Rabbit Gnaw

In February 2009, two bronze head sculptures looted from the Old Summer Palace during the Second Opium War in 1860 were auctioned by international auction house Christie's in Paris. On 25 February 2009, the disputed 18th-century fountainheads — heads of a Rat and a Rabbit of the Chinese zodiac — were sold to Cai Mingchao (蔡銘超) for 28 million euros as part of an auction of art works owned by the late French designer Yves Saint Laurent. Cai is an adviser to China's National Treasures Fund, which seeks to retrieve looted treasures by foreign invaders during the Qing dynasty. He then refused to pay the sum bid, claiming that he was bidding on moral and patriotic grounds.