The literary master Victor Hugo once wrote a letter to Captain Bartlet, which read: "One day two robbers broke into the Old Summer Palace. One robber loots, another sets fire. It seems that after victory, it is time to start stealing. They plundered the Old Summer Palace on a large scale, and the spoils were divided equally between the two victors. We see that this whole event is also associated with the name of Elgin, which in turn reminds one of the Parthenon. What was done to the Parthenon in the past, and what is now done to the Old Summer Palace, is only more thorough and more beautiful, so that it is gone. ”
The treasures of all our cathedrals together may not be as good as this magnificent museum of the East. There are not only art treasures, but also a large pile of gold and silver objects. Great achievement!The harvest is huge!Two victors, one stuffed with fanny packs, which is visible, and the other with baskets. They returned to Europe, arm in arm, grinning. This is the story of these two robbers. The two robbers who will be punished by history, one is called France, and the other is called England. ”
Look at what it means to be a great writer, whose homeland is robbed and plundered in the far east and still ruthlessly criticizes and writes, this pattern is incomparable.
Today, hundreds of years later, the looted precious cultural relics of the Old Summer Palace have appeared in various overseas auctions one after another to be sold. Every time the precious cultural relics stolen from the Old Summer Palace were photographed, the humiliation of the Chinese nation was mercilessly ridiculed.
Therefore, the return of the precious cultural relics of the Old Summer Palace as soon as possible is of extraordinary significance. Especially the bronze statues of the 12 zodiac animal heads, they are scattered all over the world, and it is time for them to come together.
According to historical records, the bronze statue of the 12 zodiac beast heads located in the Haiyan Hall of the Old Summer Palace was painted by Lang Shining, a court Western painter in the Qianlong period, and the Frenchman Jiang Youren was responsible for supervising the repair. The carved patterns of these heads are lifelike and ingenious.
At Christie's in Paris, France, there was an unprecedented but exciting thing that happened to the Chinese people, Cai Mingchao, a famous collector from Fujian, China, participated in the auction of rabbit heads and rat heads in the Old Summer Palace in February 2009, and won the auction for 31.49 million euros, equivalent to 2 yuan700 million. But afterwards it said that it would not pay.
Cai Mingchao said: "Why should I pay?".These two beast heads were originally treasures of our country, and they were snatched away by you. We're just going to return it to its rightful owner. If I buy it back, I will be accepting your plunder. I won't pay, and if you want me to pay, you won't be able to clear your name for robbery first. ”
After the incident was reported, it caused a lot of repercussions in France, and France also paid great attention to it, and the news was broadcast on a rolling 24-hour basis on the electric channel. French newspapers also began to discuss the incident, and "Le Monde" reported on the reaction of all parties to the incident for the first time.
Later, Mr. Pinold, the third richest man in France and the owner of Christie's, purchased rabbit heads and rat heads from the holders and returned them to China free of charge**.
I sincerely hope that every cultural relic that is adrift overseas will one day be able to return to its homeland ......