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Farmer sentenced for selling cultural relics

Xinhua, September 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

A court in northwest China's Shaanxi Province upheld the 15-year jail sentence of a farmer who robbed an ancient tomb and attempted to sell the cultural relics, sources with the court said on Friday.

The Shaanxi Provincial Higher People's Court dismissed an appeal from the farmer, surnamed Zhao, who retrieved eight pieces of bronze ware from a tomb believed to be from the late Shang Dynasty(1600 BC-1100 BC) to the beginning of early Zhou Dynasty(1100 B.C.- 221 B.C.) along with his brother.

Zhao's brother is still at large.

Zhao, 52, and his brother found the ancient tomb in July 2014 when they were digging at the root of a tree in his brother's yard in Dayuan Village in Chang'an District, Xi'an City, capital of Shaanxi. They dug out the bronze ware and tried to sell it.

Zhao was arrested by local police on Aug. 6, 2014 and was sentenced to 15 years in jail by the Intermediate People's Court in Xi'an in April 2015.

Xi'an, famous for the Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses, was the capital for 13 dynasties. The city boasts lots of underground cultural relics. Endi