It seems impossible to give an accurate figure and list all the looted cultural relics. Perhaps, this will be a mystery that can never be solved, and it will also be the eternal pain of the Chinese nation and the descendants of the Chinese people. After all, there are too many cultural relics plundered by Japan, such as blatant plunder and extortion, which are difficult to be fully included even in systematic statistics.
However, the Catalogue of Cultural Relics Flowing from China to Japan after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 (hereinafter referred to as the Catalogue of Cultural Relics) was published after a lapse of 66 years, which opened the "tip of the iceberg" for Japanese imperialism to plunder China's cultural relics by war.
It will be available in 66 years.
On September 15, a symposium on the publication of the Catalogue of Cultural Relics was held in the Palace Museum, presided over by Dan Jixiang, president of the Palace Museum. The book Catalogue of Cultural Relics was compiled in 1996 and officially published for the first time after a lapse of 66 years.
The book includes Oracle bones, stone tools, bronzes, stone carvings, ceramics, ancient jade and other China cultural relics. From the Sino-Japanese War to the eve of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War 1945, it was taken away by the Japanese army. According to reports, most of the cultural relics listed in the book, such as a large number of bronzes unearthed from Jincun Tomb in Luoyang, have great historical value as well as artistic value.
This book only lists the names and sizes of China cultural relics looted by the Japanese. Even so, the Catalogue of Cultural Relics in the format of 16 is still divided into nine volumes and three volumes, with a total of 1423 pages and1800,000 words. This shows the number of cultural relics plundered by the Japanese in China.
Wu Jianzhong, director of Shanghai Library, pointed out that the Catalogue of Cultural Relics is not only the exact evidence of Japanese imperialist cultural aggression, but also a solid and powerful basis for China to recover lost cultural relics.
Recovering the cultural relics lost overseas, especially those plundered by the Japanese army during the two world wars, has been the tireless pursuit and expectation of several generations of China cultural relics workers. The Catalogue of Cultural Relics compiled by 1946 was born in this eager expectation.
Xie Chensheng, the 92-year-old honorary president of China Cultural Relics Society, is the only surviving editor-in-chief of Cultural Relics Catalogue. He recalled the situation 66 years ago.
1945 In April, on the eve of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the Ministry of Education of the National Government established the "War Zone Cultural Relics Preservation Committee". Later, it was renamed the "Committee of the Ministry of Education to Clean up the Loss of Cultural Relics during the War".
"After the establishment of the Committee, representatives and staff from all over the country were full of patriotic enthusiasm, overcame many difficulties and carefully counted the lost cultural relics. After very hard work, the Committee for Clearing up the Cultural Relics Losses in wartime counted 74 historical and cultural sites looted and destroyed by the Japanese army in China from 1937 to 1945, including more than 5000 paintings and calligraphy and more than 6000 ancient cultural relics.
At the same time, the Committee for Clearing the Losses of Cultural Relics in wartime also undertakes the task of recovering looted cultural relics and receiving books and cultural relics from the enemy and puppet troops. At the same time, Xu Senyu, Gu, Wang and others devoted great efforts in Shanghai, and it took nine months to compile the book "Cultural Relics Catalogue". This compilation work is not only an extension of the investigation on the loss of cultural relics in wartime, but also an integral part of the preparations for the Japanese government to make war compensation and cultural relics recourse.
Xie Chensheng stressed: "After War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression's victory, the China government decided to take back all the cultural relics looted after the Sino-Japanese War. The purpose of compiling this book is to provide a basis for recourse to Japan. " He said that 66 years later, the official publication of the book "Cultural Relics Catalogue" made him have mixed feelings. The official publication of this book is also of great guiding significance for recovering lost cultural relics.
There is still a long way to go to recover.
Xu Zhongliang, executive deputy editor-in-chief of Chinese and Western Bookstore, who contributed the most to the official publication of the cultural relics catalogue, pointed out that it has been 66 years since the compilation of the cultural relics catalogue, but it is still a definitive "recovery list" of Japanese cultural relics lost in China.
According to him, at the beginning of 1947, Wang Li, the only cultural member of the China government delegation who participated in the trial of Japanese war criminals, made great efforts to recover 106 boxes of precious books and cultural relics from Japan. These recovered ancient books were received by Xie Chensheng and handed over to Nanjing Central Library for preservation. 1949 When the National Government defeated Taiwan Province Province, most of them were taken to Taiwan Province Province and became the main body of the "Central Library" in Taiwan Province Province.
It was in the process of paying close attention to this past that Xu Zhongliang accidentally learned that the older generation of cultural relics experts compiled the book Catalogue of Cultural Relics in 1946, and learned that this book has never been officially published since then. He said: "As a publisher, a graduate majoring in ancient literature, I was surprised. I am surprised that I didn't realize the existence of such an important academic work. It is even more regrettable that such an important work recording the painful history has been ignored for 66 years and has not been published. "
It was under this touch that Xu Zhongliang sprouted the idea of formally publishing the Catalogue of Cultural Relics. After that, he learned that in 198 1 year, National Cultural Heritage Administration organized the engraving of 100 copies, which were distributed to major libraries, museums and universities with cultural and artistic majors in China for preservation. However, after investigation, these mimeographed copies were almost lost. However, the Chinese and western bookstores finally found the only one left, which opened this long-forgotten historical memory.
Zheng, director of the Academic Committee of the Palace Museum, said: "After the end of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the Japanese return of China cultural relics was disappointing. During War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the Japanese plundered China's cultural relics and returned some of them after the victory. Later, from 1950 to 1956, the Japanese returned six batches to the Kuomintang regime in Taiwan Province Province and kept them in the National Palace Museum. These things returned by Japan are a lot of miscellaneous items, but the real cultural relics are quite few and of little value. It is still an arduous task to recover cultural relics lost overseas. "
At the same time, most scholars also pointed out that the cultural relics catalogue only contains well-documented and irrefutable looted cultural relics, while China's unknown cultural relics plundered by other unknown channels also include Qian Qian.
Peng Qingyun, former president of China Cultural Relics Society, suggested that it is an arduous task to recover the lost cultural relics from Japan, and China's official and non-governmental forces should unite to compile a history of cultural relics protection in China. Li Xiaodong, consultant of China Cultural Relics Society, believes that it is necessary to find a systematic basis, integrate official and private resources and establish a more systematic database of cultural relics lost overseas.