WTF is wrong with the Chinese Gov.?

[ThePresence]

A bit extreme perhaps?

BEIJING (Reuters) - The head of a relics protection department at a former Chinese imperial palace has been sentenced to death for stealing the artifacts he was meant to protect, the Xinhua news agency said Tuesday.

Li Haitao was found guilty of stealing 259 relics from the Eight Outer Temples, part of the World Heritage Chengde Mountain Resort site in central Hebei Province, and replacing them with fakes.

The crimes took place between 1992 and 2002 when Li was head of the Cultural Relics Protection Department.

"Li pocketed more than 3.2 million yuan ($385,500) and $72,000 by selling 152 pieces of cultural relics he had stolen," Xinhua said.

Police had seized more than 100 relics from his private collection, it said.

The Intermediate People's Court of Chengde city also sentenced four of Li's accomplices to jail terms from between two and five years and fined them between 10,000 yuan ($1,200) and 100,000 yuan ($12,000), it said.

The sprawling, 300-year-old resort, a major tourist destination 150 km (90 miles) northeast of Beijing, served as the temporary imperial palace of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) emperors Kangxi and Qianlong.

It was listed by UNESCO (news - web sites) as a World Heritage site in 1994, Xinhua said.

 

[Orsorum]

Good deterrent.

 

[puffff]

Originally posted by: ThePresence
A bit extreme perhaps?

BEIJING (Reuters) - The head of a relics protection department at a former Chinese imperial palace has been sentenced to death for stealing the artifacts he was meant to protect, the Xinhua news agency said Tuesday.

Li Haitao was found guilty of stealing 259 relics from the Eight Outer Temples, part of the World Heritage Chengde Mountain Resort site in central Hebei Province, and replacing them with fakes.

The crimes took place between 1992 and 2002 when Li was head of the Cultural Relics Protection Department.

"Li pocketed more than 3.2 million yuan ($385,500) and $72,000 by selling 152 pieces of cultural relics he had stolen," Xinhua said.

Police had seized more than 100 relics from his private collection, it said.

The Intermediate People's Court of Chengde city also sentenced four of Li's accomplices to jail terms from between two and five years and fined them between 10,000 yuan ($1,200) and 100,000 yuan ($12,000), it said.

The sprawling, 300-year-old resort, a major tourist destination 150 km (90 miles) northeast of Beijing, served as the temporary imperial palace of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) emperors Kangxi and Qianlong.

It was listed by UNESCO (news - web sites) as a World Heritage site in 1994, Xinhua said.

if he didnt steal, he wouldnt have this problem.

 

[KLin]

that'll teach him not to steal.

 

[ThePresence]

Originally posted by: puffff
if he didnt steal, he wouldnt have this problem.

That whoosh you just heard? That was the sound of my point going right over your head.

 

[Phokus]

Originally posted by: ThePresence

Originally posted by: puffff
if he didnt steal, he wouldnt have this problem.

That whoosh you just heard? That was the sound of my point going right over your head.

I think someone needs to turn on their sarcasm detector

 

[metalmania]

Why not?

 

[EvilYoda]

meh, it's not like he didn't know what the result would be, especially in a place like that.

 

[ThePresence]

Originally posted by: Phokus

Originally posted by: ThePresence

Originally posted by: puffff
if he didnt steal, he wouldnt have this problem.

That whoosh you just heard? That was the sound of my point going right over your head.

I think someone needs to turn on their sarcasm detector

My sarcasm detector is all Jrun'd to hell.

 

[FuZoR]

stole artifacts...

seems liek a good punishment to me

 

[Lizardman]

The Chinese dont mess around. Can you blame them?

 

[ThePresence]

Originally posted by: Lizardman
The Chinese dont mess around. Can you blame them?

Ummm.... YES, I think I can.

 

[welst10]

Those stolen pieces worth A LOT MORE than what he sold them for. They're one of kind and priceless. I think he ought to get 2 deaths.

 

[mchammer187]

andrew fastow and ken lay did far worse and only got something like 10 years here
and i think that is just as extreme on the opposite side of the scale

 

[Scarpozzi]

So he stole the relish?

 

[dighn]

the chinese gov takes culture relics very seriously

 

[neutralizer]

I don't see anything wrong with. He steals priceless relics and since life is supposedly priceless... he loses it

 

[Chu]

For some reason I really don't feel like this is too unjust a punishment . . . he was essentially selling off the country's cultural heritage to the highest bidder -- which he was entrusted to protect. That's pretty close to treason, a crime punishable by death here in the states.

 

[Ryan]

Personally, I think all thieves should get death.

 

[Scrooge2]

It's difficult to see their point of view here. The oldest relics we have in this country important to national heritage is max 3-400 years old. The Chinese have stuff that's 4700 years old dating back to the Shang Dynasties. Also being listed by UNESCO means they are world protected treasures. He knew what he was doing and the price of being caught and still did it. Well fate's a Biatch ain't it?

 

[ThePresence]

Originally posted by: Scrooge2
It's difficult to see their point of view here. The oldest relics we have in this country important to national heritage is max 3-400 years old. The Chinese have stuff that's 4700 years old dating back to the Shang Dynasties. Also being listed by UNESCO means they are world protected treasures. He knew what he was doing and the price of being caught and still did it. Well fate's a Biatch ain't it?

I don't care if the guy stole the crown jewels off the queens head, he doesn't deserve to die for stealing stuff. At least in Saudi Arabia they'd just slice his arms off.

 

[welst10]

He's been stealing priceless artifacts for 10 years and no one found out until now. Talk about stupid inefficient system.

 

[Turkish]

That's what you get for stealing. Good for the Chinese Government.

 

[Meep]

Don't forget that this is a different culture we're talking about here. It's hard to make a judgement based upon our standards for someone else. True that Ken Lay did far worse, and his punishment is nowhere near enough. How could you possibly put a proper sentencing on "ruining the lives of millions of people". It's not as if he did not know what the possible repercussions were. He knew it (should have known it) and still committed the crime.

 

[Kelvrick]

I don't think its so bad. Its not like there is any doubt he did it and now everyone will be a bit more wary of stealing, won't they.