China may sue over German Terracotta Warrior scam

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2007

BEIJING (AFP) — Chinese cultural authorities are threatening legal action over fake "Terracotta Warriors" that appeared at a German museum in a scam that fooled thousands of people, state press reported.

"It is a serious act of fraud and has implications for intellectual property rights," said Chen Xianqi, a spokesman for the cultural heritage bureau in Shaanxi province, home of the original 2,200-year-old life-size clay soldiers.

"The museum of the 'Terracotta Army' in Xian has not sent any authentic objects for display in Germany recently, and currently no such relics are on display in Germany," he said, Xinhua news agency reported late on Thursday.

Hamburg's Museum of Ethnology admitted on Thursday that their eight clay statues on display that purportedly...