In September 2020, a special auction of Xinzha ancient books will be held in Guangdong Province. It was found that among the auction items, the books exchanged by the southwestern famous Ru Lin Sijin and his friends were highly similar to the cultural relics in the collection of the Sichuan Provincial Library in 2004. The relevant departments immediately intervened, and the lot was withdrawn.
On January 28, 2021, Chen Gang, deputy director of the Second Division of the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the Chengdu Municipal Public Security Bureau, and several colleagues knocked on the door of Chen Moujun, deputy secretary general of the Deyang Musicians Association in Sichuan Province.
In the face of the police, this artist who is famous in Deyang sometimes closes his eyes, sometimes meditates, and seems to know his intentions, and he is trying to avoid something between his words.
When the police opened the safe in the sitting area, the auction receipt signed "Liu Decheng" and the ID card of "Liu Mou" came into view, Chen Moujun finally lowered his head.
Behind the aura, how do you hide secrets that are not known to outsiders? What is he trying to avoid? As the case peels back, the truth buried for 16 years becomes clear step by step.
16 years of two-sided life
Chen Moujun, a member of the Sichuan Musicians Association, a member of the Deyang Writers, Calligraphers, Photographers and other associations, has won many local awards for his works, and has also opened a children's music training institution.
Probably no one will associate the theft of the collection of ancient books in the provincial library that shocked Sichuan's cultural relics circles 16 years ago with the person in front of him who bears multiple titles. However, the public security organs' investigation of the clues in the case pointed to him under the pseudonym "Liu Mou".
Go back 16 years.
On December 13, 2004, the Chengdu Municipal Public Security Organ received a report from the staff of the Sichuan Provincial Library that the collection of the library's ancient books had been stolen.
The police found that the iron lock of the warehouse was broken, and the scene failed to extract valid traces of physical evidence. The case has not progressed for many years, and the old director in charge of the custody of the ancient books of Chuantu at the time of the crime died with regret.
In September 2020, several modern celebrity inkblots proposed to be auctioned by an auction company in Guangdong Province were highly suspected to have come from the "Fish and Goose Collection" stolen from Chuantu.
The literary scholar and educator Lin Sijin served as the first curator of Chuantu from 1912 to 1918. In 1938, he gathered letters and poems with Huang Binhong, Zhang Yuanji and other teachers and celebrities to frame and compile the "Fish and Goose Collection".
After receiving the briefing from the Sichuan Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics, the Sichuan Provincial Public Security Organs quickly carried out verification work. The Criminal Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security immediately deployed the withdrawal and temporary seizure of cultural relics, and organized and directed the provincial public security organs to set up a special team to investigate and collect evidence in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong.
The police found that the collections were all commissioned for auction by a man named "Liu Decheng". However, further investigation revealed that "Liu Decheng's" IDENTITY card was a forged generation certificate, and the bank card used by the client for auction transactions was also handled with this identity card.
The stolen collections are not the first time they have been auctioned. Wei Guanghua, a criminal police officer of the Jinjiang District Bureau of the Chengdu Municipal Public Security Bureau, said that in 2005, 10 stolen items were auctioned in Shanghai by "Liu Decheng", of which 5 were auctioned. From 2007 to 2010, the five pieces were commissioned for auction by a person named "Liu Mou".
The police found Liu, who said that the ID card had been lost many years ago and was likely to have been stolen. The address left by the auctioneer is a non-existent house number. The clues are interrupted, and the mysterious client disappears.
The special case team visited more than 50 auction houses and banks in five provinces and cities across the country, and finally found that a case investigated by the Beijing police in 2007 was related to "Liu Decheng", and Chen Moujun, who lived in Deyang, was the holder of the "Liu Decheng" IDENTIT CARD.
Tang Jun, deputy captain of a large team of the Second Division of the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the Chengdu Municipal Public Security Bureau, said that after Chen Moujun arrived at the case, he admitted to using the purchased tools to destroy the door lock and committed theft, and auctioned 10 pieces of Sichuan Tu collections as "Liu Decheng".
Stolen cultural relics are difficult to recover
"I knew it would come sooner or later." Inside the detention center, Chen Moujun said that it was all because of a momentary greed, and it was too late to regret it. He then talks rather smugly about his artistic achievements and public welfare projects over the years, while referring to the case 16 years ago, he flashes his words and emphasizes that it is a "temporary intention" to be done.
Tang Jun introduced that Chen Moujun served two years in prison in 1985 for stealing television sets and other items in the guest house. After stealing the Sichuan Tu collection in 2004, Chen Moujun successively earned more than 800,000 yuan in auctions, and gradually entered the local art circle.
Although the case has been cracked, the losses caused by Chen Moujun to Chuantu are still continuing.
The special case team has carried out a comprehensive investigation of the stolen collections, and 9 lots other than "Fish and Goose Collection" have been transferred through multiple auctions in Beijing, Shanghai and other places, and have gradually flowed into the hands of buyers. After communication, one of the collectors agreed to donate the Tang Dynasty Buddhist scriptures to Chuantu. When the rest of the collectors came to the door of the task force, they did not agree to return the collection to Chuantu.
Can the Sichuan Provincial Library reclaim these collections?
In this regard, Li Hao, a professor at the Law School of Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and deputy secretary-general of the Beijing Property Law Research Association, said that the Civil Code stipulates that the owner or other right holder has the right to recover lost property.
Li Hao believes that in this case, if the collector obtained the stolen collection through auction, Chuantu could pay them the fee to recover the collection, and then recover from Chen Moujun.
The auction company shall bear the corresponding responsibility
So should the auction house be held accountable for the transaction of these stolen items?
When Handling the case, Tang Jun found that the information of auction houses about auctioneers was not networked, the data of some auction houses that had stopped operating was difficult to find and recover, and some auction houses had the phenomenon of lax verification of client information. He suggested that relevant departments build a platform for summarizing information and urge the improvement of verification methods.
Shi Jiayou, a professor at the Law School of Chinese Min University, said that according to the Auction Law, "articles or property rights prohibited by laws and administrative regulations from being bought and sold shall not be used as auction objects" and "the auctioneer has the right to require the client to explain the source and defects of the auction objects", based on which the auction house can be judged whether there is negligence in combination with the entrustment contract.
Ban Tianke, an associate professor at Fudan University Law School, said that the auction law stipulates that the auction house has the obligation to verify the documents and materials provided by the client, and stipulates that if the auction house knows that the client has no ownership of the lot or cannot dispose of it according to law, it shall bear joint and several liability.
"In this case, if the collector can prove that the auction company knows that the ownership of the lot is a problem, he can ask the auction company for compensation." Ban tian can be represented.
In November 2017, the "China Stolen (Lost) Cultural Relics Information Release Platform" jointly established by the Ministry of Public Security and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage was officially launched, collecting information and data on stolen and lost cultural relics since the founding of New China, and releasing them to the public after review, and the cultural relics entered into the platform shall not be traded or exported. According to the relevant person in charge of the Cultural Relics Crime Investigation Department of the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security, the information of the 8 items that have not been recovered in this case has been entered into the platform, and it is absolutely not allowed to trade and leave the country.
After 16 years, Chen Moujun finally had to pay the price for the original illegal and criminal acts. A gentleman on the beam, a man of disdain. The stolen goods, which could not be seen, could circulate in the auction market several times in 16 years. One can't help but worry about how many such stolen artifacts on the market have been bleached and changed hands all the way.
The recovery of stolen cultural relics requires all parties to form a siege. Auction houses must fulfill their responsibilities for review and must not become a bleaching platform for cultural relics from improper sources. The information entry and release mechanism of stolen cultural relics should become the main channel for social and market inquiries and screening. At the same time, the actual legal dilemma faced by the recovery of stolen cultural relics also needs to be seriously studied and properly resolved.
Edit/White Dragon