Majestic Huaxia, Yangyang Great Power; Nine Curves of the Yellow River, Wanlisha. History has come step by step, the ancient voice has never faded, and the light of civilization will not be sealed. - Cultural relics. When people mention it, the stereotypical thinking it should be exhibited in the National Museum. In fact, folk is the real gathering place for cultural relics. In 2020, when the national treasure returned home and triggered the story just past, in Paris, France, on the afternoon of July 7, local time, two ancient books that were scattered overseas - "Yongle Canon" (volume 2268-2269, volume 7391-7392), fell the hammer for 6.4 million euros (excluding commissions), was auctioned back to China by the Chinese people, and the news was once rumored to attract the attention of the world, and the domestic collector circle caused a big sensation. The thrilling and winding stories of these two volumes of "Yongle Classics" before and after the auction of returning to China have been spread on the Internet, but fortunately, the national treasure finally returned home. The fact that the zero volume of a book has attracted such attention from the people is only because in the eyes of every descendant of Yan Huang, this one "includes Qiankun, runs through the present and the ancient, is exquisite and coarse, and is prepared for the list, and the few are rhymed with the examination of words, because the words are sought, and the opening of the volume is visible at a glance of ancient and modern things." The Yongle Classic is no longer just an ordinary ancient classic, but the crystallization and dignity of the wisdom of the Chinese nation.
Picture 1 in the French auction catalogue
Picture 2 in the French Auction Catalogue The Legendary Experience of the Great Ceremony
Compiled during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, the Yongle Canon was originally named "Literature Dacheng", which was compiled and revised by Xie Jin, the first assistant of the cabinet, and Yao Guangxiao and others, and lasted six years (1403-1408) to complete the Compilation and Revision of the Great Classic, and is a collection of Chinese encyclopedic documents. The book consists of 22,877 volumes, 60 volumes of contents and examples, and 11,095 volumes, with a total of about 370 million words, bringing together 7,000 or 8,000 kinds of ancient and modern books. At that time, due to a fire in the palace, the Jiajing Emperor was worried that the Yongle Canon would be damaged, and he had a copy of it copied, that is, a copy of Jiajing. After the completion of the Jiajing copy, the entire book mysteriously disappeared. Since the completion of the canon, it has spanned more than 600 years of ups and downs, and its book, collection, circulation, scattering, research, reproduction and publication, dissemination, restoration, etc. is a legend, which has attracted the attention of the world.
According to the literature, the jiajing copy of the "Great Classic" was stored in the Imperial Palace of The Imperial Palace for about 150 years, and was moved to the Hanlin Temple to worship a pavilion in the Qing YongzhengJian (1723-1735). Since then, this inner house collection has been borrowed by the ministers to record the book, and thus it has been continuously lost and damaged. In the thirty-eighth year of Qianlong (1772), the "Siku Quanshu" used this book, and when it was checked, it was found that 2422 volumes were missing, about 1,000 volumes. Jiaqing and Daoguangjian also used the "Great Canon" when they repaired the Quan Tang Wen and the "Great Qing Unification Zhi", during which time they were stolen by officials in large quantities due to the lax supervision system. In the Xianfeng Decade (1860), the British and French forces invaded and occupied Beijing, and the Hanlin Courtyard was brutally damaged and robbed, and countless "canons" were lost. In particular, the British invading forces looted the most and were transported back to the country as spoils of war. In the first year of Guangxu (1875), when the building of Hanlin Courtyard was renovated, the inventory of the "Great Canon" was less than 5,000 volumes.
According to other records, the following year, Weng Tonggong entered the Hanlin Academy to inspect only 800 copies of the "Great Canon". Finally, when the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing in the twenty-sixth year of Guangxu (1900), the Hanlin Courtyard became a battlefield, and in addition to the destruction of the war, coupled with human robbery, the copy of the Hanlin Courtyard was destroyed. The invaders of various countries smuggled a large amount of looted wealth and cultural relics back to China, and the "Canon" has since been scattered in the libraries and private hands of all countries in the world. Later, some domestic literati and scholars also competed to buy collections, thinking that strange goods could be lived. This 10,000-volume "Great Canon", which was once hidden in the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Official's Office, was almost in vain in less than a hundred years. Up to now, the copy of the Yongle Canon has only found more than 400 volumes, more than 800 volumes and some zero pages, scattered in the hands of public and private collectors in many countries and regions, so every discovery is bound to cause a sensation.
People who walk on the road of national treasure collection are more or less holding some good things in their hands, and even many folk collectors have a large number of cultural relics in their hands, many of which may not even be seen by professional archaeologists. Therefore, "Nine Curves of the Yellow River, Wanlisha", cultural relics are not necessarily in the hands of the state. Since the return of two volumes of the Yongle Canon from France this year, Mr. Wang, a folk collector from Zhejiang, has taken out the original "Yongle Canon" of The Yongle Classic, which is also Ming Jiajing's original [volume 7,235 (7235) "Yang" character rhyme "Tang" character album] and another volume of zero pages, which once again attracted the attention of the world.
Mr. Wang's collection of "Yongle Canon" volume 7235 and Stamp Zhang Mr. Wang has loved history since childhood and has a strong interest in Chinese history, especially in cultural inheritance. Regarding the Yongle Classic and the Kangxi Dictionary, Mr. Wang paid more attention to it. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, when Mr. Wang served in Xuzhou, which has a deep history and culture, he would go to the Xuzhou Antique Market every Sunday to see it, to study and practice his eyesight. Because of the number of runs, it is natural to be familiar with the jade shops and antique shops in the market. Once, drinking tea in an antique shop, the store chatted about an ancient book, Mr. Wang insisted on looking, as soon as the store appeared, Mr. Wang's eyes were attracted by the ancient book. It is the Yongle Canon. As for the authenticity of the ancient books, Mr. Wang was young at the time, did not understand, and intuitively liked it.
The 370 million words of the Yongle Canon were copied by the scribes in the Ming Dynasty official script: The Pavilion Style. Therefore, Mr. Wang came to the door several times to talk and let the store transfer to him. At that time, Mr. Wang's salary was only three or four hundred and one months, only because he had a special love for the "Canon", Mr. Wang went back to borrow some money, which was also a small price, plus Mr. Wang's soft and hard bubbles for the store, and finally won the most precious treasure.
Mr. Wang came into contact with more antiques and works of art in the later period, and this volume of "Canon" has been in his hand for decades.
Mr. Wang's hand volume 7235 "Yongle Canon" of the bottom page and another volume of zero pages through the disaster to save his life This "Yongle Canon" has accompanied Mr. Wang for decades, although he has moved his home countless times, from the army to local work, the work has also changed several copies, many belongings, thrown away, handled, only the "Canon" has been carefully preserved and carried around. I still remember that one year Mr. Wang's home was stolen, and many of the calligraphy and paintings he carefully collected were looted by thieves, and Mr. Wang was secretly injured for a long time. But fortunately, the thief was blind at that time, and this "Canon" survived. In Mr. Wang's own words, God bless it to stay by his side! Time is moving, space is changing, many things come and go, and the later the period, the heavier the weight of this "Yongle Canon" in Mr. Wang's heart is also getting heavier. Of course, after so many years of collecting this road, I have definitely encountered collectors who know the goods. That was more than a decade ago. At that time, there was a collector in southwest Zhejiang who learned from a friend that Mr. Wang had this "Yongle Canon" in his hand, and after several searches to find him, he threw out a high price of between five million and ten million, hoping that Mr. Wang would transfer the "Great Classic" to him. In those years, Mr. Wang did waver in the middle due to financial difficulties, but he thought that he did not have many rare treasures in his hands, and this "Great Canon" could still remain in his hands after many vicissitudes. Mr. Wang endured again and again, and finally sealed the box and locked it, leaving behind this volume of the Yongle Canon.
Looking closely at the in-depth study of national treasures, Mr. Wang has been holding volume 7235 "Yongle Canon" more of self-appreciation, or a small range of discussion and exchange. This time, the auction return of two volumes of "Canon" in volume 2268-2269 and volume 7391-7392 touched Mr. Wang very much. Mr. Wang began to look for information from all sides and began to conduct in-depth research. As soon as Mr. Wang's news came out, it immediately attracted the attention of collectors and experts from all over the world. A few days ago, Mr. Gong Jingqiang, chairman of the Board of Directors and appraisal expert of the China Collection Network, director of the China Institute of Jade and Porcelain Science, and Mr. Lu Chaolu, head of the expert group of the China Entrepreneurs Cultural Fair, researcher and expert of the cultural and artistic industry think tank, personally visited Mr. Wang's home to identify the volume 7235 "Yongle Canon" and other zero leaves.
Mr. Gong Jingqiang, Chairman of China Collection Network and Appraisal Expert (left)
Mr. Lu Chaolu, Director of China Institute of Jade and Porcelain Science, Leader and Researcher of China Entrepreneurs Cultural Fair, Expert of Culture and Art Industry Think Tank (right)
Comparing the Yongle Canon in the collection of the National Library of China (vol. 2264-2265) and the Dadian in his own hand, one of the stamps is consistent, so it is determined that the two volumes of the "Dadian" are from the "Dalian Library of the South Manchuria Railway Co., Ltd."
The Yongle Canon of the National Library of China (vols. 2264-2265) adopts the "bag back", the clothes are framed with multi-layer rice paper, the external yellow silk is used, and the position and proportion of the cover bookmark and the square sign (also known as the roll sign) are fixed and two layers. The bookmark is first a layer of blue silk, on which is the yellow silk of the smaller one, with the inscription "Yongle Dadian" and the number of volumes bet. The upper right of the cover is a square sign (also known as a roll sign) is also blue and yellow, the upper title is a rhyme, and the second line of the question belongs to the order of the rhyme. The "Canon" book jacket collected by Mr. Wang is white leather, and this packaging form is to be explained by experts.
The white-skinned "Yongle Dadian" and "Yongle Dadian" in Mr. Wang's hand have a grand folio, with a single volume of 50.3 cm high and 30 cm wide, a frame height of about 35.5 cm and a width of 23.5 cm, surrounded by bilateral sides, large red mouth, red fish tail, and zhusi bar, all hand-painted. With so many hand-drawn frames, how can you ensure speed and quality? If you look closely, you will find that there are needle holes around the board frame, etc., and when it is a stack of paper that is fixed by size and then hand-drawn. Opening the clothes of the Yongle Canon, it is the end of the volume, which is the first page of the main text. It can be seen that the entire canon is written with Zhu and ink pens. The zhu pen is mainly used to draw the boundary lines of the sidebar and write the author and title of the quoted book; the ink pen is used to write the title, volume number, rhyme, and body of the book and draw pictures; the circle point is dipped in cinnabar mud stamp with the reed, bamboo, bone or jade pen tube with the inner hole and the outer circle. The side pages or leaf guards of the Yongle Canon have been cut. In addition, the last leaves of the "Canon" are all the signature leaves (title names) of the re-recording officials in the Jiajing period, and this page has no line grid, and the signatures account for a total of six lines. The last signature page of the extant Canon (except for those later supplemented) has traces of being cut. According to the archives of the Inner Government during the Qianlong period, when the "Four Libraries of the Whole Book" was opened during the Qianlong period, Zhu Yun, a scholar of Anhui Province, asked "to "study the Yongle Canon and choose a secretary who is not common among them", which was approved by Emperor Gaozong of the Qing Dynasty. In the process, Qianlong ordered people to cut the "residual paper" to give to the courtiers, and Weng Fanggang's "Yongle Canon Yu Paper Song and Preface" is described in detail. According to the records of the Inner Government Archives, some of the cut "residual paper" was used for re-copying, and several of them are excerpted as follows: On October 13, 1940 of Qianlong (Chronicle), it is recorded: "On the thirteenth day, as far as Kuzhao Wude and Fuqing were concerned, the eunuch Hu Shijie sent forty pieces of Golden Dragon Yellow Notes, destroyed forty pieces of Goryeo paper with samples, and used two large imitation Tibetan scripture paper samples made of old rice paper, and destroyed two pieces of imitation Tibetan scripture paper from the old paper of the Yongle Canon, and held it for viewing. On the fourth day of the first month of October in the forty-ninth year of Qianlong ( the living record ) contained: "On the fourth day of the first month, the ku palm Dada se, urged Shu Xing Jinjiang to say, the eunuch Ori Lu handed over two thousand and fifty-three pieces of double-page paper and three thousand three hundred and ninety-seven pieces of single-page paper of the "Yongle Canon", and passed on the message: Hand over the Hangzhou weaving shengzhu to destroy the Tibetan scripture paper. Thanks. "Combined with the important method of identifying mingneifu writing picture books, according to the above several phenomena, such as the pin eye of the column line, the plate frame, and the fishtail connection; the system and paste of the book and the square sign (roll sign); the traces of the front leaf protection and the back leaf of each scroll section, etc., and from the analysis of the font, paper, content, decoration and other elements of the book, it was determined that this was the zero kind of ming Jiajing's "Yongle Canon" written in Mr. Wang's hand, and the first was that there was no collection in the newly appeared museums at home and abroad.
Return to the state is the end
Cultural relics have a meaningful mission from the moment of its birth, and their value is not reflected because of the precipitation of time. As the largest and most mature book in ancient China, the Yongle Canon is really difficult to estimate in terms of cultural value, educational value, humanistic value, academic research value, examination value, etc. Even the surviving fragments are rich treasures for ancient Chinese literature, medicine, language, geography, and so on. Mr. Wang knows this. On the road of collection, trading and buying and selling are no longer often coming and going, but this volume of "Canon" has always been favored and favored by Mr. Wang. At the time of the change of the old and the new, Mr. Wang has his plans and intentions in his heart. He said that if he took action, it would be difficult to ensure that it would flow abroad in the future, and even the fate would be difficult, which was the last thing Mr. Wang wanted to see. Therefore, when the conditions were not ripe enough, he did his best to collect this "Canon". If the time comes, Mr. Wang said he would make some appropriate moves. He hopes that national treasures can enter the national treasury or museums, and such a destination is better than anywhere else. Most importantly, at the level of national archives, experts can make cultural relics come alive, no longer be sealed in dust, and emit the dazzling light it should have, so that more people in the world can see the greatness of our ancient culture and meet the learning and education of future generations.
On August 20, 1951, when the famous bibliophile Zhou Shutao donated a copy of the Yongle Canon to the state free of charge, he said in a letter: "The pearl is also returned to Hepu, and the private is turned into a public, which is also Chinese the heavenly responsibility of the people." Today, Mr. Wang also said from the bottom of his heart: "The last thing a collector has to do is to return the treasure to where it should go and play its due value." "2021 New Year is coming, I hope that this "Kuang Shi Hong Compilation Literature Dacheng" "Yongle Canon" scattered in various parts of the world can appear more and collect returns!