 Prof. Victor H. Mair , Professor of Chinese Language and Literature in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania , Philadelphia , United States defends the Smithsonian exhibition , claiming that the “ educational and historical value of the collection is simply enormous , and those who have called for the cancellation of the exhibition are , in effect and in fact , denying access to the wealth of information embodied in the Belitung shipwreck , both to the lay public and to qualified researchers . " 
