An open letter from 10,000 collectors to the State Administration of Cultural Heritage
Hello leaders of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage! We were informed of the draft Antiquities Act for comments, and this letter was featured on behalf of many collectors to reflect to the statute-making agencies. The Party Central Committee demanded: "We must systematically sort out the traditional cultural resources, so that the cultural relics collected in the Forbidden Palace, the heritage displayed in the vast world, and the words written in ancient books are all alive." "Then the cultural relics and ancient artworks scattered in the folk should also make it come alive!" The majority of collectors believe that first of all, in terms of laws and regulations, we must allow folk cultural relics and ancient artworks to be truly alive, so that folk cultural relics and artworks can first come alive in our country in a bright and upright way. In the past few decades, folk cultural relics have been suppressed, folk cultural relics dare not be in broad daylight, the prohibition of the cultural relics law has turned folk cultural relics from treasures into dead things that cannot be traded, and dead things have become wastes purchased by smuggled cultural relics dealers at the bottom price and flowed abroad. The smuggling of cultural relics is almost uncontrolled, perhaps because the cultural relics law stipulates that domestic cultural relics cannot be bought and sold, and most cultural relics are lost abroad at the reserve price of counterfeits. Tens of millions or hundreds of millions of precious cultural relics in China have been smuggled out of the country in the name of modern art because they cannot be bought and sold in China, and these large-scale cultural relics smuggling activities have almost never been sanctioned by Chinese law. These precious cultural relics lost overseas will become the eternal pain of the Chinese nation, and will also let our children and grandchildren question our generation from generation to generation! All cultural relics left over from the ground, inland waters and territorial waters within the territory of the People's Republic of China belong to the State.
What about the truth?
We all know that from Cao Cao's tomb robbery to today's tomb robbery, where did the ten tombs and nine empty cultural relics go? Are there any heritage artifacts? In the past 30 years, the unprecedented scale of engineering construction, the history of cultural relics theft and excavation is unprecedented, and a large number of precious cultural relics have been unearthed. Must be in the folk. Experts have not seen the vast sea of folk artifacts. The cultural relics regulations stipulate that they will be handed in, and how many people will turn them in? The most exquisite cultural relics in the folk, the most valuable cultural relics in the folk, a pure golden Buddha 350 kg he can hand over? Not handed in just because it is too precious, since no one handed it in, where did those cultural relics go? Then there are only two destinations: one is to go to the people, and the other is to lose overseas. Lost overseas, you now want to protect and can not protect, because those precious cultural relics have become the love of others, to protect, unless you spend a sky-high price to buy, obviously, buy is not the way, because the loss of cultural relics is too much, even if you do not eat or drink, spend all the hard-earned money of future generations can not buy back! Now the focus is on protecting the cultural relics that have fallen into exile so that they will no longer be lost and destroyed!
I compared the difference between the current Law on the Protection of Cultural Relics and the Draft for Review, although the current law does not play a legal protection role for folk collections, at least the chapters cover the part of "folk collection", and the "Draft for Review" does not even mention the folk collection.
As long as we examine the source of the cultural relics in the national collection a little, it is not difficult for us to find that in fact, the current national collection basically comes from the people's collection. And folk cultural relics can become national cultural relics, is only the tip of the iceberg, with "the national collection is a lake, the people's collection is the sea" to describe, this is not too much, if you only pay attention to the protection of national cultural relics, do not pay attention to the protection of cultural relics, it is tantamount to getting sesame seeds and losing watermelon.
Let's take a closer look at why so many Chinese cultural relics have been lost overseas. It should be known that most of the cultural relics in the national collection, except for some of which have been lost abroad, are cultural relics that have been lost to the people. Why are folk cultural relics lost? The reason is that the state has neglected protection and has been exploited by smugglers, nothing more, no more reasons.
Therefore, the protection of folk cultural relics is imminent, if the state does not pay attention to the protection of folk cultural relics, the last tail of cultural relics protection will be lost, and the consequences will be unimaginable.
First of all, we must recognize the legitimacy of minzang. Minzang is an effective supplement to the national treasury. The protection of cultural relics requires a lot of funds, a lot of manpower, material resources and energy, and these, the cultural and museum system has limited capabilities, but also beyond the reach of the whip, so it is necessary to severely crack down on the smuggling of cultural relics and the theft and excavation of cultural relics, while fully mobilizing and relying on the strength of the people,so as to ensure that China's precious cultural relics are no longer lost and destroyed, so that they can be left in China with dignity and status. The Interpretations of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate, which have just come into effect, clearly stipulate that the sale or purchase, transportation or storage of "cultural relics prohibited by the State" stipulated in the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Cultural Relics for sale shall be deemed to be "reselling cultural relics prohibited by the State" as stipulated in Article 326 of the Criminal Law. As a result, is China's antique market going to close? Are antique dealers all imprisoned as illegal? Is it also illegal for collectors to store their possessions?
In fact, the trading and buying and selling of ancient works of art cannot be prohibited at any time. Before the Republic of China, the antique market was the first of the 36 lines. If it is banned at home and not abroad, cultural relics will continue to be lost to foreign countries. If the return of cultural relics is illegal and the return of cultural relics is legal, it will inevitably lead to more crazy smuggling crimes, more serious loss of cultural relics, and more tragic losses of funds by the state and the people due to the return, if so, our cultural relics protection law is not protecting cultural relics, but accelerating the loss of cultural relics, which is undoubtedly a great help to smugglers and foreigners!
Second, it is necessary to stimulate the vitality of the people. Folk cultural relics, as long as they are in China, are recommended to be freely traded. As long as cultural relics are in China, whether they are national or minzang, whether they are Zhang Sanzang or Li Sizang, they will be effectively protected, and the excellent Chinese culture condensed in them will be inherited.
It should be clearly stated in the provisions of the regulations: folk cultural relics and ancient works of art are not allowed to leave the country, and trade and circulation are allowed. The National Pavilion has the right of first refusal at the same price.