Why don’t they just leave the poor terracotta warriors alone already? Last year in Xi’an, China, a German art student donned a gown and hat, identical to those once worn by Emperor Qinshihuang’s warriors and posed as one of the city’s famed 2200-year-old terracotta statues. (Authorities caught him, confiscated his costume, and sent him back to Guangzhou, where he was studying.)
Now a climate activist has altered some of the warriors that are on view at London’s British Museum. Martin Wyness, 49, jumped the barricades and slipped facemasks bearing the words “CO2 emission polluter” on two of the figures to highlight China’s poor pollution record. He’s been banned from the museum for life.