He stole the national treasure-level cultural relics unearthed by Mawangdui and burned them clean, and what was the final outcome

Five years ago and six months ago, the Mawangdui Han Tomb Group in Changsha, Hunan Province, was rated as one of the world's top ten ancient tombs, and this family cemetery where the early Western Han Dynasty Changsha State Minister and Hou Licang were buried brought too many surprises to the world archaeological community.

The various cultural relics unearthed in it are not only of great value, but also reveal the truth of the life, culture and history of the People of the Han Dynasty in China. It provides valuable information for future generations to understand the culture of the Han Dynasty. However, such an important excavation of the tomb was a major mistake in that year.

An inconspicuous man not only stole the national treasure-level cultural relics unearthed at Mawangdui, but also personally burned these unique treasures after the matter was exposed. How did such a serious event happen? And what is the end of this person?

Mawangdui Treasure Book

In 1971, the 366 Military Region Hospital in Hunan Province responded to local authorities that combustible gases had appeared underground due to a landslide accident at the construction site of their hospital under construction. Because of the safety of life, the hospital had to ask the relevant departments for help.

At this time, archaeologists from the Hunan Provincial Museum received this notice, and they immediately remembered that in 1951, there were data showing that there was an earthen mound of Han Dynasty tombs near Mawangdui.

According to the results of the investigation, the tomb is no longer closed, and the only way to keep the items in the tomb is to carry out rescue excavations. Therefore, in January of the following year, archaeologists from the Hunan Provincial Museum and the Chinese Academy of Sciences cooperated to carry out excavations of the Mawangdui tomb group.

As the excavations progressed, the three Han Dynasty tombs in Mawangdui brought great surprises to the experts, and more than 3,000 precious cultural relics were excavated. In addition to common items such as lacquerware, painted figurines, musical instruments, weapons, and pottery that are generally buried, Mawangdui has dedicated three major surprises to the world.

The first is the thousand-year-old Lady Xin Chai; the second is the precious silk fabrics of the Han Dynasty that transcend modern technology; the third is the bamboo Jane that records the culture of the Han Dynasty. These discoveries have surprised the world one after another during the excavation process, and at the same time shocked the world.

According to the results given by experts, the reason why Mrs. Xin Chai can experience more than two years without decay, soft skin, clear blood vessels, and vivid when unearthed, all depends on the special antiseptic technology of the ancient Chinese. This uncorrigated wet corpse, which shocked the world's archaeological history, still has deadly melon seeds in its stomach. And the silk robe and linen robe she wore when she died showed how honorable this old woman who had enjoyed great glory and wealth was before she died.

Then there is the plain gauze that shocked the world, which was designated as a national first-class cultural relic after it was unearthed. These unearthed tunics are as thin as smoke, as thin as cicada wings, and their full body weight does not exceed 50 grams. Its craftsmanship represents the highest level of the Western Han Dynasty, and even the most advanced technology of the 1970s cannot be reconstructed.

As for those bamboo janes, although they were seriously damaged when they were unearthed, they still contributed more than 120,000 words of ancient books, covering important fields such as military, astronomy, medicine, geography and so on at that time, leaving a valuable ancient culture for modern people, and also allowing us to start a dialogue with the past across the millennium.

However, due to the archaeological conditions at that time, the Mawangdui tomb also left a lot of regrets in the process of development. For example, the sealing is insufficient, and the fresh lotus in the lacquer bowl only leaves a photo and turns into muddy water. Another example is the colorless antiseptic liquid that preserved Mrs. Xin Chai's body was dumped, leaving only one bottle. The biggest regret is that the priceless treasure plain gauze shirt was stolen and destroyed in the hands of an ignorant mother and son.

National treasure thief

One night in October 1983, an uninvited guest came to the exhibition room of the Mawangdui Han Tomb excavation in Changsha, Hunan Province. The man carried the tools of the crime with him and stayed in the museum until dark. In the dead of night, he took out 12 wooden "letter embroidery" handkerchief sets and a plain gauze jacket weighing only 49 grams in the exhibition room, as well as 25 other precious cultural relics.

Then, unbeknownst to God, the ghost unconsciously disappeared into the darkness.

In just one day, this shocking theft of national treasures spread across the country. The Changsha police carried out a carpet search under tremendous pressure, hoping to arrest the perpetrators as soon as possible.

However, to the great puzzle of the police, just a few days after the arrest, some stolen cultural relics were accidentally found in a package inadvertently picked up in Changsha Martyrs Park.

What is even stranger is that on the same day that the cultural relics were picked up, a mysterious woman came to the post office on Wuyi Road in Changsha City. The woman quietly threw a package on the counter of the post office, and when the staff found it, she panicked and thought it was a bomb package, and then contacted the Changsha police.

The original two seemingly unrelated cases shocked the police. Originally, the discarded package in the post office also contained the stolen artifacts of Mawangdui. After counting, a total of 28 precious treasures were stored in the two packages, which put the police in a difficult situation. Why would the perpetrators return these hard-won national treasures?

The changsha police's doubts were quickly answered on the eighth day after the crime. A 17-year-old boy named Xu Anti-Emperor was caught stealing something from a friendship store, and during interrogation, the teenager actually admitted that he was the criminal of the Mawangdui theft.

It turned out that the 17-year-old Xu Anti-Emperor had been pampered since childhood, and he was delicious and lazy. Because he wanted to get dozens of yuan of pocket money to eat and drink in the restaurant, he stole 38 precious cultural relics from Mawangdui according to the bridge section in the movie "Garrison Death Squad". After he succeeded, he took the cultural relics home with a big wave and handed them to his mother, Xu Ruifeng, who had always indulged him. Xu Ruifeng, who learned of this, initially advised his son to let him return his things and surrender himself.

However, Xu rebelled against the emperor and threatened him with death. Xu Ruifeng was afraid that he would really jump off the building, so he set up cover for his son under the police's large-scale search. She burned 4 precious treasures, including the priceless plain gauze shirt. Another 6 artifacts were washed down their own sewers.

Fearing that things would not end well, she packed 28 pieces of national treasures in two packages, one to the People's Park and one to the post office, in an attempt to return the national treasure in this way, which was a write-off of her son and her own crimes.

However, this pair of stupid mothers and children did not know, because their selfish behavior had caused immeasurable damage to the archaeological community.

In the end, Xu Anti-Emperor, who pleaded guilty to the crime, was sentenced to death, and since he was under 18 years old, he was suspended for two years. Xu Ruifeng, who connived at his son, was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

A few years later, due to Xu's good performance in prison, his mother Xu Ruifeng also received many meritorious awards in prison, and the two were detained for 11 years and released 8 years later. Unfortunately, after being reformed in prison, Xu Anti-Emperor still did not escape the punishment of heaven, and after he was released from prison, he was doted on by his mother Xu Ruifeng and became seriously schizophrenic, and the second half of his life could only be spent in the hospital.