Before Zhao Tailai's parents died unexpectedly, he left a letter for him. With this letter, Zhao Tai came to Hong Kong to find his aunt. At that time, Zhao Tailai was still an adult, and his aunt specially bought a property in Hong Kong in order to facilitate his care.
Zhao Tailai had lived by his aunt's side for several years, and there was one thing that made him very strange, his aunt's condition was very good, but why had she never been married?
It wasn't until her aunt was critically ill that she finally told Zhao Tai the ins and outs of everything. Later, his aunt gave him an important task.
When Zhao Tai came to the British villa left by his aunt, everything in front of him stunned him.
Zhao Tailai
Orphaned
Zhao Tailai was born in 1954 in Dongguan, Guangdong Province. The Cho clan is also considered a local family, Zhao Tailai's uncle Zhao Yuxiu is a rich man in Yuen Long, Hong Kong, and Zhao Tailai's grandfather and father are also well-known doctors in Hong Kong.
Soon after the founding of New China, Zhao Tailai's father returned to the mainland with his family. Zhao Tailai's father worked as an ordinary doctor in a hospital in Dongguan. The Zhao family lived a low-key and ordinary life, because the Zhao family has been anonymous, and the family's life is somewhat poor.
Even so, Zhao Tailai's parents are still very concerned about their children's education.
When Zhao Tailai was very young, his parents took him to read and write. When he was older, Zhao Tailai's parents would teach him poetry and song. When he was older, Zhao Tailai could read the classics and history books by himself.
Founded new China
Zhao Tailai is diligent and studious, and his knowledge reserves are growing rapidly.
In fact, Zhao Tailai was very puzzled by his parents' arrangement. He didn't understand why his parents would let him learn so much, but his parents never explained or told him about the family's past experiences.
After a long time, Zhao Tailai also compromised and forgot, thinking that he was just an ordinary grassroots youth like everyone else.
Zhao Tailai
Under the careful guidance of his parents, Zhao Tailai soon grew into a talented young man. Even though he had already lived a very low-key life, Zhao Tailai's family was still targeted. Zhao Tailai's parents were frequently criticized as villains, and it was not long before Zhao Tailai's parents died one after another.
At that time, Zhao Tailai had just turned 15 years old, and without the protection of his parents, Zhao Tailai's life could be described as turbulent and displaced.
Fortunately, Zhao Tailai's father arranged a retreat for his son before he died.
In 1969, Zhao Tailai took a letter of attestation and embarked on a ferry alone to Xiangjiang to join his aunt, whom he had never met. Zhao Tailai was very worried all the way, he searched all his memories, but still did not find any memories related to his aunt.
Zhao Tailai
Take on the heavy responsibility
Zhao Tailai was very strange to his aunt, he only knew that her aunt was his mother's sister. Zhao Tailai's aunt has never been married, but she is very good to Zhao Tailai, which can be described as if she were her own. Zhao Tailai's aunt not only taught him the principle of being a human being, but also taught him the ability to appreciate cultural relics.
In the relationship with his aunt, Zhao Tailai suddenly found that she had a good personality and was easy-going and kind. With the help of his aunt, Zhao Tailai quickly settled down in Xiangjiang.
With the protection of his aunt, Zhao Tailai not only did not have to worry about life, but also worshiped the great painter Zhao Shaoang as a disciple.
In fact, in the years that Zhao Tailai lived with his aunt, he always had a question. It is reasonable to say that the aunt's conditions are good, her personality is good, and she should not worry about getting married, so why has she not been married? And why did his aunt have to teach him to appreciate cultural relics?
Zhao Tailai
In fact, Zhao Tailai also asked his aunt these questions. However, every time Zhao Tai came to ask, her aunt would always diverge from the topic. After a long time, Zhao Tailai naturally knew that his aunt did not want to answer. Later, he gradually stopped asking.
Until Zhao Tailai became an adult, his aunt's body also began to deteriorate.
In 1977, Zhao Tailai's aunt knew that her life would soon be over, so she took advantage of the fact that she was still awake and confessed to Zhao Tailai about the aftermath.
This time, Zhao Tailai's aunt told him all his previous questions. In fact, when she was young, her aunt had the opportunity to get married, but she remembered that she wanted to inherit the ancestors' wishes to protect cultural relics, so she dismissed the idea of marriage. In addition, she heard that her sister who lived in China already had a child, so she took the initiative to give up her life.
Zhao Tailai
Zhao Tailai's aunt thought further, and she was worried that in the future, her children and her sister's children would be disputed over family property. Instead of fighting for property in the future, it is better to strangle everything in the cradle in advance.
In fact, the reason why Zhao Tailai's aunt taught him to learn to appreciate cultural relics is because one day Zhao Tailai will inherit the family business and be able to firmly guard the important cultural relics in Britain.
When Zhao Tailai listened to his aunt tell these things, strange feelings rose up in his heart.
On the one hand, he had never heard anything about his ancestors, and on the other hand, he suddenly knew that his aunt was going to entrust him with such an important task, and he was worried about whether he could do it well. Zhao Tailai didn't know how many cultural relics his aunt said, but the ones guarded by so many people in the ancestors must be quite important.
Zhao Tailai
Protection of cultural relics
In fact, Zhao Tailai had vaguely heard the name of his great-grandfather from his parents. Zhao Tailai's great-grandfather, named Wu Tingfang, was a high official in the last years of the Qing Dynasty.
The treasures that Zhao Tailai later guarded were basically from the era of his great-grandfather. At that time, Wu Tingfang was a jurist in the late Qing Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, and he was also an ambassador to the United States and Peru.
During the Republic of China period, Wu Tingfang also served as a diplomat and acting prime minister.
Since the great-grandfather was entrusted to his descendants to guard, it must be a treasure of great value. Although Zhao Tailai had never seen it, since her aunt had spent her life guarding it, it must be quite precious.
Wu Tingfang
Zhao Tailai knew that the cultural relics were handed over from his aunt to his own hands, and he must not sell them at will. But Zhao Tailai, who has studied cultural relics appreciation for several years, is still quite excited to see the real treasure. After dealing with his aunt's affairs, he went to England alone.
When Zhao Tailai came to his aunt's villa in Britain, he almost fainted without being frightened. It turned out that this villa contained a large number of artifacts. Zhao Tailai was stunned, and he roughly estimated that there were at least 50,000 or more treasures.
So many cultural relics made Zhao Tailai fall into contemplation, and he finally understood why his aunt chose not to marry for life.
Zhao Tailai
However, looking at the room full of cultural relics, Zhao Tailai was very entangled. In the end, according to what my aunt said, she continued to guard the cultural relics and lock the treasure firmly in the villa. Or do you choose to transport the artifacts back home and return them to their real owners?
Because of his parents' accident, Zhao Tailai fell into a panic.
In case of an accident one day, what should I do with a house full of cultural relics?
Nowadays, Wu Tingfang's descendants are only left with him, if he really has an accident, will he watch the cultural relics being taken away by the British government?
As soon as he thought of this, Zhao Tailai's heart was entangled and afraid. He instinctively wanted to choose the latter option, but it was not a trivial matter to transport so many artifacts back to China.
It was still the early 1980s, and China was still evolving. Zhao Tailai was worried that in the event of an accident on the way to transport cultural relics, how would he account to his deceased aunt?
In order to keep the secret of the cultural relics, Zhao Tailai did not tell anyone about the cultural relics, even his wife did not mention anything.
Zhao Tailai
Not only that, in order to keep it a secret, Zhao Tailai resolutely refused to invite outsiders to take care of it. The Zhao family had neither servants nor security guards. Zhao Tailai raised 4 big wolf dogs and took care of the home every day.
Zhao Tailai also realized that now is not the best time to transport cultural relics back to China. Most importantly, to transport so many cultural relics, it is necessary to spend a lot of travel expenses, and I don't have so much money in my hands.
Thinking about it, Zhao Tailai decided to press the soldiers first.
He silently counted the cultural relics, hoping that one day when the motherland was strong, he would bring them home again.
Big wolf dog
After that, Zhao Tailai's life became very monotonous. Every day, except after eating, he would bury it in the house to study the artifacts. Sometimes in order to find a suitable packaging material, Zhao Tailai will often travel back and forth to his home and the disposal station. Zhao Tailai's behavior was teased by his friends around him, and even his family members were very puzzled by his behavior.
However, Zhao Tailai never explained a word to anyone.
As usual, he spent all his time other than three meals a day studying cultural relics.
What Zhao Tailai did not expect was that this wait was 20 years. During this period, Zhao Tailai finally counted all the cultural relics, a total of more than 60,000 pieces, of which 100,000 were cultural relics of the Yuanmingyuan. Zhao Tailai looked at the motherland a little stronger, and at this time he finally made up his mind to take all the cultural relics home.
Zhao Tailai
First, Zhao Tailai and his wife carefully packed up the artifacts and then contacted several museums in China. In the process of transporting cultural relics, it can be described as difficult.
Once, when transporting porcelain, Zhao Tailai knocked out several teeth in order to protect cultural relics from damage.
On another occasion, while transporting bronzes, he suffered another crushing fracture in his left foot.
With the joint help of dozens of museums, Zhao Tailai finally returned all the cultural relics back to China. Zhao Tailai was full of emotions, and the treasures that had been exiled overseas finally returned home.
museum
In 2005, Zhao Tailai won the "World Outstanding Chinese Award". Some people laughed and called Zhao Tailai stupid, and some people called him a liar.
Regarding his remarks, Zhao Tailai never responded.
In his view, the cleaner purifies himself. Zhao Tailai has never regretted the decision he made. In his view, those cultural relics are all national, and he just happened to be a "caretaker" for a period of time.
No matter what others think of Zhao Tailai, he has made the most correct choice in his role.
Although some people jokingly call him "the poorest richest man", in the eyes of many people, he has already become the richest person in the world.
Because, he has a fist Chinese heart that cannot be measured by money.