Race against time: Chinese scholars scramble to save sites threatened by the world's biggest dam

Article Abstract:

Many archaeological sites are threatened by the construction of the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in China. The Chinese government has designated $37.5 million for archaeological salvage, but distribution of the funds has been slow. Little progress has been made on excavations, while flooding of some areas has begun and the Neolithic site of Zhongbaodao has already been inundated. The Three Gorges Dam, the world's most extensive hydroelectric project, will create a reservoir some 370 miles long and flood the Yangtze River Valley between Chongqing and Yichang.

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"Sites too valuable to be lost." (Yu Weichao, director of National History Museum of China, on archaeological sites threatened by Three Gorges Dam project)(Interview)

Article Abstract:

Yu Weichao is director of China's National History Museum, which has been given responsibility for preservation of underground archaeological sites in the Three Gorges Dam area of the Yangtze River. Yu believes that international support is needed to protect the archaeological sites threatened by the dam's construction. The money allocated by the government for archaeological preservation, $37.5 million, is much less than the international standard of 3-5% of the total construction cost, which would amount to between $500 million and $625 million.

Interview

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Gansu getaway: escaped looter allegedly linked to million-dollar antiquity

Article Abstract:

Chinese authorities believe the man who stole a Han Dynasty bronze candelabrum has escaped from the Gansu Province jail. The man bribed a warden with $62,500. The candelabrum was sold at the International Asian Art Fair in New York in Mar 1998 for $2.5 mil. Chinese authorities became aware of the artifact through photographs of the object that reached China.

Social aspects, History, Crime, Art thefts, Antiques, Oriental, Oriental antiques

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