Bronze Sculptures Sold, China Throws HISSY FIT

As they should have, Christie's sold off at auction two Chinese Bronze Sculptures from the 18th century. China is having a HISSY FIT screaming foul. GET OVER CHINA. Let's look at two facts:

1. China could have BID ON THE Sculptures, could have been the top bidder and thus brought these two art objects back home. Problem is, they wanted too buy the pieces AT SUPER DISCOUNTED PRICES (typical), instead of putting a real offer on the table.

2. China claims these two items to be HISTORICAL TREASURES of China...uhhh curious there President Hu...how many of your nation's treasures have you callously buried under trillions of gallons of water as you forced people and history out of the way for your beloved DAM? So artifacts are only valuable to you AFTER they leave the country, but not when you have to give your own citizens adequate time to get them out of their own governments way?

BEIJING, China (CNN) -- When Christie's announced its plans to auction off two 18th-century bronze sculptures, the Chinese flatly said "no."

A Beijing news stand shows a report about the sale of the two bronze artifacts.

At the center of the dispute are two bronze sculptures, part of the late Yves Saint Laurent's private collection of arts and antiquities. The two 18th-century pieces -- fountainheads of a rabbit and a rat -- disappeared when French and British Allied forces pillaged Beijing's Old Summer Palace during the second Opium War in 1860.

China says the relics are part of its cultural heritage and should be returned.

Christie's, saying that legal ownership of the two pieces had been "clearly confirmed," defied Chinese objections. At a three-day auction in Paris, it sold the two sculptures for €14 million (US$17.92 million) each to two anonymous phone bidders.

The sale of the lost treasures has whipped up nationalistic passion among Chinese in and outside China.

Luo Zhewen, chairman of the Chinese Heritage Society said, "The biggest value of the bronze heads is that they are evidence of the crime committed by imperialists who invaded China. The despicable part the auction is not that it has breached international agreements, but that it is trading criminal evidence for a massive profit."

Movie star Jackie Chan agrees.

"It has broken the hearts of the 1.3 billion people of China," he said. "All these national treasures should be returned to their home countries. In future, these fountainheads will not belong to anybody and they should all be returned to the Summer Palace."