15 Year Old Chinese Boy In Trouble For Writing "Ding Was Here" On 3,500 Ancient Egyptian Artifact

(Source) A family in Nanjing, China, was left embarrassed and apologetic after their 15-year-old son was found to have defaced an ancient Egyptian relic with the phrase “Ding Jinhao was here.” A photo of the 3,500-year-old Luxor temple relic and the teenager’s contribution was posted by another tourist to the Chinese social networking site Weibo last Friday. It sparked significant outrage, which led to a massive “human flesh search” for the boy’s identity.

He was eventually tracked down to a middle school in the Jiangsu Province capital, and reporters soon arrived in droves to interview the boy’s family. In a statement published by China Daily, Ding’s parents said they wished to apologize to the Egyptian people on their son’s behalf, as well as “to people who have paid attention to this case across China.” Speaking with Modern Express, the parents said they had failed to “properly educate their child” and asked they he be given another chance. Many aren’t quite ready to forgive, but at least one person, a Tourism Management professor at Fudan University, is sticking up for the parents. “It’s not only the boy, there are other tourists that leave graffiti on relics,” Gu Xiaoming is quoted as saying. Indeed, the problem has apparently become widespread enough for the Chinese government to enact a Tourism Law granting travel agencies the authority to punish violations of “social ethics.” As for the defaced relief, efforts to restore it have been met with some success.

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Was that wrong? Should Ding Jinhao not have done that? If anyone had told him that sort of thing was frowned upon he probably wouldn’t have done that.

In all honesty though, I competely understand where Ding Jinhao is coming from. My parents used to drag me to museums when I was a kid, trying to make sure I was exposed to “culture” and “art”. Well guess what I wanted to do the entire time? Scribble on EVERYTHING. Gum on paintings. Sharpies on sculptures. This was my dream. So really I’m just jealous of Ding, he did what I didn’t have the balls to do. And so what if the relic is forever changed. If you ask me it’s added value. 3,500 years ago some Egyptian bro was there and last Tuesday Ding was too. Kinda cool right?

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PS

the parents said they had failed to “properly educate their child”

15 year old middle schooler? Yeah I’d say you haven’t educated Danny Almonte well.