In the 5,000-year-old history of China, countless historical treasures and rare cultural relics have been born. Some of them have survived to this day and are well protected, while others have disappeared because of the burning and looting of the invaders. In 1860, during the Second Opium War, the British and French forces invaded the land of China, looted the Yuanmingyuan, plundered countless treasures, and burned the scenic spots and monuments, leaving a ruined and ruined place.
Ruins of the Old Summer Palace
The whereabouts of those looted treasures are still unknown. Among them, the most concerned zodiac bronze head, also wandered overseas, missing. Until the founding of New China, the state began to call on people with lofty ideals to trace the whereabouts of these cultural relics, and after years of people's wandering and excavation, one copper head after another finally returned to the motherland.
However, most of these copper heads have not been easy to come by, and many copper capitals have been auctioned off at high prices by foreigners. In order to recover these cultural relics with historical charm, China can only win them by auctioning them, often at a huge cost, which is not another kind of humiliation?
Twelve bronze heads of the replica
In this whole process, there are naturally some Chinese people who have made helpless resistance. For example, in 2009, at a cultural auction held in Paris, France, there were rat heads and rabbit heads among the bronze heads of the zodiac signs that had been wandering for many years. In the face of the reappearance of the two bronze heads, the Chinese people are naturally very excited, and everyone believes that no matter what, they are bound to take these two cultural relics and cannot let them fall into the hands of foreigners again.
Cai Mingchao
Cai Mingchao, as a patriot, spent 270 million yuan to photograph the two bronze heads and return them to China free of charge. However, unexpectedly, after buying the copper head, he refused to pay the 270 million auction money. So, why did Cai Mingchao risk a huge capital risk, spend a huge amount of money to shoot 270 million copper heads, and why did he not pay the money afterwards? What happened to him?
Cai Mingchao's starting path
Let's first briefly understand Cai Mingchao. Cai Mingchao was born in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, where business was a "traditional skill", quanzhou was an important treaty port in the south at that time, and trade exchanges were endless, which promoted the prosperity of local commerce. And Cai Mingchao, because he has heard about it since he was a child, he should have embarked on the road of doing business. With the unique geographical advantages of Quanzhou, Cai Mingchao earned the first bucket of gold in his life through the import and export trade of clothing.
In the 1990s, porcelain became a hot topic in the field of cultural relics collections at home and abroad, and "porcelain friends" became popular in the business circle. Cai Mingchao, who has always had a business acumen, also smelled business opportunities from it, and out of the instinct of a businessman, Cai Mingchao set up a handicraft company specializing in ceramic trade.
Because Cai Mingchao has a bold personality, enthusiasm, courage in doing things, and a flexible mind, under his leadership, the handicraft company that does ceramic trade has gradually developed and grown. In the process of developing the company's business, Cai Mingchao made many ceramic collectors and learned a lot about the collection of cultural relics. Through cultural relics, Cai Mingchao came into contact with the auction.
Cai Mingchao soon discovered that the profits at auction were higher, but the risks were also greater. But he founded an art auction company and became the manager of the auction department under the name of an international commodity auction company of a state-owned enterprise. In 2004, the state implemented the art auction license system, and Cai Mingchao officially opened his own auction road, and he saved his roots in the auction industry in Xiamen, a place with high antique cost performance.
auction
After years of meticulous management, Cai Mingchao's reputation of auction company is getting better and better, and more and more valuable treasures appear at the auction conference held by themselves. At the same time, Cai Mingchao also understands more and more that the preciousness of a cultural relic does not lie in its rarity, but in the historical precipitation and splendid national culture behind it. Since then, Cai Mingchao has gradually embarked on the road of cultural relics collection.
Bid on a Statue of buddha and gain fame
In 2006, Cai Mingchao went to Hong Kong to participate in an auction conference, which attracted many bidders to come to see a magnificent "gilded statue of Shakyamuni" from the Yongle years, which was not only huge in size, but also contained more than twenty volumes of scriptures that had never been opened, which was of immeasurable value. Many interested bidders are eyeing it and competing for the bid, with a posture that is bound to win the Buddha statue.
Auction bidding
Cai Mingchao, who has been in the auction industry for many years, naturally knows the psychological game routines of bidders when auctioning items. When the other two competitors were playing in turn, Cai Mingchao joined the battle when the price reached 80 million, and finally successfully auctioned the Buddha statue for more than 100 million Hong Kong dollars. Cai Mingchao's move immediately set a world record for the highest auction price of Chinese handicrafts and the highest auction price of Private Collectors in China.
At the same time, Cai Mingchao's move also made him famous in the auction industry and gained a high reputation. However, Cai Mingchao photographed this Buddha statue not all for profit, but wanted to bring such a precious national treasure back to China from overseas. After taking back this Buddha statue, Cai Mingchao built a temple to enshrine the Buddha statue. Later, even if someone asked Cai Mingchao to add 20% to let him resell the Buddha statue, Cai Mingchao did not agree.
Cai Mingchao and Buddha statue
Not only that, the records set by Cai Mingchao for this Buddha statue also proved to the world that china's economic development level at that time had made the private sector fully capable of collecting national treasure-level artworks. Cai Mingchao was also invited to become the collection consultant of the China Special Foundation for the Rescue of Lost Overseas Cultural Relics, and traveled around for China to recover lost cultural relics overseas.
270 million bronze heads, the world is shocked
In 2009, the "rat head" and "rabbit head" of the bronze head of the zodiac that had been lost for many years suddenly appeared and appeared at the auction in Paris, France, which aroused national attention and great repercussions. At the same time, both the State Administration of Cultural Heritage of China and the Yuanmingyuan Administration have repeatedly reiterated their opposition to auctions. This is because these two pieces of copper capital were looted from the Yuanmingyuan when the British and French coalition invaded China, and they belong to the stolen goods and cannot be auctioned and traded.
Rabbit head and mouse head
Some Chinese people even set up a special group of lawyers to put pressure on them from the political and legal levels, but to no avail – Christie's France, which was in charge of the auction, turned a deaf ear to it, and the auction was held as usual. Seeing that these two national treasures are about to fall into the hands of foreigners, many Chinese people feel sad.
At the same time, these overseas auction companies also take a lot of the national feelings of our Chinese patriots, maliciously inflate the market price, and ask for prices in the sky, so as to make huge profits, resulting in the price of these cultural relics that are scattered outside the country, which is often far higher than the actual value. This made Cai Mingchao, who was well versed in the unspoken rules of auction, feel very angry, and he made a very bold decision about it...
At this auction, which concerns national integrity and national dignity, a large number of people are Chinese collectors, and they are ready to spend huge sums of money to "buy back" copper heads. Therefore, the auction on the day was also very fierce, prompting the price of copper heads to soar. In the end, the pair of copper heads was sold by a mysterious person who did not appear at the auction for 270 million yuan. And this "mysterious person" is our protagonist Cai Mingchao.
It turned out that Cai Mingchao could not personally go to France because of domestic affairs, so he participated in the auction by telephone. Because Cai Mingchao's previous auction of the Golden Buddha statue has greatly enhanced his credibility and prestige in the auction industry, the hosting of this auction has made this exception for him.
After Cai Mingchao photographed these two bronze heads, he immediately claimed to return them to the Yuanmingyuan of the motherland free of charge, which made the Chinese people clap their hands and applaud. But what people did not expect is that Cai Mingchao, who took the bronze head, did not cash in the huge amount of 270 million yuan, which caused dissatisfaction and pressure from the auction organizers, and even demanded that Cai Mingchao compensate for liquidated damages, so why didn't Cai Mingchao pay a huge amount? In this regard, people's views are mixed and controversial.
Why doesn't Cai Mingchao pay the auction money?
In the face of everyone's controversy, Cai Mingchao specially held a press conference to say: "As a Chinese, in this case, I should stand up no matter what, I just fulfilled my responsibility and issued a voice as a Chinese, but I can't pay this money!" ”
In this regard, some people feel very agreeable, believing that what originally belonged to our Chinese should be returned to China, and there is no need to give money, so Cai Mingchao's move is really a heroic move. But some people believe that Cai Mingchao's move broke international rules and damaged China's face.
It is also worth mentioning that for businessmen, credibility is the foundation of their lives. Cai Mingchao's move is undoubtedly to catch his own future, many auctions have put Cai Mingchao on the blacklist, and Cai Mingchao has officially withdrawn from the auction industry. Single-handedly destroying the business empire he had built with the other, Cai Mingchao's career fell into a low ebb.
However, in the auction industry, there is indeed a rule that "stolen goods" cannot be auctioned, and the auction organizer Christie's naturally understands this rule, but still insists on auctioning, which is really a robbery. Perhaps because they know that they are at fault, or because they are unwilling to lose China, a market with great potential, after four years of negotiations, the French Pino family still announced that they would donate "rat heads" and "rabbit heads" to China free of charge.
The head of the purine rabbit
Knowing that the national treasure has finally returned to the motherland in the name of justice, Cai Mingchao is very pleased. He used the act of refusing to pay, blocking his credibility and future, to prove to foreigners china's backbone and backbone, although the price was tragic for him personally, but Cai Mingchao himself did not regret it in the slightest, and his sincere heart was also worthy of recognition.