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Authority to Punish Destroyers of Relics
The State Bureau of Cultural Relics threatened serious punishment on Friday for those who it said had done serious damage to the Confucian Temple, the Confucius Family's Mansion and Confucian Cemetery.
Meanwhile, a team sent by the Shandong provincial government is investigating the matter in Qufu, in East China's Shandong Province. No results have been publicized so far.
In a circular issued on Friday to provincial, autonomous regional and municipal heritage authorities nationwide, the bureau accused the Confucian International Tourism Co Ltd of washing the three relics with water in December, causing extensive damage.
Local authorities denied the charge.
The circular marks the first time the bureau has commented on its battle with the company and Qufu authorities.
The city is the birthplace of the world-renowned thinker and educator Confucius (551-479 BC).
The bureau also accused Pang Bin, a worker with the company, of smashing a stone tablet dating back to the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368).
Qufu Tourism Bureau Director Kong Xiangjin denied the charge that the relics were washed down with a hose.
Kong confirmed the tablet had been smashed and said Pang Bin was sentenced to six months' imprisonment for the mistake.
Kong said he doubted whether relics experts, sent to Qufu by the bureau in early January to investigate the matter, were telling the truth.
In early December, the local government transferred the managerial authority of the three sites to the company, a practice the bureau deemed unlawful under the Law of Cultural Relics Protection. The duty was previously handled by the local cultural relics authority.
Kong argued the practice, which he called "reform," was aimed at increasing the economic returns.
Source: China Daily
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