Good to see that China has a sense of humor

New recruit joins Terracotta Army

A German art student briefly fooled police by posing as one of China’s terracotta warriors at the heritage site in the ancient capital, Xian. Pablo Wendel, made up like an ancient warrior, jumped into a pit showcasing the 2,200-year-old pottery soldiers and stood motionless for several minutes.

Mr Wendel is reported to have entered the museum on Saturday where he changed into his outfit, jumped over a barrier and took up a position on a pedestal he had taken along.

It takes a lot of balls to expect the police of a quasi-communist-authoritarian state to have a sense of humor, but Mr. Wendel, a student in China, was let off:

As Mr. Wendel’s “performance art” did not harm any of the ancient relics, he was not arrested or charged but given “serious criticism”, the reports said. Mr Wendel had his costume confiscated and was sent back to the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, where he is studying.

These kind of crazy antics by foreigners happen all the time in Japan because the police treat these kind of people with kid gloves. (Think I’m kidding? See the movie Jackass.) It’s probably a good sign that the same is happening in China.