The "Sword of Yongle" 700 years ago, snatched away by the Eight-Power Alliance, is now worth 1.2 billion, Britain: not ready to return
The sword of the Yongle Emperor, later snatched by the Eight-Nation Alliance, is worth 1.2 billion, Britain: not ready to return
China's modern history is a humiliating history, and from the beginning of the Opium War, the Chinese people have been plunged into a long period of deep water. In addition to the people, what has also been devastated is China's beautiful land and precious cultural relics. An ancient civilization that has experienced five thousand years of time has countless national treasures that have attracted worldwide attention, but in that tragic era, a large number of treasures have been lost to other places and have not yet returned. In this issue of the tweet, the editor wants to introduce a "Yongle Sword" that was plundered by the British during the Eight-Power Alliance's invasion of China, and to this day, this valuable sword is stranded in the Royal Ordnance Agency Museum, and the British side refuses to return it. The road home for cultural relics is obstructed and long.
This "Yongle Sword" was made by order of the Yongle Emperor during the Ming Dynasty and was given to the Living Buddha of Tibet as a way to strengthen ties with the Tibetan region. The Yongle Emperor is the Ming Dynasty Ancestor Zhu Di, as a generation of Ming Emperors, he has made achievements in various fields such as culture and military. Historically, Tibet was a difficult problem for many emperors to rule, for the purpose of friendly exchanges and winning hearts and minds, the Yongle Emperor told the craftsmen to use precious metals, and then combined with the characteristics of the Central Plains and Tibet to cast swords, so this sword has a high value in politics, sword casting technology and artistry. What is even more heartwarming is that the hilt of this sword is also engraved with the Tibetan Buddhist beast "Qiong", which has the meaning of "auspicious and ruyi". Later, the "Yongle Sword" that had been tossed around several times returned to the hands of the Qing Dynasty royal family and was collected in the Yuanmingyuan.
Unfortunately, in 1900, the Eight-Power Alliance invaded China, and a group of "robbers" burned and looted, destroying the Yuanmingyuan and taking away countless precious cultural relics. Since then, a large number of cultural relics have crossed the ocean and been forced to leave their hometown. With the joint efforts of the Chinese government and non-governmental forces, some cultural relics have returned to their homeland after ups and downs, but there are still a large number of cultural relics that are still trapped overseas, including the "Yongle Sword". The Royal Ordnance Bureau Museum once said that it was not ready to return it, and it would take the "Yongle Sword" as the treasure of the town hall. Regarding the value of this sword, some experts said that it is the beloved sword of the Ming Emperor Zhu Di, which has a history of 700 years, so its value is expected to reach at least 1.2 billion yuan.
If these war-torn artifacts could express their emotions like people, their cries would be heard all over the world. During the Qing Dynasty, China was poor and weak, and the corrupt feudal rule was difficult to maintain, and at this time, it was invaded by Western powers and almost did not have the strength to fight back. When the country is not strong enough, the people, the land, the cultural relics... Nothing can be protected. In those days, people couldn't take care of themselves, let alone the silent artifacts. Although a group of people tried their best to protect them in the war, some of them were destroyed in the war, some of them were displaced, and some of them were unaccounted for... This is China's loss, but also the world's loss.
Those days will not be repeated again, and today's China has the ability and confidence to guard everything that should belong to China. Although some countries in the West still refuse to return the cultural relics stolen from China, many countries choose to return them on their own initiative. After all, Chinese is no longer the "sick man of East Asia" who can be left to be kneaded and flattened by others, and other countries naturally cannot treat China as casually as before, but need to carefully consider their international relations with China. Even if the Royal Ordnance Department Museum does not agree to return the "Yongle Sword" now, it is believed that in time, this sword will eventually return to the embrace of the motherland.
Although the road to "cultural relics home" is long, Chinese decided not to give up. The humiliation of a hundred years ago will continue to be endured to this day, and in the face of history, my generation should be vigilant and strive for the strength of China. May China stand tall in the forest of the world and no country dare to despise it.