China has lost as many as 1.64 million cultural relics abroad, which are collected by 47 museums around the world.
Among them, the British Museum is the museum with the largest collection of lost cultural relics in China, with a collection of as many as 23,000 Chinese cultural relics and about 2,000 long-term displays.
The collection of Chinese cultural relics encompasses the entire category of Chinese art, spanning the entire history of China, including engravings, calligraphy and painting, jade, bronze, pottery, and ornaments.
When it comes to the British Museum, the richness of its collection is something that people have to worship, but the source of its collection of treasures will make us very conflicted to a certain extent.
For example, if the Mummy Collection in the British Museum is ranked first in the world outside of Egypt, the source is self-evident.
When it comes to the collection of Chinese national treasures, it is even more reminiscent of those unforgettable histories.
British Museum – Museum of Chinese Cultural Heritage
The first sentence of the British Museum's introduction to Chinese cultural relics reads: "Chinese created the world's most extensive and long-standing civilization..."
This is a collection of the world's top art works, bringing together the treasure trove of the ancient egyptian, Greek, Roman and oriental art of the world's ancient civilizations, and at the British Museum, you see the essence of all human civilization.
Looking at the rare treasures on display, it is as if you have come to the Forbidden City in China. Wandering through it is like traveling through a tunnel of time and space between China and the past 5,000 years.
The famous Yixian Liao Dynasty Sancai Luohan
Although the cut marks of the Dunhuang murals behind the three-colored arhats are still visible, it is difficult to hide their long-term beauty and the grace and magnificence of the three "rich and fat" bodhisattvas.
"Female History Zhentu" is the earliest surviving Chinese silk painting, one of the earliest professional painters in China who can still be seen, and has a landmark significance in the history of Chinese art, and has always been a treasure collected by the imperial court.
At present, there are only two facsimiles left in the world, one of which is copied by the Song Dynasty and collected by the Palace Museum in Beijing, and the penmanship color is not the best; the other is this facsimile in the British Museum.
It was originally hidden by the Qing Palace, a favorite object of the Qianlong Emperor's desk, hidden in the Yuanmingyuan.
In 1860, when the Anglo-French army invaded Beijing, British Lieutenant Ji Yong stole from the Yuanmingyuan and took it abroad.
In 1903, it was collected by the British Museum and became the most important oriental cultural relics of the museum, and it is not an exaggeration to call it the "treasure of the town hall".
Eastern Jin Dynasty Gu Kaizhi (biography) "Female History Zhentu" (Tang facsimile)
Hall 33 of the British National Museum is a permanent exhibition hall dedicated to Chinese artifacts, and like the ancient Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Indian exhibition halls, it is one of the only country exhibition halls in the museum.
Of the 23,000 rare treasures of Chinese history in the Collection of the National Museum of The United Kingdom, two are China's top national treasures.
One is a Tang Dynasty facsimile of Gu Kaizhi's "Female History Zhentu" of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and the other is a Dunhuang mural, although its cut marks are still visible, it is difficult to hide its long-standing beauty and the grace and magnificence of the three "rich and fat" bodhisattvas.
Between 1856 and 1932, a number of so-called "Western explorers" went deep into northwest China more than 60 times in the name of scientific expeditions, each time plundering a large number of documents and artifacts.
Among them, in particular, the Hungarian Stein and the Frenchman Bo xi looted the most cultural relics in the Dunhuang Tibetan Cave in 1907.
Dunhuang murals
Bronze
Jade
Song porcelain
Yuan porcelain
Ming porcelain
Porcelain
These exquisite works of art remind us of those distant memories, the memories of a nation's civilization, the memories of our ancestors.
Many Chinese visitors look at the masterpieces of their ancestors and can't help but sigh: When will they return to their hometown?
A Chinese who visited the British Museum once wrote that the visit was "reminiscent of the catastrophe in the Yuanmingyuan, the ruts looted by British 'adventurers' in the Mogao Caves, and the ups and downs of the loss of Chinese treasures overseas over the past two hundred years."
In fact, the relics of ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman civilizations collected by the British Museum do not have a similar fate.
Dunhuang's "Wang Daoshi" was blamed by the Chinese people for leaking the Tibetan scripture cave, but the reporter seemed to see the shadow of "Wang Daoshi" in the British Museum all over the world, not only for Chinese specialties.
Lu Xun once said that those who cannot protect themselves cannot keep the relics of their ancestors, and simply blaming "Wang Daoshi" is far from enough to reflect on the protection of cultural heritage.
Perhaps what we should do more is to let more people feel the charm of traditional culture through these great treasures of Chinese civilization, make a modest contribution to the rejuvenation of oriental civilization, and let the national treasures get enough attention and inheritance.