'Escape from British Museum': Chinese TikTok video on artefact return becomes a hit

A short video series has reportedly gone viral on Chinese version of TikTok. The series, titled 'Escape from The British Museum' shows journey of a Chinese artefact back to China. This has added to general clamour about demands from various countries that British Museum should return cultural relics taken forcibly during the times of the British Empire.

The video series shows a jade teapot from the British Museum assuming a human form. It then tries to escape the museum and return to China with the help of a Chinese journalist it meets on the streets of London.

The teapot is a real artefact stored in the British Museum. It is however, not exactly a cultural relic. It was made in 2011 by a Chinese artist who is an expert in intricate jade carvings.

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Although it is not a cultual relic going back centuries, the delicate technique to make the carvings is an artform unique to China.

Watch | China state media calls on British Museum to return artefacts

The video series was first released on Douyin, China's version of TikTok. It has reportedly been played 270 million times. The creators of the videos claim to be independent video makers. Their following has substantially increased. Within a week, the number of their followers spiked by five million.

Chinese state media has reacted positively to the video series.

State broadcaster CCTV appeared to praise the videos and the creators.

"We are very pleased to see Chinese young people are passionate about history and tradition… We are also looking forward to the early return of Chinese artefacts that have been displaced overseas," CCTV said as quoted in aBBC report.

The artefacts in the British Museum have long been a matter of debate. The museum has about eight million objects in its collection.

Britain's colonial past has often raised questions on how majority of these artefacts were obtained, whether previous owner explicitly and of their free will consented to donating these artefacts is something that gets debated regularly.

At its height, the British Empire ruled over 23 per cent of world population and controlled 24 per cent of Earth's territory. Well-documented records of colonial plunder, invasions and coercive politics often puts British Museum and modern-day UK in a tight spot.

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