Recently, a batch of national treasure-level cultural relics mysteriously lost overseas appeared in Beijing, attracting attention from all parties. China has a long history of 5,000 years of culture, but its art treasures have suffered many disasters. According to the latest statistics from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, more than 200 museums scattered around the world have collected more than 1.6 million unique treasures lost in China. Private collections are estimated to be 10 times the number of museums. What kind of life experience is hidden in the mysterious national treasure? Where are the large number of rare national treasures now?
A group of overseas national treasure-level cultural relics, including the Qianlong tablet, the "Hundred Birds Paying Attention to the Phoenix" longevity tent, the golden conch inlaid with gold and precious stones, and the Song Dynasty painter Mi Fu's "Li Sao Jing" written on silk, will be repatriated overseas in the near future. The auction in Beijing attracted attention.
The reporter recently interviewed Huang Jing, who was in charge of the auction. She said that the auction items had different origins and life experiences, and this was the first time they were unveiled in Beijing. Initially, due to various considerations, Huang Jing remained silent about the origin of the national treasure. After repeated questioning by reporters, the identity of the national treasure gradually emerged. Through the clues she provided, the reporter found Li Shoukun, the discoverer of the Qianlong tablet and longevity account.
Qianlong tablet
Li Shoukun told reporters that the Qianlong tablet was found in a cellar in Germany, but this was no accident.
Mr. Li is a part-time professor at the School of History and Culture of Central China Normal University. He went to Germany 6 years ago to give lectures on "Comparison of Chinese Buddhism and Christianity." German intellectuals have a special liking for ancient Chinese culture. Mr. Ma was able to make many friends there, and also met Xue Xiaodan, a Ph.D. in economics who was doing business in Germany. The two people who hit it off hit it off and finally made it possible for the Qianlong memorial tablet and Shouzheng to return home.
Xue Xiaodan has lived in Germany for 19 years. His father is Zeng Zhuo, a famous poet in modern China. Mr. Li and Xue Xiaodan have the same interest in cultural relics. There is a "Kingstrasse" in Germany as famous as the Champs Elysees in Paris, where dozens of antique shops are located. The small auctions that are often held there have become their go-to place to search for various Han cultural collections, and their searches have also accumulated rich experience for them in future treasure appraisals.
A year ago, they established the "German Chinese Traditional Culture and Health Association" together with some German people from all walks of life who love Chinese culture, and began to publish advertisements on TV and radio, willing to help collectors Appraisal of cultural relics, and hope to acquire various Chinese cultural relics.
In December 2004, Diack, a German who had known Xue Xiaodan for many years, saw an advertisement and became curious about the art that had been stored in his cellar for many years, and invited Xue Xiaodan to his home. Diack, who is in his sixties, is a coffee agent. His home is located in Duisburg, South Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, a traditional and ancient city on the Rhine River.
The cellar of a German home is not a basement for storing sundries as we imagine, but a "safe" with good ventilation and humidity. Xue Xiaodan came to the cellar of Diack's house and found that among the large number of neatly arranged artworks, there were many Buddhist statues, utensils, calligraphy and paintings from China. Xue Xiaodan's intuition from many years of treasure appraisal told him that one of the tablets and half of the longevity tent were from the Qing royal family.
Xue Xiaodan told Mr. Li, who had returned to China, the details of the discovery through the Internet. Mr. Li went to Germany and came to Diack's house again. After some understanding, Diack’s father was once a factory owner, and some of the artworks in the cellar were collected by him during World War II. His grandfather once preached in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan and other places in China in the late Qing Dynasty. For more than ten years, his grandfather searched everywhere for favorite "treasures". Perhaps because the commander-in-chief of the Eight-Power Allied Forces, Waldersee, was both a German at the time, the personal relationship prompted the memorial tablet and longevity tent to become a "gift" from the commander to the missionaries. After my grandfather returned to China, he hid these cultural relics in the cellar of his home until now.
Through identification, Mr. Li learned that the Manchu on the tablet means "Emperor Gaozongchun", and Gaozongchun was the temple name of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty. When a reporter asked about the original location of the tablets, Mr. Li said: "Many cultural relics have been forged in history, but counterfeiting royal tablets is considered illegal and a serious crime. Therefore, the royal tablets can only be found in four places. It is enshrined in royal places: the Imperial Ancestral Temple of the Forbidden City, Rehe, Old Summer Palace and Shengjing (now Shenyang Forbidden City). This tablet was probably lost when the Old Summer Palace was burned down.
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The longevity tent that was discovered at the same time is 6 meters high and more than 3 meters wide. It belongs to Beijing embroidery. It is embroidered with patterns of birds facing the phoenix, auspicious animals, peonies, lotus, longevity ganoderma and other patterns on the red background. , the phoenix stands on the strange stone, and it looks like a king. Mr. Li is sure that the large area and exquisite craftsmanship cannot be used by ordinary people. It must be from the palace collection. It is an openable and closable hanging decoration, which is representative in ancient times. Good luck, harmony and wealth. Unfortunately, only half of the longevity tent was discovered this time, and the whereabouts of the other half are still unknown.
After some discussions, Diack was willing to resell these two precious Chinese cultural relics. To Mr. Li. Mr. Li told reporters: "Diack has been to China. He believes that Chinese literature should return to China. If the conditions are right, he will gradually take out other collections, but this is not for money. "
Right-handed golden snail
Huang Jing revealed that the gold engraved golden snail with gems was from a famous Taiwanese collector who did not want to be named. She said: "There are many in the world. Local people want to collect these things, and we are helping cultural relics that have been lost overseas return to China. The collector was very patriotic and was impressed by our sincerity. ”
Although the origin is not clear, the golden conch is a treasure. The golden conch is a kind of Dharma conch. It was a Tibetan magical artifact enshrined by Tibet to the Qing government in the early Qing Dynasty. Among various conchs, Only all-white conchs can be made into conchs. Normal conchs grow in a clockwise direction, which is called left-handed conchs, while mutant conchs grow in a counter-clockwise direction, which is called right-handed conchs. The metal used for inlaying conchs is extremely rare. Common, followed by silver, and pure gold is also extremely rare. The gold snail auctioned this time is a rare gold-coated white snail.
The price of Mi Fu is as high as 50 million. The starting price of the Yuan Dynasty made "Li Sao Jing" by the famous calligrapher and painter of the Song Dynasty become the focus of this auction. Ms. Huang said that this painting was written by a mysterious person who lives in Hong Kong and did not want to disclose his identity. This is the first silk work to be published after Mi Fu’s paper version was collected by the National Palace Museum in Taipei.
Eight months ago, a friend of Huang Jing showed her a photocopy of part of the "Li Sao Jing". Due to long-term storage and moisture, the silk surface has fallen off from the original packaging and is somewhat worn. Judging from the new paper on the back, it should have been re-mounted in Japan in recent years. Authoritative experts have recently identified the calligraphy and believe it to be the largest surviving authentic calligraphy by Mi Fu.
These precious cultural relics are just a microcosm of the massive loss of national treasures in China. Since the Opium War in 1840 The number of Chinese national treasures and cultural relics that have begun to wander is staggering. According to the latest statistics from UNESCO, more than 200 museums around the world have collected more than 1.6 million of China's lost treasures, and private collections are estimated to be 10 times as many as those in museums. People like Huang Jing and Li Shoukun who hope to return national treasures are working hard, but it is undeniable that there are more national treasures and cultural relics that are "out of reach" for us.
It took experts 10 years to identify 23,000 pieces that were lost in my country. Famous paintings
A large number of fine cultural relics in our country, especially famous paintings from past dynasties, have been lost overseas. The reporter recently interviewed Lin Shuzhong, a professor of Chinese art history at Nanjing University of the Arts. He told reporters that as many as 2.3% of famous Chinese paintings from past dynasties have been lost overseas. Thousands of pieces!
Lin Shuzhong, who is now 80 years old, went through many hardships and spent 10 years investing most of his family’s savings, totaling more than 100,000 US dollars, in the search and classification work. He compiled and published a large-scale 8-volume masterpiece, "Famous Chinese Paintings from Past Dynasties Collected Overseas", which collects ancient Chinese art treasures stored around the world. These works date from the primitive era to the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Reporter: When did you start treasure hunting? How many national treasures are scattered overseas?
Lin Shuzhong: In the autumn of 1985, I was invited to be a visiting professor at the University of Michigan in the United States, teaching the history of Chinese painting and studying the history of European art. During my year there, I often visited major museums in the United States after giving lectures. I was shocked by the fine collections of Chinese paintings and calligraphy collected by Americans. At the Nelson Art Museum, I witnessed with my own eyes the "Emperor Xiaowen" of the Northern Wei Dynasty stolen from the Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang, Henan. The incomplete and damaged reliefs of "The Picture of Worshiping Buddha" and "The Picture of Empress Dowager Wenzhao Worshiping Buddha" deeply shocked me.
In 1985, I made up my mind to find and record the actual situation of national treasures lost overseas. I think even if they cannot be taken back, they should be recorded as a warning and reminder for future generations. During my stay in the United States, I used more than 30,000 US dollars as a visiting professor to visit major museums and photographed more than 3,000 slides and 3 large boxes of books and materials.
Preliminary statistics on China’s famous paintings from past dynasties that have been exiled overseas show that there are 23,000 pieces with records, with the Americas (mainly the United States and Canada), Japan and Europe each accounting for one-third. Europe is mainly distributed in Germany, Britain, France, Belgium, Sweden and other countries. Most of them were plundered from the Dunhuang Scripture Cave in that year. A small part was obtained by foreign countries around the time of the Anti-Japanese War and the Liberation War in the 1930s due to the lax management of national cultural relics. People bought it and the Chinese brought it out.
More than 20 scroll paintings from the Tang Dynasty were lost overseas. The scriptures, poems, paintings, calligraphy and paintings collected in the 16 Dunhuang Grottoes, from the prosperous Tang Dynasty to the late Tang Dynasty to the Five Dynasties to the Northern Song Dynasty, are all from the Dunhuang Grottoes. The United Kingdom and France have the largest collections of hanging Buddhist paintings. The United Kingdom and the Guimet Museum in Paris have 300 volumes. There are also two to three hundred scroll paintings from the Song Dynasty, nearly 200 from the Yuan Dynasty, about 8,000 pieces of other famous paintings from the Ming Dynasty, and about 12,000 pieces from the Qing Dynasty.
Reporter: Who got China’s national treasure overseas?
Lin Shuzhong: What impressed me most was the "Pictures of Admonitions of Female History" by Gu Kaizhi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty that was stolen when the Eight-Power Allied Forces burned the Old Summer Palace. Collection of the British Museum, London, UK. The earliest copy of another masterpiece by Gu Kaizhi, "Luo Shen Fu Tu", is now in the collection of the Freer Museum in Washington, USA.
There are about 50,000 various cultural relics in the Dunhuang Scripture Cave that are now scattered in 11 countries around the world. Around 1905, the British Stein, the Frenchman Pelliot, the German Laycock and others along the Silk Road, from the Kizil Grottoes in Kuqa, Xinjiang, to Bezeklik in Turpan, frantically plundering cave murals along the way. .
American antique dealer Pu Ailun went to China and discovered the relief of "The Emperor and the Empress Paying Respect to the Buddha" in Luoyang. He photographed it with a camera and found Yue Bin, an antique dealer in Binji, Liulichang, Beijing. The two parties signed an agreement. Yue Bin colluded with Luoyang. Antique dealer Ma Longtu contacted the local security chief and bandits to chisel down the relief, cut it into pieces, and transported it to Beijing in sacks, where it was spliced ??together and shipped to the United States. In 1952, a contract signed by Binji and Pu Ailun to plunder the reliefs of the "Empress and Empress Paying Respect to Buddha" was discovered in the Binji antique shop in Tan'er Hutong, Beijing. This incident outraged the Chinese cultural relics community, and more than 300 celebrities jointly demanded punishment. The profiteer Yue Bin was sentenced to death and suspended for two years. He later died of illness in prison.
Reporter: What is the value of these treasures?
Lin Shuzhong: "The Picture of Proverbs of a Female History" has several characteristics, including being the oldest and having the greatest international influence. It is the most valuable lost silk painting that has been handed down to this day. It is a national treasure among national treasures.
There are five versions of "Luo Shen Fu Tu" circulating around the world. Except for a section of the National Palace Museum in Beijing, the Liaoning Museum in Northeast China, and the National Palace Museum in Taipei, the only one that is living overseas is the one collected by the Freer Museum of Art in Washington, USA. A long volume, the earliest one. It was bought by American activist Fu Kaishen when he was serving as a government consultant in the late Qing Dynasty.
"Luo Shen Fu Tu" is based on "Luo Shen Fu" written by Cao Zhi of the Three Kingdoms. The original work describes Cao Zhi's love affair with Zhen. Zhen later married Zhi's brother Cao Pi according to Cao Cao's will and became the queen, but later fell out of favor. After his death, Cao Pi gave Cao Zhi the pillow Zhen had slept on. Cao Zhi sighed and turned Zhen into the goddess of Luoshui, meeting her in his dreams. "Luo Shen Fu Tu" has been used as a subject by famous painters in history. The copies left by Gu Kaizhi are of the highest value today. In the past, when studying silk painting and traditional Chinese painting, the above mentioned ones were mentioned.
When it comes to calligraphy and painting, there are debates about age and authenticity. Each of the 400 Dunhuang sheets is a genuine national treasure and cultural relic, completely reliable in age, and of immeasurable artistic and historical value. The stolen Buddhist paintings were once hung in temples and were painted with money from donors, including people from all walks of life at that time. Buddhist paintings contain many Buddhist stories, as well as descriptions of the landscapes, characters, architecture, customs and people of that time. It is of great value for studying the tangible information preserved by the society at that time.
The "Picture of Emperors and Empresses Paying Respect to Buddha" are two historic giant reliefs in the Northern Wei Dynasty. Like the stone sculpture "Horse Trampling the Huns" in front of Huo Qubing's tomb in the Western Han Dynasty and "Six Horses of Zhaoling" by Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, they are all witnesses of history. .
The reasons for the loss of cultural relics in China are complicated
Zhang Jian, director of the International Friendship Museum, has collected a large amount of data on lost cultural relics since 1985 and studied the current situation of lost cultural relics in China in the past century.
Director Zhang Jian told reporters that the 20th century was the period with the largest loss of cultural heritage in China. The two peak losses occurred during the Opium War and after the reform and opening up.
Director Zhang Jian believes that the value of Chinese cultural relics in the eyes of foreigners is not just for collection. "They used the bones found in Chinese cemeteries for anthropological research, analyzed the evolution and blood relationships of the Chinese people, and studied China's economy, culture, and customs through the unearthed epitaphs and land certificates. After 1840, some foreign missionaries Scholars entered China to collect Chinese family trees and genealogies to study China's social structure and behavior, and used the collected maps as a basis for anti-China."
"China had been the most powerful country in the world until the three generations of Kang and Yong. The status and cultural relics reflect the country's scientific and technological level in ancient times, and its wisdom is reflected in every artifact, including bronzes that reflect skills, calligraphy and paintings that reflect Chinese philosophy, and philosophy and technology. Jade. The looters hope to understand the Chinese people's life by studying Chinese philosophical thoughts and beliefs, and the most classic example is 'Dunhuang is in China, and Dunhuang studies are abroad'."
Memorandum on the loss of national treasures
During the Japanese invasion of China, more than 3.6 million pieces and 1,870 boxes of cultural relics and 741 historical sites were lost.
In 1860, the British and French forces burned the Old Summer Palace and "Yongle Dadian" was looted overseas.
There are currently more than 30,000 rare items from Chinese dynasties in the British Museum.
The China Pavilion in the Palace of Fontainebleau in France has a collection of more than 30,000 Chinese cultural relics.
200,000 ancient tombs have been stolen in China.
The United States has the largest collection of paintings, and the British Museum has the most exquisite collection of Chinese paintings.
The Library of Congress has more than 4,000 local chronicles; there are more than 3,000 rare ancient books and more than 2,000 family trees in the United States.
Of the nearly 30,000 oracle bone tablets lost overseas, nearly 13,000 were from Japan.
There are only 20,000 Dunhuang posthumous documents in existence in China, accounting for only 30%.