Spot the Fake

                                                    A mortifying lapse of security around the famed terracotta warriors that stand as they have for centuries -- although now on display in a huge hangar-like museum.

They were joined at the weekend by a young German arts student said to be obsessed with the figures. The trouble was, after his daring leap down into the pit the security guards had some trouble finding the fake warrior and then evicting him.

After disguising himself as a clay soldier, Pablo Wendel found himself a position among the 2,200-year-old figures and stood as still as, well, a statue.

His eventual -- and reluctant -- eviction has been reported with some amusement it would seem by the Chinese media.

In the bubble: "No matter what you say, I'm not leaving"

And then there is .....

In the bubble: "It's worth being thrown out just to be a warrior for a moment"

Police were forced to carry him off "as if he were a log", state media reported.

The young German told police that he had been fascinated by the warriors since he was a child. "I have always dreamed of disguising myself as a terracotta warrior among the real ones," he said.

Because his "performance art" had caused damage to the ancient relics he was not arrested but give only a severe criticism and education. Then his costume was confiscated and he was packed off to the eastern city of Hangzhou where he is studying art.

If only all those other fakes in China were a little easier to spot. Here's a recent piece from the People's Daily -- newspaper of the ruling Communist Party -- on the prevalence of deceit.

Comments

[the chief]

Hilarious ! What a performance ! I had heard of people doing this with objects, or addition on abstract paintings, but this one is fantastic !

[Enobong]

I recall a trip to Qufu (Shandong Province), the home of Confucius, where the notice proudly stated 'dating from the 1992'. I mean, the Barcelona Olympics saw in the fake statues. And we forked out a good sum. How we the EU foreigner's crew laughed wryly.

Excellent blog. Sometimes internet searches do pay off.

My RSS feeds are as follows:
http://presentbusiness.blogspot.com/atom.xml
AND
http://feeds.feedburner.com/CurrentAffairsPastEventsFutureTrends

[niroth]

Outstanding! Who says Germans don't have a sense of humour?

I'm also wondering about the looks he must have been given as he was queueing up to go in... dressed as a terracotta soldier.

[David]

Ingenious idea. That's We need. We Chinese do not have such a bold idea.