To the Director of the British Museum, its Trustees, and the Organisers of “China’s Hidden Century” exhibit:

 We are writing to demand accountability for your use of Yilin Wang’s translations of Qiu Jin’s poetry, including a full 23-line poem prominently, in your recent exhibit, ‘China’s Hidden Century’ without permission, credit, or pay for over a month. 

The exhibition is underpinned by a research project led by two white academics who received a 718,000 grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council. The museum boasts that over 400 people in 20 countries contributed during three and a half years of research in support of this exhibition. Given the wealth of experience of the British Museum’s staff and curators in putting on exhibits, this omission in seeking permission and credit translators is especially unacceptable. 

Our calls for accountability have led you to insist that the omission was an ‘unintentional human error.’ Since then, you have removed Yilin’s translations and Qiu Jin’s original poetry contrary to Yilin’s wishes, while media interviews given to news outlets erroneously report that you did so in “good faith”. Furthermore, you state that you have apologised to Yilin but in your communication to her, you have been minimising the harm caused and refusing to show accountability. These actions call into question your integrity and professionalism as an institution.'

We call on you to do the following:

1. Obtain permission from Yilin to use Yilin’s translations of Qiu Jin's poetry at the exhibit and reinstate them and the original poetry with correct line breaks, formatting, and following the proper stylistic conventions of Chinese and Anglophone poetry. Full credit must be given to Yilin Wang for her translations of Qiu Jin’s poetry.
2. Future printings of the exhibition catalogue must be amended to include a citation for the one instance where an excerpt of Yilin’s translation appears without citation. 
3. Compensate Yilin for the use of her translations according to professional industry rates, increased to account for the lack of permission sought beforehand, the lack of credit, and all the trouble she has gone through to defend her rights.  
4. Issue a public apology statement for the lack of permission sought and credit given, along with an explanation of a list of specific steps and commitments that the British Museum will take to avoid repeating this mistake again in the future. The apology should be displayed as a press release, on social media, and at the exhibit itself. 

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If you'd like to donate to Yilin's legal fund and read her in-depth statement, you can do so HERE.

For more info about direct action, you can find resources HERE, compiled by by members of A-specs Committed to Anti-Racism.