In 1998, the Germans fished out 70,000 Chinese cultural relics in Indonesian waters, and the Chinese museum wanted to buy them, and the other party offered a sky-high price of more than 300 million, but when the two sides bargained, the Germans sold them to Singapore for $30 million.
As early as a thousand years ago, there were rich exchanges between Chinese and world cultures. Although the navigation technology at that time was immature, it could not resist the development of maritime trade.
As early as the nineties of the last century, there were incidents of fishermen accidentally discovering seabed cultural relics in the coastal areas of Southeast Asia.
One of the fishermen accidentally fished a bunch of ancient artifacts from a fishing net. These include ancient Chinese ceramic bowls, ceramic vases, and treasures such as pearl agate. As the fisherman made a fortune by selling these artifacts, more and more fishermen got involved and began a treasure hunt.
The news of the treasures in this sea spread not only locally, but also to the merchants of Waterfa as far away as Germany.
Waterfa was originally a German cement factory owner and lived a relatively wealthy life. When I heard from my own workers that there were treasures in Indonesian waters, I silently paid attention to it. By consulting various sources and inquiring about the deeds of various parties, I believe that salvaging sunken treasures is an investable thing.
So after a year of serious preparation, he sold his cement factory and raised funds to search for treasures in Indonesian waters.
Waterfa first found the fishermen who had salvaged the artifacts and roughly determined the approximate area where the artifacts were located through their descriptions and directions.
Of course, things can't be smooth sailing, and the Waterfa team found a lot of sea area to spend, and spent a lot of time still finding nothing. But half a year later, things took a turn for the better.
The Waterfa team was led by local fishermen to Belitung Island. Belitung Island has many reefs, and most of them will run aground whenever ships pass by. It didn't take long for the Waterfa team to enter Belitung Island and discover the treasure they were looking for.
Next to a huge black reef looms the wreck of a shipwreck, which is already covered with coral and seagrass, and covered with a thick layer of silt. It's hard to spot the remains of this ancient shipwreck without some luck.
Waterfa immediately ordered the team to salvage the wreck to see what could be gained. When the wreck was salvaged step by step, the deck was filled with treasures.
The shipwreck was named the Blackstone. The entire hull of the Blackstone is intact, and the wreck was caused by the bottom of the ship touching the rock. Most of the cargo carried on board was ceramics, but also porcelain and lead bars, spices, and so on.
There are nearly 67,000 pieces of cultural ceramics salvaged by the Blackstone, most of which come from China. It also proves that the ship was a merchant ship departing from China.
When the Blackstone was salvaged, its many treasures immediately shocked the archaeological community around the world. After in-depth research by archaeologists, it was found that these artifacts came from the Tang Dynasty in China more than 1,000 years ago.
Among the nearly 70,000 treasures salvaged, some porcelain is clearly engraved with the year number of "Baoli", which is the year number of the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, so all the treasures of this ship are the products of the Tang Dynasty and have a history of more than a thousand years.
During the Tang Dynasty, China had rich cultural and economic exchanges with the world, which formed a situation in which all nations came to the dynasty, which also allowed merchants from various countries at that time to find business opportunities. Various ceramics, spices and silks were imported from the Tang Dynasty and sold all over the world.
The Blackstone should have been the merchant ship of the Tang Dynasty at that time. Entering Belitung Island while transporting goods led to a shipwreck. It is precisely because of this accidental event that such a complete historical relic treasure has been left to the world.
After learning the news, the Chinese government very much wants these cultures to return to the embrace of the motherland. However, because they are cultural relics salvaged in the high seas area, they do not belong to any country, but belong to whoever first discovered them.
The Chinese government immediately sent people to negotiate with Waterfa, hoping to buy some treasures.
As a businessman, Waterfa naturally wanted a good price, not only to sell the treasures on the sunken ship, but also to package and sell them all, and even offered the Chinese government a sky-high price of 300 million.
Naturally, the representatives of the Chinese government cannot decide such a high price on their own. So while discussing internally, he did the work of the Waterfa, hoping to reduce the price to support the cause of Chinese archaeology.
There is no way, and after repeated negotiations with the Chinese government, it has not been fruitful. I had to give up this opportunity for culture to return to China.
In just one year, a Singaporean tycoon successfully acquired all the artifacts of the Blackstone shipwreck for $30 million.
In fact, it is no wonder that the Chinese government is reluctant to pay 300 million yuan, China in the last century is at a critical moment of reform and opening up, the economy is facing huge challenges, naturally there is no way to spend so much money on archaeology.
All of Blackstone's artefacts are displayed in the Asia Pavilion in Singapore. Many Chinese have also traveled to Singapore to see the cultural treasures of the Tang Dynasty at that time.
However, as China enters the 21st century and develops economic, political, cultural and diplomatic in an all-round way, China's influence in the world is incomparable.
In 2020, in order to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations with China, the Singapore government specially took some of the Blackstone cultural relics to China for exhibition. Chinese finally had the opportunity to see the Tang Dynasty artifacts on the Blackstone on his own land.
China will always remember the humiliation of plunder, and will not forget that those countries still show off the treasures they stole from China. However, as China becomes stronger step by step, it will one day allow these cultural relics from other lands to successfully return to the motherland.
It is also hoped that overseas compatriots can use reasonable, legal and regular channels to bring China's overseas cultural relics to the embrace of the motherland.
