A Chinese hardstone imperial seal set a record at Drouot in Paris when the four inch (10.5 cm) square specimen, inscribed 'Qianlong Yu Bi Zhi Bao', was hammered for a price of $23 million (160 million RMB).

The act attracted much attention in China for some people believe that it's a patriotic move since the seal could had been looted from the old Summer Palace (Chinese name Yuanmingyuan) in Beijing in 1860 by invading European soldiers and was thus brought overseas. The bidder, a businessman from east China's Wenzhou, is praised by some Chinese netizens as retrieving illegally looted cultural relics for China.

If the seal is indeed the cultural relics of Yuanmingyuan, then the businessman’s behavior is not appropriate since it was basically handling stolen goods, said 94-year-old Xie Chensheng, a senior cultural heritage preservation expert. "If your belongings are stolen and you see them in the market the next day you do not buy them back. You call the police", said Xie, who believes that the behavior of Chinese individuals bid and pay for the stolen Chinese relics is not a patriotic act, but a crime of disposal of stolen goods.