According to the discoverer, the statue could be track back up to the early 15th century. (photo by Australian News Network)
A bronze Buddha has been found on the beach of northwest Australia. According to the discoverer, the statue could be track back up to the early 15th century. Even so, experts say, it is hard to prove that the Chinese visited Australia 600 years ago and settled there. And the Buddha is suspected of counterfeiting.
Two filmmakers and explorers claim they found a statue on a remote beach in Gascoigne, WA, according to Australian News.
One of the discoverers, Deschamps (Leon Deschamps) of Gascoigne`s Shark Bay (Shark Bay), is a second-generation historian and photographer who owns a film and television company called Finn Film (Finn Films). He filmed the discovery with the company`s co-director and partner, Thomson (Shayne Thomson).
They were making a documentary about the French exploration of Australia in the early 19th century, but they found the bronze Buddha through a metal detector.
Deschamps and Thomson were searching for objects left over from Napoleon`s (Napoleon) voyage and found the Buddha. Buddha statues are not big, but they weigh 1 kg. The discovery, they said, could "prove that the Ming Dynasty`s exploration of the `treasure boat` in 1421 was two centuries before the Europeans arrived in Australia."
Zhao Xiaohuan, a (Sydney University) China research expert at the University of Sydney, said the statue appeared to be able to track back up to the early Ming Dynasty, the Australian newspaper reported. Zhao Xiaohuan pointed out that the Buddha could be track back to the Yongle or Xuande dynasties, but it was probably not until the Ming Dynasty that it spread to Australia.
Booker (Shane Burke), lecturer in archaeology and history at Virgin Mary University (Notre Dame University), said that anyone claiming that a statue had been brought to Australia from China in the Ming Dynasty "should be alerted".
McGregor (Paul Macgregor), former director of (Chinese Australian History Museum), Melbourne`s Chinese History Museum, told the Australian newspaper that even if the Buddha had proved true, it could not prove that the Ming ships had arrived in Australia.
McGregor said: "they could buy something like this on an antiques market or a website." He also said Deschamps and Thomson failed to provide evidence of the statue`s authenticity. He said Chinese pearl miners may have brought some Ming-style figurines to Australia in the late 19th or early 20th century.
