On National Day 2021, the National Museum next to Tiananmen Square is crowded. The eyes of the visitors were drawn to the special exhibition "Lihe Wanfang", which exhibited three world-famous bronze domes - Da Lu Ding, Da Ke Ding and Zi Long Ding.
In the introduction of the exhibition board, a person's name appears again with The Great Lu Ding and the Big Ke Ding. This person is Ms. Pan Dayu, and it can be said that without her, there would be no Da Lu Ding, Da Ke Ding, and no Wen Bo Grand Event of "Li and Wanfang".
Pan Dayu, originally surnamed Ding, was born in a wealthy family in Suzhou. Pan Da Yu has been intelligent and studious since childhood, and looks dignified and sweet, just like the warm landscape of Jiangnan, which makes people love and pity infinitely.
Figure | Pandayu
The 18-year-old Pan Da Yu is very tall, piano, chess, calligraphy, female red embroidery, everything is not bad. Her father also found her a good in-law's family, that is, the Pan family in Suzhou.
Pan Shien, the ancestor of the Pan clan, was once the head of the Qianlong dynasty, and the children of the Pan family studied and became officials for generations. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Pan Zuyin lived in Erpin, and the Pan family had unlimited scenery. Pan Dayu is going to marry Pan Zuyin and his younger brother Pan Zunian's only grandson Pan Chengjing.
Born well, married well. In the feudal period, a woman like Pan Dayu should be said to be very happy, and her superior family lineage is enough to ensure her life.
However, fate taunted Pan Dayu, and only three months after marriage, Pan Chengjing suddenly fell ill and died. Widowed at a young age and with no children under his knees, Panda seems to be able to see the end at a glance in this life.
In fact, Pan Chengjing was not the first man in the Pan family to die young. Over the years, the pan family's heirs withered away, and the children of Pan Zuyin and Pan Zunian's brothers died one after another. They are a line of concubines, and they cannot be inherited by no one, and the two brothers have to pass on to their cousin's grandson Pan Chengjing as heirs.
The large family has no one to inherit, which is the talk of people after tea and dinner, and after Pan Chengjing's death, there are many rumors in the market. People say that the Pan family has no queen because he has hidden too many things in his family that should not be hidden, and these things are extremely influential on the family fortunes and descendants.
Although the rumors are evil, the fact that the Pan family is hiding things is a fact. At that time, there was a saying that "the three treasures of the sea, Pan has two", and the "three treasures of the sea" refers to the three huge bronze dings unearthed in Shaanxi: da lu ding, da ke ding, and Mao Gong ding.
Pan Zuyin loved to collect cultural relics when he was alive, and he was a famous collector of gold and stone, and there were countless collections in his home.
During the Xianfeng period, Zuo Zongtang gave him the Great Luding in order to thank Pan Zuyin for saving his life. In the sixteenth year of Guangxu, Da Keding was unearthed in Shaanxi, and Pan Zuyin bought it with heavy money. Since then, Pan Zuyin has become a figure who owns the second of the "Three Treasures of the Sea".
Figure | Pan Zuyin
After Pan Zuyin's death, Shuangding, along with other gold and stone cultural relics and antique calligraphy and paintings, was secretly sent back to the old residence in Suzhou by Pan Zunian.
Pan Zunian acted in a low-key manner, hiding the double at home and never mentioning it to outsiders. Even if Duan Fang, the governor of Liangjiang, repeatedly tempted, Pan Zunian refused again and again, and Duan Fang had never seen Shuangding's true face until his death.
After Pan Chengjing's death, his grandfather Pan Zunian also reached the time of his death. Nowadays, there is no elder protection in the family, no heirs to inherit, and Pan Zunian has no one to trust before his death.
Pan Zunian saw that his granddaughter-in-law knew that dali, after widowhood, he still managed the housework and was meticulous everywhere, and he knew that although his granddaughter-in-law was a female stream, she was a strong person who was soft and strong, so he decided to let his granddaughter-in-law be the master of the family.
He changed his granddaughter-in-law's surname to Pan, officially entered the Pan family tree, and named her "Dayu". The name is the consonant of Da Lu Ding, and Pan Zunian's sustenance for his granddaughter-in-law is not only in the family.
On this day, Pan Zunian walked away from the others, only called his granddaughter-in-law to his side, and said to her: "In the past two years, you have married into the Pan family and suffered!" But I still have to entrust you with a thick old face! ”
Panda said respectfully, "Grandfather, do as you are told!" ”
"The treasures of Da Lu Ding and Da Keding are the heirlooms of our Pan family and the heirlooms of our Chinese. You must take good care of it, there can be no mistakes, and you can't fall into the hands of foreigners. No matter how far the Pan family declines in the future, they can't sell Baoding! ”
Pan Dayu looked at her grandfather and promised again and again, but she still didn't know how difficult the road of protecting Ding was.
Pan Zunian could not bear that Pan Da was without a queen, and after inheriting two children to her in the family and settling everything in, Pan Zunian passed away. Pan Da Yu obeyed his grandfather's arrangement and single-handedly took on the responsibility of the pan family owner and guardian of the heirloom, when Pan Da Yu was only 20 years old.
Although many people coveted treasures, they were all jealous of the Pan family's power and did not dare to act rashly. Now that the elder of the family has died, only a female relative guards the portal, and the Pan family is like a child living on the street, allowing others to bully.
Figure | Young Pandayu
In 1935, the Kuomintang built an office building in Suzhou. Kuomintang officials went to Pan's house to inquire, and wanted to borrow Dading to put it in the office building to participate in the exhibition, but they ostensibly said that they were "borrowing", but in fact they wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to occupy it for a long time.
This trick was recognized by Pan Da at a glance, and she did not dare to offend the official, so she had to say: "Dading was given to a friend by his grandfather a long time ago, and he still has nowhere to go, and our juniors don't know." ”
After the Kuomintang officials were sent away, some cultural relics dealers smashed open the door of the Pan family one after another, and saw that Pan Dayu was either sweet-talking and deceitful, or tempted by high prices.
There are even American collectors who have traveled thousands of miles to Suzhou to seek the crown, and they will not hesitate to bid hundreds of taels of gold and an American villa. But what he didn't expect was that the young woman was completely unmoved, and had to return to the same way with a gray face.
After experiencing this, Pan Dayu gathered his family and reminded them that the cultural relics dealers could not believe that no one could discuss the matter of hiding in the home, let alone privately change the treasure hidden in the seller.
Although the Pan clan are all young people, they are very sensible and reasonable, and after listening to Pan Dayu's words, they all learn from their grandfather to be low-key and never mention the secrets of Baoding.
Figure | Da Ke Ding (in the Shanghai Museum)
Figure | Da Lu Ding (in the Shanghai Museum)
The Mid-Autumn Festival in 1937 was the darkest Mid-Autumn Festival in Suzhou. After the August 13 Incident in Shanghai, the war gradually burned to Suzhou, and just after the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Japanese army began to bomb Suzhou. Pan Dayu's family took refuge in Guangfu Town on the shore of Taihu Lake.
The smoke of Taihu Lake was vast, and there was not a single cannon fire, but Pan Dayu could not sleep at night.
She thought about the big bowl ding and the big ke ding in the old mansion in Suzhou, the two big dings and the other collections of her grandfather were placed in the box of the old mansion, without any protection, if the Japanese army occupied Suzhou, the treasure was like giving it to each other.
Moreover, the Japanese are different from the former cultural relics dealers, if they want to get shuangding, they will do whatever it takes, in that case, even if they take the lives of the Pan family's brothers and sisters, they will not be able to save the shuangding!
Panda spent the night thinking of a way to bury Dading deep in the ground. Early the next morning, Pandau approached his family to discuss the matter.
It is also said that Dading was taken out of the city and placed in a hidden place in the suburbs. But Pan Dayu didn't think so, she said: "The two statues are half a person tall, and together they weigh nearly a thousand pounds, which is too ostentatious to walk on the road." It is still safer to bury the big ding. ”
Seeing that the Japanese army was about to invade Suzhou, the Pan family did not have time to think of other ways, and they had to seize the time to return to the city to hide the treasure.
Pan Dayu said that the fewer people who do this, the better. In the end, it was decided that only the brother-in-law Pan Boshan and the eighth brother of the cousin's family would return to the city with the two most trusted carpenters.
After explaining to the carpenter the reason for returning to the city, Pan Da Yu promised: "The treasure must not be leaked, from now on, the Pan family will support you and your family for a lifetime." ”
Before leaving, the eighth brother advised Pan Dayu to wait outside the city, but Pan Dayu could not rest assured, she must watch Dading settle down. So, the five people drove the car and returned to the old mansion in Shizi Street in the south of Suzhou City overnight.
After being bombed by the Japanese army, the city of Suzhou was full of the smell of gunpowder, but fortunately, the old house was not damaged much, and the bronzes were intact. Pan Dayu was relieved to see that Dading was safe and sound.
She instructed the carpenter to measure the size of the da ding and make a wooden box that could only carry two da dings. Then he went with his brother-in-law and eighth brother to check the rooms of the old mansion and look for a suitable room for hiding treasures.
This room should be hidden and inconspicuous, and there must be enough area for digging pits and hiding treasures. The three of them walked all over the house and finally chose a hall house in the backyard. This room is usually uninhabited, and it has long been piled up with debris and dilapidated.
The brother-in-law and the eighth brother removed the debris to make a clearing, and they carefully pried up the floor tiles, not even daring to disrupt the order, for fear that they would not be able to return to their original state for a while. Pandayu lit a candle, and the brothers dug through the ground by candlelight, and they dug all night, and the pit was already more than a man's depth.
Pan Dayu looked at the pit, shook his head, and said, "No, you have to dig again!" You'll have to dig a little deeper! If the Japanese find it, they will definitely dig three feet into the ground, and we can only hide from it if we dig deeper than them! ”
They were already exhausted, and after listening to Pandau's words, they also felt that it made sense, and since it was a treasure, it had to be hidden deeper to be safe. They didn't have time to eat dry food, so they jumped down the hole and continued digging.
On the other side, the box made by the carpenter also has some appearance. They used a few thick logs to lay the foundation, and then reinforced it layer by layer, which was enough to carry two large statues. The carpenter also made two winchs to facilitate the lifting of the big ding into the deep pit.
Just after the Mid-Autumn Festival, the moon was still as big as a jade disk, and several people used the moonlight and the faint candle fire to put the big ding into the deep pit. Two large statues are placed diagonally in wooden boxes, and the gaps are filled with small bronzes. Finally, the wooden box is sealed and covered with dirt.
As the dirt fell one by one, Panda's dangling heart finally let go. Looking at the Shuangding that once came from the soil and returned to the soil, Pan Da meditated in his heart: The ancestors blessed the Pan family and blessed the Shuangding.
After tamping the soil, they laid the floor tiles back into their original shape in the order they had memorized. The excess soil, Panda Yu, let the eight brothers evenly sprinkle it within the trees and flowers in the yard.
The backyard hall house was restored to its original state, and Panda yu walked around to examine it carefully, not daring to be sloppy. The eighth brother advised her that it was not appropriate to stay here for a long time, so she reluctantly left.
Figure | The pan family's treasure-hiding old house
Not long after, Suzhou fell. The Japanese army regarded the residences of various famous and prestigious families in Suzhou as their treasure houses, and any antique treasures became their pockets.
The Pan family, which owns the second of the "Three Treasures of the Sea", naturally became the focus of the Japanese army's raid, and the Japanese commander Matsui personally asked whether he could find the Big Lu Ding and the Big Ke Ding.
After finding the Pan house, the Japanese army broke through the door and searched the house carefully. But in the end, only some "worthless" gold, silver and jade were harvested, and the Japanese officer "Baga Eight Ga" kept shouting and ordering his men to dig up the ground in the Pan family's courtyard. However, the Pan family's yard was dug beyond recognition and there was still no trace of Dading.
The Japanese army was not reconciled, found Pan Dayu, and asked her face to face where Da Ding was hiding. Don't look at Pan Dayu as just a weak woman, but seeing the arrogant Japanese is not timid at all, she does not change her face, only said: "I don't know, I haven't seen it!" ”
The Japanese army interrogated the rest of the Pan family again, whether it was coercion or inducement, and the answer they got was only: "I don't know, I haven't seen it!" Even Panda's young children said the same thing.
When they did not get Dading, the Japanese spread their anger into the Pan family's house, and they looted several houses outside the city, and the Pan children who originally had ten thousand family wealth were eventually reduced to the bottom of society.
PanDayu fled with her children and only savings, and eventually took refuge in Shanghai. Even though life is difficult, Pan Dayu still does not forget her grandfather's testament, and she does not confide in anyone about the treasure hidden in the Pan family's old house.
Years of war have made people gradually forget the fallen Pan family. Da Lu Ding and Da Ke Ding returned to the soil to temporarily avoid the sharp edge, they were like swords, quietly waiting for the day when they were sheathed.
In 1951, the liberated new China was in full swing to restore its cultural undertakings. In order to protect cultural relics and provide a place for the public to see the exhibition, a museum will be established in Shanghai.
After Hearing this news, Panda Yu thought of Da Keding and Da Lu Ding. After the founding of New China, the country stopped the war, the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and she came step by step from the old society, knowing that the current government is a reliable and credible people's government.
She thought that if Da Lu Ding and Da Keding entered the museum, they could get better protection in the hands of professional cultural and cultural workers, and they could also let more people study cultural relics and study China's history. If the double ding is still hidden in the old house, it should be buried permanently.
When Pan Dayu and his family said that they wanted to dedicate the double to the country, the Pan family all raised their hands in approval.
Pan Dayu smiled and said, "Since everyone is in favor, then I will first write a letter and send it to the Ministry of Culture!" ”
She went to her desk and picked up her pen and wrote: "The Second Ding of The Dragon Is an important cultural relic of national character, and it is urgent to store it and keep it permanent." Sincerely willing to present most of the two major dings... for the observation and study of a wide audience..."
Figure | Pandayu's letter to the museum
After receiving the letter, the Ministry of Culture attached great importance to it, and sent the museum commissioner and Pan Dayu to the old residence in Suzhou. When the two huge bronze statues shed dust and appeared in front of people's eyes, the staff present were all amazed. The ancient ding is well preserved and has not left a single scar.
In recognition of Panda's donation of national treasures, the Ministry of Culture held a grand commendation meeting and awarded her a certificate of commendation and 20 million yuan (old currency). At that time, the Pan family was no longer a wealthy family, but Pan Dayu only accepted the award certificate and did not accept the cash reward, in her eyes, she just found the most suitable home for Shuangding.
Since then, Pan Dayu has donated a large number of cultural relics collected by Pan Jiazu in batches, and the Shanghai Museum alone has more than 400 cultural relics donated by her.
In 1959, the Museum of Chinese History (now the National Museum) in Beijing opened, and museums across the country applied for support. Cultural relics such as the Great Luding of the Shanghai Museum went north, and since then, the towns of Da Luding and Da Keding have been guarding the north and south.
In 2004, Pan Da Yu was already a hundred years old, in order to wish the elderly a happy birthday, the Cultural Relics Bureau specially organized the National Museum and the Shanghai Museum to hold an exclusive exhibition of Pan Da Yu for the elderly - "Centenarian Pan Da Yu Donated Da Lu Ding, Da Ke Ding Retrospective Special Exhibition".
Pan Dayu, with silver hair, sat in a wheelchair, and her children pushed her to the booth of Da Lu Ding and Da Ke Ding. The old man let her children stand up and looked at the two big statues like a child with excitement, and she said happily: "After so many years, nothing has changed!" I'll find them a good guy! ”
Panda died in 2007, and the award was still hung by her family in the most prominent position in the living room. Pan Dayu's name has also been engraved on the huge stone stele of the cultural relics donor of the Shanghai Museum, and the legend of her guardianship of the national treasure has been passed down through the ages like a giant ding.