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Renowned professor claims art collection 'stolen'

By Lan Tian (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-09 08:14

Ji Xianlin, a renowned scholar and former professor at Peking University, has reiterated his claim that some of his artwork is missing, despite the university, which is entrusted to care for the collection, denying the fact, the Shanghai-based Oriental Morning Post reported on Monday.

"It is absolutely true that someone has stolen my work. Nobody can hide that fact," Ji was quoted as saying.

In October, Beijing art collector Zhang Heng said he had bought several paintings and calligraphy works with Ji's name on at an auction. He claimed they were from Ji's lost collection, People's Daily reported at the time.

Peking University responded with a statement saying it had conducted an investigation and found that all of the 97-year-old scholar's works were safe.

The pieces bought by Zhang were forgeries, it said.

However, Monday's report said Ji and Zhang had a conversation on Oct 28, in which Ji said he had lost some of his work two or three years ago.

"I'm unclear about the exact details, but it's a fact that some of my collection was lost," Ji said.

"At the time, I didn't think it was a big deal, so I didn't report it to the police," he said.

Ji, who suffers from a heart condition, was admitted to hospital five years ago and has been bedridden ever since.

A publicity official from Peking University, who refused to give his name, told China Daily on Monday: "The university has just learned of the new claim, and has no comment at this time."

In the Oriental Morning Post report, Qian Wenzhong, a professor of history at Fudan University and one of Ji's former students, said he doubted the validity of Peking University's investigation.

"I'm not convinced with the results," he said.

"As far as I know, Peking University contacted neither Zhang Heng nor Ji's family during the investigation," he said.

"It cannot say that Ji has not lost some of his work without verifying the authenticity of what Zhang bought."