I believe something similar happened during the Boxer rebellion. The Qing dynasty didn't give a shit about cultural artifacts and were seen tossing priceless vases out the windows and burning other relics. The Western soldiers wrote home about it in disbelief.
Because the ruling machu court didn't consider themselves Chinese but a foreign conqueror, they didn't give a shit about han Chinese cultural artifacts, they'd rather let them burn than hand it over to the new invading foreigners or preserve it for the han Chinese
I believe something similar happened during the Boxer rebellion. The Qing dynasty didn't give a shit about cultural artifacts and were seen tossing priceless vases out the windows and burning other relics. The Western soldiers wrote home about it in disbelief.
Because the ruling machu court didn't consider themselves Chinese but a foreign conqueror, they didn't give a shit about han Chinese cultural artifacts, they'd rather let them burn than hand it over to the new invading foreigners or preserve it for the han Chinese