The Yuanmingyuan is a pain in the heart of each of our Chinese, such a luxurious palace, just from a few photos that have been handed down, has made countless people yearn for it and want to see its style. However, such a legendary palace was destroyed by a fire by two robbers, and the treasures in the palace were also lost to others, leaving only a piece of debris, reminding us not to forget the shame of the day, and not to forget to find those lost treasures. Over the years, in order to retrieve the treasures seized by the great powers, people from all walks of life have made a lot of efforts, especially in order to find the head of the zodiac beast, to see the spectacle of that year, people from all walks of life are silently contributing their own strength. Even so far, the twelve beast heads have only returned to seven.
Two weeks ago, there was a hot search for news, "The bronze statue of Ma Shou will be returned to the Yuanmingyuan", "Ma Shou" was auctioned by the gambling king Mr. Stanley Ho in 2007, and the transaction price was 69.1 million Hong Kong dollars. On November 13 this year, he decided to donate the horse head to the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, and after more than a hundred years, the horse head finally returned to his hometown. The news is undoubtedly heartening, and it is precisely because of the efforts of these patriots that the lost treasure has gradually returned to its home, and Mr. Ho Hung-sin has photographed the pig's head in 2003 and donated it to the country free of charge.
After this news was issued, some people remembered the person who spent 270 million yuan to buy the cultural relics of the Yuanmingyuan, that is, the rat head and the rabbit head among the twelve beast heads, but refused to pay. Although the official information is written on the French Pino family free donation, many people do not know, there is a story behind this that makes many patriots excited. The story begins with a collector whose name is Cai Mingchao.
Cai Mingchao is a famous collector in Chinese mainland, his hometown is in Quanzhou, and his colleague is also a person who continues to work hard to rescue cultural relics lost overseas. At the Hong Kong auction in October 2006, a Ming Dynasty Buddha statue became the focus of the whole audience, and the final auction of this Buddha statue was Mr. Cai Mingchao, who bought the Buddha statue for 120 million yuan and became the focus of the whole scene. This auction not only made Mr. Cai Mingchao a public presence, but also set a record for the highest auction of Chinese art in the world, and ended the history of this bronze statue floating overseas.
Mr. Cai Mingchao connected with the twelve animal heads at an auction in France in February 2009. At that time, after the auction information was issued, China's Cultural Relics Administration bureau and the Yuanmingyuan Management Office both expressed opposition to the auction, but the auction continued as usual. The auctioneer was revealed the following month, and the collector who photographed the head of the rat and the rabbit in one fell swoop was Mr. Cai Mingchao. According to those who know the situation, this move is very risky, but in order to return the artifacts, they still took a huge risk and auctioned the two animal heads for 31.49 million euros. But what eventually got into the debate was that he refused to pay the money after the auction was successful, because he believed that we could not accept the purchase of artifacts that had been robbed by others in the form of "buybacks".
This move has caused great controversy at home and abroad, but Mr. Cai Mingchao firmly believes that we should not pay this payment, and his occurrence has also been recognized by everyone. With Cai Ming's superpower, it is not impossible to pay this amount, but whether it is domestic public opinion or himself, he feels that it should not be paid. The incident lasted until April 26, 2013, when the auction and the French Pino family came forward and were forced to return the two animal heads to China free of charge. And Mr. Cai Mingchao, who made this feat, only conveyed his attitude through friends: "Finally back, congratulations, congratulations!" ”
Because of the fear of the bad influence caused by his own behavior, Mr. Cai Mingchao has gradually faded out of the public's career, and many people do not know the story behind the rat head and the rabbit head. But in the hearts of those who know about it, he is a well-deserved national hero.