Rising Chinese scepticism towards Western classical history and its scholarly framework has found its latest target in ancient Egyptian treasures, adding an unexpected twist to the two countries’ long-term partnership.
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From July last year until August this year, the Shanghai Museum hosted a major exhibition on ancient Egypt, marking the first collaboration between a Chinese state-run museum and the Egyptian government.
It was the largest exhibition of Egyptian artefacts ever staged outside Egypt over the past two decades, according to Xinhua. Egypt is a major partner in the Belt and Road Initiative, China’s plan to grow global trade.
The exhibition caught the attention of Huang Heqing, a retired art history professor at Zhejiang University, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.
In July, in a series of videos posted on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, Huang asked: “Are these so-called ‘ancient Egyptian artefacts’ really 3,500 to 2,000 years old?”
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Huang, who obtained his doctorate from the Sorbonne in Paris, singled out a pair of grass sandals from the exhibition.