China, an ancient civilization with a long history of 5,000 years, has created countless splendid cultural treasures. However, in the long course of history, many national treasure-level cultural relics have been scattered overseas and become treasures in museums of other countries.
Among them, there are not only the results of war and plunder, but also the process of buying and selling. In any case, every lost cultural relic is a part of Chinese civilization and is worth pursuing and remembering.
The British Museum, one of the largest museums in the world, houses a large collection of lost Chinese artefacts.
For example, the Qing Dynasty embroidered butterfly pattern cloud shoulder, exquisite craftsmanship, colorful, Jiaqing Emperor's dragon robe, complex embroidery, extraordinary momentum. These cultural relics, which were supposed to belong to China, were exiled to foreign countries due to the invasion of the Eight-Nation Alliance.
Embroidered butterfly pattern cloud shoulder
Embroidered butterfly pattern cloud shoulder
Emperor Jiaqing's dragon robe
Emperor Jiaqing's dragon robe
The murals of Qingliang Temple, Kanghou Gui, Huixian copper kettle, Amitabha Buddha statue of Sui Dynasty, and three-color Arhat statue of Liao Dynasty...... These cultural relics, spanning thousands of years of history, condense the wisdom and aesthetics of the ancients. They are either solemn or ingenious, and they are all treasures of Chinese civilization.
Kang Hou Gui
Huixian copper kettle
Amitabha Buddha statue of the Sui Dynasty
Three-color Arhat statue of the Liao Dynasty
The blue and white fish plate of the Yuan Dynasty, the altar flower arrangement pot of the Ming Dynasty, the statue of the magistrate of the prefecture, the statue of the lama seated, etc., these cultural relics show the extraordinary achievements of traditional Chinese craftsmanship.
Blue and white fish plate
Altar flower arrangement pot of the Ming Dynasty
Statue of the District Judge
Seated lama statue
Blue and white porcelain, copper gilt, wood carving, weaving and embroidery...... The ancients took the characteristics of materials to the extreme, creating pieces of art.
Gu Kaizhi's "Female History Portrait" and the silk painting "Ten Kings of the Earth" of the Five Dynasties of Dunhuang are all representative works of ancient Chinese painting.
Gu Kaizhi's ladies are plump and vivid, and the Ten Kings of the Earth are grand in composition, brilliant in color, and full of imagination. Without these, an important chapter in the history of Chinese art was lost.
The silk painting of the five dynasties of Dunhuang "Ten Kings of Tibet"
Every piece of lost cultural relics is a piece of the puzzle of Chinese civilization. They lie silently in museums in exotic lands or in the hands of private collectors. Although, we can't change history, we can work to repair these broken memories. Through diplomatic negotiations, through the restoration of cultural relics, and through academic research, the world can understand the history and culture behind them, and let the Chinese people remember these treasures that belong to them.
As historians, we must use our own pens to record those cultural relics scattered abroad and pursue those past glories. Even if they are no longer human, the memories will not fade. Every cultural relic is a gift left to us by our ancestors, the crystallization of a nation's wisdom, and the cultural root of the Chinese people.
Let us listen to the story behind each cultural relics with awe and appreciation, and protect the cultural treasures of our nation. Even if they have been lost to other lands, as long as we remember, civilization will never stop.