The Great Chinese Art Heist: Imperialism, Organized Crime, and the Hidden Story of China's Stolen Artistic...

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Ralph Pezzullo

The Great Chinese Art Heist

Imperialism, Organized Crime, and the Hidden Story of China's Stolen Artistic Treasures

Ralph Pezzullo

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Hardback

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English

Pegasus Books
28 August 2025

Forgery, falsification & theft of artworks; Oriental art; True crime

The extraordinary story of the theft of priceless Chinese antiques around the world and the connection to crimes spanning more than two centuries—with present-day implications.

For the past decade, the art world has been rocked by a series of very costly and elaborately planned heists at major museums. The first took place the night of August 6, 2010 at the Drottningholm Palace in Stockholm, Sweden – the official residence of the Swedish Royal family. Others in France, Great Britain and other countries in Europe followed.

In Norway, masked men rappelled down from a glass ceiling into the prestigious Kode Museum on Bergen's picturesque central square, three blocks from police headquarters. In all of these break-ins, the thieves made away with ancient Chinese artifacts, most of which were originally displayed in the spectacular Old Summer Palace outside of Beijing nearly two centuries ago.

In The Great Chinese Art Heist, bestselling author Ralph Pezzullo takes us back to the Second Opium War and the sacking of Old Summer Palace by French and British troops in 1860 and connects it to the current wave of heists that seem right out of a Mission: Impossible movie. Comprehensive, balanced, entertaining, and expertly balancing diverse cultural and political perspectives, Pezzullo links these looted artifacts and roots of colonialism to today's billionaires and triad gangs, international banks and drug cartels. The wounds of the past, which is still called the ""Century of Humiliation"" in China, remain raw.

The Great Chinese Art Heist is a sweeping narrative filled with the voices of those who have lived it—art and art crime experts, and museum and government officials in China, Europe, and the US. In this riveting true crime, Pezzulo expertly grapples with the questions of ownership and cultural heritage, and embodies the words of art critic Holland Cotter—“The history of art is, in large part, a theft of history.”

By: Ralph Pezzullo
Imprint: Pegasus Books
Country of Publication: United States [Currently unable to ship to USA: see Shipping Info]
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 28mm
Weight: 431g
ISBN: 9781639369133
ISBN 10: 1639369139
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 28 August 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Ralph Pezzullo is a New York Times bestselling author and the host of the popular podcast Heroes Behind Headlines. After receiving a Master's Degree in International Affairs, he worked on Capitol Hill and later as a correspondent for Associated Press covering assignments in Latin America, and creating relationships with other diplomats, CIA agents, and military attaches across the world. His more than thirty books include Jawbreaker (with Gary Berntsen), Zero Footprint, Left of Boom, Ghost, and his memoir Saigon, which was recently published in Vietnamese.

Reviews for The Great Chinese Art Heist: Imperialism, Organized Crime, and the Hidden Story of China's Stolen Artistic Treasures

Praise for Zero Footprint ""From the mountains of Tora Bora to the mean streets of Baghdad and Benghazi, Zero Footprint is his harrowing story, intense, frightening, and eventually heart-breaking. One of the best counter-terror memoirs I've ever read.""-- ""Chuck Pfarrer, SEAL Team Six Assault Element Commander, and author of Philip Nolan: The Man Without a Country"" ""Absorbing . . . Well-wrought and exciting . . . A well-developed look inside the life and work of an accomplished private military contractor."" -- ""Kirkus Reviews"" ""Intimate and visceral.""-- ""Don D. Mann, SEAL Team SIX (ret.), and author of Inside SEAL Team SIX""