Leiden University Student Repository

Haxhiu, Xhesjana (2022)

Chinese Collectors and the Repatriation of ‘Lost Cultural Relics’: A discourse analysis of the Global Times media coverage

Master thesis | Asian Studies (60 EC) (MA)

Repatriating cultural artifacts that have been illegally traded in the past is more difficult than we may anticipate. The Chinese government has been attempting to repatriate its 'lost cultural relics' since the 1990s. The term 'lost cultural relics' is used to describe “cultural objects that were looted, stolen, excavated or trafficked immorally or illegally from China” (Liu 2015). In the past, a discreet number of studies have focused on the issue of repatriating lost cultural relics to China, but there has been little research on Chinese collectors buying Chinese antiquities from other countries. This study attempts to understand how the state-run media Global Times portrays Chinese collectors purchasing lost cultural relics and how it frames their intentions in obtaining the objects at expensive prices.

Chinese collectors

lost cultural relics

Chinese heritage

Chinese antiquities market.

Author

Haxhiu, Xhesjana

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Politics, Society and Economy of Asia (Critical Heritage Studies of Asia and Europe)

Supervisors

Kharchenkova, S.S.

ECTS Credits

15

Language

en