Weng Wange, a Chinese-American national: gave 183 pieces of national treasures to the United States for free, but asked China for 4.5 million
In China's five-thousand-year history, many cultural relics precipitated in the same era have also been born, which have played an extremely important role in the historical research of future generations.
However, when the artillery of western countries opened the gates of China in the 19th century, many precious cultural relics were either destroyed or looted, and great losses were suffered. In particular, after the Anglo-French coalition burned the Yuanmingyuan, at least 1.5 million rare treasures were lost overseas.
In order to let these national treasures "go home", China has embarked on the road of "long search for relatives" in the days to come.
However, at this time, Weng Wange, a Chinese-American, gave away to the United States for free 183 national treasures accumulated by his ancestors in China, which triggered a heated discussion among the Chinese people.
Soon after, he sold a small portion of the family collection to the Shanghai Museum for $4.5 million. This act of giving away China's national treasure to the United States for free, but asking China for $4.5 million, has also provoked the anger of the Chinese people. But Ongwango disagreed, insisting that there was nothing wrong with his approach.
Ongwango
When it comes to Weng Wange, there must be no one around, he is Weng Tonggong.
Weng Tonggong was a famous politician in the late Qing Dynasty. It can be said that in the complicated political situation of the late Qing Dynasty, his status was no less than that of Li Hongzhang, one of the "four famous ministers" of the late Qing Dynasty.
Weng Tonggong is a typical second-generation official. His father, Weng Xincun, served as a Shangshu of the Qing Dynasty's military department, an official to the Imperial Household, and even after his death, he was given the title of Prince Taibao and entered the Xianliang Ancestral Hall.
With such a powerful father, Weng Tonggong naturally had a good start on the official road. And Weng Tonggong himself is also very powerful.
Eager to learn since childhood, in the sixth year of Xianfeng, that is, in 1865, he passed the first place in the temple examination and officially entered the career path. After that, with the connections left by his father, he mixed quite well in the official field of the late Qing Dynasty.
Weng Tonggong had a high political status in the late Qing Dynasty, but what he cared more about was the collection of various literati paintings and calligraphy.
In his forty years as an official, Weng Tonggong never stopped searching for treasures. For him, celebrity calligraphy and painting, especially national treasure-level ink treasures, can really attract his madness.
In order to get more books, he always visited places including Liulichang. It was at this time that many extremely precious hainei orphans flowed into the Weng family.
The collection of the Weng family for generations, together with the collection of calligraphy and paintings that Weng Tonggong himself visited, also allowed Weng Tonggong to sit in the position of a famous collector in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty.
Unfortunately, because he had no heirs in his life, Weng Tonggong could only pass on to his brother's son Weng Zenghan and pass on all the family treasures to him.
Later, however, Weng Zenghan had a similar situation of no heirs and chose to pass the child from the bloodline of Weng Tongshu's other brother, Weng Tongshu. In this way, Weng Wange, who was born in Shanghai in 1918, was selected at the age of two and became the fifth grandson of Weng Tonggong. As a result, he also received a huge treasure that the Weng family had passed down for generations.
When he was interviewed in his later years, he recalled his mood at that time and only said that "I don't understand anything, just like pie in the sky." Weng Tonggong, who had been gone for many years, would not have imagined that one day, the collections he had obtained from years of searching and visiting many places would be taken away from the land of China by Weng Wange and to the United States on the other side of the ocean.
Onwango became Chinese-American
After being passed on to the weng tonggong branch, Weng Wange, although still young, also had a rich net worth. As a result, he was also regarded as an important seedling, valued by the family, and also received good resources in education.
In 1936, Weng Wange was admitted to the famous Yenching University with excellent results, however, at that time, the north was in turmoil due to the invasion of the Japanese army, and Weng Wange immediately gave up entering Yenching University and instead came to the relatively stable Shanghai Concession and became a student of Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
A year later, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression broke out in full swing, and Weng Wange began to prepare for studying in the United States in order to protect his own safety and continue his studies. In 1938, Onwango enrolled in Purdue University to study mechanical and electrical engineering, and successfully obtained a master's degree certificate two years later.
At that time, the country was still in the midst of artillery fire against the Japanese army, and Weng Wange did not have the idea of returning to China, but continued to enter the University of Wisconsin for further study, and instead learned oil painting. After graduating, he also stayed in the United States and engaged in painting, photography and film.
At this time, although Weng Wange had been stranded overseas because of fear of war, there was still a trace of nostalgia for his homeland and love for the motherland in his heart. Therefore, after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Weng Wange also returned to China with his wife and children, and reunited with the Weng family, planning to continue to guard the Weng family's collection.
What he did not expect, however, was that soon after the restoration of peace in the land of China, it would be once again drawn into war because of the outbreak of civil war. At this time, Weng Wange also had the idea of running away and taking refuge.
But unlike the period of the War of Resistance Against Japan, this time he not only decided to take his family with him, but also decided to take the Weng family's collection with him. He believes that this is the best way to protect the treasure in his hand, and the best option to avoid accidental destruction of the treasure.
In short, many national treasure-level collections with Chinese historical imprints have drifted across the sea at this time and have been brought to the united states.
After Onwango turned to the United States in order to better integrate into American society, their fate became confusing.
Onvango's differential treatment
After becoming a U.S. citizen, Onwango became a Chinese-American. However, China and the United States, two countries with which he is involved, have different status in his eyes.
This can be seen in his later act of giving away a large number of national treasures to the United States for free, while selling only a small part of the collection to China for a huge fee.
The Weng family collection obtained by Weng Wange is mainly based on the calligraphy and painting works of the Ming and Qing dynasty literati. Among them are shen zhou, Wen Zhengming, Xiang Yuanbian, Dong Qichang, Xiang Shengmo, Chen Hongshou, Zhu Yun, the Qing Dynasty "Four Kings", Yun Shouping, Hua Yan, Jin Nong and other Ming and Qing Dynasty literati calligraphy and paintings. And Weng Tonggong's own ink treasures, diaries, etc., are naturally properly collected. #历史 #
