Text | Remembering Hexi
Edit | Remembering Hexi
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preface
Chinese culture is broad and profound, and the transmission of many cultures is through the inheritance of old objects, so that the world can see the cultural characteristics of different periods.
There are also people who specialize in collecting Chinese cultural treasures, which they regard as their life's work, and devote most of their time to collecting.
There is such a Chinese-American born in China, because his ancestors were well-known figures, he left a lot of antique paintings for him, and he lived up to the expectations of his family and protected these national treasure-level antiques very well.
He is a world-renowned collector of paintings and calligraphy, and even though he lives in United States, his nostalgia for China has always been there.
The only thing that is puzzling is why such a patriotic collector would choose to auction books when he donated them to the Shanghai Library, and let the Shanghai Library spend $4.5 million to buy these books.
A few years later, he treated United States in the opposite direction of China, donating 183 national treasures originally from China to United States for free, but did not receive a penny.
After such a double standard behavior was known by the domestic people, everyone was indignant, it was originally a cultural treasure belonging to China, why could it be donated to United States in a grand manner.
Is there something unspeakable about this, or is the so-called patriotic collector just a gimmick at all?
Weng Tongyong, who loves collecting
This person's name is Weng Wange, is the fifth generation of Weng Tong's grandson in the late Qing Dynasty, Weng Wange's precious calligraphy and paintings, most of them are from Weng Tonggong, as a grandson, he naturally got the right to inherit.
Speaking of Weng Tongyi, he is a well-known big man.
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He was the master of Emperor Tongzhi and Emperor Guangxu, because when these two emperors ascended the throne, they were still young, in order to assist the emperor, they specially selected a highly respected and talented master from a group of literati ministers to take on the important task of the emperor.
Weng Tongyi used his special identity to enlighten the young emperor, and also supported the reform of the law with his unique political opinions.
originally wanted to make the Qing government stronger through the reform of the law, but because of the failure of the Hundred Days Restoration, he was dismissed and withdrew from officialdom.
Weng Tongyi was not only a politician in the late Qing Dynasty, but also had another identity, that is, a calligrapher, who was extremely good at calligraphy, painting and articles, because he was very accomplished in this field, so he was also respected as a calligrapher by later generations.
Like many literati and artists, Weng Tongyi is particularly fond of artworks, and as long as good works fall into his eyes, he will not hesitate to spend a lot of money to keep them.
The "Ten Thousand Miles of the Yangtze River" by the Qing Dynasty painter Wang Hui was bought by Weng Tonggong by embezzling the money from buying a house, and after he bought it, he was regarded as a treasure by Weng Tonggong and treasured it well.
It's just that Weng Tongyi has no heirs, and in the face of such a large-scale family collection, it must be passed on intact to be meaningful.
So he chose the descendants of his brother Weng Tongshu and passed them to his own name.
In this way, it is not surprising why his fifth-generation grandson Weng Wange has so many precious calligraphy and paintings in his hands.
The Weng family has crossed the ocean
In 1918, Weng Wange was born in Shanghai, and he didn't take it seriously when he came to this family collection suddenly, after all, he was still young, and it was normal to not take it seriously.
But because of the strict family style, Onwango has been strictly required since he was a child, after all, if such a large number of family collections fall into the hands of unscrupulous descendants, it will live up to the expectations of his ancestors for generations.
Later, at the age of 20, Ong Wange crossed the ocean to study in United States, United States where he saw a completely different customs and customs from China, which coincided with the turbulence of the domestic situation at that time, and in order to protect the family collection, he spent a lot of effort to send them on a cruise ship to United States.
These family collections were shipped with him from Shanghai to New York, where they drifted at sea for half a year before finally arriving in the United States.
The most surprising thing is that these collections have been well preserved even after they have traveled to the ocean, which is a great blessing, and he has lived up to the expectations of his ancestors for generations to complete the mission of inheritance.
China and the United States are treated differently
On December 13, 2018, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, United States, issued an announcement that disappointed all collectors.
It turned out that Weng Wange actually donated 183 national treasures in his family collection to United States free of charge, including a total of 130 paintings, 31 calligraphy, 18 rubbings, and 4 weaving and embroidery works, these national treasures spanned the development of China in the 13th century and experienced the change of five dynasties.
After all, this is a cultural relic belonging to China and a cultural treasure of China, so how can it be donated to United States? These works have nothing to do with United States, so what is his purpose in doing so?
This incident made all the Chinese angry, and everyone learned that it was not the first time that Weng Wange had donated in the past ten years, and even the most famous "Yangtze River Map" in their family collection, such an important work of art, was donated to United States by Weng Wange.
This is really infuriating, in the name of a patriotic collector, but with a big wave, how arrogant and generous to the United States, it is difficult to make people doubt his ulterior motives.
In contrast, in 2000, in the name of patriotism, he transferred 542 rare and ancient books to the Shanghai Library in the form of auction.
When the Shanghai Library learned that the ancient books belonging to China were going to be auctioned, it was also open-minded, and no matter how much money was spent, the library must also auction these ancient books, and these ancient books that witnessed the changes in China's history must not be lost again.
After the auction, the Shanghai Library sold the books for $4.5 million, and they were so treasured that they are still in the library.
How to say it, the attitude of the Chinese-American Weng Wange towards United States and the attitude towards China is simply very different, and those cultural treasures that belong to China do not know if there is a chance to return to China.
From the perspective of human nature, it is understandable for Weng Wange to sit like this, after all, human nature is selfish, he is already a United States person, and future generations may always live in United States, and it will be difficult to intersect with China in the future.
The wealth he has accumulated by his ancestors has long made him worry-free for generations, but for the future of his children and grandchildren, he must spend a lot of money to buy United States in order to enter the upper class of United States, which is obvious.
epilogue
It is undeniable that Weng Wange has indeed made a great contribution to the inheritance of Chinese culture, but the deceased is great, and what Weng Wange did has become an established fact, and there is no need to trace it back.