SHANGHAI: Over 1,100 ancient artefacts were recovered and a total of 91 people arrested in Shaanxi province in the year-long crackdown by police, which was the largest campaign of its sort in China in recent years, CCTV news reported on Saturday.
Some of the relics are so precious that even the Forbidden City had not seen the like, the report said.
For example, a glass hairpin from the Western Han dynasty (202BC-8AD) was the first of its kind ever discovered, and in the Palace Museum collection there is only a broken half made of jade.
One of the items was a Han glass hairpin of a type that had never been seen before. Photo: news.sina.com, cn
The antiques were largely stolen from the tomb of Lady Gouyi (113BC-88 BC), a favourite consort of Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty and mother of Emperor Zhao.
She was remembered in history for her tragic execution because her little son had been chosen as the heir to the throne and the dying Wu feared that as mother of a boy emperor she would become too powerful.
