When it comes to the word "cultural relics", many people are still stuck in the concept that this is a "luxury", and even many people do not understand it, but it is an ordinary object of the old era, why is it so valuable today.
If the value determines the price, then this sentence is probably the best embodiment of the value of cultural relics, "to retain the historical world and reproduce the five thousand years of China." "We can now glimpse a little bit of the original appearance of history, which is nothing more than the study of these antiquities little by little.
However, after experiencing the ravages of countless wars, countless cultural relics were exiled overseas, and the descendants of a qing dynasty official went to other countries with 183 cultural relics, ignoring the motherland's request to buy back, and directly donated these cultural relics to the United States free of charge.
Historical precipitation
This high official was named Weng Tonggong, who was born in 1830 by his grandmother, and served as a teacher to the two emperors of Guangxu and Tongzhi, and his father was the elder minister of the two dynasties, and his close relatives and side branches also occupied a lot of official positions in the dynasty.
The power of the Weng family was entangled in the imperial court, and the small officials at the bottom were looking forward to relying on the big tree of the Weng family to cool off, and although the emperor was also jealous of the Weng family, fortunately, Weng Tonggong and others were relatively peaceful, and the emperor was also happy, and only occasionally rewarded some good things for the two families to make friends.
Coming and going, unconsciously the Weng family has accumulated a lot of precious treasures, most of the Ancestors of the Weng family are literati, of which the treasures of famous painting ink treasures are innumerable, Weng Wange, as a descendant of the Weng family, grew up watching these ink treasures.
With the influence of time, Weng Wange also knows the importance of these ink treasure cultural relics more than others, out of love for these treasures, Weng Wange gradually developed a love of collecting, of which Wang Yi's most typical 16-meter-long "Yangtze River Wanli Map" is in his hands.
Starting from Sichuan Province in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, this "Ten Thousand Miles map of the Yangtze River" depicts all the beautiful scenes of the Yangtze River from Dujiangyan to Chongming Island, and the paintings have both the shadow of ink and the splashing method of Western modern painting, which is a very classic example of Chinese painting.
The number of treasures saved by generations is naturally amazing, others may only be able to collect one or two pieces in their lifetime, but Weng Wange has as many as 183 pieces in his hands, and later after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, Weng Wange took these treasures with him, and for safety reasons, he went to the United States for refuge.
Square refusal
In fact, at this time of refuge, Weng Wange's first thought was not his own safety, but the safety of these cultural relics, at this time he was already somewhat fascinated by the collection, for these collections, it is as caring as a child.
After settling in the United States, these collections have always been carefully and carefully stored in the attic, generally not easy to show people, perhaps because the ancestors are all high officials, in the Qing Dynasty even if it has been destroyed during that time, Weng Wange still has a high status among the overseas Chinese.
During Weng Wange's stay in the United States, he has also been in contact with these Chinese, so many people know that Weng Wange has a lot of treasures on his hands, and later in 2000, the Shanghai Library somehow found out that Weng Wange had several rare books in his hands.
After being introduced by the people around, he contacted Ongwango and made a request to buy these orphan books, and Ongwango hesitated slightly and agreed. After some bargaining, the ancient books were bought for $4.5 million.
At that time, this price was not cheap, but in the end, although these were Chinese cultural relics, they were also the personal belongings of the Weng family for generations, and it was not reasonable for the family to hand them over like this.
During this period, Weng Wange has always been a patriotic image to the outside world, although the transaction of these two ancient books seems to be a bit too "official", but there is nothing wrong with it.
At this time, China has slowly grown, and after having a certain economic foundation, it began to think of recovering the treasures that had been lost abroad for all these years, and after learning about the cultural relics owned by Weng Wange, it was even more urgent to contact this big collector.
However, after contact, the two sides did not reach a good agreement on the price and destination of cultural relics, perhaps because the price that the state could give at that time was not as good as Onwango's meaning, or it may be because of other reasons, in short, later Onwange refused the motherland's request to buy back these collections.
things do not turn out the way you want
This matter caused a lot of turmoil at that time, and many people were somewhat surprised by Weng Wange's approach, after all, from the bloodline point of view, Weng Wange was also a part of us.
After living in the United States for so many years, Weng Wange has long since left his Chinese nationality and is now a U.S. citizen, because he refused to buy back the motherland, Weng Wange has also been affected by a lot of public opinion, but what is really puzzling is an act of Weng Wange in 2018.
One day in July 2018, Weng Wange made a decision to donate all the cultural relics he now owns to the Boston Museum in the United States free of charge, which is also the first time that Boston has accepted so many Chinese cultural relics donations.
Many Chinese people's first reaction when they heard this news was very surprised, if it was because Weng Wange was reluctant as a private collector, then this move was really embarrassing.
Let's not talk about what kind of mentality Weng Wange has about this, the cultural relics alone are enough to make people feel sad, and it is particularly difficult to find them back if the cultural logistics are outside, and now they are included in the American museum, and it is even more difficult to redeem them in the future.
After the news was verified, doubts and curious voices emerged in an endless stream, and in the face of everyone's inquiry, Weng Wange finally expressed his original concerns, and did not agree to China's request at the beginning, in fact, it was not because of the price problem.
Because at that time, in terms of the scientific and technological level of the two countries, China's preservation of cultural relics may not reach such a delicate level as that of the United States, and it is in the psychology of loving treasures, Weng Wange refused the request of the motherland.
However, contrary to expectations, although the level of science and technology in the United States was slightly ahead at that time, the degree of care for these treasures donated by Onwango was far less than that of us, and if we wanted to preserve the cultural relics, the surrounding temperature and environment were very important factors.
However, some of the treasures sent by Weng Wange have even been exposed to the air for a long time, and after donating them free of charge, these cultural relics have not been well preserved, such a helpless result has made many people who love treasure a little strangled.
epilogue
Now that the country has become strong and has made qualitative progress in science and technology, if history can repeat itself, perhaps these treasures have been properly placed in the National Museum.
But time can not be turned back, I only hope that if there is a chance in the future, these missed treasures will return again.