Today's story is a bit long, listen to me slowly.
On March 19, 2005, CCTV's "Today's Statement" column produced a special issue on "National Treasure" as the theme of "National Treasure". During the period, the program team also announced many major and important cases, but one of them was the "Tang Dynasty National Treasure Case" that attracted the most attention, because this was a typical case of "people suing officials"! Liu Cuichao, a villager in Beizhangli Village, Jinzhou City, Hebei Province, filed a complaint against the Shijiazhuang Municipal Administration of Cultural Relics, asking for his ancestral antiques that were taken away by the Cultural Relics Administration twenty years ago!
As soon as this major antique case was announced by CCTV, it immediately attracted the attention of the national media, so what is this big case?
Time back to November 11, 1983, at this time Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, has entered the winter weather is particularly cold, there are not many pedestrians on the streets of the countryside, even if there are occasionally two or three out, they are also blown by the cold wind can not stop shivering.
But at about five o'clock in the afternoon, a rural woman was different from ordinary people, sweating and jogging and smiling, as if she was eager and excited, without the slightest regard for the strange eyes of others.
This person is the protagonist of today's story, Liu Cuichao, and her destination is the local heritage management office.
Liu Cuichao
After half a day, Liu Cuichao finally came to the cultural management office, and the staff were very surprised to see this woman who had trotted all the way, and one of the leaders of the stewards first handed him a cup of hot water, and then asked kindly:
"This big sister, are you looking for someone or doing something?"
Hearing that he was asked about his intentions, Liu Cuichao did not have time to drink the water, patted the bulging clothes and replied:
"I'm here to identify the treasure, can you help me find a more powerful expert?"
"Expert? Haha big sister our experts are very powerful, you can just go with this comrade. ”
Gao Yingmin
After saying that, the leader asked a duty officer to take Liu Cuichao upstairs and found a cultural relics expert named Gao Yingmin. Seeing the two people push the door into the house, Gao Yingmin, who was drinking tea, was very surprised, he felt that it was already this time, he was about to leave work, how could anyone come to the door. However, if you think about it, if you can come to this time, you must want to hide from others, so this treasure that you are looking for your own identification is likely not a common thing.
Thinking of this, Gao Yingmin hurriedly moved the table and chair, and then used the excuse of pouring water to prop up the duty personnel, and stayed until there were only two of them in the house, which asked Liu Cuichao about the treasure. As a rural woman, Liu Cuichao had never seen the world and did not know how to introduce it, so she had to take the treasure from her arms with one hand and say only in a promise:
"High expert, you can see if the two treasures handed down by my ancestors are real, and if they are really worth how much..."
Stone medicine mill
Stone medicine mill
Oh, my God! Liu Cuichao's voice did not fall, and Gao Yingmin exclaimed as he looked at the two objects taken out of the other party's hand. Following Gao Yingmin's gaze, a stone medicine mill and a black clay bowl came into view, these two cultural relics did not need to be looked at carefully, as long as the connoisseurs could see their preciousness with a dozen eyes.
On the other side, Liu Cuichao was also surprised to see the expert exclaiming, but before she could ask, Gao Yingmin's words interrupted her:
"These two things should be true, but I am not sure with the naked eye alone, and as for the value, I will not be able to estimate it for a while and a half, so I will give you a receipt, and you will go home first and wait for my news...."
The identification of cultural relics takes time, and Gao Yingmin used this as an excuse to leave two cultural relics behind, and gave Liu Cuichao a note to let her come back in two days. Liu Cuichao did not doubt that he had him, and took the receipt and left happily.
However, Gao Yingmin immediately found several staff members of the Cultural Affairs Management Office and went to The Village of Beizhangli where Liu Cuichao's family lived to conduct a private investigation. Do not check do not know, a check frightened, it turns out that the North Zhangli Village just found an ancient tomb a few days ago, according to the excavated cultural relics judged that it should be a middle Tang Dynasty tomb.
Experts from the local cultural management office have excavated the ancient tombs, and many precious cultural relics have been unearthed in them.
The first to discover the ancient tomb was Liu Cuichao's younger brother. And for the first discoverer to discover this tomb, the local government also did not hesitate to reward the other party with a 600 yuan bonus.
Could it be that Liu Cuichao's so-called two heirlooms were stolen from the ancient tomb?
Gao Yingmin pondered: These two cultural relics are likely to be hidden in her own home by Liu Cuichao after the discovery of the ancient tomb, rather than the ancestors in her mouth!
After reaching this conclusion, Gao Yingmin already had his own judgment on how to deal with these two cultural relics.
Liu Cuichao didn't think much about it, and hurried home to catch up with dinner, but at this time, where did she know that this parting between her and the heirloom was more than twenty years.
After waiting at home for a few days, Liu Cuichao estimated that the authenticity of the two heirlooms should have been identified, so he took the receipt to gao Yingmin.
When Gao Yingmin saw Liu Cuichao looking for her, he said to her: "The identification results of two items have come out, one is from the Tang Dynasty, and the other is most likely from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, both of which are genuine." ”
Knowing that both were genuine, Liu Was happy and offered to retrieve the two heirlooms.
At this time, Gao Yingmin said: "These two items are not here with me now, and have been transferred to the corresponding cultural relics management department." ”
Hearing Gao Yingmin say this, Liu Cuichao was stunned for a while.
At first, she thought that this was Gao Yingmin's unwillingness to return her heirlooms, and she casually found a reason to prevaricate herself.
However, after seeing Gao Yingmin take out the acceptance documents of the cultural relics management department, Liu Cuichao suddenly understood that his family's heirloom was probably really handed over by Gao Yingmin.
Liu Cuichao was angry and angry, and she pointed at Gao Yingmin and said, "Why did you hand over my family's heirloom without my consent?" ”
Gao Yingmin retorted: "This is not an heirloom at all, but a cultural relic that you have hidden privately, which belongs to the state." ”
"This is my family's heirloom, my grandfather passed it on to me."
The two argued for a long time, and finally Gao Yingmin made it clear that the two cultural relics were no longer in his hands and had been handed over to the corresponding cultural relics management department.
At this time, Liu Cuichao also understood that from Gao Yingmin, he was afraid that he would not be able to return those two heirlooms.
So she went to the cultural relics department to receive the heirloom to inquire, but the cultural relics department only knew that it was the cultural relics handed in by Gao Yingmin, where she knew Liu Cuichao, Liu Cuichao could not come up with evidence to prove that the two cultural relics were her own, and naturally she was turned away.
Liu Cuichao could not produce evidence for a while to prove that it was his family heirloom, and the Bureau of Culture and Sports used this as an excuse to refuse to return the cultural relics to her.
Liu Cuichao left in chagrin. She could not let go of the matter, but then her family became famous in the local township because of the tomb, and later someone from the Cultural Relics Lovers Association came to her and invited her to join. The local Communist Youth League also praised her and called on everyone to learn from her.
In the next 20 years, Liu Cuichao would find the Bureau of Culture and Sports or Gao Yingmin as soon as he had time and ask for the two cultural relics, but the Bureau of Culture and Sports still adhered to the original view and refused to return the cultural relics to her. But the matter did not really end, and this rural woman had an unimaginable attachment to these two heirlooms.
With the development of the times and the enhancement of rural legal awareness, Liu Cuichao gradually realized that it is impossible to get cultural relics back by running back and forth on his own, and only by relying on the law can he do it.
Therefore, Liu Cuichao and his brother summed it up, and finally decided to take Gao Yingmin and the Jinju Bureau of Culture and Sports to court on October 26, 2003.
On October 26, 2003, the Jinju Municipal Junior Court received a complaint from Liu Cuichao, in which Liu Cuichao wrote:
"On November 11, 1983, I took one piece of my white stone medicine and one piece of black pottery bowl to Gao Yingmin for identification, but for some reason, the identification has not been successful. When I asked Gao Yingmin for it, he said that he was going to leave by the Jinju Municipal Bureau of Culture and Sports, and the bureau was the same, prevaricating me for various reasons and refusing to return it. ”
Therefore, Liu Cuichao hoped that the first defendant, Gao Yingmin, could pay his own compensation of 3,000 yuan, and the second defendant, the Jinzhou Municipal Cultural Relics Bureau, could return the two cultural relics in a timely manner.
Based on the appeal, the court also roughly understood the basic situation of the case, but because the Jinzhou Municipal Cultural Relics Bureau and the primary court belonged to the same level, they were not good at trying the units at the same level and in the same city, so they had to report the situation to the Shijiazhuang Intermediate Court, hoping that the superior could make a judgment.
When the Shijiazhuang Intermediate Court learned of this situation, it attached great importance to it and immediately handed the case over to the Xinji Primary Court, where it was formally heard in 2004.
Xinji Court
On the day of the trial, the plaintiff and the defendant were all present at the scene, but what everyone did not expect was that Gao Yingmin's words directly reversed the original one-sided public opinion. Gao Yingmin said that everything is different from what Liu Cuichao said, in his opinion, those two cultural relics are not heirlooms of the Liu family at all, but the cultural relics unearthed in the Tang Dynasty tombs in Northern Zhangli Village! Therefore, Liu Cuichao not only does not have any right to appeal, but she should become a defendant after being investigated.
Gao Yingmin then produced his own evidence, saying that according to documents from the Cultural Management Office, on the afternoon of November 10, 1983, an ancient tomb of the Tang Dynasty had just been discovered in Beizhangli Village, and according to the visitor registration form, Liu Cuichao went to the Cultural Management Office to identify the time on the afternoon of the 11th, only one day apart.
In such a short period of time, two heirlooms appeared in Liu Cuichao's family, which is too coincidental, right?
Not only that, but then Gao Yingmin also said that according to his observation at that time, there was still mud on these two cultural relics, like it had just been excavated from the ancient tomb.
After hearing Gao Yingmin's words, everyone present sighed "as it was", because if it is really like Gao Yingmin said, then the nature of Liu Cuichao's family is very bad, but is this really the case?
This is not yet known, Liu Cuichao suffered from the loss of no culture and only knew how to cry out injustice, so the case had to be temporarily adjourned until January 26, 2005, when the trial was resumed.
This time in court, due to sufficient preparations, Liu Cuichao appeared to be less passive, and when the lawyers of the two sides were arguing endlessly about whether the cultural relics were heirlooms or excavated cultural relics, she directly came up with a key piece of evidence, that is, the agreement between her grandfather to purchase these two cultural relics.
Although this twenty-seven-year note of the Republic of China has been yellowed, the content on it is very clear, so the court finally adopted Liu Cuichao's statement and determined that this is the heirloom of the Liu family.
Black clay bowl
However, even if the source of the cultural relics can be determined, it is still inconclusive whether these two cultural relics were "snatched" by Gao Yingmin or voluntarily handed over by Liu Cuichao.
In this regard, Gao Yingmin directly came up with a series of evidence, he said that Liu Cuichao voluntarily handed in, here are the files she donated at that time, as well as the reward vouchers of relevant units for her.
Hearing this, Liu Cuichao was very confused, she did not know when she signed the file, but she still remembered the rewards. Liu Cuichao said that she did have a bonus to give herself that year, but she knew that it was a "sealing fee", so she directly donated a penny to the brigade and regiment branch in public.
This situation is obviously beneficial to Liu Cuichao, after all, the thing is hers, as long as she insists that she has not donated, then the court will inevitably rule her in favor. However, at this time, the words of Gao Yingmin's defense lawyer once again reversed the situation, saying that Liu Cuichao "donated cultural relics" in 1983 and did not choose to appeal until 2003, a gap of twenty years, which had long exceeded the two-year litigation period stipulated by the state, so even if there was any evidence, her claim was invalid.
The lawyer is true, and once the litigation period is exceeded, such disputes will be invalid. Therefore, after learning of this situation, the Xinji Primary Court made a decision on February 2, 2005, to rule that Liu Cuichao lost the case.
Such a judgment of Liu Cuichao is naturally unacceptable, after all, this is an heirloom handed down from his ancestors, and it is a wealth worth millions. So on June 28 of that year, Liu Cuichao appealed again, demanding that the Jinzhou Municipal Cultural Relics Bureau return the cultural relics.
Liu Cuichao's re-appeal immediately aroused widespread concern in the whole society, and this bizarre case of "people suing the official" also made the people have different opinions. Therefore, in order to ensure that the judgment can be both fair and to appease public opinion, after many judgments, under the resolution of the Shijiazhuang Intermediate People's Court, the Zhengding County People's Court immediately set up a special case team.
After a year-long investigation and evidence collection, the special case team visited multiple units and took the testimony of multiple witnesses before finally reaching a verdict. The verdict is as follows:
Gao Yingmin and the Jinju Municipal Bureau of Cultural Relics were required to return the two cultural relics within 60 days, and they had to bear the litigation costs of all lawsuits.
This case, which lasted for nearly thirty years, ended with the court upholding the original judgment and Liu Cuichao's final victory.