The national instrument "goes home"
China News Weekly reporter/Huang Xiaoguang
Published in China Newsweek, No.918, September 30, 2019.
On September 17th, the "Achievements Exhibition of the Return of Lost Cultural Relics in the 70th Anniversary of the Founding of New China" hosted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and National Cultural Heritage Administration opened in the National Museum.
On September 17th, "The Road to Return — — At the scene of the exhibition on the return of lost cultural relics in the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China, Zeng Boke’s father bronze assembly attracted much attention. Photography/China News Weekly reporter Huang Xiaoguang
This is a "wandering" party that travels through time and space.
From the Yongle Dadian and the Yihetuan flag returned by the Soviet Union and the Democratic Republic of Germany in the early days of the founding of New China, the painted relief warrior stone carvings and the Buddha statues in Longmen Grottoes returned in the early days of the new century, to the successful pursuit of the dish square, the Dengyu stone pagoda and the bronze tiger &hellip in recent years; … The exhibition tells the story of 25 cultural relics drifting and returning home.
Among them, Zeng Boke’s father bronze assembler, who returned from Japan in August this year, came to the finale to present the first show for the public after the reunification.
Guan Qiang, deputy director of National Cultural Heritage Administration, said that the bronze assembly of Zeng Boke’s father is a group of cultural relics with the highest value that China has successfully stopped illegal cultural relics trading in the international cultural relics market in recent years. The return of these cultural relics has contributed a new practical case for the recovery of international lost cultural relics, which is of great pioneering significance.
Fake "old collection of the Republic of China"
There are eight pieces in six categories, namely, Ding, Gui, Hu, Wei and Zhong, each of which is engraved with an inscription that descendants praise the virtues of their ancestors in order to protect generations.
This is a group of bronzes cast in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, and the owner is a senior aristocrat of Zeng State, "Burke’s father Lou". At the end of February this year, the Central Auction Company in Tokyo, Japan revealed in an auction message that the inscriptions of this group of bronzes totaled 330 words, which "played an extremely important role in calligraphy art and bronze academic research".
The number of inscriptions indicates the status of the owner of the utensil, which in turn determines the value level of the utensil. The reference valuation provided by Tokyo Central Auction Company ranges from 4.8 million yuan to 7.2 million yuan. Domestic media reported that the value of this group of cultural relics reached several hundred million yuan.
For Zhang Changping, a professor at the School of History of Wuhan University and an expert in bronze ware research, the academic value of Zeng Boke’s bronze assembly is more important. "In the past, there was no document that clearly recorded what Zeng State was, but our understanding of the history of Zeng State obtained through archaeology was not inferior to that of some big countries such as Chu State and even Qin State." Zhang Changping told China Newsweek that the appearance of "historical fragments", including Zeng Boke’s father’s bronze assembly, helped to piece together the historical context of Zeng Guo.
At the beginning of this year, Zhang Changping first saw the auction catalogue of Tokyo Central Auction Company. He and other cultural relics experts found that this group of bronzes was covered with blue rust, which was the same color as that of Zeng bronzes unearthed in Wenfeng Tower in Suizhou, Hubei Province, Guojiamiao in Zaoyang and Sujialong in Jingshan in recent years, so they speculated that it was illegally smuggled out of the country.
However, the Tokyo Central Auction Company provides a version of the life story of "the old collection of the Republic of China": "After complicated research by experts, it is Ke Xinnong’s close friend, and Xiao Zhenying, a modern celebrity, moved to Ke Xinnong’s office in Xi ‘an to escape the war." In order to prove the authenticity of the "transfer to Tibet", the company attached a letter exchange between the two.
In this regard, a domestic scholar examined and compared Xiao Zhenying’s calligraphy in the newspapers and periodicals of the Republic of China, and found that it was very different from the writing of the word "Ying" in the above-mentioned letters, and the stationery was not from the Republic of China.
"This is a forged letter of the Republic of China, and we can prove that this group of bronzes appeared in Shanghai in 2014." Guan Qiang, deputy director of National Cultural Heritage Administration, told China Newsweek. It is confirmed by research that the bronze assembly of Zeng Boke’s father was not collected in the old Republic of China, but was unearthed from the tombs of Zeng Guo’s high-ranking nobles in Suizhou, Hubei Province in the early Spring and Autumn Period, and the excavation time was nearly 20 years.
On March 6th, National Cultural Heritage Administration further verified that the 21 national cultural relics entry-exit audit management offices had not gone through the exit formalities for this batch of bronze assemblies, which were illegally exported to Japan after 2014.
According to the plan of Tokyo Central Auction Company, this set of bronzes will be auctioned at Tokyo Dome Hotel on the evening of March 12th. Time is urgent, although the evidence involved in the theft and smuggling has yet to be investigated, but the evidence of illegal export is more conclusive, National Cultural Heritage Administration decided to start the recourse work immediately.
On March 7th, National Cultural Heritage Administration and the Ministry of Public Security jointly agreed to pursue the case through diplomatic efforts and criminal investigation. The next day, the Shanghai public security organ found out that Zhou, the entrusted auctioneer and actual holder of Zeng Boke’s father’s bronze assembly, was suspected of a major crime and formally put on file for investigation.
On the other hand, National Cultural Heritage Administration informed the Japanese Embassy in China about the lost cultural relics and provided relevant evidence, demanding that Japan "take all necessary measures to carry out relevant work and assist China to properly solve the problem of returning this batch of bronze assemblies".
Go to Japan to identify the authenticity
On March 9th, under the joint promotion of diplomatic means and criminal investigation, Tokyo Central Auction Company issued a statement in official website: "The auction of Zeng Boke’s father’s bronze assembly in the late Western Zhou Dynasty involved a family inheritance dispute and decided to suspend the auction."
China Newsweek noted that there are precedents for similar suspension. In October 2016, Yokohama International Auction Co., Ltd. originally planned to auction several pieces of cultural relics lost in China, but National Cultural Heritage Administration sent a letter to stop it. This is the first time that National Cultural Heritage Administration has successfully stopped the auction of cultural relics lost from overseas China.
"The cultural relics department can stop the auction company, provided that there are sufficient reasons to prove that Zeng Boke’s father bronze assembly is a newly unearthed lost cultural relic." Zhang Changping said that the legal basis corresponding to this premise is the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illegal Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property adopted by UNESCO in 1970. It stipulates that "the import, export or transfer of ownership of cultural property caused by violation of this Convention is illegal" and "States parties have the obligation to promote the return of lost cultural relics to their countries of origin".
Relying on legal means to recover lost cultural relics involves not only grasping the process of cultural relics loss and key evidence, but also the understanding, compliance and enforcement of international law by different countries. According to Zhang Changping, "it is not that cultural relics can be brought back smoothly if they are confirmed to have left the country illegally."
While China was negotiating with Japan about the recourse of Zeng Boke’s father’s bronze assembly, China ushered in the largest round of return of lost cultural relics in the past two decades — — On March 23rd, Italy returned 796 cultural relics to China. This batch of cultural relics was seized by the Italian cultural relics gendarmerie in 2007, and has since experienced a judicial trial in a foreign land for 10 years. National Cultural Heritage Administration has organized investigation and research for many times, and provided detailed cultural relics appraisal opinions and legal basis reports for Italy. At the beginning of this year, the Italian court made a final judgment to return this batch of cultural relics to China.
In contrast, this recourse only takes about half a year. However, witness Zhang Changping told China Newsweek that although the auction was stopped in March and the situation was initially controlled, the recourse process was still tortuous.
Earlier, the media reported that after the auction was suspended, in order to prevent the second loss of cultural relics, the Chinese Embassy in Japan and the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs met with the person in charge of the auction company in Tokyo to persuade them to cooperate with the Chinese and Japanese governments to control cultural relics. On the basis of investigation, the public security organs in Shanghai continued to persuade the cultural relic holder Zhou to turn over the cultural relics. Zhou finally agreed to hand over the cultural relics to the state and cooperate with the public security organs in the investigation.
As for the specific details of the recourse, the staff of National Cultural Heritage Administration said that it is not convenient to disclose it for the time being because the case is still under investigation.
In late August, the recourse came to an end. Zhang Changping and another bronze expert flew to Japan at the invitation of National Cultural Heritage Administration to conduct on-site appraisal of Zeng Boke’s father’s bronze assembly.
This plot is similar to the online drama Antique close encounter of mahjong. In the play, the Japanese side offered to return the stolen jade Buddha head of Zetianmingtang, and the China Antique Appraisal Team was ordered to go to Japan to appraise the authenticity of the Buddha head. Zhang Changping told China Newsweek that the reality is more complicated than the fictional plot. "When we were in the past, bronzes were still in the auction company."
On the morning of August 20th, the auction company sent the bronze assembly of Zeng Boke’s father to the Chinese Embassy in Japan. The joint working group sent by National Cultural Heritage Administration and the Ministry of Public Security, witnessed by representatives of the Japanese Embassy in Japan and the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, completed the physical identification and acceptance of this set of bronzes.
The first show after the reunification
After receiving, National Cultural Heritage Administration quickly completed the exit formalities in Japan, arrived in Beijing on August 23rd with the cultural relics escorted by a starry night, and put them into storage safely in the early morning of the next day. Zhou, the cultural relic holder, returned to China with the working group of the public security organs to cooperate with the investigation.
"All the people involved in this recourse are very excited!" Zhang Changping said, "It was not until the moment we got off the plane that we felt practical and the cultural relics finally returned successfully."
After the reunification, National Cultural Heritage Administration organized the National Appraisal Committee and experts and scholars in related fields to conduct a second "physical examination" and concluded: "The objects of Zeng Boke’s father are unprecedented in archaeology at present, which has important academic value for studying the history and culture of the Spring and Autumn Period, the patriarchal clan system of Zeng Guo and the dating and casting technology of bronzes."
Finally, Zeng Boke’s father bronze assembly was identified as a national first-class cultural relic.
Zhang Changping believes that the success of this pursuit is not only based on strong evidence and legal basis, but also a feat that can only be completed after the national strength is strong. "This also has a deterrent effect on other smuggling activities. If there are more cultural relics illegally flowing to Japan, we can use this as a precedent to recover. "
On September 17th, the "Exhibition on the Return of Lost Cultural Relics in the 70th Anniversary of the Founding of New China" opened in the National Museum. This exhibition is the first panoramic presentation of the achievements in the recovery and return of lost cultural relics in China.
According to National Cultural Heritage Administration, since the founding of New China, more than 300 batches and 150,000 overseas China cultural relics have been returned through law enforcement cooperation, judicial proceedings, negotiation and donation, and rescue collection. In this exhibition, National Cultural Heritage Administration selected 25 representative regression cases. Among them, Zeng Boke’s father’s bronze assembly device came out as the 25th case finale, presenting the first show for the public after the reunification.
More than 600 cultural relics involved in 25 cases are just the tip of the iceberg. According to the statistics of China Cultural Relics Society, since the Opium War in 1840, more than 10 million pieces of China cultural relics have been lost to Europe, America, Japan and Southeast Asian countries and regions. To this end, National Cultural Heritage Administration launched the information release platform of stolen (lost) cultural relics in China in 2017, providing a basis for recovering stolen cultural relics and overseas cultural relics.
Guan Qiang, deputy director of National Cultural Heritage Administration, told China Newsweek that the lost cultural relics are being sorted out and analyzed, and different recourse measures will be taken for cases lost in different years and for different reasons in the future.
In the opinion of the experts interviewed, it is more urgent to block the source of loss than to pursue it. "The loss caused by the theft of cultural relics will be far greater than the little we get back, and the cost of strengthening the protection of cultural relics will be far lower than the cost of recourse."
"One lesson is that we should do a good job in the protection of cultural relics and avoid more looting and loss." Zhang Changping said.