Agreeing to jointly excavate a Western Han tomb, returning empty-handed still results in a criminal sentence.
Compiled from The Paper
More than a dozen people arranged to loot the Miao Mountain Han tomb located in Yizheng City, Jiangsu, for over 20 days, leaving several looting tunnels more than ten meters long, but ultimately returned empty-handed. Several years later, the police received clues and solved this ancient tomb looting case.
The case was prosecuted by the public prosecutor, and the first-instance court sentenced 12 defendants for the crime of tomb raiding. The ringleader Yang, who refused to plead guilty, was sentenced to eleven years in prison and fined 50,000 yuan. Dissatisfied with the first-instance verdict, Yang filed an appeal. The second-instance court recently rejected the appeal and upheld the original verdict.
Case review
One day in 2016, Abing (alias) invited Huazi (alias) and others to Jiangsu to rob the Yizheng Miaoshan Han tomb. This Han tomb is a national key cultural relic protection unit and is also known as the largest Western Han wooden structure tomb in Jiangsu Province.
They first went to the site to check it out. A month later, more than ten people met in Nanjing and stayed together in a small hotel. At this time, a man nicknamed Baldy appeared, and all expenses of Hua Zi and the others were covered by him. Soon, the tomb-robbing operation began. The group had a strict division of labor: some were responsible for keeping watch at the foot of the mountain, some for digging on the mountain, some for setting explosives, and some for carrying away the soil… They often started work late at night when it was quiet, traveling back and forth between Nanjing and Yizheng. Within the area of the Miao Mountain Han tombs, they dug several holes, the deepest reaching more than 10 meters, but they never managed to reach the bottom. During that period, it rained for several consecutive days, the group gradually lost patience, and they returned empty-handed and went their separate ways.
In December 2018, the Henan Provincial Public Security Department obtained a lead on a case involving the suspected illegal sale of cultural relics during a routine patrol: someone was selling a batch of Han Dynasty golden nanmu wood online. The police arrested members of the involved gang, among whom the suspect Gao was sentenced to sixteen years and six months by a court in Henan for the crime of tomb robbery and fined 30,000 yuan. While in prison, he revealed information about his involvement in looting the Miaoshan Han tomb in Yizheng in 2016.
In December 2020, the Yizheng Public Security Bureau filed a case based on this clue and arrested more than ten suspects, including Guangtou, Abing, Huazi, and others. During the investigation, except for Yang, who is called Guangtou, the rest all confessed to participating in the 2016 theft of the Miaoshan Han tomb. On June 2, 2021, Yang and others were transferred to the Yizheng Procuratorate for review and prosecution on suspicion of tomb robbery.
"Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China"
Article 328 [Crime of Looting Ancient Cultural Sites and Ancient Tombs]
Those who illegally excavate ancient cultural sites or tombs with historical, artistic, or scientific value shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years, and shall also be fined; if the circumstances are minor, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, detention, or control, and shall also be fined; if any of the following circumstances exist, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than ten years, life imprisonment, or death, and shall also be fined or have their property confiscated:
(1) Illegal excavation is confirmed at ancient cultural sites and ancient tombs that are key national cultural relic protection units and provincial-level cultural relic protection units;
(2) The principal culprits who illegally excavate ancient cultural sites and ancient tomb clusters;
(3) Those who repeatedly loot ancient cultural sites and tombs;
(4) Illegally excavating ancient cultural sites or tombs, and stealing precious cultural relics or causing serious damage to precious cultural relics.
[1] The author's perspective
In this case, Hua Zi and more than ten others used tools such as probes and Luoyang shovels to stake and dig holes. Although they did not steal any property from the tombs, tomb robbery is an act crime, and their related actions have already caused damage to the burial mound of the ancient tombs, making them criminally liable according to law. The Miao Mountain Han tomb in this case is a nationally protected key cultural relic, with a clearly defined protection scope. Its historical, artistic, and scientific value is not limited to the main part of the tomb; the burial mound of the tomb also has high value for historical and scientific research.
Chinese culture has a long history, and the ancient historical culture holds significant value for many aspects of our modern life. The act of tomb raiding, which involves deliberate destruction, is unacceptable to academia, society, and the country. Cultural sites such as ancient tombs and historic buildings need our collective protection. Therefore, not only should they be properly preserved and repaired through technical means, but laws should also strictly punish tomb raiding activities.
