At the beginning of the 20th century, Duan Fang, the governor of Liangjiang, relied on his power to send people to the Chen family, giving him three days to hand over the tripod and buy it by force. A few years after Mao Gongding arrived in Duanfu, Duanfang was stabbed to death by the New Army in the road protection movement in Sichuan. Later, Duanfang's daughter married the Yuan family in Xiangcheng, Henan. The Duan family wanted to use Mao Gongding as a dowry, but the Yuan family did not dare to accept it. Duanfang's descendants mortgaged Mao Gongding to the Huaye Daosheng Bank in Tianjin. However, later the Duan family fell into decline, and many of the bronzes collected by Duan Fang were sold by Duan Fang's brother, the American Fu Kaisen. Naturally, he did not have the financial resources to redeem Mao Gong's tripod.
In 1919 and 1920, an American businessman wanted to invest US$50,000 to buy Mao Gongding. When the news came out, public opinion in the country was in an uproar. The great collector Ye Gongchuo (1880-1968) was a native of Panyu, Guangdong. He served in the Postal and Communications Department in the late Qing Dynasty. During the Republic of China, he served as the Chief of Communications and the Manager of the Bank of Communications. During the Beiyang Warlord Period from 1920 to 1924, he served successively as Le Yunpeng and Liang Shizhi. , Yan Huiqing, and Duan Qirui's cabinet, he was one of the backbones of the old transportation department. He had deep financial resources and a penchant for collecting antiquities. He was one of the most famous collectors and calligraphers during the Republic of China. After knowing this, he decided to compete with the Americans and find ways to keep Ding in the country.
Ye Gongchuo originally urged powerful people in the country to buy it, but later rumors spread unexpectedly that Ye Gongchuo wanted to gain some benefits from it. Ye Gongchuo was very angry after hearing this. He sold some other cultural relics in anger and simply bought them himself. So Mao Gongding came to Ye's family again and stayed there for more than ten years. It was first placed in his home in Tianjin and then moved to Shanghai.
After Ye Gongchuo bought Mao Gongchuo's tripod, he carved an inscription on it and distributed it to relatives and friends. Everyone in the circle knew that the tripod had been moved to Yiyuan, Ye Gongchuo's residence in Shanghai. During the Anti-Japanese War, Ye Gongchuo fled to Hong Kong. After the fall of Hong Kong, the Japanese coerced him to serve as chief of transportation, but he refused because he was ill and stayed in bed all day without leaving home.
Ye Gongchuo's life in Hong Kong was not peaceful. He was under Japanese surveillance all day long. Unexpectedly, there was a fire in the backyard in Shanghai. It turned out that one of Ye's concubines in Shanghai was involved in a property dispute and tipped off the Japanese that Mao Gong's tripod was hidden in Yiyuan, causing the Japanese invaders to come and search it again and again. Ye Gongchuo was extremely anxious when he learned about it. He immediately sent a telegram to Kunming and asked his nephew Ye Gongchao (a professor at Southwest Associated University) to come to Hong Kong to meet with businessmen.
In order to protect Baoding, Ye Gongchao went to Shanghai to deal with the enemy. Ye Gongchao arrived in Shanghai and had just settled down the Mao Gongding tripod when he was arrested by the Japanese invaders. He was tortured seven times in prison. He suffered terribly and almost died. Later, he asked his family to quickly find someone to imitate the tripod and hand it over. Later, under the remote control of Ye Gongchuo in Hong Kong, many people were asked to try to rescue him. At least Ye Gongchao's life was saved, and Mao Gongding was able to move to Hong Kong and meet Ye Gongchao face to face.
On the eve of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Ye Gongchuo was escorted back to Shanghai by the Japanese army, still claiming to be ill. However, at this time, the Ye family, a large family, relied on him alone to support him. He had already withdrawn from politics and lived in seclusion before the Anti-Japanese War. For more than ten years, the whole family had nothing to do, and they had to raise several children to study abroad. Their strength was greatly reduced. Before, he had to rely on selling cultural relics to survive. In the end, I couldn't bear it anymore and had no choice but to prepare to sell Mao Gongding.
At that time, the victory of the Anti-Japanese War was imminent, the Japanese army had been retreating steadily, and the victory of the Anti-Japanese War was determined. In order to leave a way out for himself, Chen Yongren, a big profiteer in Shanghai, expressed his willingness to buy this tripod and made a three-part agreement that he would donate it to the country after victory. As a result, the Baoding was transferred to Chen's hands.
In 1946, after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Chen Yongren donated the tripod to the then Nanjing government as promised and returned it to the Central Museum Preparatory Office for collection. On the eve of liberation, it was taken to Taiwan.
The Mao Gong Ding enjoys a high reputation in the epigraphy circle. It is known as the four national treasures unearthed in the late Qing Dynasty, together with the Big Menu Ding, Hu Jizi White Plate, and Jiaoshi Plate. On the eve of liberation in 1948, it was transferred to the National Palace Museum in Taipei and is regarded as one of the three treasures of the National Palace Museum.