"Young people do not know Li Hongzhang, grow up fang knows the true middle hall", the late Qing Dynasty famous minister Li Hongzhang can be said to be the most mentioned person in the history of the late Qing Dynasty, and the controversy about him has not stopped.
Liang Qichao commented in "The Biography of Li Hongzhang": Respect Li Hongzhang's talent, cherish Li Hongzhang's knowledge, and mourn Li Hongzhang's encounter.
But some people also said: "The prime minister Hefei is thin in the world, and the Si Nong changshu is desolate in the world." ”
Rong Hong's "Chronicle of the Gradual Study of the West and the East" said that Li Hongzhang had "40 million private property to leave off his descendants."
There is no accurate record of how much wealth Li Hongzhang really has, but the Li Hongzhang family is indeed a rich and prestigious family in Hefei.
Among the descendants of Li Hongzhang, the most concerned person should be Zhang Ailing, who still occupies an important role in the literary world to this day when She wrote "Love in the Fallen City" and "Small Reunion".
As for the name Li Yinxuan, few people have heard of it.
Li Yinxuan is the grandson of Li Hongzhang's fifth brother Li Fengzhang, but also his nephew, born in Shanghai in 1911, the family is very well-off, but also received a good education, Li family in the Qing Dynasty after the fall, most of them chose to engage in business, but Li Yinxuan does not like to run a business, but love to collect antiques, ancient coins, bronzes, calligraphy and paintings, gold watches are in Li Yinxuan's collection.
When he was a teenager, he had begun to collect antiques, his parents did not interfere with his hobbies, anyway, the family also had enough money for him to spend, Li Yinxuan collected ancient texts in addition to the collection, but also found relevant historical materials, made an appraisal of these collections one by one, and recorded the age and history of these antiques.
His purchase of antiques also allowed him to leave some fame in the antique market, but Li Yinxuan was very low-key about collecting antiques, and gave himself a pseudonym Bao Shenfu.
His dress is very exquisite, the whole person looks very elegant, acting low-key, inevitably give people a sense of mystery, although Li Yinxuan inherited the family business, but not good at management, the family road thus fell, but Li Yinxuan's love for antiques is still unchanged, often thrifty and food to buy antiques.
These antique collections are also piled up in large and small rooms, and the details are piled up in as many as 72 rooms, from Qin and Han bronzes to Ming and Qing dynasty books.
His collection of Chinese coins, plus rare foreign coins, a total of up to 30,000 roses, some public disclosures show that Li Yinxuan's collection of "Gaochang Jili" minted by Gao Changguo in the Tang Dynasty belongs to the surviving orphans, and there is a bronze vessel of the Western Zhou Dynasty, which records the Western Zhou Dynasty King Cheng's pacification of Wu Geng's rebellion, the value of these two pieces alone is incalculable, and Li Yinxuan's collection of such valuable bronzes is even dozens of pieces.
Li Yinxuan is very famous in the collection industry, Ma Chengyuan and deal with cultural relics, the two have long become friends, Li Yinxuan handed over all this piece of antiques to the museum in the way of "escrow", by them to take care of, Ma Chengyuan and several colleagues counted a day and a night, each cultural relics were recorded, these 72 rooms of antique cultural relics, a total of 6 trucks.
Because Ma Chengyuan is "escrow", as long as the Li family wants to take them back, it is also feasible, after the 70s, Ma Chengyuan also kept his promise and was ready to return these antique cultural relics to the Li family.
However, Li Yinxuan died in 1972, Li Yinxuan's wife found Ma Chengyuan with his will, and before his death, Li Yinxuan was still worried that his antique cultural relics were not taken care of, so he decided to donate these cultural relics to the museum permanently.
Such a large batch of cultural relics has since settled in the Shanghai Museum, Ma Chengyuan is also deeply responsible, in order to protect these antique cultural relics running around, he not only has the responsibility to protect antique cultural relics, but also with a commitment, Li Yinxuan died in 1972, Ma Chengyuan died of illness in 2004.
But today, located in the people's square in the center of the city, there are 21 categories of 600,000 cultural relics, the new Shanghai Museum with 120,000 treasures, it has become a symbol of the city, it also commemorates the tireless efforts of these ancestors.