Teen Tourist Defaces 3,500-Year-Old Egyptian Relic By Carving “Ding Jinhao Was Here”
This is a bile-inducing story in which an idiot 15-year-old tourist defaces an irreplaceable relic by carving into it his full name.
The story actually made news over the weekend, but it’s only hitting “full-rage” today because everyone’s back from the long weekend. A 15-year-old from Nanjing, China carved “Ding Jinhao was here” into a 3,500-year-old Egyptian relic in Luxor (having been there personally, there’s negligible security and, yes, someone dumb enough would have all the time and space needed to completely destroy some of the statues).
Another tourist with the sense to be outraged took a photo and posted it to the Chinese social networking site Weibo on Friday. The original post has been shared over 90,000 times and received over 18,000 comments according to CNN.com. The vandal was traced–in less than a day–to a middle school in the Jiangsu Province capital where reporters hounded his family for answers. Only when confronted did the parents apologise and take responsibility for their son’s failings.
In a statement to China Daily, his parents apologised to the Egyptian people, on their son’s behalf, and they also said sorry “to people who have paid attention to this case across China.” They also admitted to failing to ”properly educate their child” in another statement. The monument has been permanently damaged, staff tried to clean and restore the sculpture, however, sadly, the graffiti could not be totally removed.