Chinese Archaeologist Liu Bin Pleads Guilty To Corruption Charges

Chinese archaeologist Liu Bin, whose work helped bring the ancient city of Liangzhu into global view, pleaded guilty on May 20 to bribery and embezzlement charges in Suichang County People's Court in Zhejiang Province. Prosecutors said Liu accepted more than 4.65 million yuan in bribes and embezzled 300,000 yuan from a research project connected to Liangzhu. No penalty has been announced.

The case places one of China's best-known heritage figures at the center of a sweeping corruption inquiry. According to the report, authorities detained Liu in December 2025 and arrested him in February. It also says that from 2009 to 2021 he accepted cash and other goods in exchange for helping applicants win approval for cultural relic protection and archaeological exploration projects.

Liu's career had long been tied to Liangzhu, the Neolithic site in Zhejiang Province that China has used to argue for the lower Yangtze region as one of the earliest urban civilizations on Earth. After studying archaeology at Jilin University, he joined the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology in 1985. He later became deputy director and then director of the institute. In 1986, he oversaw the excavation of Tomb No. 12 at Liangzhu. In 2007, he discovered the ruins of the city itself, a breakthrough that helped elevate the site's standing and supported its eventual UNESCO World Heritage bid.

The report says Liu later joined Zhejiang University in 2020 as a humanities scholar and served in several roles there, including professor at the School of Art and Archaeology, director of the Museum of Art and Archaeology, and head of the Institute of Cultural Heritage. It also says he left the latter post in 2020.

The allegations extend beyond Liangzhu. Prosecutors said Liu awarded Shaanxi Longteng Cultural Relics Protection Company an exploration project outside the ancient city as early as 2008, and later granted another contract tied to digital information collection at Liangzhu. The report says Wang Lin, a relative of a university classmate, paid Liu more than 1.4 million yuan in“thank-you fees.” Liu's attorney argued that 2.2 million yuan from Wang was received after Liu had left public office and should not be treated as bribery, while a 200,000 yuan wedding gift should be handled as a disciplinary matter rather than a criminal one.

The case underscores how closely archaeology, heritage administration, and state power remain intertwined in China, especially at sites whose significance reaches far beyond the excavation trench.

MENAFN01062026005694012507ID1111196445