After the horse head of the Old Summer Palace was donated to the motherland by the gambling king,

The eyes are full of light as if waiting, and the east wind is meant to boast.

The Old Summer Palace was first built in the last years of the Kangxi Dynasty, and gradually expanded during the Yongzheng period, and after Qianlong succeeded to the throne, the Old Summer Palace became the largest museum in the world at that time after several adjustments.

It is such a treasure trove of human culture that brings together Eastern and Western cultures, as well as rare treasures from all over the world, but it was ruthlessly burned down by the British and French forces in 1860, and to this day, only regrettable ruins remain.

There are countless cultural relics and treasures collected in the Old Summer Palace that were stolen by the British and French invaders, and now they have been scattered all over the world, and even repeatedly appear in the domestic and foreign trading markets, among which the most haunting is the most nostalgic"Bronze statue of the head of the 12 zodiac animals in the Old Summer Palace".

These 12 zodiac animal heads, which are vivid in shape and have both Eastern and Western aesthetics, have always attracted wide attention from all walks of life, although todaySeven beast heads have returned to China one after another, but the whereabouts of five are still unknown.

The reason why these twelve animal heads have attracted much attention is on the one hand because of their unique collection value as cultural relics, and more importantly, because of the humiliating history they represent behind them.

The most recent animal head that has returned to the embrace of the motherland is a horse head, which was donated to the State Administration of Cultural Heritage by Stanley Ho, a well-known patriotic entrepreneur in Hong Kong and Macao, on November 11, 2019, and this is actually the second animal head donated by Stanley Ho to the country.

As early as 2003, Stanley Ho purchased the pig's head, one of the twelve bronze statues of animal heads, overseas and returned it to the country.

Nowadays, the seven animal heads that have returned to China are gradually open to the public for exhibition, so that more people can understand the history behind the 12 zodiac animal heads in the Old Summer Palace.

However, what few people know is that after each beast head returned to China, the relevant departments have organized experts to conduct modern scientific analysis and research on the bronze statue of the beast head, and the results of the research are equally surprising.

Taking the horse's head donated by Stanley Ho in 2019 as an example, after expert appraisal, the bronze statue of the horse's head not only contains as much as 98% copper, but also is seamlessly welded and casting, and even uses mortise and tenon technology, which shows the superb craftsmanship of craftsmen at that time.

However, many people may not know that the twelve bronze statues of animal heads, including the head of a horse, were essentially used as twelve faucets for the outdoor fountain of Haiyan Hall in the Old Summer Palace, and these twelve animal heads were cast during the Qianlong period.

It is precisely because of this that many experts and scholars have saidFrom the perspective of the artistic value and rarity of the cultural relics, these twelve bronze statues of animal heads are far from priceless.

So, when Mr. Stanley Ho won this horse head, why did he sell it for an astonishing price of 69.1 million Hong Kong dollars?What are the stories behind these twelve beast heads?Where are the five lost beast heads?

In fact, the 12 bronze statues of animal heads in the Old Summer Palace are just one of the thousands of national treasures that have been scattered overseas, and you must know that since the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Forbidden City has accumulated countless rare treasures from home and abroad.

In the memoir of the last emperor Pu Yi "My First Half of Life", the last emperor of the feudal dynasty once told about the huge number of Chinese antiques in the treasury of the inner courtyard of his palace, and these cultural relics were successively sold by the internal affairs government or stolen by eunuchs and palace maids in the "small imperial court period" after the establishment of **.

Coupled with the turmoil of the regime from the end of the Qing Dynasty to the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, there were countless antiques and cultural toys stolen in the Forbidden City, and these stolen national treasures, in addition to some scattered among the people, many were shipped overseas, and a hundred years later, they appeared in major trading markets.

And because these national treasures have been overseas for a hundred years, not only have they changed hands several times, but they are also difficult to trace, so since the founding of New China,How to let these scattered national treasures return to China has become a heavy and long-term missionAmong them, the return trip of the twelve bronze statues of animal heads in the Old Summer Palace is very representative.

Generally speaking, there are roughly four ways for cultural relics to return, the first isThe state funds the buyback,This is the most straightforward, but it requires a lot of fees and can disrupt the market.

A more typical representative is the State Administration of Cultural Heritage directly repurchased Mi Fu's "Yan Shan Ming", and the Palace Museum funded the repurchase of the "Ode to the Teacher", these two cultural relics were sold at 29.99 million yuan and 22 million yuan respectively.

Ode to the Teacher", however, the way in which the state came forward to buy back has been widely questionedMany people feel that it is not appropriate to use taxpayers' money to buy cultural relics, but industry insiders believe that this kind of directional auction not only depresses cultural relics, but also interferes with the market order.

So much so that at the beginning of this century, after the state came forward to buy back a few cultural relics, internationally renowned auction houses such as Sotheby's became wary of the mainland auction market, which slowed down the process of returning cultural relics.

In fact,The first batch of cow heads, monkey heads and tiger heads auctioned in Hong Kong were bought back by China Poly Group, which is also a means for the state to directly participate in the repurchase.

However, as analyzed above, the pressure from the social level and the constraints of the rules of the trading market led to the gradual cessation of the state-funded repurchase in the later period, and was replaced by the second way of the return of cultural relicsPrivately funded purchases and then gifted to the state, one of the representative figures is Stanley Ho, known as the "gambling king".

Many people must have heard of Stanley Ho, a man of the hour, and the reason why he has such a good reputation in China in the past ten years is probably related to the fact that he has donated the bronze statue of the pig's head and the bronze statue of the horse's head to the country twice.

To know,Although Stanley Ho has always insisted on investing in the mainland in the past few decades, his identity as a "gambling king" is so dazzling that the mainland's ** evaluation of this entrepreneur has been far inferior to that of rich businessmen such as Fok Yingdong and Li Ka-shing for a long time.

It wasn't until Stanley Ho bought the bronze statue of the pig's head for more than 6 million Hong Kong dollars in 2003 and the bronze statue of the horse's head for 69.1 million Hong Kong dollars in 2007 that his popularity and favorability in the mainland increased.

And as Stanley Ho successively donated these two bronze statues of beast heads to the country for free, many ** praised him endlessly, so the former "gambling king" gradually became a "patriotic entrepreneur", which is worth tens of billions of dollars.

In any case, Stanley Ho's purchase of the bronze statue of the beast's head and donating it to the country is a manifestation of his love for the country, and it also officially opens a precedent for private funds to purchase a national treasure and then donate it to the country.

Stanley Ho's good deeds have also set an example for many entrepreneurs at home and abroad, the most direct manifestation of which was in April 2013The bronze statues of rat heads and rabbit heads lost overseas were sent to China by François Pinault, a wealthy French businessman, free of charge.

You know, this François Pinault is not an ordinary rich man, he is worth tens of billions of dollarsAnd with a number of high-end brands including Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Balenciaga, there is no doubt that Pinault's kindness has also made a significant contribution to the development of the domestic market for its company.

In fact, long before the wealthy French businessman took the initiative to donate the two bronze statues of the head of the rat and the head of the rabbit, there were already voices in China calling for the French ** to come forward to buy and send them back to China, which is also the third way for the return of cultural relicsThrough friendly negotiation, the other party will take the initiative to return it.

After all, with the increasing improvement of China's comprehensive national strength, China is no longer the Qing Dynasty that was forcibly seized by the British and French forces in 1860, and as the Western powers that committed many crimes back then, they should also express their apologies with practical actions.

As for the fourth way of the return of cultural relics, it isSuccessful recourse through legal meansThis method is obviously difficult to achieve in terms of the current international situation, but with the improvement of relevant legal procedures and the gradual improvement of the country's right to speak, it is believed that more and more national treasures will return to the motherland in this way.

So, for the seven bronze statues of animal heads that have returned to China, what is the real cultural relics value?Is it really worth tens of millions of dollars?

In fact, as mentioned above, these twelve bronze statues of animal heads themselves are not of high collector's value.

Luo Zhewen, the former honorary president of the Chinese Cultural Relics Society, has publicly stated that the animal head of the Old Summer Palace is not a national treasure in terms of cultural relics value, and the reasonable value range is about hundreds of thousands of yuan.

Although these twelve bronze statues of animal heads were cast in the Qianlong period, they are actually less than 300 years agoMoreover, as one of the many components in the huge building complex of the Old Summer Palace, these twelve animal heads are not outstanding in their own value, and they are not outstanding in terms of technology level or labor cost, not to mention that their use is just a faucet.

According to historical records, the twelve bronze statues of animal heads located in the Haiyan Hall of the Old Summer Palace were painted by Lang Shining, a court Western painter in the Qianlong period, and the Frenchman Jiang Youren was responsible for supervising the repair.

It is said that the ItaliansLang ShiningThe faucet originally designed to represent the twelve hours was a twelve-female sculpture, but it was not accepted by the Qianlong Emperor at that time, and later changed to the zodiac in combination with Chinese folk culture.

Its use in the Qing Dynasty was limited to viewing and telling the time, and it was also called at the time because the 12 bronze statues of animal heads would spray water in turn according to the 12 hours of the day"Hydraulic Clock"., and the horse head donated by Stanley Ho to China will not only spray water at noon, but also drive the other eleven animal heads to spray water together, the scene is quite spectacular.

Judging from the scientific analysis results of the seven bronze statues of animal heads that have returned to China, their main components are the red copper refined in the Qing Dynasty at that time, with a copper content of up to 98%, which can be said to be extremely pure.

Because of this, these twelve beast heads not only have a deep appearance and luster, but also have experienced.

Two or three hundred years without rust, which shows the sophistication of the casting process at that time.

In addition, the carved patterns of these animal heads are also very delicate and realistic, taking the horse's head as an example, its eyes, nose, ears and other parts are even folded meticulously, which can be described as ingenious.

Of course, despite this, even if these twelve bronze statues of animal heads were placed in the Qianlong period at that time, they were not the pinnacle of casting technology, and compared with other cultural relics of the Old Summer Palace, they would inevitably be overshadowed, but this is limited to the value of their cultural relics themselves, and for "national treasures", it is obvious that they cannot be generalized.

Because it is precisely its seemingly unpretentious quality that reflects the ugly face of the British and French invaders at that time, as well as the corruption and incompetence of the Qing Dynasty, and always reminds every Chinese son and daughter not to forget that humiliating history.

From the burning of the Old Summer Palace by the British and French forces in October 1860 to the invasion of Beijing by the Eight-Nation Coalition in 1900 and the sacking of the Old Summer Palace again, every descendant of Yan and Huang should not forget this history.

Imagine the fire in 1860, when the British and French forces used the butts of their guns to pry off the heads of the twelve bronze statues of the Old Summer Palace without mercyWhat these greedy invaders took away was not a piece of cultural relics, but the cultural self-confidence and self-esteem of the Chinese nation.

And when the twelve bronze statues of animal heads, which symbolize the twelve hours, were stolen, the prelude to China's semi-feudal and semi-colonial was opened, and every Chinese was covered with a layer of humiliation for the twelve hours of each day, which is the true meaning behind these twelve bronze statues.

What's more, as these stolen cultural relics appear in the trading markets around the world one by one, the incompetence of the Qing Dynasty and the humiliation of the Chinese nation have been ridiculed and ridiculed again and again.

It is precisely for this reason that the repatriation of cultural relics is of extraordinary significance. Especially for these twelve bronze statues of animal heads, it is precisely because they are scattered all over the world that it is even more necessary for them to be "broken and reunited".

However, as mentioned earlier, as of nowThere are still five beast heads that have not returned to the embrace of the motherland, and it is even possible that some of the beast heads have been drowned in the torrent of history forever, after all, not all regrets can be made up.

However, for every Chinese, even if they do not have the opportunity to see the picture of the twelve bronze statues of the beast heads gathered together, they cannot forget the hundred years of wind and rain experienced by these twelve beast heads in their hearts.

For more cultural relics lost overseas, the road back to China requires everyone's efforts and contributions, because only when the country continues to develop and become stronger, and only when the Chinese nation confidently stands among the nations of the world, can those regrets left over from history have a chance to be made up.

It is hoped that every cultural relic that wanders overseas will one day be able to return to its homeland.