Dead archaeologist Liu Tuo quotes public opinion

Liu Tuo, a 31-year-old Chinese archaeologist with a doctorate from the School of Archaeology and Museology at Peking University, died on Oct. 26 when he lost his footing and fell from a cliff while visiting the Jiazaerkong Cave, a Historic Tibetan cultural site, in Maerkang city, western Sichuan.

After Liu Tuo’s death, Chinese media outlets published articles commemorating him on Oct. 27. Shanghai’s Xinmin Evening News said in a news release that it was “saddened” by Liu’s death.

Mr. Bai, a former Arts in Heritage and Museums major who lives in California, said he was saddened by Mr. Liu’s death: “Fieldwork is hard and can be dangerous. Liu Tuo was an archaeologist, so he was able to travel a lot. Love is what kept him going. I feel sorry for the passing of such a young scholar.

However, shortly after Mr. Liu’s death, pictures of his comments were posted online, causing a storm of public opinion in China and attacked by many “little pink”.

Widely circulated online, according to a picture says Liu Ta WeChat in your circle of friends, the communist party of China 60 years ago in Tibet, and there is no difference between Islamic countries and the Taliban, and said that the party’s cultural relics in Tibet, lead to “we in addition to the White House temple and Sakya, almost can’t see any original state of the temple, and before all of the yuan dynasty temple is wiped out”. The picture also shows that he wished Tibet had been completely controlled by India, which would have preserved its cultural relics.

In another picture circulating online, Liu said in a wechat chat: “I wish Tibet had been given to India.

As the images spread, a flood of comments on Weibo and Zhihu attacked Liu. “God has given up and taken in this reactionary,” said one, while another called Liu a “traitor.”

Tsering Dawa, an exiled Tibetan living in Dharamsala, India, said the spate of online attacks on Mr. Liu showed the Communist Party’s desire to “politicize” his death. “What we should pay more attention to is the hydropower station and the old cave dwellings that Liu Tuo pointed out,” he said. Once it is politicized, it is in line with the Communist Party’s politicization to cover up the situation at the hydropower station and the old cave dwellings themselves.”

In August this year, China’s State Council approved a plan to relocate Jiazaerkong caves due to the construction of the Shuangjiangkou hydropower station on the Dadu River. It was an inspection of the traditional murals in this cave that led to Liu Tuo’s unexpected death.