Generally speaking, the lost cultural relics can be returned to the original country through legal recourse, state or private repurchase, donation exchange, etc. Of which recourse is the most difficult. In recent years, we have heard the news of the return of the National Treasure of Yuanmingyuan from time to time, and most of them were bought back at a high price at an auction. For example, Poly bid for tens of millions of yuan in the Yuanmingyuan 12 Zodiac bull head, monkey head and tiger head. However, compared with thousands of lost cultural relics, these are just the tip of the iceberg.
In 2002, National Cultural Heritage Administration established the "National Special Fund for Collection of Key Precious Cultural Relics", and allocated 50 million yuan annually to purchase representative treasures with high artistic value. Mi Fei, a calligrapher of the Northern Song Dynasty, wrote a volume of Yan, worth 29.99 million yuan. Facts have proved that it will be an unstoppable project to recover Yuanmingyuan cultural relics only through high-priced repurchase.
Yuanmingyuan's overseas treasure hunt, which set sail at the end of last year, quietly ran aground under the focus of the world. /kloc-how many cultural relics were lost abroad in the soaring fire 0/50 years ago, 1 10,000 or10.5 million, there is still no clear answer.
By the end of 10 this year, the number of restored Yuanmingyuan cultural relics was 150, which can be traced back to the overseas auction of Yuanmingyuan cultural relics at 186 1, and every time it touched the most sensitive scar in China people's memory.
Even today, after 150 years, it is still only a dream in the hearts of China people, a dream of a powerful country lasting for a hundred years.
The tenth year of Xianfeng (65438+10.6) is the beginning of disaster for Yuanmingyuan, and it is also the beginning of a large number of rare cultural relics.
That night, the allied forces of Britain and France entered the Summer Palace in China, which was praised by Europeans as "the eighth wonder of the world".
The first French army to enter Yuanmingyuan later recalled that the first people who entered Yuanmingyuan thought they were in a museum. Oriental jade, gold, silver, lacquerware, Buddha statues, etc. Those placed on high and low shelves are dazzled by their materials and shapes.
The next day, "out of the habit of caution, everyone first observed carefully ... some people couldn't resist the temptation, and the magic was broken ...", according to the memories of the British and French soldiers who participated in the robbery that year, first the French army robbed, and later the British army who got lost and was late joined. By the next day, more than 0/0000 British and French troops of various colors/KLOC-poured in. Robbery fell into the "fantastic" madness of Indian marijuana users-I saw British, French and officers and men rushing to the palace for piles of gold and silver treasures. Some people bury themselves in the queen's red lacquer jewelry box, while others are almost submerged in silk and brocade. Some people hang large strings of pearls on their chests and put those rubies, sapphires, pearls and pearls. The British even tore down the pure gold roof of a palace.
The robbery lasted for two days, and the barracks and tents of the British and French allied forces were filled with all kinds of treasures. Finally, due to the shortage of military supplies, the greedy army left Yuanmingyuan on June 8 10 and headed for Beijing under the escort of a group of mules and carts forced to transport treasures. 10 days later, Yuanmingyuan became a sea of fire.
"According to the management practice of palaces in the Qing Dynasty, each hall in each garden generally has a furniture list, which is managed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. For example, there are 36 scenic spots in Qingyi Garden, and now there are 36 inventory books. The items displayed in each palace scenic spot are recorded in detail. " Wang Daocheng, an expert on the history of Qing Dynasty in Renmin University of China, for example, the Qingyi Square in Qingyi Garden clearly records that there are two-story buildings, a stone ship with sub-cabins, middle cabins and middle cabins.
But to the regret of later researchers, the "display list" of Yuanmingyuan, the garden of ten thousand gardens, has not been heard from so far. I don't know whether Gengshen was burned to ashes or was taken away by the British and French Coalition forces. Since 150, people have never found any trace of these stocks. Moreover, the Qing royal family, which survived for nearly half a century after the Yuanmingyuan fire, never disclosed the losses related to Yuanmingyuan to the outside world.
In 2005, the French scholar Brissel made a detailed disclosure of the burning of Yuanmingyuan for the first time through the study of 140- 150 foreign language materials. He wrote in the book that a few days after the robbery, when the British and French allied forces retreated from Yuanmingyuan, there was an endless stream of carts full of treasures on the way from Beijing to Tongzhou. "In addition to the prescribed backpack, every soldier's burden is very heavy. Some soldiers also forced local farmers to carry things for them. In addition, more than 300 large cars accompanying the French army are trophies. "
Qin Jing, chief of the Cultural Relics Section of Yuanmingyuan Ruins Park, said that the figure of 6,543,800+5,000 pieces of cultural relics lost overseas in Yuanmingyuan was calculated according to the documents of the Forbidden City and the Xiheyuan River, which are now preserved. "The furnishings of the palace are basically the same. For example, when making an object, it is generally like the Forbidden City, the Yuanmingyuan, and the Xihe Garden."
"1 ten thousand pieces? Or 1.5 million? In fact, no one can say clearly so far. " Liu Yang, the youngest member of the Academic Committee of China Yuanmingyuan, said that due to the loss of exhibition inventory, the number and types of cultural relics lost in Yuanmingyuan will remain a mystery.
According to the statistics of China Cultural Relics Society, since the Opium War in 1840, China's cultural relics have been lost to Europe, America, Southeast Asia and other countries and regions, with more than 654.38+000 pieces of national first-and second-class cultural relics. According to the statistics of UNESCO, there are 6,543.8+0.64 million pieces of China cultural relics in more than 200 museums in 47 countries, while the number of China cultural relics collected by the people is 6,543.8+00 times that of the collection, about 6,543.8+0.7 million pieces. These "overseas Tibetan cultural relics" cover almost all kinds of cultural relics, including calligraphy, painting, porcelain, pottery, sculpture, bronze statues and other treasures. These precious cultural relics that once represented the glory of the Chinese nation have always been the focus of people's attention.
The massive loss of China's ancient cultural relics overseas dates back to the Opium War. 1860, British and French troops invaded Beijing. They looted first, and then burned the "round place" of Yuanmingyuan. Yuanmingyuan is the royal paradise of five emperors of Qing Dynasty-Yongzheng, Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang and Xianfeng. After 65,438+0.50 years of construction and repair, it is a masterpiece of garden architecture in Ming and Qing Dynasties, including many western architectural styles. It has become a pearl of the Qing Empire and the greatest and most famous large-scale palace-style royal garden in the history of China. There are countless mahogany furniture in more than 50 halls in Yuanmingyuan, including brocade, carpet, Shang and Zhou bronzes, ceramics, lacquerware, tooth carving, agate, crystal, amber, wood carving jade, precious stones, calligraphy and painting, clocks and watches, ancient books and so on. The British and French allied forces burned Yuanmingyuan, but the fire didn't go out for three days. The nearby Qingyi Garden, Jingming Garden, Jingyi Garden, Changchun Garden and Haidian Town were all burned into ruins. Rare treasures collected in the Qing Dynasty were destroyed and robbed. The British and French allied forces plundered a large number of cultural relics from Yuanmingyuan, and the number could not be counted. French writer Hugo once said, "Even if all the places of Notre Dame in China are added together, it can't compare with this magnificent Oriental Museum." After the looting of Yuanmingyuan, a large number of rare treasures were scattered overseas, the most concentrated of which were the British Museum and Fontainebleau, France. Museums in the United States, Japan and Western Europe also collected a large number of precious cultural relics of Yuanmingyuan. At present, there are more than 30,000 rare items in China in the British Museum, including the rare treasure of ancient scroll paintings in China-The Picture of Women's History by Gu Kaizhi, a great painter in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and many works of Yuanmingyuan art collected by Victoria and Albat Museums, another famous museum in London, England. China Pavilion of Fontainebleau Palace in France was built by Eugénie, the queen of French emperor Charles Louis Napolé on Bonaparte, to store the cultural relics looted from Yuanmingyuan in China. At present, there are more than 30,000 famous paintings, gold and silver jewelry, porcelain, incense burners, chimes, precious stones and gold and silver vessels in China. In today's foreign cultural relics market, you can often see some China royal instruments, such as official kilns. Quite a few of these royal things were stolen from Yuanmingyuan at that time. Eight-Nation Alliance 1900 invaded Beijing. Allied forces did whatever they wanted for three days, and the ancient capital suffered an unprecedented catastrophe, no matter whether it was the forbidden palace or the houses and shops of residents. After the Forbidden City was looted, more than half of the collections were lost and valuables were looted. "Three Seas"-After the South China Sea, China Sea and North Sea were robbed, there were few collections left; The treasures displayed in the Palace and the Summer Palace have almost been looted, and countless precious cultural relics and ancient books in the Palace, including Sikuquanshu and Yongle Dadian, have been looted by the powerful. After this catastrophe, Beijing's "savings since the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, from laws and regulations to treasures, were swept away", and "hundreds of thousands" of cultural relics were lost nationwide. It's impossible to count now. At that time, the intruders set up a temporary auction house in Beijing to auction their stolen goods and then return to China because they plundered too much. Most of the treasures were brought back to China as "trophies", while some soldiers sold other cultural relics to private collectors and people who liked China art. Around the 1920s, some foreign explorers came to China in the name of scientific investigation. These foreign explorers who come to China are proficient in human geography and have a high appreciation of cultural relics. Therefore, the cultural relics lost through them are not only large in quantity, but also high in quality, and countless China cultural relics have been brought back to China, resulting in a large-scale loss of ancient China cultural relics overseas. According to statistics, from 1865 to 1932, explorers from Russia, Britain, Germany, France, Japan, the United States, Sweden and other countries sneaked into the northwest of China as many as 66 times. 1900 On June 22nd (May 20th, 26th Guangxu), the Tibetan Sutra Cave (now numbered 17 Cave), which had been sleeping for hundreds of years behind the north wall of CaveNo. 16 in Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, was inadvertently discovered by the host Wang Daoshi, and a treasure house that shocked the world suddenly opened. Russian Obruchev was the first to take away the Dunhuang suicide note. 1905, 10 In June, he used only six packages of inferior paraffin as bait and got two packages of precious manuscripts from Wang Daochang. Then, the most famous plunderer of Dunhuang, Mark Aurel Stein, came to Dunhuang. He stole thousands of exquisite Buddhist scriptures and silk paintings with four ingots of horseshoe silver (about 200 taels of silver) and used a huge caravan. 19 14 years, Stein came to Dunhuang for the second time and bought more than 570 valuable hand scrolls from Wangdao people for 500 taels of silver. Because of his special "contribution", Stein was knighted by Queen Victoria of England and won great honor in the world archaeology. Some of the China cultural relics he plundered were collected in the British Museum, some in the British Library, and some in the Indian Affairs Library. After Stein came pelliot, a Frenchman. Pelliot, a young sinologist, is proficient in Chinese. In Dunhuang, he browsed for three weeks, and stole all the essence of the Tibetan scriptures for 500 taels of silver, totaling more than 6,000 volumes, including some scrolls, which are now mainly collected in the French National Library. Swedes Sven Hedin and Stan also had excavation activities in the western regions of China, taking away a lot of treasures, including lost western languages and precious bamboo slips; Germans Greenweddell and lecocq investigated and excavated in Xinjiang and stole a large number of murals from Qizil and Baizixi Grottoes. Japanese Ju Ruichao defrauded a batch of written documents from Dunhuang Grottoes, which led to a large-scale loss of China ancient cultural relics overseas. Some overseas cultural relics dealers colluded with domestic antique profiteers and warlords to steal, cheat or buy cultural relics at low prices, resulting in the loss of a large number of cultural relics in China. In 1930s, the Japanese savagely stole 300 Buddha heads from Tianlongshan Grottoes in Taiyuan, and instructed China antique dealers to bribe local warlords to knock off the Buddha heads in Longmen Grottoes and transport them back to Japan. In Longmen Grottoes, Buddha heads are stolen wherever they are stolen. The famous statue of the Empress Dowager Cixi in Longmen Grottoes is an artistic treasure of the Northern Wei Dynasty. At that time, a cultural relic dealer named Yue Bin bribed the warlords, smashed the stone carvings and shipped them to the United States. Now, this Buddha statue is collected in Pennsylvania State University. 1922, the last emperor Puyi stole 1200 fine paintings and calligraphy from the palace, most of which have been lost overseas. 1928, the tomb of Empress Dowager Cixi in the Qing Dongling was savagely excavated by warlord Sun Dianying, and all the things in the tomb were looted, most of which were lost because of arms trading. After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Japanese plundered 3 million books and 15245 important cultural relics from China. There are as many as 26,700 pieces of Oracle bones unearthed in Xiaotun, Anyang, which have been lost overseas. There are only12,443 pieces in Japan. From 65438 to 0937, Japan launched a full-scale war of aggression against China and carried out large-scale excavations in its occupied areas, and a large number of cultural relics were robbed. During this period, Americans used the social unrest in China to buy China cultural relics. /kloc-in the past 50 years, countless cultural relics, including a large number of national treasures, have been lost overseas, and how many cultural relics have been lost is always a mystery. In 2003, the Global Report on Preventing Illegal Trafficking in Cultural Property published by UNESCO pointed out that among the 2 18 museums in 47 countries around the world, China has1630,000 cultural relics, all of which are excellent cultural relics. China's precious cultural relics scattered among people all over the world should be ten times that of China in museums. According to the statistics of China Cultural Relics Society, millions of precious cultural relics have been lost in China, and more than 6,543.8+0,000 pieces have reached the national first-and second-class cultural relics standards. The number and high grade of cultural relics lost overseas are staggering and deeply regrettable. The smuggling of cultural relics in China has led to the massive loss of cultural relics in China overseas. Cultural relics smuggling is a common phenomenon all over the world. People's Republic of China (PRC) was founded in 1949, and China once bid farewell to the history of cultural relics outflow. However, since 1980s, stimulated by huge profits, criminals at home and abroad colluded with each other, which set off an upsurge of stealing and smuggling cultural relics. In the past 20 years, an unimaginable number of cultural relics have been smuggled out of Hong Kong alone. Countless cultural relics are smuggled out of China every year, and Hongkong, China has become a transit point for cultural relics smuggling. After 1980s, Hong Kong became the third largest cultural relic art center in the world with a large number of smuggled cultural relics from the mainland. Behind the smuggling is the prevalence of grave robbery, which once reached a crazy level in China. It is reported that about 65,438+0,000 ancient tombs were looted by local farmers in the suburb of Xi 'an. 1986, farmers in Henan illegally excavated 500 ancient tombs in1-4th century BC. From February 1990 to February 165438+ 10, a gang stole 46 ancient tombs. "Customs in Chinese mainland and Hongkong often intercept cultural relics, and it is impossible to count how many cultural relics have been smuggled out of Chinese mainland, but judging from the cultural relics appearing in the cultural relics market, this figure is undoubtedly amazing." Value Geometry of Lost Cultural Relics in China.
Cultural relics are the materialization of a country and national culture, and their value is immeasurable. China cultural relics have extremely unique value and high reputation. On July 12, 2005, at Christie's art auction in London, England, the blue-and-white pot "Ghost Valley Down the Mountain" of China in the Yuan Dynasty was auctioned for15688,000, which set a new high in the auction price of China art. In the autumn auction of Beijing China Trade International Auction Co., Ltd. in 2002, the Palace Museum bought the exquisite cultural relics written by Mi Fei in the Song Dynasty for 29.99 million yuan. In 2005, China's GDP should be 15 trillion RMB, so the value of cultural relics lost overseas in China is twice that of China in 2005.