Word: tombs
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...destitute farmers of central China, the allure of such plunder is hard to resist--but the reality of life as a tomb raider is less enticing. Feng, who asks to be identified only by his last name, recalls vividly the first time he descended into the crumbly earth of Henan province six years ago. In his village on the outskirts of Luoyang, robbing a tomb is similar to an initiation rite, and Feng, then 19, was filled with nervous excitement as he and a group of fellow raiders ambled into a local wheat field to see what they could...
...minutes later, Feng's uncle told him that as the youngest, he would have the honor of going down on a solo reconnaissance mission. Eager to prove himself, Feng slithered down into the darkness with only a rope as a guide. But upon reaching the floor of the tomb, he was overwhelmed by the smell. Feng remembers nothing after that. Later his uncle told him he had fainted from the putrid air and had to be dragged out. The operation was halted until the next night when the looters lugged in an industrial air blower to clear out the tomb...
...dealers, who receive a vastly larger share of the profits from stolen art, are rarely prosecuted for their crimes. But the authorities occasionally like to make an example of the lowly looters, who are easier to catch. Last year Chinese courts meted out death penalties to at least four tomb raiders. "I know someone who was executed for looting a tomb," says Feng. "He made 580 yuan [$70]. Now, I hear the tricolor female statue he dug up was recently resold in New York for 150,000 yuan [$18,000]. No one is getting arrested in New York. How fair...
Nevertheless, isolated victories do occur, as in the case of some of the figurines looted from Empress Dou's tomb. By February 2002, the Xi'an police had caught Wang Cangyan, a local dealer who oversaw the shipment of dozens of Empress Dou's figurines to Hong Kong, sneaking them through customs checkpoints by hiding them inside a truckload of new ceramics. Wang told the Xi'an police the name of a Hong Kong shop to which he had sold 32 statuettes...
...what the market rate is, I'll bring in the real things from my warehouse." In 2001, this dealer--who was busted a few years ago for selling an illicit item that was later impounded in the U.S.--heard about a collection of figurines stolen from Empress Dou's tomb. He says he tried to get his hands on them, but another gallery owner, just down the street, scored the statues instead. In retrospect, he says, "I'm glad I didn't get to buy them. I don't need any more trouble...