Antique vat marred by couple incites heated reaction

A couple carved their names on a 300-year-old vat at the Palace Museum, stirring widespread discussion online.[Filephoto]

A netizen wrote on Weibo on Sept 11 regarding a couple's scandalous behavior of carving their names on a 300-year-old vat at the Palace Museum and called for the museum to report the case to the police.

The scandal has incited heated discussion online, most of which are accusations of the uncivilized action of inscribing on ancient relics. Staff at the Palace Museum told the media during an interview that this kind of incident happens all the time and they will submit an official report to the police.

"Zhang Tao, Liu Ya, if you want to publicly display your affection to each other, please go somewhere else. Carving your names on a vat that dates back nearly 300 hundred years is a crime", wrote one raging Weibo netizen called "Zhuanshilijian" on Sept 11.

The netizen claimed that the two names were inscribed inside a heart carved on a bronze vat at the Palace Museum. The informant further pointed that the vat was made during the Qing Dynasty when Emperor Qianlong was in power.