Sucking Sound

China, land of the free?  For coin collectors, perhaps.  China has a booming internal market in all sorts of coins, ancient and modern.  And now, Chinese coin experts are coming to America, presumably looking for historical coins to bring back to their homeland.  CPO supports this form of cultural exchange, but wonders why the Archaeological Institute of America and the State Department's Cultural Heritage Center have worked so hard to preclude Americans from importing the exact, same coins Chinese collectors enjoy, and now Chinese dealers are now freely exporting back into China.