There was more than one culprit involved in the after-hours burglary of two rose quartz statues at Vancouver’s Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, the attraction’s executive director believes.
“They are not something that just one person can lift,” Vincent Kwan said of the two statues, which until Wednesday morning were posed at the ticket window, just inside the main doors of the garden.
Someone scooped the two statues, each measuring about 45 centimetres tall and 60 cm long, sometime between 6 p.m. Tuesday, when the gardens closed for the night, and when the first staffers arrived at 8 a.m. the next morning.
Kwan said he didn’t know exactly how much each statue weighed, but “it requires at least two or even three people to lift one up a few inches.”
The statues were given to the non-profit classical Chinese gardens about 30 years ago by a donor who bought them in China, Kwan said.
He couldn’t put a dollar value on the statues, or say how old they were, but said they have deep meaning for the gardens and its visitors.
Such lion statues are prominently featured in traditional Chinese architecture as guardians. Always coming in pairs, the male can be identified by the ball underneath his paw (representing the symbol of unity of the Chinese empire), while the female has a young cub (representing nurture).
Staff on Wednesday morning found the gardens’ main entrance doors damaged and the lions gone.
“It seems to suggest that the route of escape, for lack of a better term, was through the front entrance, compromising the lock and leaving the front door open,” Kwan said, adding that it’s believed the burglars climbed the garden walls to get in.
The distinctive statues would be difficult for burglars to sell without revealing their crime, he said.
The gardens opened at 578 Carrall St. in time for the nearby Expo 86, and have since attracted about 100,000 visitors a year. The lions fit with that classical motif, Kwan said.
“The objects are commonly founds as symbolic and decorative items in very traditional Chinese environments,” he said. “They are usually placed at very key, visible areas like our admission area, as a way to welcome guests.”
Vancouver police have issued a call for the public’s helping finding the statues. Tipsters can call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
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