Copies of historic Palace Museum royal lanterns sold for 10.6 million yuan at charity auction

Visitors take photos of a pair of accurate copies of Longevity Lanterns (wanshou deng) installed before the Qianqing Gong, or the Palace of Heavenly Purity, in the Palace Museum in Beijing, capital of China on April 2, 2019. A pair of historically accurate Heavenly Lanterns (tian deng) created by the Palace Museum sold for 10.6 million yuan (1.58 million U.S. dollars) at a charity auction Tuesday. At the same auction, a pair of Longevity Lanterns (wanshou deng) and five pairs of smaller royal lanterns were sold, according to a Palace Museum press release. The lanterns were accurate copies based on archives from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and used at the museum's special exhibition for Spring Festival this year. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)