If someone suddenly told you that you had a sky-high inheritance to inherit, how would you arrange for this wealth that suddenly hit you?
Pay off all your loans, then go buy the biggest house, with a yacht, so that you can drive to the dock in your backyard... This should be the life that many people dream of.
But today's protagonist of the story has chosen the most difficult path, after inheriting a huge wealth from his aunt, a heavy responsibility also befell him, that is, the cultural relics lost overseas are well protected and sent back to China. In order to do this, he was a billionaire who did not have time to enjoy the wind and snow, but at the best age, he did heavy physical work in anonymity, and his toes and fingers were once smashed into crushing fractures.
He is Zhao Tailai, who has twice won the World Outstanding Chinese Award, a patriot who has dedicated half his life to the return of cultural relics to the motherland.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > the tortuous road of cultural relics return</h1>
When it comes to the loss of cultural relics overseas, this is the pain in the hearts of every Chinese son and daughter. Although our country has become richer and stronger, it is difficult to recover cultural relics through official channels. Why? Let's start with a Greek example.
As the birthplace of well-known civilization, Greece has also suffered a great deal of Loss on the issue of "cultural relics". Around 1800, Lord Elgin took advantage of his diplomat's convenience to smuggle a large number of Greek artifacts back to England, and later resold them to the British Museum at a high price, including even the most famous Parthenon stone sculpture in Greece.
By the way, Lao Tzu was a thief and a robber, and this old Erjin had a son, Xiao Erjin, who ordered the burning of the goods of the Yuanmingyuan.
Since the founding of the country in 1832, Greece has used various methods to hope that the British will return the "national façade level cultural relics". They invited UNESCO to mediate three times, and then used the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, 2021 independence 200th anniversary and other public opinion hotspots to negotiate with the United Kingdom many times.
In fact, there are also sayings about this matter - "Look at the Cultural and Creative Tmall Shop of the British Museum, Egyptian, Japanese, and Indo-style cultural relics are piled up, are they all innocent?" As soon as the greek opening was opened, I was afraid that the British Museum would have to be empty in a few days! ”
It is precisely because the opposite side is completely rogue on the issue of cultural relics that it is very difficult for the official to pursue. The return of cultural relics in our country basically relies on non-governmental operations: go to the auction house to buy, and then donate them back to China. The beast head of the Yuanmingyuan that was originally on the news and the dish Fang Wei broadcast by "National Treasure" basically have a tortuous story behind every returned cultural relic.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > the "heritage" of the British cellars</h1>
What Zhao Tailai spent years of time and energy doing was exactly something similar - the initial "tone of mouth" began when he defected to his aunt, who had many properties in Hong Kong and Britain, but did not transfer them to him, so he was asked to keep it secret.
By 1979, Cho had officially inherited his aunt's inheritance in Hong Kong, and in addition to a large number of real estates, there was also a large collection of antiques, which filled the two floors. This was only the beginning of the "surprise", as his aunt had hinted to him that more of the collection was in Europe, and that it was not appropriate to publicize it.
In 1981, Zhao Tailai received a notice from The United Kingdom to accept another inheritance. On the outskirts of London, the Zhao family had purchased an old and humble manor more than 80 years ago, and his aunt had told him that the destination was the cellar of the manor.
When he finally passed the entrance to the cellar, even if he had been mentally prepared, Zhao Tailai was still stunned by everything in front of him: in the dim light, the cellar was piled with large and small wooden boxes, straw and cotton were piled on the wooden boxes, and some places had grown mold and insects. Open a few boxes near the door, all of which are calligraphy and painting ceramics and other antiques...
According to the collation, it is speculated that most of the antiques should come from the family's great-grandfather Wu Tingfang. This great figure was the first doctor of law in modern China, and served as the ambassador to the United States and Peru in the late Qing Dynasty, and also served as the chief of justice, the chief of foreign affairs, and the acting prime minister in the Republic of China. Over the years, more than 60,000 antiques have been handed down.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > ten years of guarding artifacts</h1>
In order to let these cultural relics have a proper place to go, Zhao Tailai plunged into it. People in foreign countries to avoid extraneous branches, all the clean-up work does not dare to carry out high-profile, he even his family does not say anything, cleaning, making books, packing, all of them are his own "ant moving".
On one occasion, a heavy Warring States bronze smashed his left foot, and five of his toes were crushed on the spot, and he was hospitalized for more than a month before recovering. The teeth were also injured by carrying porcelain and had to be fitted with dentures afterwards.
There is another peculiarity in the BRITISH environment: the packaging materials needed for packaging are not cheap. In order to save money, Zhao Tailai often went out to find foam, old fabrics and other waste items to use as packaging materials. Over time, people around him regarded him as a "rich man with eccentricities", after all, who had ever seen a mansion picking up the rags?
It all went on for a decade, and it was collated and registered. However, as the antiques reappeared, Zhao Tailai's psychological pressure gradually increased: now it is secret, in order to ensure the safety of cultural relics, four hounds can be raised to nurse the hospital, but will it continue like this in the future?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > return to the homeland</h1>
A friend advised him that the quantity of this batch of things is both large and high, and it is not easy to keep them privately, so it is better to contact capable museums, so that custody, research, and public appreciation can be achieved in one fell swoop. This suggestion coincided with Zhao Tailai's idea, so he began to contact and began to plan a long road back to China.
Since 1991, he has donated more than 50,000 cultural relics to China Libo, Yancheng Bo, Guangdong Museum of Art and other units, with an estimated value of more than 800 million yuan, of which as many as 150 cultural relics above the "National III" alone. In order to allow the cultural relics to be transported back to China safely and properly, he even sold 4 villas.
For his significant contribution to the return of cultural relics, Zhao Tailai has twice won the World Outstanding Chinese Award, and in 2008, he was named the first Top Ten Outstanding Figures of China's Cultural Heritage Protection. Through his efforts, the Qianlong Imperial Book "Sun Tzu's Art of War", Wen Zhengming's "Hundred Beauty Map", the Chrysanthemum Stone of the Yuanmingyuan, and the long scroll of the ancient canal map with a total length of nearly 32 meters were able to return to the homeland, but in the face of the praise of the outside world, he only said lightly - it is a national treasure, I only temporarily collect.