China may sue over German Terracotta Warrior Scam

BEIJING (AFP) — Chinese cultural authorities are threatening legal action over fake "Terracotta Warriors" that appeared at a German museum in a scam that fooled thousands of people, state press reported.

"It is a serious act of fraud and has implications for intellectual property rights," said Chen Xianqi, a spokesman for the cultural heritage bureau in Shaanxi province, home of the original 2,200-year-old life-size clay soldiers.

"The museum of the 'Terracotta Army' in Xian has not sent any authentic objects for display in Germany recently, and currently no such relics are on display in Germany," he said, Xinhua news agency reported late on Thursday.

Hamburg's Museum of Ethnology admitted on Thursday that their eight clay statues on display that purportedly belonged to China's legendary "Terracotta Army" were only copies, and promptly closed the exhibition.

The museum said in a statement it had been defrauded by the co-organisers of the exhibition, the Centre of Chinese Art and Culture in Leipzig, which "had been contracted to furnish originals".

However Chen appeared to direct his anger at both parties responsible.

"The bureau knew nothing about the exhibition. The Hamburg Museum of Ethnology and the German Centre of Chinese Arts and Culture have organised the exhibition with no consultation with us," he said.

Xinhua, paraphrasing Chen, said Chinese cultural authorities were considering legal action, but gave no more specifics.

Chen and other officials at the Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Heritage Exchange Centre were not available to comment when contacted by AFP on Friday.

The Hamburg museum said about 10,000 people had seen the exhibition, entitled "Power in Death," since it opened on November 25.

"The museum would like to apologise to the public," it said, adding it was prepared to reimburse its customers.

In an interview with the German television station NDR, a spokesman for The Centre of Chinese Art and Culture said it had only ever intended to deliver "authentic copies" of the warriors.

The discovery of the original terracotta soldiers, buried along with China's first emperor, counts as one of the great archaeological sensations of the 20th century.

"It is a serious act of fraud and has implications for intellectual property rights,"
Uttered by a Chinese official... simply priceless...