China has a long history of 5,000 years. In the long history, many colloquialisms have been summarized from the practice of life. There is a saying in it: "Buy gold in a chaotic world, and hide antiques in a prosperous world." What does this mean?
Let's first look at the first sentence , " Buy gold in a chaotic world" .
The so-called "chaotic world" is an era of chaos and instability. Zhuge Liang wrote in the "Table of Renunciation": "Gou lives in a chaotic world, and does not seek to reach the princes. "It is already very good to be able to save one's life in the chaotic world, how dare you ask to be famous among the princes?"
Gold is a precious metal that has the properties of a commodity. But unlike ordinary commodities, gold also has monetary properties – and is a popular currency. When Zhao Heng of Song Zhenzong advised people to read, he said: "There are thousands of bells in the book, there is a golden house in the book, and there is a Yan Ruyu in the book." "Is there anything more seductive than gold, grain, and beauty?"
In the war years, all kinds of currencies have the possibility of devaluing significantly, which is what we call it: "Money is not worth much." "There is only gold, and there is almost no risk of a large depreciation, and the equivalent ratio is the highest compared with copper coins, silver, etc." At the same time, because of its small size and easy to keep and carry, gold has become a "hedging tool" for princes and magnates and rich merchants to buy and collect, as an important part of asset allocation.
In ancient times, the total amount of gold was not much, and when the princes and magnates and rich merchants were trying to convert their currency into gold, or hoarding gold in large quantities, the price of gold would soar. This will spur more people to buy and hoard gold. This is the "buying gold in a chaotic world".
Let's move on to the second sentence, "Antiques in the Golden Age."
The chaotic world is over, and it has come to the prosperous world. During the prosperous period, the economy and society tended to stabilize, and the price of gold became stable. Now that the price of gold has become stable, the princes and magnates and rich merchants are unwilling and there is no need to hoard large amounts of gold in favor of investing in other lucrative items, such as antiques.
Antiques, like gold, are a non-renewable scarce resource. However, antiques are at risk of depreciation, easy to break, and will not be used as collectibles in times of chaos. Entering the prosperous period, with the improvement of people's material living standards, they gradually have the ability to collect antiques, and the demand for antiques has increased, and antiques have the value of collection and investment.
In foreign countries, the craze for antique collections began after World War II. Among the world's four major auction houses, Sotheby's and Christie's rose to fame and rose to fame in the 1960s and 1970s. Guardian and Poly are mainly engaged in Chinese cultural relics and works of art, and their rise and fame are even later, almost the end of the last century and the beginning of this century.
In fact, Chinese's love for antiques has a long history, because China is a well-deserved cultural relics country, "up and down five thousand years, traversing 100,000 miles; the three major religions of Economics and Lun, in and out of a hundred family dialects." Chinese's keen interest in Chinese culture goes deep into the marrow. However, in the era when there is not enough to eat, this strong interest in cultural relics can only be hidden in the bottom of the heart.
In recent years, some Chinese have become wealthy, have a bulging pocket, have strong funds, and have begun to collect antiques. A cultural relics treasure appraisal program launched by CCTV, "Jian Bao", is appraised by well-known cultural relics collection experts on TV programs to identify and evaluate the value, which is highly sought after by the audience and has a very high rating.
This is the "Prosperous Collection of Antiques".
Of course, humanity has long since bid farewell to the gold standard, and gold is no longer used as a circulating currency. However, today's Chinese, both antiques and gold, are the attributes of their investment, which is a happy thing.
[References: "Master's Table", "BuyIng Gold in a Troubled World, Collecting Antiques in the Prosperous World", etc.]