CCTV News:Bo Yuan Tie, Wu Niu Tu, Wang Chu Zhi Tomb Relief Stone Carving, Longmen Grottoes Stone Carving Buddha Statue, Qin Cemetery Gold Decorative Piece, Pan Fang, Yuanmingyuan Bronze Tiger, Zeng Boke Father Bronze Assembler … … Behind every cultural relic, there is a tortuous return story. On September 17th, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and National Cultural Heritage Administration hosted the "Road to Return — — The exhibition on the return of lost cultural relics in the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China opened at the National Museum of China.
Liu Yuzhu, director of the National Cultural Heritage Administration, pointed out in his speech that the cultural relics lost overseas in China are an inseparable part of China’s cultural heritage, and the return of cultural relics is closely related to the rise and fall of the country’s chaos, which closely touches the hearts of Chinese people. The Party and the government attach great importance to the rescue and protection of lost cultural relics. Since 1949, more than 300 batches and 150,000 pieces of lost overseas cultural relics in China have been successfully returned through law enforcement cooperation, judicial proceedings, negotiated donation and rescue collection.
In this exhibition, 25 representative cases of cultural relics’ return were carefully selected, and more than 600 cultural relics from 12 provinces and cities and 18 cultural and art institutions were mobilized to participate in the exhibition, and the tortuous course and wonderful stories of cultural relics’ return were excavated and told. Let’s enjoy the magnificent 70-year return of cultural relics in the return story.
The bronze statue of the rabbit in Yuanmingyuan, donated by Mr. Francois Pinault in the Qing Dynasty, is in the National Museum of China.
In the mid-19th century, the great powers’ strong ships and strong guns shattered the dream of going to China in the late Qing Dynasty. In 1860, the British and French allied forces captured Beijing, the Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens was set on fire, and precious cultural relics were swept west. A treasure that has lost its dignity and glory records an embarrassing past in the drift from place to place, and also affects the heartstrings of thousands of people.
Since the 1980s, the lost cultural relics in China, including the animal heads of Yuanmingyuan, have appeared overseas one after another. International auction companies have repeatedly made profits at high prices, and Chinese people have been strongly indignant and condemned. International public opinion has paid extensive attention to it, and the return of cultural relics is facing many obstacles. The China Municipal Government has always been determined to promote the return of cultural relics, from the state-owned enterprises bidding for the heads of cattle, tigers and monkeys, to the donation of Chinese businessmen for the heads of horses and pigs, and then to the return of foreign friends for the heads of rats and rabbits. The animal heads in Yuanmingyuan have traveled from scattered stars to reunited, which is exactly a road to the return of cultural relics lost in China.
The bronze statue of the animal head in Yuanmingyuan was originally a component of the fountain of the zodiac in Haiyan Hall of Yuanmingyuan. In 1860, the British and French allied forces looted Yuanmingyuan and lost it overseas. The animal head was designed by western painters during the reign of Emperor Qianlong of Qing Dynasty, and made by artisans in China court, combining the cultural characteristics of the East and the West. The animal head is lifelike in shape and delicate in performance, showing a high technological level.
The word "Liao" in volumes 5248 and 5249 of Yongle Dadian was returned by the former Soviet government in 1954 in the Ming Dynasty and kept by the National Library of China.
Yongle Dadian was written in Yongle period of Ming Dynasty, which was the first encyclopedic document integration in ancient China, and a set of copies was copied in Jiajing period of Ming Dynasty. Sadly, after the rise and fall of political power and the catastrophe of war, the original Yongle Dadian has disappeared, and a few surviving copies are also lost.
During Eight-Nation Alliance’s invasion of China in 1900, German soldiers snatched three volumes of Yongle Dadian from the Imperial Academy in Beijing, and then collected them in the library of Leipzig University in Germany. On December 11th, 1955, the former GDR Chancellor Grotewohl returned the three volumes of Yongle Dadian and ten Boxer flags to China.
Wang Xianzhi’s Mid-Autumn Festival Post (copy), Jin Dynasty, the original is in the Palace Museum. (Because the Mid-Autumn Post and Han Xizai’s Night Banquet are currently in the dormant period of cultural relics, this exhibition shows replicas. )
Mid-Autumn Post, Bo Yuan Post, and the Post of Quick Snow in the National Palace Museum in Taipei are collectively called "Three Wishes" by Qianlong. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival and Boyuan were taken out of the Forbidden City by Puyi, and then changed hands several times and moved to Hong Kong. In October, 1951, Zheng Zhenduo learned that "Erxi" was about to be sold by inquiry, and immediately started the rescue of cultural relics with the assistance of Xu Senyu, Hu Huichun and Xu Bojiao. Wang Yeqiu, then deputy director of the Cultural Relics Bureau of the Ministry of Culture, was ordered to negotiate with Xu Senyu, director of the Shanghai Cultural Management Committee, and Ma Heng, president of the Palace Museum, and finally successfully bought back Erxi and handed it over to the Palace Museum for collection, ending the decades-long drift of two national treasures.
Yang Quan donated cultural relics.
Yang Quan, a native of Guangdong, moved to Hong Kong with his father when he was a teenager. He was deeply saddened by the loss of cultural relics in the motherland and determined to do his best to protect Chinese cultural relics. During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, Yang Quan went through all kinds of difficulties to save the collection of cultural relics from being poisoned. Before liberation, he witnessed the situation that China cultural relics were stolen and sold by imperialists, warlords, bureaucrats and illegal profiteers in Hongkong, and he was heartbroken and longed for the prosperity of the motherland. In 1946, Yang Quan told Guo Moruo that he would donate his personal cultural relics unconditionally to the "trustworthy government". Therefore, after the founding of New China, he deeply realized that "the motherland became strong after liberation, but also because the government paid attention to the preservation, collation and research of cultural relics", and he decided to donate all cultural relics to the new China government.
From 1959 to 1964, Mr. Yang Quan overcame all kinds of difficulties and transported more than 5,000 pieces (sets) of cultural relics collected by him to the mainland in eight batches and donated them to the country. Mr. Yang Quan’s lifelong wish has been fulfilled. This is the largest cultural relic donation accepted by our government at the beginning of the founding of New China.
Copper crane, collected in the management office of the Summer Palace in Beijing in Qing Dynasty.
Baoyunge copper window, collected in the management office of Beijing Summer Palace in Qing Dynasty.
The Baoyunge Copper Hall in the Summer Palace was built in Qianlong for twenty years. All the components of the copper hall, such as beams, arches, rafters and plaques, were cast by the traditional "wax pulling method" and "sand breaking method" in China. In 1900, the Summer Palace was looted by Eight-Nation Alliance, and ten bronze windows in the bronze hall of Baoyunge were lost to France.
Around 1992, maurice greene Berg, the chairman of the American Industrial and Commercial Insurance Company, accidentally learned the whereabouts of ten copper windows, bought these copper windows in July 1993 with a large sum of money, and returned them to China for free. On December 3, 1993, the restoration and installation of the bronze window was completed in the Summer Palace, and the bronze window was finally returned to Baoyun Pavilion. The bronze temple stands tall, making future generations want to see the longevity scenery and beautiful scenery of that year.
In 1975, Dr. Ambrose Harding of the United Kingdom gave back the Qing Dynasty bronze cranes and other cultural relics looted by the British and French allied forces from Qingyi Garden (the predecessor of the Summer Palace) in 1860.
All the components of Baoyunge are cast by the traditional "wax-pulling method" and "sand-breaking method" in China, and then they are continuously cast together to form an integral bronze temple, which embodies the outstanding achievements of investment casting technology in China and has high scientific value. The style of the bronze crane is realistic, the shape is plump and strong, which means auspiciousness. The return of cultural relics in the Summer Palace is of great significance for restoring the integrity and authenticity of the Summer Palace.
The bronze windows and cranes in the Summer Palace are lost cultural relics that returned earlier through donations from international friends.
The Buddha’s head in Gaoshu niche, returned by Chinese Americans in the Northern Wei Dynasty, collected by Longmen Grottoes Research Institute.
Luohan statue in Kanjing Temple, Tang Dynasty, returned by Canadian government, collected by Longmen Grottoes Research Institute.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Longmen Grottoes, the artistic treasure of ancient Buddhist sculpture in China, was severely damaged and chiseled, and countless exquisite statues were lost overseas. Guyang Cave, Lianhua Cave, Huoding Cave, Wanfo Cave, Kanjing Temple, etc. were particularly damaged, and the Buddha sculptures in many grottoes were "beheaded" for a long time. Among them, the Kanjing Temple relief Luohan statue was stolen in 1930s, and it appeared in European and American auctions, and was later donated to the National Gallery of Canada. In April 2001, after friendly consultations between the two sides, the National Gallery of Canada decided to return the cultural relics to China free of charge after fully understanding the background and great historical and cultural value of the theft of the relief Luohan statue. This is the first time that the Chinese government has prompted important foreign cultural relics collection institutions to retreat and return the lost cultural relics.
The return of Kanjing Temple’s reliefs of Lohan opened the prelude to the return of the stolen Buddha statues in Longmen Grottoes. From 2004 to 2005, after rigorous expert argumentation and research by Longmen Grottoes Research Institute, National Cultural Heritage Administration rescued and collected seven Buddhist statues in Longmen Grottoes, including the head of Sakyamuni Buddha in the Northern Wei Dynasty and the head of Guanyin Bodhisattva in Huoding Cave, and held a celebration of the return of Longmen Grottoes lost overseas in October 2005.
Bronze dish Fang Qian, Shang Dynasty, Hunan Provincial Museum.
In 1919, Qijiahe, Taoyuan County, Hunan Province, unearthed a large, majestic and exquisite bronze square mound, which was called "dish square mound" because of its inscription. This Qian is a representative work of bronze wares in China in the late Shang Dynasty and early Western Zhou Dynasty.
At that time, the land of China was devastated and its civilization was not prosperous. Unfortunately, the body was exiled overseas, passed on to antique dealers in several countries, and drifted to foreign countries in Asia, America and Europe. The lid has been kept in private hands in China, and it was nationalized in 1952. In 1956, the Hunan Provincial Cultural Management Committee handed it over to the Hunan Provincial Museum for collection. In the early 1990s, Japanese collectors interacted with provincial museums several times, and both sides tried to combine the artifacts in their own ways, but they failed.
In 2013, the dish square reappeared in the international auction market, and will be officially auctioned in the United States in March 2014. In order to prevent cultural relics from being displaced overseas, under the coordination of National Cultural Heritage Administration and with the support of Hunan Provincial Party Committee and Government, Hunan Province sent a delegation to new york to discuss the return of cultural relics. In the end, with the goodwill of all parties, the original auction plan was cancelled and the vessel was returned to the embrace of the motherland. On June 28, 2014, all sides of the dish day bowed their heads and entered the Hunan Provincial Museum, and finally completed this century-long road of return.
Dengyu Stone Tower, Tang Dynasty, Shanxi Museum.
In 1998, the stone pagoda in Dengyu was stolen and moved to Taiwan Province, China. In 2015, it was donated to Zhongtai Temple by private collectors. The abbot, the founder of the temple, felt that the elder was willing to donate the tower back after learning that it came from Shanxi. National Cultural Heritage Administration attached great importance to the relevant information, and immediately organized an expert group to carry out investigation and verification, on-site evidence collection, and coordinated the Shanxi Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics and Zhongtai Temple to jointly carry out historical records research, identification and comparison, and finally confirmed that the stone pagoda in Zhongtai Temple was indeed the stolen tower of Dengyu Stone Pagoda. In August 2016, Shanxi Museum and Zhongtai Temple signed the Agreement on Donating Cultural Relics. In January 2017, the tower arrived in Shanxi Museum and finally returned to his hometown after 20 years of disobedience.
Dengyu Stone Pagoda, located in Dengyu Village, Yushe County, Shanxi Province, is a four-faced Buddha statue tower carved with stones and painted in Tang Dynasty, which consists of four parts: base, tower body, tower eaves and tower brake. The stone pagoda is a masterpiece of Buddhist stone carving art in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, with its solemn and simple shape and rich body-building in high relief.
Taiwan Province and the mainland belong to the same China, and the two sides of the strait are of the same ancestry and culture. The tower safely returned to its hometown, drawing a satisfactory end to the anxiety of leaving home for many years. This is another landmark event that remains in the hearts of people on both sides of the strait and is recorded in the history of cross-strait cultural exchanges.
Bronze Tiger Gun, Western Zhou Dynasty, China National Museum.
Bronze Tiger Gun is a cultural relic in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, which was originally collected in Yuanmingyuan. In 1860, the British and French allied forces looted Yuanmingyuan, among which the bronze tiger was taken away by Harry Evans, a British naval officer, and brought back to Britain.
In March, 2018, the news that the tigers of Yuanmingyuan will be auctioned in Britain triggered strong repercussions from all walks of life in China, deeply affecting the heartstrings of domestic people and patriotic overseas Chinese. Knowing that Tiger Gun was backward, National Cultural Heritage Administration immediately carried out information collection, consultation and negotiation, coordination and linkage, publicity and guidance, and comprehensively used various channels such as diplomacy, commerce and public opinion to actively promote the return of bronze Tiger Gun.
At the end of April, 2018, the overseas buyers of the bronze Tiger Gun expressed their willingness to donate cultural relics to National Cultural Heritage Administration, China. On September 21, 2018, the delegation of National Cultural Heritage Administration held a donation reception ceremony for the tiger sole in the British Embassy of China. In December, 2018, the bronze tiger tiger was officially admitted to the National Museum of China.
Zeng Boke’s father bronze assembly, early Spring and Autumn Period.
At the beginning of March 2019, National Cultural Heritage Administration learned that a Japanese auction house planned to auction the bronze assembly of Zeng Boke’s father, which was suspected to have been lost in China, and immediately organized a team of experts to study the bronze assembly, confirming that it was a cultural relic illegally left the country after the tomb of Zeng Guo in Hubei Province was recently stolen, and then jointly pursued recourse with the public security department through criminal and diplomatic channels.
On March 9, National Cultural Heritage Administration officially sent a note to the Japanese Embassy in China, demanding that the Japanese government return the cultural relics lost in China in accordance with relevant international conventions. On the same day, Japanese auction companies publicly announced that they would withdraw the bronze assembly. Subsequently, representatives of the Chinese and Japanese governments jointly met with representatives of auction enterprises, and the public security organs intensively promoted the investigation of cultural relics smuggling crimes, which eventually led to the entrusting party of bronze assembly auction handing over cultural relics to the state free of charge.
The bronze assembly of Zeng Boke’s father was cast by Ke Fu, a high-ranking aristocrat in the State of Zeng in the Spring and Autumn Period. It includes eight pieces in six categories, including ding, GUI, pot, pan, pheasant and cup. It is rich in categories, exquisitely cast and well preserved. Each bronze has an inscription, totaling 330 words, which contains rich historical and cultural information. The artifacts of "Father Zeng Boke" have not been found in archaeological discoveries at present, which is of great academic value for studying the history and culture of the Spring and Autumn Period, the patriarchal clan system of Zeng State, and the dating and casting technology of bronzes.
At that time, every cultural relic was burdened with the weight of the times and the sorrow of the nation; Returning today, what each cultural relic has written is the road to revival and the dream of China.
It is reported that the exhibition will last until the middle and late November.
