fountain designed by the French priest Michel Benoist.
There is little doubt that the statues were stolen but a great deal of doubt over who did it. The reason is that these statues were removed from the gardens and placed in storage some two decades before invading British and French troops sacked the palace in 1860. The Empress of the Daoguang empire had developed a visceral dislike of the heads and instructed that they be hidden away. It is therefore quite likely that they were looted by Chinese thieves who stripped the palace bare after the marauding foreign troops had done their worst.



Since then, seven of these bronze heads have re-emerged, two of which were in the collection of the late French designer Yves Saint Laurent.

The provenance of these statues is relatively well known to anyone who has read just a little about Beijing's imperial history and is familiar with the bizarre schemes of the Qianlong emperor who was keen to have foreigners work on building his palaces. It was he who ordered the Jesuit priests to assist in the design of the Old Summer Palace, and they, apparently, happily obeyed.

Despite all this being well documented, it has scarcely been mentioned amid the chauvinist clamour that surrounded Christie's auction of the statues. The auction was scuttled by a bogus winning bid from Cai Minchao, who declared that his refusal to pay was the act of a patriot.

The Communist Party, which owes its ideological foundations to Marxist-Leninist ideas of internationalism, has long since abandoned these concepts in favour of vigorous nationalism that provides a kind of legitimacy for its rule. Unsurprisingly, the party is in the vanguard of the flag-waving crowd who relish this opportunity to decry dastardly foreigners for destroying national heritage.

Yet even the most cursory examination of the party's role as custodian of that heritage shows the shameful degree of destruction that has occurred on its watch. The most dramatic manifestation came during the Cultural Revolution when destruction of everything "old" was an officially sanctioned part of the mob rule that prevailed. Since then, there has been the desecration of historical landmarks in the name of progress. Goodness knows what would have happened to the priceless collection of Chinese historical relics had they not been "looted" by retreating Kuomintang forces and taken to Taiwan, where they remain on display at the National Palace Museum.

Yet, of course, the super patriots have a point about the removal of historical relics from their home base, especially when their departure formed part of the spoils of war. But it would be unwise to try and attribute some form of Chinese uniqueness to this phenomenon. Many Indians, for example, would like to see the Koh-i-Noor diamond returned home (it is currently part of the British crown jewels), Greeks are desperate for the British to return the Elgin Marbles and, in China, there is a blanket of denial obscuring the removal of Tibetan relics to other parts of the country. In an ideal world, relics of this kind, particularly those of great importance, would be returned home.

We can set aside the obvious fact that these bronze heads can hardly be described as being of great national importance and ask the more pertinent question: can the party demonstrate the credentials required to ensure that China's treasured past is safe in its hands?

Self-righteous posturing about these statues clearly strikes a populist chord but the ignorance of the history surrounding them sounds alarm bells and suggests an agenda other than that which is stated. Those who disagree will be pleased to note that I am a typically ignorant gweilo.

Stephen Vines is a Hong Kong-based journalist and entrepreneur

[ReverendJay]

Ah the Americans, they do know how to make friends don't they?

BELLINGHAM, B.C. - A British Columbian man who wanted a U.S. border inspector to say please got a face full of pepper spray instead.

Desiderio Fortunato, of Coquitlam, B.C., says he thought the guard who told him to turn off his engine Monday was rude and asked him to say please.

The 54-year-old says he was stunned and blinded as he was sprayed, pulled out of the car and handcuffed.

He was detained about 3 hours.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Mike Milne says it was a lawful order that travellers must obey but the use of force is under review.

[kombuchakid]

And a faceful of pepper spray is related to the auction controversy how?

-Turning to the other auction in the news, it was indeed poetic justice that India´s biggest ´liquor baron´ forked over $1.8 mill to buy back the paltry accessories of India´s poster boy for teetotalism.
In fact the only way Mr Mallaya´s produce can get into Mr Gandhi´s home state is to smuggle it in.
The late Mr G would be spinning in his grave if he had one.

[ReverendJay]

whoops! I meant to put that in my other thread, American Foreign policy. Clicked the wrong link in my haste, as the wife was hurrying me.

[kombuchakid]

So what else does your good woman ask you to hurry up?
-
Found your man Chip

http://www.rthk.org.hk/rthk/radio3/b...88092_3014.smi

difficult to speed him up or indeed stop him so he may be cut of in mid sylabble.

[ReverendJay]

She doesn't normally hurry me, but we were on our way out to see Slumdog and she wanted to stop for breakfast first.

[kombuchakid]

Aiya!!
the hurried breakfast before the stomach churning [in a good way]openng to slumdog
JaiHo!

To keep this thread on topic may I ask if you have ever been hurried at auction bridge?