Librarian replaced stolen masters with forgeries

A former chief librarian at a Chinese university admitted in court to stealing more than 140 paintings by grandmasters in a gallery under his watch and replacing them with fakes he painted himself.

For two years up until 2006, Xiao Yuan substituted famous works including landscapes and calligraphies in a gallery within the library of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts.

He told the court in his defence that the practice appeared to be rampant and the handling of such paintings was not secure.