If an ancient tomb is found under my homestead, can I dig out the treasure and sell it? A national second-level cultural relic was found in a river. Is it a crime to sell it for 300,000 yuan...
Today (10th), the Supreme People's Court and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage have selected and released six typical cases of legal punishment of cultural relics crimes tried by the people's courts in recent years. They have established a clear value orientation in order to combat and effectively prevent cultural relics crimes in accordance with the law and give full play to the normative and leading role of judicial adjudication.
Case 1: A coal boss dug up and damaged the national key cultural relic "Qin Zhidao" and was sentenced to 7 years in prison and compensated for more than 3.94 million yuan in repair costs.
Basic case facts: Qinzhidao is a traffic trunk road built in the Qin Dynasty and is known as the first "highway" in Chinese history. In May 2006, the Qinzhidao Site was approved and announced by the State Council as the sixth batch of national key cultural relics protection units. In May 2012, the local cultural relics administrative department discovered that a coal mine was under construction within the protection scope of the Qinzhidao ruins, so it issued a "Notice of Suspension of Illegal Construction" and served it to the mine director and defendant Guo Moujun, and ordered the construction to stop pending processing. In August, a coal mine submitted an optimization design specification to the Municipal Coal Bureau due to production needs. In October, the Municipal Coal Bureau approved the preliminary design, clearly stipulating that matters involving the protection of cultural relics on the ground must be approved by the cultural relics administrative department before construction can begin, and the specific coordinates of the coal mine boundary and the Qinzhidao site were stated in the attachment. After receiving the above-mentioned suspension notice and documents, Guo Moujun continued to organize coal mine construction without conducting cultural protection approval or taking avoidance measures. After identification, the mining scope of a certain coal mine in 2014 coincided with the Qinzhidao site itself, resulting in the loss of the Qinzhidao site itself.
In March 2024, the People's Procuratorate of Dalat Banner in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region filed a civil public interest lawsuit against a coal mine that damaged the Qinzhidao ruins. The court ruled that a coal mine should compensate the damaged Qinzhidao ruins for simulated repair costs of more than 3.94 million yuan. A coal mine has paid relevant fees.
Judgment result: The People's Court of Dalat Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region held that the defendant Guo Moujun, as the director of a coal mine, knew that the mining area contained the Qinzhidao Site, a national key cultural relic protection unit. After the relevant unit issued a "Notice of Suspension of Illegal Construction", he continued construction without taking any avoidance measures, resulting in serious damage to the Qinzhidao Site. The circumstances were serious, and his behavior constituted the crime of intentional damage to cultural relics. Accordingly, the court made a judgment in accordance with the law on September 10, 2025. The defendant Guo Moujun was guilty of intentional damage to cultural relics and was sentenced to seven years in prison and fined. After the verdict was pronounced, Guo Moujun appealed. After hearing the case, the Intermediate People's Court of Ordos City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region ruled to reject the appeal and uphold the original judgment.
Case 2: Organizing a tomb robbery based on the plot of a tomb robbery novel. The principal culprit was sentenced to 12 years in prison
Basic case facts: The defendant Yu Moucai was obsessed with tomb robbing novels, taught himself tomb robbing techniques, and purchased tomb robbing tools. In late September and early November 2023, Yu Moucai and others agreed twice to jointly rob ancient tombs, and went to a village in Xinglong Town and Wudian Town, Zaoyang City, Hubei Province with tools, to search and determine the location of ancient tombs alone or with others, and jointly excavated and stolen 23 cultural relics including bronze Ges with inscriptions, jade ornaments, copper pots, and bronze tripods. After identification, the two stolen tombs were ancient tombs from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. They are located within the protection scope of the Guojiamiao Tombs Group, a cultural relic protection unit in Hubei Province, and have important historical, artistic and scientific value. The 23 stolen cultural relics, including bronze Ges with inscriptions, jade ornaments, copper pots, and bronze tripods, are all cultural relics from the Spring and Autumn Period, including 22 cultural relics above the third level.
Judgment result: The People's Court of Fancheng District, Xiangyang City, Hubei Province held that the defendant Yu Moucai collaborated with others to rob ancient tombs that were designated as provincial cultural relics protection units with historical, artistic, and scientific value, and stole precious cultural relics. His behavior constituted the crime of robbing ancient tombs. Yu Moucai was the principal culprit in the joint crime and should bear corresponding criminal responsibility; after being brought to justice, he truthfully confessed the facts of the crime, confessed, voluntarily confessed and accepted punishment, and was given a lighter punishment. Accordingly, the court made a judgment in accordance with the law on March 9, 2026. The defendant Yu Moucai was guilty of robbing ancient tombs and was sentenced to twelve years in prison and fined. After the verdict is pronounced, there is no appeal or protest within the statutory period, and the verdict has taken legal effect.
Case 3: Creating conditions for robbing ancient cultural relics constitutes preparation for a crime and shall be convicted and punished in accordance with the law.
Basic case facts: During the Spring Festival of 2021, the defendant Chen Mouhui was gathered twice to rob the Xidunding ruins in Xinyi City, Jiangsu Province. During this period, Chen Mouhui used a probe to explore the location of the site, but was unable to carry out further excavation for some reason. Xidunding Site is an ancient cultural site of the Han Dynasty and is the third batch of county-level cultural relics protection units announced by Xinyi City. In addition, Chen Mouhui also participated in other crimes of robbing ancient tombs.
Judgment result: The Pei County People's Court of Jiangsu Province held that the defendant Chen Mouhui robbed ancient cultural sites and ancient tombs with historical, artistic, and scientific value, and his behavior constituted the crime of robbing ancient cultural sites and ancient tombs. Chen Mouhui's participation in the illegal excavation of the Xidunding ruins in Xinyi City was a crime preparation, and he may be given a lighter punishment, a reduced punishment, or be exempted from punishment as a completed offender. Chen Mouhui voluntarily surrendered, truthfully confessed the facts of the crime, surrendered, and admitted guilt and accepted punishment, which resulted in a lighter or mitigated punishment. Accordingly, the court made a judgment in accordance with the law on June 29, 2022. The defendant Chen Mouhui was guilty of robbing ancient cultural sites and ancient tombs and was sentenced to three years and four months in prison and fined. After the verdict is pronounced, there is no appeal or protest within the statutory period, and the verdict has taken legal effect.
Case 4: He was sentenced to 15 years in prison for illegally digging and discovering ancient tombs under his own homestead.
Basic case facts: A village in Mawang Street Office, Chang'an District, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province is located within the protection scope of Fenghao Site, one of the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units. The defendant Shi Mouxing is a villager in this village. In July 2014, Shi Mouxing and his brother Zhao Moshe (handled in a separate case) discovered ancient tombs while clearing the roots of persimmon trees in their yard. They then excavated and stole eight bronze vessels including a bronze tripod, a bronze jue, and a bronze goblet. After identification, the stolen bronzes were all cultural relics of level three or above; the stolen tombs were late Shang and early Zhou tombs located in the Fenghao Site Protection Area. The unearthed bronzes are of extremely high historical, scientific, and artistic value.
Judgment result: The Intermediate People's Court of Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province held that the defendant Shi Mouxing knowingly knew that his residence was within the protection scope of Fenghao Site, a national key cultural relic protection unit, and robbed the discovered ancient tombs, and his behavior constituted the crime of robbing ancient tombs. Shi Mouxing was the principal culprit in the joint crime, and he wanted to resell the eight stolen bronzes. The circumstances of the crime were egregious, the consequences were serious, and he should be punished in accordance with the law. After Shi Mouxing was brought to justice, he had a good attitude of pleading guilty and could be given a lighter punishment according to law. Accordingly, the court made a judgment in accordance with the law on August 27, 2018. The defendant Shi was guilty of robbing ancient tombs and was sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined. After the verdict is pronounced, there is no appeal or protest within the statutory period, and the verdict has taken legal effect.
Typical significance: The Cultural Relics Protection Law clearly stipulates that ancient cultural sites and ancient tombs are owned by the state, and ownership will not change due to changes in the land ownership or use rights to which ancient cultural sites and ancient tombs are attached. Robbery and excavation destroys the complete historical information carried by ancient tombs. A large amount of precious historical information, surrounding environment information and other irreproducible historical clues may disappear permanently, seriously endangering the safety of cultural relics and artificially cutting off the historical and cultural heritage. It must be severely punished in accordance with the law. In this case, the village where the defendant Shi Mouxing lived is located within the protection scope of the Fenghao ruins, which was a large-scale ruins of the capital of the Western Zhou Dynasty. In 1961, it was announced as one of the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units. In October 2021, it was selected into the list of "Top 100 Archaeological Discoveries in a Century". Although the stolen ancient tomb is located within the scope of Shi Mouxing's homestead, it does not change the nature of the ancient tomb to be owned by the state according to law. As a villager who has lived within the protected area for many years, Shi Mouxing knew that the state prohibited the excavation of ancient tombs and that the tombs he discovered were ancient tombs in key cultural relics protection units nationwide. He still continued to excavate for profit by reselling them, and finally stole 8 precious cultural relics. The circumstances were serious. Based on the quantity and grade of the cultural relics that Shi Mouxing robbed, the People's Court sentenced him to fifteen years in prison for the crime of robbing ancient tombs in accordance with the law. This is a powerful judicial measure to safeguard the historical roots of the nation.
Case 5: Profited 300,000 yuan from reselling cultural relics found in the river, sentenced to 5 years in prison
Basic case facts: In 2011, the defendant Tang Mousheng picked up a copper chime while doing sand fishing in a river in Liucheng County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and then took the chime home and hid it. In March 2013, Tang Mousheng sold the chime bell for 300,000 yuan. In June 2022, the public security organs seized the bronze chimes involved in the case from elsewhere in accordance with the law. After identification, the chime involved in the case is a bronze Yong bell with a cicada pattern in the Spring and Autumn Period, which is a Class II cultural relic.
Judgment result: The People's Court of Liucheng County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region held that the defendant Tang Mousheng resold cultural relics prohibited by the state for the purpose of making profits, and his behavior constituted the crime of reselling cultural relics. Tang Mousheng resold cultural relics of grade 2 or above. The circumstances are particularly serious and should be punished in accordance with the law. Tang Mousheng truthfully confessed the facts of the crime after arriving at the case, and could be given a lighter punishment according to law. Accordingly, the court made a judgment in accordance with the law on March 20, 2023. The defendant Tang Mousheng was guilty of reselling cultural relics and was sentenced to five years in prison and fined; Tang Mousheng's illegal income of 300,000 yuan was recovered in accordance with the law and turned over to the state treasury. After the verdict is pronounced, there is no appeal or protest within the statutory period, and the verdict has taken legal effect.
Typical significance: All cultural relics remaining in the underground, internal waters and territorial waters of our country belong to the state. During engineering construction, agricultural production and other activities, if any unit or individual discovers cultural relics or suspected cultural relics, the site must be protected and reported immediately to the local cultural relics administrative department. The ownership of state-owned cultural relics is protected by law and cannot be infringed. Anyone who conceals or refuses to report state-owned cultural relics or refuses to hand them over will face administrative penalties. Those who engage in looting, embezzlement, reselling, etc. may constitute a crime and be held criminally responsible. In this case, the defendant Tang Mousheng salvaged the remaining second-level cultural relics while working in the river and failed to report it to the relevant units. He resold the cultural relics for profit. His behavior constituted the crime of reselling cultural relics and was a "particularly serious circumstance." While convicting and sentencing Tang Mousheng, the People's Court also recovered the proceeds from reselling cultural relics and turned them over to the state treasury in accordance with the law. This eliminated the possibility of profiting from crime and also disintegrated the profit chain of cultural relic crimes, conveying a clear direction that "reselling cultural relics is unprofitable, and touching a red line results in loss of both people and money."
Case 6: Knowing that cultural relics were proceeds of crime but still processing them to cover up, he was sentenced and fined
Basic case facts: Around 1998, the defendant Gao Moulin began to engage in bronze processing and restoration work. Around 2020, others handed over three bronze mirrors to Gao Moulin for "repair". Gao Moulin knew that the bronze mirror was an unearthed cultural relic but still "restored" it and charged a fee of 10,000 yuan. After identification, the three bronze mirrors are all regular mirrors from the Han Dynasty and are classified as third-level cultural relics. After evaluation, illegal restoration has caused immeasurable losses to the value of cultural relics, and the damage to the fact cannot be restored. Based on relevant standards and the actual situation of cultural relics, the cost of cultural relic restoration is proposed to be 19,008 yuan. Later, Gao Moulin returned 10,000 yuan of illegal income and compensated 19,008 yuan for the restoration of cultural relics.
Judgment result: The People's Court of Xigong District, Luoyang City, Henan Province held that the defendant Gao Moulin knowingly processed the cultural relics of level three or above that were obtained from crime, and his behavior constituted the crime of covering up and concealing the proceeds of crime. After Gao Moulin is brought to justice, he truthfully confesses the main criminal facts, voluntarily pleads guilty and accepts punishment, and returns his illegal gains, so he can be given a lighter punishment. Gao Moulin's criminal behavior caused damage to the historical and cultural value of cultural relics and infringed on social and public interests. He should also bear civil liabilities such as the cost of restoring cultural relics in accordance with the law. Accordingly, the court made a judgment in accordance with the law on June 23, 2025. The defendant Gao Moulin was guilty of covering up and concealing the proceeds of crime, and was sentenced to ten months in prison, suspended for one year, and fined; illegal gains of 10,000 yuan were confiscated and turned over to the state treasury; compensation of 19,008 yuan in cultural relic restoration costs was turned over to the state treasury; a public apology was made in national media. After the verdict is pronounced, there is no appeal or protest within the statutory period, and the verdict has taken legal effect.
(CCTV reporter Ji Chenghai)
