After the founding of New China, the state stepped up its work on the protection of cultural relics, which was a great effort. Thanks to the vigorous publicity of the cultural relics protection department, people's awareness of protection has increased a lot, and they will take the initiative to donate. Like the "Chen Zhang Round Kettle" in the Nanjing Museum, its discovery process has been tortuous.
In 1982, the three brothers of the Wan family in Mahu Village, Xuyi Mudian Township, Jiangsu Province, took the initiative to hand over 40 kilograms of gold, but experts were more concerned about filling gold jars. The reason is that the value of the jar is higher than that of gold, why?
Artifacts were found in a flurry of twists and turns
Some cultural relics have been discovered, and now I think it is very magical, thanks to some people deliberately protecting them to avoid losses. After all, the number of Chinese archaeologists is limited, and even if they know that there are treasures on the ground, it is impossible to find them in time. Some precious cultural relics in China were inadvertently discovered by the villagers, and if they encountered people of insight, it was a fortunate thing. If you encounter such an opportunistic person, I am afraid that you will have already used it to sell it for money.
With the gradual deepening of national publicity, some people's awareness of cultural relics protection has gradually improved, which is conducive to the study of traditional culture. The treasure of the Nanjing Museum town hall, "Chen Zhang's round pot", if it is not fully protected by the discoverer, it may be a great regret that future generations will miss it. After all, in the face of expensive gold, almost no one can resist it, and they all want to appropriate it.
When people found it, the concentration point was the gold in the pot, but they did not expect that the value of the pot was even greater than the gold. I'm afraid that the old owners of those cultural relics did not expect that their treasures would encounter so many ups and downs. The sentence "In the old days, wang Xie Tang flew into the homes of ordinary people" perfectly confirmed this story.
The villagers accidentally find the baby
Many people think that gold is a treasure, and the same is true of the ancients, not that the gold of the prosperous world is in the chaotic collection. Although the ancient gold purification level could not be as high as it is now, more than 90% of it was genuine and had a high gold content. Usually many large households will hide gold, ready for emergency needs. As for the Chen Zhang round pot mentioned at the beginning of the article, it was made in the Warring States period, which was a large treasure cast by the Clay Fan of the Chinese Bronze Age, and the artistic value was quite high.
Chen Zhang's round pot was discovered in the 1980s, when China was undergoing conventional rural construction, and Mahu Village in Jiangsu Province was tightly assigning some tasks. Because the silt in the ditch was blocked, and the seeds were about to be sown in the spring, the villagers were worried that it would affect the sowing. Everyone urged the squad leader Wan Yicai to come up with a charter, pick a day, and go together to dredge the canal.
On February 10th, when the weather was good, a dozen villagers gathered in front of the ditch with their families, and when the people were almost there, they discussed how to distribute the dredging. Using the shovel handle as a ruler, 17 responsible construction sites were divided. Each of them chose the responsible area for excavation, and they all wanted to save trouble, and go home to rest after digging early. When the distribution was completed, the Wan Yicai brothers hurried over. The two brothers were assigned to the most difficult section to dig, so they worked together.
Suddenly the younger brother felt that something was wrong in the working area, as if he had dug up something. The two brothers looked over and saw it as a circular vessel that appeared to be a lid, so the two brothers continued to dig. Soon it was dug out, and there were gold nuggets inside, which were quite valuable. When the nearby villagers heard the movement, they rushed over and wanted to grab the gold. Wan Yicai saw that something was wrong, and quickly let his brothers run home with the jar, but fortunately he was decisive and saved these cultural relics.
Voluntary surrender to the State
After arriving home, Wan Yi studied carefully, and the gold did not seem to be ordinary gold lumps, and the appearance was very complicated. In addition, the jar containing gold looked very rich and beautifully carved, and after much consideration, it was decided to hand it over to the government. There were too many people who had this kind of thinking in that era, and then Wan Yi took out two pieces of gold and wrapped them in newspaper. Lock the others in a large box in the house and tell the brothers and the others to guard them and not be snatched away by others.
Looking at it now, fortunately, he made a decision immediately, but the village was quite noisy. The news of the Wanjia digging for gold spread everywhere, and their doorstep was surrounded by villagers, all of whom wanted to see it. After waiting for the town, Wan Yi did not dare to delay telling the local secretary for a moment. Knowing that this matter is quite severe, immediately contact the relevant departments, after identifying the gold content of more than 90%, belongs to the gold category of full gold.
Hearing that there was still a lot of gold in the house, the staff realized that they had to find out where the gold came from. Look at the appearance of gold, it may be a cultural relic, contact the Staff of Nanjing Museum and ask them to judge it. For this matter museum staff attaches great importance to it, it is not a big treasure, and it turns out that there is no mistake.
There are also ancient words on the gold, and the staff, after careful reading, suspect that the value of the jar is quite high. It may be the national treasure of the Yan Kingdom during the Warring States period, "Chen Zhang's Round Kettle", and those gold are the things that come with it. The museum staff hurried to ask Wan yucai if the jar containing the gold existed. The pot was handed over to the museum, confirming the speculation that it was indeed Chen Zhang's round pot.
It is currently in the collection of the museum
After this cultural relic was discovered, because of its huge value, it caused a dispute between the General Hall of the People's Bank of China and the Nanjing Museum. At that time, the Numismatic Museum of the People's Bank of China lacked the coins in the pot and wanted to fight for it. The two sides launched a "tug-of-war", and the Nanjing Museum made some efforts to leave the treasures in the local area. Legend has it that this pot is a pair, and there is a square pot, which was snatched away when the Eight-Power Alliance invaded China and is currently in the United States.
After the round pot was discovered, there were legends and cultural relics, and archaeologists further excavated the site and found the holder of the pot, as well as scattered plum patterns. The Wanjia brothers received commendations from the government for voluntarily handing over cultural relics and gave 10,000 yuan in cash. This money was also a sky-high wealth at that time, and the Wanjia brothers used this money to build a house. However, the other residents of the village, because they were jealous of the Money wanjia, had quite a complaint in their hearts, which made the wanjia snubbed by the villagers.
The discovery of this cultural relic has a strong reference significance for the study of bronze casting culture. The text on the container, the equivalent of a "proof", tells the long history. It was the State of Qi that attacked the State of Yan, leaving behind a precious piece of written material. Objectively speaking, it leaves a valuable "wealth" for future generations, far beyond its material wealth.
brief summary
For the protection of cultural relics, the relevant departments of the state have always attached great importance to it and emphasized the initiative to hand it over. I hope that everyone will understand the great righteousness of the Wanjia Brothers, contribute to the protection of cultural relics, and do not leave regrets. The discovery process of Chen Zhang's round pot this time has another inspiration for ordinary people, do not destroy the cultural relics found at will, it may be something that you think is worthless, and it turns out to be a great work of art afterwards.
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