Written by Shu Cheng Thursday, 08 September 2011 23:28

China "Red-Faced" Warns Museums to Tighten Security After Embarrassing Thefts

BEIJING (REUTERS).- China has ordered its museums to tighten security after a series of embarrassing thefts, including at Beijing's Palace Museum, and will temporarily shut those which don't meet standards, state media reported on Wednesday. Curators at the Palace Museum, housed in the former home of China's last emperors in the Forbidden City, were left red faced after several items loaned from a Hong Kong museum were stolen in May. "People who have been lured by the high profits attained through the theft and smuggling of ancient relics tend to set their targets on various museums," state news agency Xinhua cited a notice from Ministry of Public Security and State Administration of Cultural Heritage as saying...

"Police and cultural authorities should examine museum security systems and improve training for museum guards. Museums should make emergency response plans and conduct emergency drills every six months to improve their ability to handle thefts."

Museums which don't improve their security before the end of the year will be closed until they can take steps to convince the government they have no loopholes or flaws a thief could exploit, Xinhua said.

Photographs released by Palace Museum show the seven art pieces stolen from an exhibit at the famed Forbidden City, the heavily guarded former home of China's emperors. The gold pieces, encrusted with jewels, were on loan from the private Liang Yi Museum in Hong Kong. Wang Xiahong, curator of the Liang Yi Museum, refused to reveal the value of the stolen items, which belong to Hong Kong art collector Fung Yiu Fai.

Beijing police said that they had detained a man suspected of stealing seven precious art pieces from the Palace Museum in Beijing's central Forbidden City.

The suspect, Shi Baikui, 28, from Caoxian County of Shandong Province in east China, was detained at 7:40pm at an Internet café in Fengtai District in southwestern Beijing, 58 hours after the relics were stolen, the Beijing Public Security Bureau said in a news release.

Police also recovered some of the stolen exhibits, without specifying how they had located the suspect.

It is reported that Shi has lived in the capital city for about four years. Obviously, "pursuit of money" moved him to pull off the heist in the cover of night in the wee hours Monday, Shi told Beijing police.

The stolen items were on loan from the Hong Kong-based Liang Yi Museum and were discovered missing at 8:20 am on Monday.

According to CCTV, China's central television station, Shi confessed he had stolen the relics in the Palace Museum. Whether he had sold any of his stolen artifacts is not known, and local police did not reveal how many of the stolen seven pieces have been recovered. An investigation is still under way.

According to the police, a museum staff member found and questioned a "suspicious" man in the museum at 10:30pm Sunday night. The man fled when the worker called museum authorities to report his presence.

It was the first theft in 20 years from the Palace Museum, spokesman Feng Nai'en said yesterday afternoon, adding that security would be increased. Feng said the entire Palace Museum will be checked to see if any other items are missing.

"For this to happen here shows us that, No. 1, we need to speed up the modernization and installation of our security systems," Feng said. "No. 2, we need to find out if we can put into use better, and more sophisticated security systems."

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