China calls for retribution on terracotta army vandal

CHINA has demanded an American man be “severely punished” after he was alleged to have stolen a thumb from a terracotta warrior while it was on display at a museum in the US.

Chinese authorities also demanded compensation for the £3.2million exhibit, which was on display at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.

Reports said that Michael Rohana, 24, from Delaware, attended an “ugly Christmas jumper party” at the institute on Dec 21 last year on his way into the special exhibit, Terracotta Warriors of the First Emperor.

China’s Xinhua news agency, citing the FBI, said Rohana “used a cellular telephone as a flashlight, looked at various exhibits displayed in the then-closed showroom, stepped up on to a platform supporting one of the statues, and took a selfie with it”.

“Rohana, according to the affidavit, put his hand on the left hand of the statue, appeared to break something off from the Calvaryman’s left hand and put it in his pocket, and then left.”

Shaanxi Cultural Heritage Promotion Centre, which arranged the loan of 10 of the statues, “strongly condemned” the theft, according to a report in the Beijing Youth Daily.

An official urged the US authorities to “seriously investigate” the incident, to “punish severely the culprit” and launch “compensation procedures”.

The centre said it had lent statues over the last 40 years without incident.

Another group of 10 terracotta warriors are currently on display at the World Museum in Liverpool.

The statues are among 8,000 soldiers, chariots and horses unearthed in 1974 in Xian, China. The terracotta army guards the burial site of Qin Shi Huang, China’s first emperor.