One day in 1860, the sky was clear, and suddenly a thick smoke rose from the city of Beijing, and the camera went down to this historic city of Beijing that was being baptized by the Western powers, at this time the Eight-Nation Alliance had attacked the city of Beijing, and what was burning was the famous garden, the Yuanmingyuan in Beijing.
This garden, which blends Eastern and Western cultures and countless craftsmen' painstaking efforts, is being swallowed up by fire, along with countless precious cultural relics.
We all know that in modern Times, China has been repeatedly bullied and humiliated by Western powers, the people have been oppressed, and its territory has been invaded and occupied. In fact, in addition, China has countless precious cultural relics during this period or were snatched away by Western powers, or vanished in the war, and China, which has been passed down for five thousand years, has countless precious cultural relics, and until now there are many in the cultural relics museums of Western countries.
Of course, after the founding of New China, China's Cultural Relics Bureau has recovered many precious cultural relics through unremitting efforts, but weng Wange, a Chinese-American, has donated 183 precious collections to the United States free of charge, and the motherland wants to buy them back but is rejected.
Famous collector of antiquities
Weng Wange was born in Shanghai in 1918, and if heaven has to take care of some people, that Weng Wange is the person who carries the aura of the protagonist in the novel.
His ancestors were very wealthy, the most famous of which was Weng Tonggong, who was the emperor of the Tongzhi Guangxu Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, the prime minister of the Yuan, and the two military aircraft, and as the prime minister of state affairs, he was an important figure in the political situation of the late Qing Dynasty. And Ongwango is his fifth-generation grandson.
Although no one in the family entered the dynasty when Onwango was born, thanks to the efforts of his father and grandfather, there was no family left behind.
And because Weng Tonggong had a big hobby of collecting antique calligraphy and paintings, at that time, those who entered the DPRK as officials more or less had this hobby, first, to be able to be an official is certainly not incompetent, most of them are talented and have received higher education, and second, this thing can indeed become the capital that colleagues brag about when they talk, and he is still a business that makes no loss.
We all like to say that a large part of a person's personality depends on the environment, different circles of people contact different, excellent people around the people are always excellent.
WengWango entered the private school from a young age, and when he was very young, his father always instilled in him the knowledge of protecting cultural relics, which is also the tradition of their family, and when he was two years old, his father gave him a large number of cultural relics handed down from his ancestors, which was a matter of "pie in the sky" for Weng Wange.
On the other hand, it is precisely this family environment that made him a senior collector of cultural relics and contributed to the protection of Chinese literature.
Flee the war and travel to the United States
In 1938, Onwango went to study at Purdue University in the United States, and received a master's degree in mechanical and electrical engineering in 1940. But after graduation he did not work in the mechanical and electrical industry, his real interest lies in the collection of cultural relics and paintings, films.
In the autumn of 1948, the Chinese mainland wars were raging, ordinary people could not eat enough to eat these cultural relics and paintings and no one to collect, but Weng Wange did not think so, he believed that the collection collected, guarded and inherited by the six generations of the Weng family must not have any mistakes in his hands, this is the inheritance of the family, and it is also the responsibility that a descendant of the Weng family should have.
So he began to pack all the belongings in the family collection, and then transported them from Tianjin to Shanghai to New York, and finally preserved this batch of cultural relics.
It is difficult for ordinary people to understand Weng Wange's obsession, after all, the situation at that time was extremely chaotic, after the end of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Chiang Kai-shek tore up the "Double Ten Agreement" for his own selfish interests, and China began the War of Liberation again, even so the environment Weng Wange still failed to forget, enough to show that he really loved to collect.
After coming to the United States, the cultural relics were safe, but Weng Wango still wanted to expand the popularity of these collections, so he cooperated with others to make a documentary about Chinese culture, "Chinese Buddhism".
The documentary was also a success, winning a gold medal at the 1973 Atlanta International Film Festival. Let more Westerners understand Chinese culture, increase China's influence, and can be regarded as the earliest export of Chinese culture.
Of course, the most chinese are still more, and the Chinese in the United States will come to visit, they are attracted by the many treasures of Weng Wange, and it is a blessing to be able to see these cultural relics with strong Chinese culture in other places. Onwango's fame is also growing, and it is undeniable that he did contribute to the spread of Chinese culture in the United States.
The buyback was denied donation to the United States
In 1985, the Metropolitan Museum of Art held an exhibition called "Chinese Book Exhibition", when New China was already established, and more Chinese historical and cultural experts were invited to participate.
Because they found that Onwango actually had a collection of ancient books that had been thought to have been burned in the war, which were crucial for the study of ancient Chinese culture.
Therefore, the China Cultural Relics Bureau came forward and assigned Fu Xinian, a cultural relics expert, to go to the United States and communicate with Elder Weng for a long time before buying this batch of books back to the motherland. In the end, Weng Wange sold all 524 ancient books in his collection to the Shanghai Library at a low price.
When the Cultural Relics Bureau wanted to buy the collection in his hands again so that the Exiled Chinese cultural relics could return to the motherland, Weng Wange refused on the grounds that "China's technology cannot be protected". China also had no choice but to give up, after all, this is his private collection, and it is necessary to respect the opinions of others when sold or not.
But what surprised everyone happened, in 2018, Onwango donated 183 gifts to the Boston Museum in the United States, and the Boston Museum also held a special conference to thank you.
This made many Chinese can't stand it, the motherland bought you refused, turned around and donated to the United States free of charge, and even some people gave him a traitor's hat.
For these, Onwango responded that this was what the Boston Museum deserved, he came to the United States without relatives, it was the Boston Museum that gave him great help, only to learn that these collections have been preserved intact to this day, and donating to the United States can expand the influence of Chinese culture.
brief summary:
There is no need to be too fussy about this behavior of Onwango, after all, everyone has the right to choose anyone.
But as a Chinese, we must never forget our hometown, even if we want to promote Chinese culture, we do not have to use this extreme method, but unfortunately, the works of our ancestors thousands of years ago are still in a foreign country, and we do not know when we will be able to return to the embrace of the motherland.