Amen to that. I obviously don't have the deep connection to the culture that you or your family possess, but when I think about how carefully those items--scrolls, books, rubbings, porcelain, whatever--where tended to over the centuries, how they made it that far and then disappeared in a decade, it's just such an unbelievable shame. (I feel similarly about the destruction of Mayan codecies & Mayan and Incan artwork at the hands of Christian conquistadores, and the wanton destruction of mummies for snake oil medicines and yes, steam train fuel in Egypt.) And those aren't even the human loses.

Incidentally, what do you think about Mao's role? And have you read the new(ish) Jung/Halliday biography about him?