In 1956 renowned Chinese archaeologists and historians launched the excavation of the Dingling Tomb, where the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) was buried.
The whole world was shocked when more than 3,000 priceless relics were revealed. Archaeologists were thrilled, but were soon disappointed when they realized that a large portion of the treasures were damaged due to insufficient technology to protect them.
Wu Han, an established historian and major supporter of the excavation, reportedly cried before his death and said: "I know today I was so wrong to launch the excavation."
From then on, Chinese archaeologists have become very cautious when excavating mausoleums.
The revised Law on Cultural Relics Protection adopts a careful stance. It stipulates that archaeological institutes should seek the proof of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH) and State Bureau before launching an excavation on heritage sites protected at the national level.
The law also stipulates that the establishment of archaeological institutes should be approved by SACH.
"The stipulation is very important in the present situation since it prevents the illegal circulation of cultural relics from the source," said Liu Qingzhu, director of the Archaeological Research Institute at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Liu explained that the number of archaeological institutes is skyrocketing and needs to be controlled, as most provinces in China have set up their own archaeological research institutes and many cities, counties and universities have their own excavation teams.
The excavation teams can only retain a small part of the excavated relics as specimen for research after they are inspected by the national or provincial cultural relics administrations, stressed Shan Jixiang, the director of SACH.
Shan said the excavated relics should be registered and transferred to the collection of State-owned museums, libraries or other State-owned relic collecting organizations, which are appointed by the national and provincial cultural relics administrations.
Zhang Zhongpei, a Jilin University professor, noted that scientific reports should be published.
"Archaeological excavations without any scientific reports coming out actually damage the heritage sites. They are crimes," said Zhang.
(China Daily November 15, 2002)
