China orders nationwide museum audit after Nanjing’s US$12 million Ming artwork scandal

Beijing has ordered a sweeping national inventory of all state-owned museum collections following a high-profile scandal at a top museum, where former officials illegally sold donated national treasures for personal gain over several decades.

The National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) announced the nationwide campaign on Wednesday.

It mandates that every state-owned museum conduct a meticulous, piece-by-piece physical count of its collections this year, verifying every artefact against official records to ensure that accounts match physical objects.

Local authorities should “fortify the security defence line” and “elevate the overall level of museum collection safety management”, the NCHA said in a notice posted to its official social media account.

The move is a direct response to the systemic mismanagement uncovered at one of China’s top museums – the Nanjing Museum.

The scandal broke in December, months after renowned Ming dynasty painting Spring in Jiangnan surfaced at a Beijing auction, carrying an estimated value of 88 million yuan (US$12.3 million).

South China Morning Post