Theft/Property — Los Angeles, CA — reported 2026-07-15

SUMMARY

A man stole rare and valuable Chinese texts from the University of California, Los Angeles' East Asian Library.

KEY FACTS

  • Incident type: Theft/Property
  • Location: Los Angeles, CA
  • Date reported: 2026-07-15
  • Suspect: male, age 39
  • Status: arrested

REPORTED DETAILS

  • The stolen books included 'Tangshi pinhui', a 14th-century compilation of Chinese poetry from the Tang Era, valued at about $70,000.
  • Other stolen texts were 'Yuzhi Guwen Yuanjian', a massive multi-volume anthology of ancient Chinese prose commissioned by Qing Dynasty’s Kangxi Emperor in 1685 and worth nearly $17,000,
  • and 'She Yuan Mo Cui (Vols. 9-14)', a $42,000 manuscript published in 1929 as part of a highly sought-after collection of Chinese ink rubbings and woodblock prints compiled by bibliophile Tao Xiang during the post-imperial Chinese Republican period.
  • The suspect, Jeffrey Ying, exploited vulnerable security practices related to the loaning and return of items from the school's special collections.