BEIJING, May 11, 2011 (AFP) – Police in Beijing Wednesday detained a 28-year-old man suspected of stealing several items from the Forbidden City, in a rare theft at China’s ancient imperial palace museum, state media reported.

Police seized the suspect, Shi Baikui, Wednesday evening in southwest Beijing and he had confessed to the theft, Xinhua news agency said.

Some of the items had been recovered and the investigation was continuing, it said. Shi was from the eastern province of Shandong but no further details were released about him.

Officials at the Forbidden City earlier told police that seven items belonging to an exhibit on loan from a private Hong Kong museum and valued at up to 10 million yuan ($1.5 million) were stolen on Sunday, the Beijing News reported.

Police said a “suspicious” man had fled after being stopped by a palace museum worker, Xinhua said. Several items were later discovered to be missing from the temporary exhibition.

The stolen items, which date from the early 20th century, include jewelry boxes and women’s make-up cases, reports said.

The items were taken from the Zhai Gong exhibit hall in the northeastern part of the sprawling palace, where the display was to continue until June 27, the Beijing News said. The section was closed to tourists following the incident.

The exhibit was on loan from the Liang Yi Museum, which is owned by a Hong Kong collector identified as Feng Yaohui, the paper said.

In the most recent theft attempt at the heavily guarded Forbidden City, police in 1987 captured a man identified as Xiang Dexiang, who was unsuccessful but was still sentenced to life in prison, the Global Times reported.

According to police records, only four thefts have been recorded at the Forbidden City between 1949 and 1987, the paper said.

Located in central Beijing, the Forbidden City was first built in the early decades of the 15th century and served as the imperial palace of China’s Ming and Qing Dynasties. It was transformed into the Palace Museum in 1925 after the fall of the Qing.

#   #   #

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE