Many countries in the world have their own unique cultural districts, such as the banks of the Seine in Paris, France, the Fuye Street in London, and Kandacho, the street of the "Sea of Books" in Japan. In China, it is the Liulichang Cultural Street in Beijing.

Since 1977, the state has allocated a huge amount of money to rebuild Liulichang Cultural Street in imitation of the architectural style of the Qing Dynasty, and the first phase of the project was completed in October 1984, with a store construction area of 30,000 square meters.

Since then, the old bookstores, new bookstores, and cultural relics shops have flourished day by day. After the renovation, the Liuli Factory burst back into vitality, and several store owners who have been operating here for many years recalled to reporters that the 1985 to early 90s was one of the most prosperous periods of the Liuli Factory.

As soon as Li Yifan and the others got out of the car, they saw shops and stalls on both sides of the street, and tourists were weaving.

Li Xiangdong looked at the endless crowd around him and asked, "Yifan, where is this, why is it so lively?"

"Liulichang, from the Ming and Qing dynasties is the capital's famous cultural relics market, it is said that in the Qing Dynasty, He Shen often accompanied the Qianlong Emperor to come here to Taobao. Li Yifan said as he walked.

"Yifan, why are there so many foreigners here?" asked Li Xiangdong curiously looking at foreign friends of all colors.

"Now our country has just struggled for food and clothing, and collecting is something that can only be done in the affluent stage of society. The ancients said that this is what it means to know honor and disgrace when the warehouse is sufficient. Brother Dong, can you buy calligraphy, paintings, and porcelain for your family when your stomach is not full?"

"That's not possible, it's like three fat and a few of them, they can have meat to eat and drink wine for every meal, that's a heavenly life. Who has the spare money to buy that thing. ”

"That's the case, in fact, the vast majority of our people have the same idea as Sanfat, mainly because we are still in the stage of food and clothing. Europe, the United States, and Japan are different, and people are now in the stage of affluence, so they have spiritual needs, so they are interested in these works of art, and they can afford to pay for this demand. ”

"It turns out that this is the case, these foreigners seem to be foreigners. Yifan, then what are we doing here? I think you must have something important, go to Panjiayuan for a while, and come to this glass factory for a while. Li Xiangdong suddenly realized at first, but suddenly asked with some doubts.

"Aren't we going to buy oral liquid scientific research projects from scientific research institutes? I think we need to further strengthen the connection with the director and promote the transfer of projects as soon as possible, so as not to have too many dreams at night, and there is no shortage of smart people in this world." Li Yifan said.

"Do you want to buy some antiques as gifts?"

"I inquired that Director Yu loves calligraphy and painting, and I wanted to see if I could find a suitable painting that could be used as a lubricant to strengthen our relationship. Li Yifan explained.

While the two were talking, they arrived at the famous Rong Bao Zhai.

Rong Bao Zhai is a bookstore specializing in Chinese calligraphy and painting publications and ancient books. The store is also a steel-concrete antique building built in 1977 by **, with a total area of about 300 square meters, two floors above ground and one floor underground.

Rong Bao Zhai's storefront is surrounded by a hall full of counters, and the walls of the counters are hung with Chinese paintings of various genres.

Li Yifan walked around the hall, browsed roughly, and saw the works of Ye Qianyu, Huang Zhou, Chen Banding, Li Kuchan, Jiang Zhaohe and other famous calligraphers and painters, the price was about 100 yuan to 1000 yuan a piece. But I didn't see any of Qi Baishi's works.

"Comrade, are there any paintings of Old Man Shiraishi?" asked Li Yifan to a middle-aged salesman.

The salesman looked at Li Yifan for a moment, "Asked, are you a foreign guest?"

As soon as Li Yifan heard it, he understood that the cultural relics and antiques at that time had the task of earning foreign exchange, so there was a distinction between inside and outside in sales.

"I have a foreign exchange voucher and want to buy a piece of Old Man Shiraishi's work. Li Yifan hurriedly replied.

The salesman immediately relaxed when he heard his expression, and said enthusiastically, "Then please follow me to the second floor, there are several paintings of Old Man Shiraishi in our foreign guest hall." ”

Li Yifan and Li Xiangdong followed the salesman to the second floor.

The salesman first asked Li Yifan to sit down, and then took out a painting from the room inside. Unfold the painting on the bookcase in front of Li Yifan.

Qi Baishi was born as a real peasant, so many of his paintings are about this aspect, small insects, small animals, etc., and the special images of the paintings are vivid and spiritual.

This painting is a flower with a dragonfly, the flower painting is very simple, this dragonfly can be said to be the finishing touch, making this painting very energetic. At the bottom of the painting, there is also a price tag that reads 1220 yuan.

Nowadays, people seem to think that this price is impossible, any famous painting in the 21st century is in millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions, you are now actually writing a painting of Qi Baishi 1220 yuan, is it funny?

This is really not, the market price at that time was like this, because at that time, the purchase of antique calligraphy and painting was mainly foreigners, while in Europe and the United States, Chinese painting was not the mainstream collection variety, and the price was not high.

To tell a true story, Xu Linlu is Qi Baishi's protégé and the first manager of Rong Baozhai after the founding of New China. Xu Huachi, he is Xu Linlu's beloved son, and he is also the "little Jiu'er" in Huang Yongyu's eyes.

In 1981, out of his love for works of art, Xu Huachi received a copy of Qi Baishi's authentic "Four Screens of Flowers and Birds".

But it's such a fine product, when he showed it to his father Xu Linlu to ask for advice. And after Xu Linlu read it, he faintly said how much money did he receive? When he heard more than 100 yuan, Xu Linlu just faintly said "It's expensive"!

100 yuan to buy Qi Baishi's genuine work "Four Screens of Flowers and Birds", but after the other party saw the painting, it must be genuine, and said that it was expensive to buy. If you put it now, it must be said that you have made a lot of money, and you have picked up a big leak.

But in that era of foreign exchange, 100 yuan to win Qi Baishi's painting was indeed a little expensive. But 30 years later, such a similar work is worth more than 230 million yuan.

One more story. In 1977, Lu Yan rarely came to Beijing and lived in Xu's house.

Lu Yanshao took out five of his own paintings. Let the 25-year-old Xu Hua go to Rong Bao Zhai to sell.

Han Duquan was the leader of Rong Bao Zhai's collection of paintings at that time. The number one person who received the painting, which means that the expert was an expert in the collection, and the manager said that it didn't count, and he had to be found.

When he arrived at Rong Bao Zhai, Xu Huachi said, "There are a few paintings, let you take a look."

Han Duquan said, "You open it." ”

After opening it, Han Duquan said, "Keep one." ”

Xu Huachi sighed in his heart: "How much is a foot?"

Han Duquan said 8 yuan, but Xu Huachi came back with a scroll of paintings. (At that time, Wang Xuetao's paintings were 12 pieces a foot, and Li Keran was 15 pieces a foot.) After returning home, Lu Yanshao was angry and didn't speak. After 2007, Lu Yan sold 10 million less works. . .

At that time, the famous calligraphy and painting were not as valuable as they are now, at that time, according to the square foot, Lu Yanshao was worth 8 yuan a foot, and Huang Binhong's was only less than 2 yuan, because the fame was not big enough. And even if it was Qi Baishi's artwork at that time, a painting was normally only 100 yuan.