Mounting classical paintings on scrolls and displaying them in their complete form is a traditional Chinese practice that best protects the value of fragile pictorial artifacts.

But the British do not understand this.

They truncated the "Female Historian" into multiple sections and displayed them on cardboard.

Yang Xin, a calligraphy and painting connoisseur and former vice president of the Palace Museum, once commented: "The British have transformed this work according to the Western form. It should be hung on the wall like an oil painting, so he cut off this "Female Historian" paragraph by paragraph. ”

In other words, the British treated traditional Chinese paintings that they did not understand in the same way as oil paintings and murals.

Shi Mingli, a researcher in the Asian Department of the British Museum, once explained this behavior:

"The British Museum's Portrait of a Female Historian is divided into four separate sections. Among them, the heart part of the painting is separated from the water barrier of the front inscription and the water barrier of the back inscription...... Framed on paneling...... The surface of the silk with this mounting method is not prone to wrinkles and breakage. Compared to paintings on scroll panels, they are less protected and are susceptible to exposure to light or other environmental influences. ”

But this approach is clearly wrong.

Tao Yuzhi, a researcher at the Shanghai Museum's Department of Painting and Calligraphy, once commented on this behavior:

"The practice of dividing ancient Chinese paintings and calligraphy into several parts and mounting them on wooden panels is impossible at the Shanghai Museum, the Palace Museum in Beijing, or the Palace Museum in Taipei. This practice itself is tantamount to destroying cultural relics and causing irreversible damage to calligraphy and painting works. ”

As a result of this mistake, the "Female Historian Atlas" was permanently damaged and difficult to recover.

In addition to the arrogance of the British themselves, the misleading of the British Museum by RB art consultants at that time was also an important factor.

Lu Zongrun, a master of ancient calligraphy and painting restoration in Japan, said:

"At the beginning of the last century, museums in Europe and the United States were mainly influenced by the first generation of art connoisseurs who went to Europe and the United States from RB to collect Chinese paintings in the early part of the last century, and at that time, there were no Chinese scholars involved in the Western museum system. ”

If a country is weak, even the right to speak on how to protect its cultural relics will be snatched away by other countries.

Today, the British Museum regrets its brutality.

At a seminar held by the British Museum on the Female Historian, the British Museum said that this process is irreversible, and although the most advanced technological means can now be used to analyze its damage, it cannot be fundamentally reversed. Therefore, at present, we can only take expedient measures, use a compromise method, not as a permanent display, display one month a year, and usually put it into storage for protection work.

......

After visiting the Chinese Pavilion of the British Museum, Han Zhou was also full of emotion.

Return to your accommodation and prepare for the rest of your treasure hunt.

Rented an off-road vehicle as usual. Buy all kinds of wilderness survival items.

The focus is on satellite phones, locators, folding shovels, fishing gear, and a full set of diving equipment - because there is a treasure spot in the lake.

The next morning, Han Zhou drove to the suburbs.

In the afternoon, we rushed to a remote lake.

The water of the lake is dark and blue, and it is very deep.

The banks of the river are green and grassy.

There are a few old trees dotted along the river. In the afternoon, the sun is just right, and some people who go out in the wild sit under the trees, or have a picnic, or go fishing.

Han Zhou parked his car on the side of the road.

There are many people, and it is not advisable to act rashly.

He lifted a small bench, put on a sunhat, took out the fishing rod he had just bought, and started fishing first.

The bait used is a lure, which is a kind of bait, not a real bait.

Lua's fishing method is to put it in the water, simulate lifelike natural small fish, small shrimp, insects, etc., attract fish to attack, and catch them when the fish attack.

Lure is also the most common fishing method in Europe and the United States.

Fishing until the evening. I caught three perch, which are common in Europe, and all of them were released. Fishing is just to kill time.

In the middle of the night, there was no one else around the lake.

It's silent.

Only occasionally a fish jumps to the surface of the water to make a splash.

Han Zhou returned to the car and put on a full set of diving equipment.

Go to the bank of the river and start diving.

The British should not be able to electrify fish. So he has nothing to worry about.

Light the way forward with powerful underwater searchlights. Because the mobile phone is not waterproof, so it can't be taken down, Han Zhou relied on the waterproof compass and groped forward in the established direction.

Slowly, it was ten meters below it.

Landing at the bottom of the lake, the soil is moist and soft, making it difficult to walk.

Keep groping your way.

Five minutes later, Han Zhou kicked a hard thing at his feet.

The searchlight shone underfoot, and it was found to be a metal object, stuck in the mud at the bottom of the river.

Pick up this piece of metal, it's so heavy.

Han Zhou swam to the river bank with difficulty.

Finally got to the shore.

A searchlight shines.

The discovery was a statue. It should be made of copper, because it has been in water for a long time and is covered with a layer of rust.

But it is still possible to distinguish the form.

It's a snake.

Statue of a snake's head.

Han Zhou looked at it for a moment and wondered, "Could it be the snake head in the bronze statue of the 12 zodiac beast heads in the Old Summer Palace?"

The bronze statue of the 12 zodiac animal heads in the Old Summer Palace is carved with the theme of the 12 zodiac animals, a total of 12 statues, which is known to everyone in China.

These bronze statues were originally on the 12 stone platforms on the north and south banks of the fan-shaped pool fountain in front of the Western Building of the Old Summer Palace and Haiyan Hall. It was designed by the Italian Lang Shining, a court Western painter, supervised by the Frenchman Jiang Youren, and produced by the court craftsmen.

On the south bank of the pond are Zi Rat, Yin Hu, Chenlong, Wu Ma, Shen Monkey and Wu Dog, and on the north bank are Ugly Ox, Mao Rabbit, Si Snake, Wei Yang, and Hai Pig. These portraits are all animal heads and human bodies, with a bronze head and a stone body, with a hollow water fountain connected to it, and water is sprayed from the mouth every two hours (two hours), and at noon, the fountain gushes out of the mouth at the same time from the mouth of the twelve portraits, which is a marvel.

In 1860, the British and French forces invaded China and burned the Old Summer Palace, and the bronze statue of the head of the beast began to be lost overseas.

It has become an eternal pain in the hearts of the sons and daughters of China.

As of November 2019, seven bronze statues of animal heads lost in the Old Summer Palace, including rat heads, ox heads, tiger heads, rabbit heads, horse heads, monkey heads, and pig heads, have returned to the motherland in different ways.

Five bronze animal heads of ox, tiger, horse, monkey and pig are collected in the Poly Art Museum. The rat and rabbit are collected in the National Museum of China.

Among them, the bronze statue of the pig's head and the bronze statue of the horse's head were purchased by Mr. Stanley Ho in 2003 and 2019 respectively and returned to the country.