How many cultural relics in China have been lost overseas for more than a century, and where are they still in existence? These exact numbers will probably always be a mystery. The mainland government, scholars and people of insight have been committed to the investigation of overseas cultural relics, but due to the restrictions of conditions, this investigation work is far from reaching the ideal state.
Why are these Chinese cultural relics that have been lost overseas the most interesting?
According to incomplete statistics from the relevant departments on the mainland, among the more than 200 museums in 47 countries around the world, there are no less than one million Chinese cultural relics, and they are all the finest among the cultural relics. In addition to the looting of the Yuanmingyuan and the Forbidden City by the great powers, some foreigners who came to China also stole a large number of precious cultural relics in the name of scientific exploration at the beginning of the last century.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, especially after the 1980s, the cultural relics smuggled out of the country have also been sold overseas, and it can be speculated that in the world, at least millions of cultural relics on the mainland have been exported to foreign countries.
There are three main channels for the loss of cultural relics in old China overseas:
First, it was snatched from China by the imperialist powers after the Opium War;
Rather, some foreigners who came to China at that time stole it from China;
Third, foreigners colluded with the reactionary warlords and profiteers at that time to buy and smuggle them out of the country at a very low price.
It is no exaggeration to say that Beijing's "savings since the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, from the canonical cultural relics to the jewelry and treasures, have been swept away." Quite simply, when your home is robbed, it must be the most valuable thing. Therefore, some of the cultural relics of the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties that you see overseas are priceless treasures, no doubt.
What are the types of cultural relics that have been lost overseas?
As early as 1840, the great powers listed Chinese cultural relics as an important part of cultural aggression, which opened the prelude to the great loss of cultural relics in modern China.
In 1860, the Anglo-French army brutally plundered and burned the Yuanmingyuan. The forty or fifty halls in the Yuanmingyuan are decorated with countless rosewood furniture, and a large number of rare treasures at home and abroad are furnished, including furniture, brocade, felt blankets, Shang zhou bronzes, ancient ceramics, lacquerware, ivory carvings, agate, scare beats, crystals, wood carved jade, precious stones, calligraphy and paintings, clocks and watches, and classics of the past.
In 1860, the British and French forces burned the Yuanmingyuan
At that time, the French literary hero Victor Hugo said: "Even if all the treasures of Notre Dame on the mainland are added together, they cannot be compared with this grand and magnificent Oriental Museum." ”
In 1900, after the Eight-Power Alliance invaded and occupied Beijing, the army was engaged in three days, doing whatever it wanted, and the ancient capital of Beijing suffered an unprecedented catastrophe. Neither the Forbidden Garden nor the residents' homes or merchants' shops have been spared.
After the Destruction of the Forbidden City, more than half of the palace's collections were lost, and valuables were looted. "Three Seas" - After the south sea, the middle sea and the north sea were robbed, there were few collections left, and the treasures displayed in the Summer Palace of the Royal Palace were almost plundered.
The above are basically some cultural relics that the great powers have smashed and robbed, and then some have gone through "deception".
The most common means of deception is in the name of scientific investigation.
According to statistics, between 1856 and 1932, Russia, Britain, Germany, France, Japan, Sweden, the United States and other countries visited the northwest region of the mainland 66 times, and each expedition plundered a large number of Chinese cultural relics.
In the past expeditions, especially Stein and Bo Xihe, the most cultural relics were looted in the Dunhuang Tibetan Scripture Cave. Stein stole more than 9,000 volumes and more than 500 paintings, partly in the British Museum, partly in the British Library, and partly in the Indian Ministry Library.
Stein and the King's Taoist
The Dunhuang cultural relics stolen by these two people alone allowed the "Dunhuang Studies Research Center" to be moved from China to Britain and France.
Another means of deception is "acquisition".
Around 1899, oracle bones were discovered in the Yin Ruins of Anyang, Henan, and the oracle bones have been in the process of being lost since the day they were unearthed, first as medicinal materials, and then by the cultural consumers of western powers in large quantities under various names. According to incomplete statistics, nearly 300,000 pieces of oracle bones unearthed in Xiaotun, Anyang, were lost overseas and were collected by 12 countries and regions.
After the Xinhai Revolution in 1911, internal and external troubles became commonplace, and theft and excavation became a common practice everywhere, and cultural relics poured out of the country like a tidal wave. In 1922, the last emperor Puyi "guarded and stole from himself" and smuggled six large boxes totaling more than 1,200 pieces of fine calligraphy and painting out of the palace, and most of them have been lost overseas through sale and robbery.
In 1928, the mausoleum of Empress Dowager Cixi in the Qing Dynasty was brutally excavated by the warlord Sun Dianying, and the treasures of the country hidden in the tomb were looted, and most of them were lost because they were sold to buy arms.
After the "9.18" incident in 1931, the Japanese carried out large-scale excavations of cultural relics in Northeast China, North China, Central China, East China, and other places, and a large number of cultural relics were robbed. In the meantime, Americans took advantage of China's social unrest to buy Chinese cultural relics.
So where are the cultural relics that China has lost overseas?
Britain, France, the United States and Japan have the most museums.
Collection of the British Museum (Tang Facsimile Partial) (Eastern Jin Dynasty) Gu Kaizhi
The "God of Thieves", along with the British Museum, the Chinese Pavilion in fontainebleau in France houses more than 30,000 famous Paintings of Chinese Dynasties, gold and jade jewelry, porcelain, incense burners, chimes, gemstones and gold and silverware.
If you are interested in painting, then you are going to the United States, which has the most collections. There are more than 1,200 paintings at the Freer Museum in Washington; only 500 Chinese paintings are in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the United States.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art tang gilded gold and silver leaf plates
However, the most valuable collection of Chinese paintings is the British Museum.
The Museum of Asian Art in Guimet, France, holds bronze statues from the late Yin Shang Dynasty
In addition, the Louvre is the place with the highest concentration of Chinese cultural relics in France, and its branch museum, the Jimei Museum alone, collects tens of thousands of Chinese cultural relics, of which 12,000 are ceramics from previous dynasties, ranking first in the collection of Chinese ceramics in overseas museums.
The Collection of Chinese Antiquities at the Musée d'École des Lethales in Paris, France, is on par with the Louvre.
If you're a researcher of local chronicles and ancient texts, you're going to the United States. The Library of Congress has more than 4,000 local chronicles; there are more than 3,000 rare books of ancient books in the United States. Moreover, some people who study genealogies have to go to the United States to check the information, and there are more than 2,000 kinds of national genealogies in the national collection.
Among the british, French, American, and Japanese robbers, the Japanese robbers also know the most about culture. They love to collect Oracle.
Japan has the largest collection of oracle bones, with nearly 13,000 of the nearly 30,000 oracle bones lost overseas.
British Library: There are more than 60,000 kinds of precious Chinese literature and ancient books, including the earliest edition of the Chinese Polomi Buddhist Sutra, the 45 volumes of the Yongle Canon, and the oracle bone pieces, bamboo janes, carved ancient books, Dunhuang Tibetan scriptures and maps.
The British Library holds the Diamond Sutra
Museum of Russian Oriental Culture: The museum houses bronzes, paintings and carvings from the Yin Shang to the Ming and Qing dynasties. Among the paintings are Masterpieces such as Ming Qiuying's "Handmaid's Picture" and Qing Ren Bonian's "Lotus Flower".
Nelson Museum of Art, USA: The museum's most outstanding collection is oriental cultural relics, the most wonderful and famous of which is Chinese cultural relics with classical furniture, large quantity and high quality.
Nelson Atkins Art Museum, China Liao Dynasty South China Sea Guanyin wood carving and Shanxi Guangsheng Temple Blazing Light Buddha mural
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: Renowned for its oriental artworks, the museum now houses more than 5,000 Chinese and Japanese paintings. Among them, there are a considerable number of Names from the Song and Yuan Dynasties, such as the well-preserved Tang Zhangying's "Trick Drawing" Song Dynasty facsimile, and the Song Huizong's "Five-Colored Parrot".
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Song Huizong's "Five-Colored Parrot"
Art Museum of Chicago: The Museum's Oriental Section is notable for its collection of Chinese bronzes, most notably a Warring States Beam.
Freer Museum of Art, Washington, D.C.: In addition to the above-mentioned collection of Chinese paintings, almost half of the museum's collection is Chinese cultural relics, including calligraphy and painting, Buddhist art, bronze, jade, pottery, etc.
Asian Art Museum of San Francisco: This is a museum that mainly collects Asian artifacts, especially Chinese artifacts. Among them, there are more than 2,000 pieces in the ceramic department, which began in the Neolithic Era and ended in the Qing Dynasty. There are more than 1,200 pieces in the Jade Department, making it the museum with the richest collection of Chinese jade in the world. There are about 800 pieces in the bronze part.
Southern Song Dynasty Agate Cup of asian art in San Francisco
Harvard University Fogg Art Museum: The museum houses a considerable number of precious cultural relics such as Chinese murals, stone carvings, bronzes, jade, paintings, etc.
Harvard Art Museum, Tang Dynasty murals
The National Museum of Tokyo, Japan, holds a picture of solo fishing on the Kan river (Southern Song Dynasty) Ma Yuan
In the face of such a glorious treasure of ancient Chinese art, while we are proud of the long history and outstanding creativity of the Chinese nation, we also feel sorry that so many priceless treasures have been lost overseas.
Although the relevant departments have actively recovered and redeemed lost cultural relics around the world and made some achievements, compared with the millions of cultural relics of the motherland that have been lost overseas, there are very few cultural relics that can return to the motherland.