Two ancient Chinese bronze artefacts, of a rat and a rabbit, are up for sale at Christie's auction house in London. The Chinese government has condemned the sale, stating that the two artefacts were stolen in China in 1860.
I do not like theft. Whenever anyone tries to steal from me, I growl and show I will not accept it. However, these artefacts were stolen almost 150 years ago. After such a long time, most judicial systems say the real owner cannot press charges. There is something called statute of limitations, that precludes judicial action if you have not yet taken action within a certain time. Normally, statutes of limitation gives the owner twenty years to take action. This is a very long time, it is a much longer time than the vast majority of dogs live. Has China taken continuous action against the thieves or subsequent owners, with less than twenty years apart between every action taken? It does not say so in the long article that I have read. If they have not, and I do believe they have not, they are just sore losers for condemning the sale now. Nobody likes a sore loser.
In a case like this, I agree with the representative of Christie's, who said: "We continue to believe that sale by public auction offers the best opportunity for items to be repatriated as a result of worldwide exposure." If the Chinese government wants the artefacts so badly, it can just buy them. If the artefacts would be withdrawn from the auction, no such purchase is possible and the artefacts will definitely not return to China in the foreseeable future.
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2 comments:
Lite längre än den normala "statu of limitation" som jag verkar ha när Movitz knycker mina ben. Ca fem sekunder ger han mig. Sedan är det kört.
Åh, men du är ju äldre än Movitz, kan du inte ta tillbaka benet i kraft av det? ;-)
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