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Twenty-three years after the notorious ravage of a tomb housing China’s oldest well-preserved corpse and dozens of national cultural relics, the country's last tomb raider on the run was finally captured, The Paper reported on Sunday quoting security officials.
With a history stretching as far back as the Warring States Period (475-221 B.C), tomb No.1 at Guojiagang, from where the corpse was excavated, is located in Jingmen City, central China’s Hubei Province. The area was the turf of the Chu state, and housed over 300 tombs protected by the government.
In 1994, the tomb was robbed by a group of 24 raiders. Twenty-three were tracked and arrested, but the main suspect, Li Yihai, remained at large – until a few days ago.
Local cultural relics protection staff shows the crime scene.
A barbarian raid in 1994
In early 1990s, illegal dealers recognized the potential of cultural relics at Sifang County in the city of Jingmen and swayed local villagers to dig out tombs around the area.
In February 1994, a group of villagers discovered the head chamber of tomb No.1 at Guojiagang. However, instead of reporting to the government, they opened the vault and stole over 200 cultural relics worth over 20,000 yuan (2,900 US dollars).
The initial raid was immediately followed by another assault by other villagers, who continued gutting the side chambers, bringing more precious pieces to illegal dealers.
News about the tomb soon travelled around, attracting tomb raider Li Yihai from a neighboring village and his accomplice to further dig into the burial chambers. While most treasures were already taken away, they found a wooden coffin.
The men pried the coffin open to discover a well-preserved female corpse whose skin was still smooth and limbs bendable. Li spotted a hair clip, and tore it off. They also forced open the corpse’s mouth for any gold fillings, but found nothing. Knowing mutilating ancient corpses was a crime, the group used a rope to drag the corpse out, removed its silk clothes and buried it nearby.
The raiders used the rope to drag the corpse out of the tomb.
Cultural relics looted
After local cultural relic protection officials discovered and reported the raid, the police arrested 14 suspects while another nine gave themselves up. Li, on the other hand, escaped without contacting any of his relatives or friends.
The ancient corpse was retrieved a little over a month later. Though not in a state of decay, the once well-preserved skin had turned black and was covered in bruises and cuts. Some of the other cultural relics were confiscated, but many were either broken or missing.
According to experts from the National Committee, who were called to investigate the situation, the corpse is the most ancient well-preserved body in Chinese archaeological history, dating back over 2,300 years. It was older than the famous female corpse unearthed at Mawangdui Han tombs in Changsha, central China Hunan Province. The body remained largely intact due to the sealed coffin, which created a state of vacuum inside.
The oldest well-preserved corpse was retrieved 39 days after the raid.
The silk clothes and tapestry buried in the tomb were deemed highly valuable. Yet due to the tomb raiders’ poor preservation techniques, the treasures were hardly recoverable.
Broken silk pieces stolen from the tomb.
No more running away
Given the limited and undeveloped technology at the time, for 23 years, local police experienced trouble pursuing Li.
However, last March gave rise to a breakthrough, when police found a match for an old portrait they had, and investigated a suspect, surnamed Feng living in south China’s Hainan Province. After DNA testing and identity check, an arrest warrant was issued last Wednesday against Li.
Li, who admitted to his crime, had changed his identity and started a new family in Hainan Province before being taken into custody.
(CGTN)
