China said here Monday that Christie's auction of the two looted Chinese relics last week was a lesson to the whole world, including the French people.

Zhao Qizheng, spokesman of the second session of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), made the remarks at a press conference.

China had tried to stop Christie's sale of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) bronze rabbit and rat heads sculptures, which were looted from Yuanmingyuan, the Old Summer Palace, by Anglo-French allied forces during the Second Opium War in 1860. A motion filed with a French court to stop the auction was rejected.

Zhao said the court's rejection had caused strong reaction in China, including many members of the CPPCC National Committee, the country's top political advisory body.

"Many (CPPCC National Committee) members told me that Christie's auction should not be seen as a failure (of the efforts to retrieve the relics). It (the auction) was a lesson to the whole world, including the French people," he said.

He said many Chinese netizens expressed their anger and even disbelief in French culture. "We have always admired the French culture. What happened this time? Does French culture get sick? What kind of value is behind this?" Zhao quoted online comments as saying.

But he also said he believed that the value of French culture is not carried by a handful of people, but by the whole French nation.

The looting and burning of Yuanmingyuan was a shock not only for the Chinese but also for foreigners such as the French writer Victor Hugo.

"In the eyes of history, one of the two outlaws will be called France, the other will be called England. I hope there will come a day when France, liberated and cleaned up, will send back this booty to a plundered China," Zhao quoted Hugo as saying.

He also quoted Bernard Brizay, author of "1860: the Looting of the Old Summer Palace", as saying that for the French, the looting of Yuanmingyuan would be the same as if the Prussians in 1870 had razed Versailles down to the ground, looted the Louvre (museum) and set fire to the national library, as the Yuanmingyuan was all of those at once.

(Xinhua News Agency March 2, 2009)