Template of the Cultural Repatriation Proposal

To ​(Hartwig Fischer​/​Country’s government leader)

In regards to (Chosen Artifact)

I am writing to you in regard to the (name of the artifact). I hope you will read my
(proposal/counter-proposal) to (return/keep) the artifact.

I am writing to you in regard to the artifacts from the Summer Palace. I hope you will 
read my proposal to return the artifacts.  

Background of the (artifact)

First, let me begin by telling you the history of the……

First, let me begin by telling you the history of the artifacts from the Summer Palace. 
The story happened during ​In 1860, during the Second Opium War, British and France 
army came to China from Thaijin to middle of China, after that they arrived in Beijing. 
They came to Tongzhou for negotiation. After they negotiate in Tongzhou, ​Qing general 
Sengge Rinchen​ capture some army and soldiers from the British and France, include 
two British envoys and Thomas William Bowlby​, because British and France army was 
trying to control Beijing. And Chinese killed some of the soldiers that from British, India 
and France army. 14 of them are going back to their place, Chinese release them. But 20 
of them from British, France and Indian army were killed by Chinese. After British and 
France army knew this thing, they decided to damage the Summer Palace. The Summer 
Palace was ​looted by British and French. In 48 hours in 1860, they started to damage 
the Summer Palace and plunder the Summer Palace. They stole a lot of artifacts from 
Summer Palace. The soldiers from Britain and French, they damaged the mirror and 
smashed vase because they can’t take them. They broke, damaged and smashed the 
things that they cannot take. They also tore off the frames and scrolls from Summer 
Palace. They grabbed the silk from the Summer Palace, they used the expensive silks 
and parcels to wrapped the horse. They were wrapped themselves in queen's robes, 
they also stole and took rubies, sapphires, pearls and crystals from Summer Palace.   

The departure of the (artifact) and it’s arrival to the museum

British and France army looted, damage and stole sculptures, porcelain, jade, silk robes, 
elaborate textiles, gold objects and more artifacts. They burn the Summer Palace, the 
artifacts from Summer Palace was gone, after the Second Opium War finished, the 
artifacts and treasures go to Britain with British Army. so they arrived at British 
Museum. The artifacts were transported to everywhere in the world. But most of them 
are in British Museum and France museum. Now the artifacts have been found in 47 
museums. 

Why (the artifact) should be (kept/​returned​)

Please kindly consider the following two arguments on why (artifact) should be (kept/returned)

Argument #1
The lives of 20 people can’t cause the stealing of many thousand of artifacts. Stealing 
thousand of artifacts is worse than killing 20 people, because the treasures are worth 
more than the lives of 20 people. French author Victor Hugo wrote about the 
destruction, he called British and France are bandits. For example, they damaged the 
culture and the history from the Summer Palace of China. The impression of the 
Summer Palace is the culture and history of China. The Summer Palace is a symbol of 
China, there were a lot of artifacts and building in the Summer Palace. The history of 
these artifacts and treasures from the Summer Palace are long, they probably have 
more than hundreds or thousands of years. They represent the history of China, they 
are the symbol of China, because it shows their culture. And it also shows the advance of 
the Chinese culture and the process of Chinese history. These artifacts and treasures 
still affect to China until now. But that 20 people from Britain, French and India. They 
don’t really have the meaning for their country and culture. Although they die, they will 
not affect their country too much. And now not everyone form their country can 
remember them. All in all they should return the treasures and artifacts, because 
Stealing thousand of artifacts is worse than killing 20 people.   

Harming Chinese identities

Argument #2
They harm the Chinese identities and feelings. “"In two days, I was handed over 30 
million francs worth of silk, jewelry, porcelain, bronze and sculpture.” for example: they 
damaged the culture and the history from the Summer Palace of China. Because the 
Summer Palace is the symbol of China. And the artifacts and treasures can show their 
culture and history, and the history and culture can affect their development. And the 
artifacts and treasures are also the symbol of Chinese identities. Artifacts and treasures 
are part of Chinese identities, because of the looting, Chinese lose the symbol of their 
identities. And this looting is a shame for them, because they lose their artifacts and 
treasures which can show the world of their identities. They are angry and sad, they lost 
their artifacts and treasure that means they lost their symbol of identities. The stealing 
hurt their feelings, because China has more than 5000 years of history, they are proud 
of their history and their culture. And now they just lost thousands of them by stealing 
of British and France. Chinese status changed, and Chinese status and identities 
decreased, the world thinks Chinese can do nothing. The reason why they say this is 
they think Chinese is weak and frail. They think Chinese can’t even protect their 
artifacts, treasures, how can they be strong. So this thing really hurt Chinese people's 
feelings . This is one of the reasons why they are trying to get artifacts and treasures and 
looking for them, because they want to get their history back and try to repair the 
feelings of hurt and the Identities that had been harmed. So you should return the 
artifacts and treasures to them, because it is harming their feelings and identities too. 
 
Counter argument:
Now I realized in the past, your (museum/country) has argued that…. However, I think your
argument might not be valid because…..

Now I realized in the past, your museum and country has argued that you shouldn’t 
return artifacts, because you give more value by keeping artifacts in British Museum. 
And your country said that they didn’t steal and loot everything, a lot of their artifacts 
are not from a colonial context. So your country and museum don’t want to return these 
artifacts. However, I think your argument might not be valid because the owner of 
artifacts from the Summer Palace is China, even if you make a lot of value for the 
artifacts from the Summer Palace, they do not belong to you. So your museum and 
country still need to return. Second, from the Summer Palace artifacts, they damaged 
the place and stole the artifacts this is truth. Although Chinese killed 20 people from 
Britain, French and India, they should damaged their history and culture of many 
thousands of years. The lives of 20 people are important and they want to revenge, but 
they don’t need to choose this way to revenge. Because the history and the culture of a 
country is more important than the lives of 20 people. The impression of the Summer 
Palace is the culture and history of China. This is the reason why they want to find all of 
artifacts, even if they cannot get them back to China. The history and culture of a 
country is made for many thousands of years. And the history witness the development 
of a country. The history is the lives of a country, so if you steal and damage the history 
and culture of a country. That means you damaged the lives of a country. This is more 
serious than that Chinese killed 20 people from Britain, India and French.   
  

Conclusion
I hope you read my proposal with care. I hope you will come to the decision of (letting us keep
in/return the artifact to) the proper place.
I hope you read my proposal with care. I hope you will come to the decision of returning 
the artifact to China.  

References:
Old Summer Palace. (2019, August 26). Retrieved from 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Summer_Palace​. 
 
火烧圆明园. (n.d.). Retrieved from ​https://baike.baidu.com/item/火烧圆明园
/16077#2_1​. 
 
Xuan, T. J. (n.d.). Looted Summer Palace Artifact Mysteriously Returns to China. 
Retrieved from 
https://www.caixinglobal.com/2018-12-11/looted-summer-palace-artifact-mysterious
ly-returns-to-china-101358009.html​. 
 
Guanyu. (1970, January 1). Summer Palace on trail of looted relics. Retrieved from 
http://guanyu9.blogspot.com/2009/10/summer-palace-on-trail-of-looted-relics.html​. 
 
李雯蕊 . (n.d.). Two relics of Old Summer Palace handed back. Retrieved from 
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201804/20/WS5ad963e5a3105cdcf65198a8.html​. 
 
刘明 . (n.d.). Return of looted Summer Palace relic to China called for. Retrieved from 
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201804/09/WS5acb2980a3105cdcf6517037.html​. 
 
The Norwich Review of International and Transnational Crime. (n.d.). Retrieved from 
https://issuu.com/norwichuniversityoc/docs/final_nritc_​. 

 
To Hartwig Fischer 
 
In regards to artifacts from the Summer Palace. 
 
I am writing to you in regard to the artifacts from the Summer Palace. I hope you will 
read my proposal to return the artifacts.  
 
First, let me begin by telling you the history of the artifacts from the Summer Palace. 
The story happened during ​In 1860, during the Second Opium War, British and France 
army came to China from Thaijin to middle of China, after that they arrived in Beijing. 
They came to Tongzhou for negotiation. After they negotiate in Tongzhou, ​Qing general 
Sengge Rinchen​ capture some army and soldiers from the British and France, include 
two British envoys and Thomas William Bowlby​, because British and France army was 
trying to control Beijing. And Chinese killed some of the soldiers that from British, India 
and France army. 14 of them are going back to their place, Chinese release them. But 20 
of them from British, France and Indian army were killed by Chinese. After British and 
France army knew this thing, they decided to damage the Summer Palace. The Summer 
Palace was ​looted by British and French. In 48 hours in 1860, they started to damage 
the Summer Palace and plunder the Summer Palace. They stole a lot of artifacts from 
Summer Palace. The soldiers from Britain and French, they damaged the mirror and 
smashed vase because they can’t take them. They broke, damaged and smashed the 
things that they cannot take. They also tore off the frames and scrolls from Summer 
Palace. They grabbed the silk from the Summer Palace, they used the expensive silks 
and parcels to wrapped the horse. They were wrapped themselves in queen's robes, 
they also stole and took rubies, sapphires, pearls and crystals from Summer Palace.   
 
British and France army looted, damage and stole sculptures, porcelain, jade, silk robes, 
elaborate textiles, gold objects and more artifacts. They burn the Summer Palace, the 
artifacts from Summer Palace was gone, so they arrived at British Museum. The 
artifacts were transported to everywhere in the world. But most of them are in British 
Museum and France museum. Now the artifacts have been found in 47 museums. 
 
The lives of 20 people can’t cause the stealing of many thousand of artifacts. Stealing 
thousand of artifacts is worse than killing 20 people, because the treasures are worth 
more than the lives of 20 people. French author Victor Hugo wrote about the 
destruction, he called British and France are bandits. For example, they damaged the 
culture and the history from the Summer Palace of China. The impression of the 
Summer Palace is the culture and history of China. The Summer Palace is a symbol of 
China, there were a lot of artifacts and building in the Summer Palace. The history of 
these artifacts and treasures from the Summer Palace are long, they probably have 
more than hundreds or thousands of years. They represent the history of China, they 
are the symbol of China, because it shows their culture. And it also shows the advance of 
the Chinese culture and the process of Chinese history. These artifacts and treasures 
still affect to China until now. But that 20 people from Britain, French and India. They 
don’t really have the meaning for their country and culture. Although they die, they will 
not affect their country too much. And now not everyone from their country can 
remember them. All in all they should return the treasures and artifacts, because 
Stealing thousand of artifacts is worse than killing 20 people.   

They harm the Chinese identities and feelings. “"In two days, I was handed over 30 
million francs worth of silk, jewelry, porcelain, bronze and sculpture.” for example: they 
damaged the culture and the history from the Summer Palace of China. Because the 
Summer Palace is the symbol of China. And the artifacts and treasures can show their 
culture and history, and the history and culture can affect their development. And the 
artifacts and treasures are also the symbol of Chinese identities. Artifacts and treasures 
are part of Chinese identities, because of the looting, Chinese lose the symbol of their 
identities. And this looting is a shame for them, because they lose their artifacts and 
treasures which can show the world of their identities. They are angry and sad, they lost 
their artifacts and treasure that means they lost their symbol of identities. The stealing 
hurt their feelings, because China has more than 5000 years of history, they are proud 
of their history and their culture. And now they just lost thousands of them by stealing 
of British and France. Chinese status changed, and Chinese status and identities 
decreased, the world thinks Chinese can do nothing. The reason why they say this is 
they think Chinese is weak and frail. They think Chinese can’t even protect their 
artifacts, treasures, how can they be strong. So this thing really hurt Chinese people's 
feelings . This is one of the reasons why they are trying to get artifacts and treasures and 
looking for them, because they want to get their history back and try to repair the 
feelings of hurt and the Identities that had been harmed. So you should return the 
artifacts and treasures to them, because it is harming their feelings and identities too. 
 
 
Now I realized in the past, your museum and country has argued that you shouldn’t 
return artifacts, because you give more value by keeping artifacts in British Museum. 
And your country said that they didn’t steal and loot everything, a lot of their artifacts 
are not from a colonial context. So your country and museum don’t want to return these 
artifacts. However, I think your argument might not be valid because the owner of 
artifacts from the Summer Palace is China, even if you make a lot of value for the 
artifacts from the Summer Palace, they do not belong to you. So your museum and 
country still need to return. Second, from the Summer Palace artifacts, they damaged 
the place and stole the artifacts this is truth. Although Chinese killed 20 people from 
Britain, French and India, they should damaged their history and culture of many 
thousands of years. The lives of 20 people are important and they want to revenge, but 
they don’t need to choose this way to revenge. Because the history and the culture of a 
country is more important than the lives of 20 people. The impression of the Summer 
Palace is the culture and history of China. This is the reason why they want to find all of 
artifacts, even if they cannot get them back to China. The history and culture of a 
country is made for many thousands of years. And the history witness the development 
of a country. The history is the lives of a country, so if you steal and damage the history 
and culture of a country. That means you damaged the lives of a country. This is more 
serious than that Chinese killed 20 people from Britain, India and French.   
 
I hope you read my proposal with care. I hope you will come to the decision of returning 
the artifact to China.