China has condemned what it calls the illegal auction in Paris of two bronze artefacts taken from a Chinese palace 150 years ago.
The strong statement said China did not recognise the 31m euro (£28m, $39m) sale of the bronze rat and rabbit.
It also ordered tighter checks on artefacts that Christie's auction house takes into or out of China.
The bronzes were sold as part of the estate of late French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent.
China says the animal heads were part of a collection of 12 looted from the Old Summer Palace in Beijing in 1860 when it was sacked and burnt by French and British armies during the Second Opium War.
The animals represent the Chinese zodiac, and adorned a fountain built for the Emperor Qianlong.
China has managed to track down five of the other statues, which are now displayed in a Beijing museum. It had earlier called on Christie's to stop the bronzes' sale.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7911691.stm
The Qianlong Emperor (Chinese: 乾隆帝, pinyin: Qiánlóngdì, Wade-Giles: Ch'ien-lung Ti, Mongolian: Tengeriin Tetgesen Khaan, born Hongli (弘曆), September 25, 1711 – February 7, 1799) was the fifth emperor of the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty, and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China.[1] The fourth son of the Yongzheng Emperor, he reigned officially from October 11, 1736 to February 7, 1795.[2] On February 8 (the first day of that lunar year), he abdicated in favor of his son, the Jiaqing Emperor - a filial act in order not to reign longer than his 
grandfather, the illustrious Kangxi Emperor.[3] Despite his retirement, however, he retained ultimate power until his death in 1799. Although his early years saw the continuity of an era of prosperity in China, he was of unrelentingly conservative and sinocentric attitude. As a result, the Qing Dynasty's comparative decline began later in his reign.[citation needed]
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