Palace Museum Admits to Rare Antique Damage

(Beijing) - A thousand-year-old porcelain antique belonging to the Palace Museum in Beijing was damaged on July 4 during the use of research equipment, the state-owned museum confirmed in a statement on July 31, one day after news of the damage was first circulated on microblogs.

The damage of the antique became public when a netizen, with the account name "Longcan" posted details of the incident on a microblog on July 30. Caixin confirmed with sources close to the matter that the museum and the Ministry of Culture were involved in a cover-up which included the silencing of museum staff.

(The thousand-year-old porcelain was damaged in error operation during research on July 4)

The well-preserved celadon-glazed dish, a masterpiece of the Ge kiln porcelain of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), was crushed on July 4 by a testing device, according to an internal investigation by the museum.