Chinese teen vandalizes 3,000-year-old Egyptian relic, sparks online outrage

An ill-mannered Chinese tourist has defaced an ancient relief in the Luxor Temple in Egypt, but in the process may be damaging his country's image as well.

 

One incident sparked online outrage after a photo of a defaced relic posted on a Chinese social network went viral, Micgadget.com reported.

 

"The sandstone relic with more than 3,000 years of history in Egypt was scratched by a Chinese tourist who was later found to be a 15-year-old boy from Nanjing, Jiangsu Province," it said.

 

The photo had shown a relic defaced with the message “Ding Jinhao was here,” in Chinese characters.

 

But the vandalism triggered a backlash for Ding: his personal information was exposed on China's Internet, and his primary school's website was hacked, Micgadget said.

 

And the photo, which was posted last Friday, was retweeted more than 90,000 times on Chinese social media.

 

The backlash prompted Ding's parents to apologize to the public by contacting local media and admitting they had not properly educated their child.

 

"So is it too harsh for the young kids to face this kind of public censure? In fact, nothing seems more formidable on the wrong values and morality of Chinese young generation," it said.

 

"To deface a relic which has more than 3500 years of history is wholly despicable. The uncivilized behavior of some Chinese tourists are really harming China’s image abroad," it added.

 

A separate report on CNN said the vandalism drew ire in both Egypt and China.

 

CNN cited a Xinhua media report saying local Egyptian staff tried to clean the sculpture but could not totally remove the graffiti.

 

It also noted that earlier this month, Beijing asked Chinese tourists to improve their behavior, with Vice Premier Wang Yang stating it was important to project a good image of Chinese tourists. — TJD, GMA News