Wen Tao discarded priceless calligraphy but kept its silk box
“As one well-worn legend goes, per Emperor Taizong's personal request, an actual copy of Wang Xijie's preface to the Orchid Pavilion collection, the Lan Tingji Xu, had been placed inside the tomb along with this deceased Tang Dynasty co-founding emperor. When Wen Tao cast his eyes on this gold standard of Chinese calligraphy, he had no clue to its value. As the legend goes, he discarded the priceless calligraphy scroll of Wang Xijie and kept the decorated silken box it was placed in.”
Sun Dianying betrayed every side he ever fought for
“The other thing about Sun Dianying was that he was loyal to no one. He switched sides at the drop of a hat. Sometimes fighting for other warlords or for Chiang Kai-shek or against the Japanese and when it would benefit him, for the Japanese. He always kept his options open. No scruples, no principles. He was a parasite who just fed on the meek.”
“The last emperor of the Qing dynasty, Pu Yi, was heartbroken when he heard what happened. He was said to have screamed, If I don't avenge this, I will never be a descendant of the Aisin-Jueluo clan. This incident and the failure of the ROC government to do anything about it led to a complete break between Pu Yi and the nationalist government. So anyone wondering why did the last emperor throw his lot in with the Japanese when they created Manchukuo? This may have been the leading cause. I read that Pu Yi even named one of his wolfhounds Tan Wenqiang.”
Weather alone saved Empress Wu Zetian's tomb from looting
“Wen Tao managed to desecrate 18 of them. Like the Kamikaze winds that spared Japan from the Mongol invaders in 1274 and 1281, it was inclement weather that spared the tomb of China's only empress to rule in her own name, Wu Zetian. But all the other tombs got hit.”
Cao Cao funded military campaigns through state-sponsored tomb raiding
“You know, uniting a nation and conquering one's rivals was a very costly business. There's never been a shortage of people throughout history lacking in human decency who wouldn't think twice about robbing some tomb. According to the record of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Cao had appointed a Mojing Xiaowei, our gold-seeking captain, to lead the efforts of searching for buried treasure to fund his military campaigns.”
“And si she herself? Well, she was covered in jewels and pearls and they stripped her dead body to the point where all she was wearing was one sock and some underpants. Five large crates were loaded with all the valuables from this Dingdongling that the Empress Dowager herself had had a hand in designing.”
Qianlong's bones were dumped in mud during the looting
“You know, he's been mentioned so many times, the almighty Qianlong Emperor. Despite everything we know about him, all the history he played a role in, all the anecdotes, well, he couldn't have been treated more shabbily than on this July date in 1928 After all this time in his magnificent tomb, all that remained of this longest-reigning emperor in Chinese imperial history was a skeleton. And in order to access the jewels and precious objects he was buried with, the soldiers snatched the former ruler of the Chinese empire and just unceremoniously dumped his remains in the water and the mud along with his concubines.”
Sun Dianying bribed officials with the loot to escape punishment
“Well, maybe Sun Dianying expected this, maybe he didn't, but he had to do some serious hardcore damage control, and no expense was spared to bribe all those at the top of the Republic of China government. When Dai Li came a-knocking, Sun handed over the two largest vermillion beads of Emperor Qianlong, the Imperial Nine Dragon Sword, the Black Knight Pearl pried from Cixi's royal mouth and other utterly fantastical jade objects and priceless artifacts. All were handed over to Dai and delivered to Jiankai Shek, the Song's and their spouses.”
