The history of China in the late Qing Dynasty is undoubtedly a history of humiliation, just as Tan Sitong wrote in the poem" "Forty million people shed tears together, where is the end of the world is Shenzhou", which reflects the helplessness of the sons and daughters of China in that era. Due to the corruption within the Qing Dynasty, Western powers invaded China one after another, which not only caused endless pain to the people of the mainland, but also plundered a large number of precious cultural relics, many of which are still living abroad.
Of course, as the country gradually becomes stronger, more and more cultural relics slowly return to the mainland, and many people also hand over the collections in their hands to the state free of charge. However, there is a person who is very special, he is the fifth grandson of weng Tonggong, a heavy minister in the late Qing Dynasty, who donated cultural relics to the United States free of charge, but charged the mainland.
1. Emperor Shi Weng Tonggong
Weng Tonggong was an important minister in the late Qing Dynasty, and he won the title as early as the age of 26. Later, with his outstanding personal ability, he made steady progress in the official arena and served as an examiner for the imperial examination many times, not only selecting a large number of talents, but also enhancing his power in the DPRK.
Later, Tongzhi Guangxu succeeded to the throne successively, and under Cixi's arrangement, Weng Tonggong served as an imperial master. Among them, Weng Tonggong and the Guangxu Emperor had a particularly deep affection, the two had 24 years of mentorship and apprenticeship, knew each other very well, he also won the trust of the emperor, entrusted heavy responsibilities in the dprk, and had a very high political status.
However, the promotion of status also caused Weng Tonggong's mentality to change, and he became more and more inflated, not only arrogant to other ministers, but even lacking respect for the emperor. Once, he actually smashed the Yantai at Guangxu, causing the emperor's clothes to be stained with ink. Fortunately, Guangxu dodged in time and did not cause a catastrophe. Of course, in view of the love between master and apprentice, the Guangxu Emperor did not punish Weng Tonggong, but simply admonished.
In addition, Weng Tonggong himself was also an artist, and his calligraphy was very famous in the late Qing Dynasty, and many people paid a lot of money to buy calligraphy and paintings from him. Like other calligraphers, Weng Tonggong also liked to treasure a variety of valuable cultural relics, just in the late Qing Dynasty, the war, some calligraphy collections depreciated sharply, Weng Tonggong also took the opportunity to acquire a large number of cultural relics.
Among them, the more famous ones are "Ten Thousand Miles of the Yangtze River Map", "Lingfei Liujia Sutra" and so on, and the authentic works of these masters are collected by Weng Tonggong one by one. He himself also likes calligraphy and painting, and does not want these collections to be destroyed by war, after all, he is a heavy minister of the DPRK and China, and he can protect these cultural relics from generation to generation under his best protection.
2nd and 5th Grandson Weng Wange
With the passage of time, Weng Tonggong is also getting old day by day, and his collection is also accumulating. Due to his busy work, Weng Tonggong never married a wife in his life, and naturally did not leave any offspring. On his deathbed, Weng Tonggong arranged the ownership of his own property, and finally left all the cultural relics to Weng Wange, the fifth grandson of the Weng family.
Weng Wango was only two years old when he received the fortune, and in a later interview, he confessed that he could no longer remember the scene at that time, and it was a pie in the sky. Weng Wange also inherited Weng Tonggong's love for cultural relics and carefully preserved these collections.
During the Liberation War, Ongwango feared that the war would affect his own safety and that of his family, and prepared to flee abroad for refuge. After some tossing and turning, Weng Wange finally transported a large number of cultural relics to New York, and until this time, the cultural relics were still intact, and it has to be said that this is also the credit of the Weng family for generations.
After all, these cultural relics are national treasures, and if he can continue to collect them, it can also be regarded as a kind of protection for national cultural relics, but Wengwange's next behavior has made him controversial.
3. Donation of cultural relics
In the 21st century, Weng wango began to donate his collections, and surprisingly, the object of donation was not China, but a museum in Boston, USA. What is even more incomprehensible is that Onwango donated free of charge and did not charge any fees.
It should be known that these collections are valuable cultural relics of the mainland, and each piece can be sold for a sky-high price when placed on the market. For example, Weng Tonggong bought the "Ten Thousand Miles of the Yangtze River Map", which was worth 500 taels of silver that year, which was definitely worth a sky-high price. In the end, it was sent directly to the United States by Onwango, which made countless Chinese sigh.
Onwango's move caused a huge sensation on the Internet, and people discussed it, and some people thought that he had his own grievances, after all, he is already an American today, and it is reasonable to contribute to the United States.
Onwango has publicly responded to this, he believes that cultural relics do not belong only to China, but to the treasures of human beings around the world, and he is currently in the United States, and donated to museums to better protect these cultural relics.
Although Wengwange's reasons are awe-inspiring, but careful analysis can find flaws, these cultural relics are the works of the masters of the mainland, Chinese know more about them, even if you want to protect cultural relics, they should also be donated to China, no matter how WengWange was once a Chinese.
Of course, the cultural relics are his personal belongings after all, and others do not have the right to accuse. Later, in order to prevent the cultural relics from continuing to leak out, the mainland took the initiative to contact Weng Wange, hoping to acquire other collections in his hands.
Onwango agreed to this, transferring a total of eighty cultural relics, but unlike the free donation to the United States, this time Onwango received a huge amount of $4.5 million, and the comparison between the two caused many people to be dissatisfied.
Not only that, in the following years, Weng Wange continued to donate to the Boston Museum, and over the years donated 183 cultural relics free of charge, which are weng Tonggong's lifelong collection and the crystallization of the wisdom of the people of the Chinese dynasties, and finally all fell into the hands of the Americans.
Since ancient times Chinese has a strong sense of home and country, no matter where we are, the hometown will always be the most yearning place in our hearts. In recent years, more and more overseas Chinese have returned to the motherland to contribute to the development of the country.
And cultural relics are a witness to the history of a country, Weng Wange's behavior has hurt countless Chinese, we should take this as a warning, increase the protection of cultural relics, and do not let similar things appear again.
Text/Cool Summer
Reference: "Feeling"