China Threatens to Sue over Fake Terracotta Warriors
What does it mean to be "authentic"? How is that different from "original"? And can a fake also be authentic? Such semantic hair-splitting is at the heart of a museum scandal about fake Chinese terracotta warrior statues that is causing friction between Germany and China.
The tone of the dispute has taken a sharper turn as Chinese cultural officials threaten legal action against the German exhibitors of the fake terracotta statues.
"It is a serious act of fraud and has implications for intellectual property rights," said Chen Xianqi, a spokesman for the Shaanxi Provincial Bureau of Cultural Heritage in the city of Xi'an where the terracotta army was found, in remarks to the Chinese news agency Xinhua Thursday.
"The museum of the terracotta army in Xi'an has not sent any authentic objects for display in Germany recently, and currently no such relics are on display in Germany," said Chen, who said his bureau knew nothing about the exhibition. "The Hamburg Museum of Ethnology and the German Centre of Chinese Arts and Culture have organized the exhibition with no consultation with us," he said. Xinhua reported that the officials were "considering legal action," without going into details.
Read entire article at Der Spiegel
The tone of the dispute has taken a sharper turn as Chinese cultural officials threaten legal action against the German exhibitors of the fake terracotta statues.
"It is a serious act of fraud and has implications for intellectual property rights," said Chen Xianqi, a spokesman for the Shaanxi Provincial Bureau of Cultural Heritage in the city of Xi'an where the terracotta army was found, in remarks to the Chinese news agency Xinhua Thursday.
"The museum of the terracotta army in Xi'an has not sent any authentic objects for display in Germany recently, and currently no such relics are on display in Germany," said Chen, who said his bureau knew nothing about the exhibition. "The Hamburg Museum of Ethnology and the German Centre of Chinese Arts and Culture have organized the exhibition with no consultation with us," he said. Xinhua reported that the officials were "considering legal action," without going into details.