Cultural relics are relics and relics of historical, artistic and scientific value left by human beings in social activities.
At the same time, it is also a valuable historical and cultural heritage of mankind.
The definition of cultural relics is also very clear: First, it must be created by humans or related to human activities.
Second, it must be a past that has become history and cannot be recreated.
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The titles of cultural relics are not the same in various countries, and the meaning and scope of their references are not the same, so a unified definition of cultural relics has not yet been formed.
In the five thousand years of the continuation of Chinese civilization, with the passage of time, under the development of culture, many cultural relics as bright as pearls were born.
For example, the "Map of the Upper River of the Qingming Dynasty", created by the Northern Song Dynasty painter Zhang Zeduan and hidden in the Palace Museum in Beijing, the largest surviving Bronze Ceremonial Vessel of the Shang Dynasty, the "Houmu Pengding", and the Yue Wang Gou Jian Sword, known as the "First Sword in the World".
These are the treasures of Chinese civilization that have been passed down for thousands of years and are the treasures of the country.
However, when it comes to the most "extravagant" artifacts excavated in the tombs, it is necessary to mention the "golden jade clothes".
How "expensive" is this artifact?
Golden jade coat
In 1999, there was a businessman who took a fake of a "golden jade coat" and "earned" a whole 500 million for himself!
It's a bit appalling.
A national treasure derived from the Han Dynasty
In the Han Dynasty, people believed that jade was the "mountain elite", the gold and jade were placed in the nine tricks of the person, and the essence of the person would not leak out, so that the bones could not be decayed and could be regenerated in the next life, so the jade used for funerals occupied an important position in han jade.
At that time, people were very superstitious about jade being able to keep the bones immortal, and they regarded jade as a noble ceremonial instrument and a symbol of status.
Influenced by this culture, the emperors and princes and princes during the Han Dynasty liked to weave "jade clothes" into their own mourning clothes after death to show their status.
Later, with the progress of craftsmanship, the jade clothes of the emperor and some of his close subjects were tied with gold thread, called "golden jade clothes". Other nobles used silver and copper wire to make up, called "silver jade clothes" and "copper jade clothes".
Golden jade coat
The golden jade garment was the highest standard funeral dress in the Han Dynasty, and appeared roughly in the Wenjing period of the Western Han Dynasty.
According to the "Xijing Magazine", the emperors of the Han Dynasty buried with "beaded jade boxes", shaped like armor, connected with gold wire. This kind of jade box is what people say every day.
However, due to the high cost of the golden jade clothing, itself is very luxurious, and the gold thread and jade used are also high-quality products, so this has also attracted the covetousness of many tomb robbers.
By the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, many royal cemeteries had been stolen, most of them running to the golden jade clothes inside.
Therefore, in order to keep his tomb after death from being targeted by thieves, after the Wei Emperor Cao Pi came to power, he issued a decree abolishing the golden jade robe.
Later, the Jin Dynasty, which ruled the world, also continued this decree, and the golden jade clothes disappeared into the long river of history.
It was not until after the founding of New China that with the in-depth exploration of archaeologists, these treasures, which had disappeared for nearly two thousand years, were once again displayed in front of the public.
In 1968, the tomb of Liu Sheng, king of Zhongshan Jing in the Mancheng Lingshan Mountains, was excavated.
Ma Weidu, a domestic cultural relics appreciation expert
As the ancestor of Liu Bei, an important character in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. This archaeological operation caused a great sensation at that time.
During the excavation of Liu Sheng's tomb, the archaeological team found the golden jade robe worn by Liu Sheng's own body.
The jade garment is made of gold wire and the jade piece is made of Xiuyan jade.
The top is green and jadey. The lower body is grayish white and yellowish.
The whole is mainly divided into five parts: hood, top, gloves, pants and shoes. There are 2498 pieces of jade and about 1100 grams of gold wire.
Under the jade head is a gilded jade copper pillow.
This is also the earliest and most complete jade coat unearthed in the archaeological excavations on the mainland.
In May 1978, the Cultural Relics Group of Linyi City, Shandong Province, excavated the tomb of Liu Hao, located in the northwest of Hongjiadian Village in Liuqing Subdistrict.
As a result, a set of golden jade robes including five parts of the head, hands and feet was found in the tomb.
This jade hood faces north, due north and south, from the hood to the foot cover, and is 1.8 meters long.
Golden jade coat
There are two broken jade pendants on the chest, a jade pendant in the right hand, an agate seal near the right glove near the waist, and the word "Liu Defect" in the seal of the yin script.
The whole set of jade coats is made of 1140 pieces of jade, the jade pieces are mainly rectangular, the grinding is very thin, the texture is crystal clear and delicate, the corners and edges of each piece of jade are drilled with small holes made for wearing, and the jade set is interspersed with gold wire in a cross-type.
The golden jade robe unearthed from Liu Yao's tomb is the only set of jade clothes found on the mainland so far that only has foot covers, gloves and head covers, but no limbs and upper body.
In the following decades, with the continuous exploration of archaeological activities, more and more han Dynasty tombs unearthed one piece after another of golden jade clothes.
At present, in the domestic museum, a total of more than 20 pieces have been stored.
There is no historical record of who designed the golden jade dress.
You know, in the Western Han Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago, according to the production level at that time, it was very difficult to make a set of "golden jade clothes".
Jade is transported from a distant place, and the jade is processed into thousands of small jade pieces of a certain size and shape through a series of processes, each piece of jade needs to be polished and drilled, the size and shape must be strictly designed and carefully processed, and the jade pieces also need many special gold wires.
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It can be seen from this that the manpower and material resources spent on making a set of "golden jade clothes" are very amazing. This also shows how precious the golden jade coat is.
Among the eighteen ancient tombs of the Han Dynasty that have been excavated so far, only eight contain "golden jade clothes".
Therefore, after the excavation, not only many archaeologists are very enthusiastic about it, but many collectors around the world are also eager to follow it.
This has also led to some "speculators" smelling a "business opportunity" in it.
"Using falsehood to confuse the real" has actually passed the pass
In 1999, when Xie Genrong came to the door of the China Collectors Association with the treasure he had just found someone to "tao", his heart was full of confidence.
He understood that even if what he was holding in his hand was an imitation of a "fake", he would definitely pass in this cultural relics appraisal.
It is only because, for this treasure, the information that has been unearthed is too limited.
"This is a big treasure!"
Xie Genrong
Sure enough, after more than two hours of appraisal of this item, Shi Shuqing, an expert in the appraisal of cultural relics involved in the appraisal work, Yang Boda, former vice president of the Palace Museum, Yang Fuxu, former director of the Gem Identification Center of Peking University, Wang Wenxiang, former secretary general of the China Collectors Association, and five other heavyweight cultural relics unanimously determined that this item was a precious cultural relic of immense value!
Its total value can reach a staggering 2.4 billion!
You know, at that time, it was 1999, and the house in the second ring road of Beijing was only a few thousand yuan. Ordinary people, let alone 2.4 billion, have not even seen 240,000.
After successfully passing the appraisal, Xie Genrong was very excited, you know, in order to get this "treasure", he only spent only 20,000 yuan.
And this "precious treasure" is exactly the high-imitation "golden jade cloth" created by Xie Genrongto more than a month ago.
At that time, a friend told Xie Genrong that the cultural relics market currently lacks understanding of this precious cultural relic, so as long as the production is sophisticated, there will be no mistakes.
And if it successfully passes the appraisal, then the huge benefits brought by it can make Xie Genrong a windfall.
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Sure enough, as my friend said, this imitation of the golden jade coat was not seen by the expert team, but also got an astronomical figure that was more than 100,000 times higher than the cost.
Not long after, Xie Genrong relied on the appraisal certificate obtained from the Collectors Association to defraud Yan Linzhuang, president of the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone branch of the China Construction Bank, in the name of private cultural relics collection, and the total amount of loans defrauded exceeded one billion yuan.
Except for a portion of the company's turnover, most of the money was diverted into private property by Sheg-gen-rong. And this amount is as much as 500 million.
The amount is staggering.
So, who is this Xie Genrong? Why did he do that?
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Self-made wealthy businessman
On June 13, 1960, Xie Genrong was born in Huzhou, Zhejiang.
Because he did not like to study since childhood, before he finished junior high school, Xie Genrong dropped out of school and began to break into society.
After working in the society for several years, Xie Genrong saved a sum of money.
At this time, he caught up with the east wind of reform and opening up, so Xie Genrong made a clever move, found his friends for many years, and started a clothing business together.
By doing the clothing trade on the Sino-Russian border, Xie Genrong earned the first pot of gold in his life.
By the end of the 1980s, his value had exceeded 10 million.
Later, Xie Genrong, who tasted the sweetness in the mall, became ambitious, and he set his sights on the beer industry and the real estate industry.
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In 1994, Xie Genrong and several business partners ran to Fangshan District in Beijing, registered and established Beijing Yanshan Walson Group, opened Walson Brewery, and prepared to build Walson Beer City.
He became a well-known beer tycoon in Fangshan District at that time.
In 1995, he hit the iron while it was hot and turned the focus of the company to the real estate industry.
The real estate industry has always been a market of heavy capital, and if there is not enough capital, it is very difficult to get a piece of it.
Although Xie Genrong had already made hundreds of millions of dollars in the beer business at this time, it was still a bit stretched to "build buildings and towers" in The city of Beijing, where there was little land and money.
East Joaquin
So he later put his mind on the bank.
On November 8, 1996, Walson Group contracted a small building in Yuetan North Street, Xicheng District, Beijing, located in the financial street lot, with an annual contract payment of 5.5 million yuan.
Next, Xie Genrong transformed the small building into a three-star Walson Hotel, which cost a total of 60 million yuan in construction and hospitality costs alone.
Later, he spent more than 10 million yuan to buy three properties in Xicheng District and Jianguomen, and then sold them after appreciation, earning more than 6 million yuan from them.
Seeing that he has tasted the sweetness from the real estate industry, Xie Genrong is ready to "make a big pen".
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Greed is rampant and uses evil doors to pervert the way
At the end of 1999, Xie Genrong met the owner of Beijing Zhongding Company at a cocktail party, and when he learned that Zhongding Company had a real estate project called "Donghua Jinzuo" that wanted to be transferred, Xie Genrong was moved.
However, this project involved an amount of up to 320 million yuan, and at that time, the entire Walson Group did not have so much liquidity in its hands.
Seeing that the cooked duck was about to fly away, Xie Genrong thought of a "crooked move".
He contacted a friend he met in Panjiayuan and then spent 20,000 yuan to help him make a set of "golden jade clothes" that he had seen on a recent business trip.
Later, he contacted the staff of the China Collectors Association and, as a private collector, brought this set of jade clothes for identification.
Xie Genrong imitated the gold silk robe
Successfully obtained the authentication certificate.
On March 16, 2000, Xie Genrong mortgaged the original shares of The Walson Group with the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone Branch of China Construction Bank, and at the same time took out this set of "golden jade clothes" that had obtained the appraisal certificate as a guarantee, and successfully obtained a loan of 1 billion yuan from Yan Linzhuang, president of the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone Branch of China Construction Bank.
This money not only allowed Xie Genrong to successfully win the Donghua Jinzuo project, but also collected 500 million yuan of it into his own account.
I thought that with this set of tricks, I could make myself active in the Forbes wealth list for a long time, but the legal net was restored without leakage, and within a few years, Xie Genrong's ruse was detected.
At the end of 2002, Yan Linzhuang suspected that Xie Genrong was suspected of "cheating loans".
However, when he questioned him, he saw that Xie Genrong had moved out the set of "golden jade clothes" that he had collected. Then he pointed to the appraisal certificate and said: "You see, there are many signatures of top experts on it, people have said, my set of treasures is worth 24 billion, but how much money can I sell when the time comes, can't I give you back?" ”
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Xie Genrong's words made Yan Linzhuang speechless, and he had to choose to continue to believe his lies.
But often walk by the river where there are not wet shoes. After a long time, Xie Genrong's deception will not be broken.
The truth will eventually come out
In 2008, when the Central Audit Office audited the more than 900 million assets written off by the Beijing branch of China Construction Bank, it found that there was a serious omission problem in a large number of funds related to the "Walson Group"!
After more than a month of visits and investigations. From March 22 to 24, 2008, staff at the Beijing Procuratorate knocked on the door of Xie Ronggen's office.
In the evening, there were news reports: Xie Genrong, chairman of the board of directors of Beijing Walson Group, Yan Linzhuang, president of the Beijing Development Zone Branch of China Construction Bank, and others were arrested one after another.
In December 2009, the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court rendered a first-instance judgment on the Xie Genrong loan fraud case and the disappearance of Five responsible bank personnel, including Yan Linzhuang.
Xie Genrong was sentenced to life imprisonment for loan fraud, Yan Linzhuang was sentenced to 20 years in prison for illegally issuing loans and issuing financial documents in violation of regulations, and Vice Governor Zhao Feng was sentenced to 19 years in prison.
And that set of "golden jade clothes" was also re-used for identification at the same moment when Xie Genrong was arrested.
At this time, the cultural relics experts' understanding of the golden jade cloth has been greatly improved compared with that year.
After three rounds of identification, it was finally found that there was a trace of modern artificiality in the place where the jade coat was stitched, and it was immediately identified that this jade coat was indeed a fake.
Palace museum
After the appraisal results came out, several experts who participated in the appraisal admitted that before the identification of this jade coat, Xie Genrong had "said hello".
They just looked across the glass cover from a distance and gave their answer.
Since there is no evidence that several experts who participated in the appraisal knew about Xie Genrong's motives for creating the fake cultural relics, it is also impossible to convict them.
It was only the State Administration of Cultural Heritage that came forward and conducted criticism and education for several people.
Today, Xie Genrong is still serving a prison sentence.
The rich man who used to be in Beijing now wears prison clothes every day, eats soup and light rice, and gets up early in the morning to do military training. Such a situation is really regrettable.
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On April 19, 2022, when the reporter visited it again.
Xie Genrong mentioned his experience and expressed deep remorse.
"If I hadn't been swayed by lust and greed, my life would have been wonderful."
These words also revealed his self-blame and helplessness.