Aurel Stein ransacked the library cave in the Mocoa Caves in 1905, and that's why the oldest known dated book, the Diamond Sutra is in the British Museum in London England. Aurel Stein paid 130 pounds to Wang Yuan-lu to cart away these treasures in 1905. This is the oldest known book with a date on it, and the date is May 11, 868.
There's a video on YouTube. The manuscripts were in a hidden cave behind a secret door, plastered over. The document is coming apart with age, and early treatments.
Paul Pelliot came behind him. Here is a picture of Pelliot looking at the manuscripts in 1908:
Langdon Warner bought some items in 1924 that are at Harvard. The Chinese government looks dimly on these early transactions, but Warner says, "If we are ever criticized for buying those chips, the love and labor and the dollars we spent on assembling them should silence all criticism. That in itself is a service to the cause of China bigger than anyone else in this country has ever made."
You can search the Harvard Art Museum and see items Langdon Warner bought (for example, below).
Today China would claim the artifacts, and not sell them so cheap. We know where they are, and the imperialistic country which valued it, preserved it to share information about other countries, and while it seems like stealing by today's standards, the part of human evolution, where we didn't think much about it, and that gives us things to study from far away lands. I'm not saying it's right, but I'm also not saying it's a horrible wrong. Maybe more of a soft wrong based on our current perspective, and the story is not over, the items could be returned.
You do see every day articles where museums are returning artifacts to countries where they are considered to be stolen. I think that's a wonderful direction that things are going in. We can make up for past wrongs. Many times we can't, and of course the time lost could arguably said to be preserving things while that country came to value them.
I find the whole thing fascinating. As we up our ethics along our human evolution, we try to make up for past actions which are now considered wrongs.
Human lives are quite short when you look at a book that was printed in 868, it's disintegrating and breaking, the artifacts are quite worn down and not in very good condition.
I love it that there are around 750 Shakespeare first folios spread around the world, would love to go to the Folger Library which is opening up again after remodeling.
The reverence of our past and our cultural history is for all of humanity. Everyone owns Shakespeare and everyone owns the history of Buddhism. I think the free flow of information is important, and sharing human cultural legacy is a wonderful thing.
One could ask why a Taoist was the guardian of such a Buddhist treasure, and Wang Yuan-lu used the money to take care of the place, preserving it to the best of his ability. They took a few things. Today it's controlled and owned by the state, and you pay for entrance, and you can pay for a guide, and you can pay for a flash light if you didn't bring one along. It's a different world now, probably different from the one Bill Porter describes in The Silk Road (2016) from a trip he took in the late 1990's. He sees the spot where the above statue used to be.
In diplomacy, when America suggests to China to return Tibet to the Tibetan people, they could ask for the above statue back. The tit for tat demands might not yield anything, but then again maybe open negotiations could include what important for one, for what's important for another.
I'll end with my favorite artwork from the Mogao Caves. The Buddha fighting Mara:
Today is Juneteenth, one of the days we celebrate the freeing of the slaves in the USA. Buddhism is about liberation, and I wish everyone liberation.
Tomorrow is summer solstice, an important day for nature lovers who follow the rhythms of the earth.
Below are some of articles about returned art:
6/21/24: A Rubens Returns to a German Castle, 80 Years After It Was Stolen (NY Times).
6/27/24: Amsterdam Museum to Return a Matisse Work Sold Under Duress in World War II (NY Times).
6/28/24: Ancient artistic loot will finally make its way back to Cambodia (Economist).
7/4/24: Cambodia welcomes the Metropolitan Museum's repatriation of statues looted over decades of turmoil (AOL)
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