{
  "id": 7792490,
  "title": "Former director of leading Chinese museum jailed 3 years after art-selling scandal",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/16/former-director-of-leading-chinese-museum-jailed-3-years-after-art-7792490",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-09-16T13:18:18.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "South China Morning Post",
    "slug": "south-china-morning-post",
    "url": "https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3367753/former-director-leading-chinese-museum-jailed-3-years-after-art-selling-scandal"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A former director of the Nanjing Museum in eastern China, Xu Huping, has been sentenced to three years in prison and fined 200,000 yuan ($29,800) for his role in a high-profile art-selling scandal, state media reported on Wednesday. Xu was found guilty of abusing his position to take bribes and help others secure projects and business collaborations. The scandal came to light after the mismanagement and illegal sale of five paintings donated to the museum by the family of collector Pang Laichen in December of the previous year. During a court-ordered inventory review last year, the missing paintings were discovered. Jiangsu provincial authorities and the National Cultural Heritage Administration initiated a months-long investigation, which found that some of the five valuable works were illegally sold, transferred or lost. Xu served as director of the museum from 2001 to 2005 and retired in 2008. In addition to Xu, a relics store employee named Zhang was also investigated for allegedly altering the price tag of one of the paintings to facilitate its resale to a private collector. Authorities identified more than two dozen individuals responsible for the mismanagement and illegal sales of artefacts, with 24 still alive to face punishment. The scandal has raised public concerns over management issues at other museum collections in China, prompting the National Cultural Heritage Administration to launch a nationwide campaign to inventory all state-owned collections in April.",
  "summary": "A former director of a state-owned museum at the centre of a rare high-profile art scandal was sentenced to three years in prison, Chinese state media said on Wednesday. Xu Huping was found to have abused his position at the Nanjing Museum in eastern Jiangsu province and taken bribes, including money and property, for helping others secure projects and business collaborations. He was sentenced to…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Reuters Business via SCMP",
        "title": "Former director of leading Chinese museum jailed 3 years after art-selling scandal",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/16/former-director-of-leading-chinese-museum-jailed-3-years-after-art",
        "published": "2026-09-16T13:18:18.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}