China Exhibition of Recovered Stolen Cultural Relics

Shanxi holds exhibition of recovered stolen cultural relics Xinhua May 28

An exhibition featuring 4,431 recovered stolen cultural relics, mostly bronzeware from the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, was held at the provincial museum of north China's Shanxi Province. The province earlier launched a campaign to crack down on the theft of ancient tombs, architecture, stone carvings, frescoes and sculptures. So far, the province has caught 296 suspects in cultural heritage-related crimes and solved 230 such cases. A total of 29 gangs were caught and 2,525 items were retrieved in Shanxi, according to the provincial public security department. Shanxi is home to 452 cultural relics sites under state-level protection and more than 28,000 ancient architectural sites -- the highest of all provincial regions. The exhibition is expected to last until August.

Once again showing the effectiveness of going after the thieves rather than collectors.