The use of art as a gift is not created by today's people, and it definitely has a long history in our country, which is called "elegant bribe". "Elegant bribery" can be traced back to the Han Dynasty, the Tang and Song dynasties gradually became a trend, and the Ming and Qing dynasties have reached the extreme. It is said that in the Ming Dynasty, calligraphy and painting could be used as silver, which was "hard currency", and naturally could also be used as gift money. As a result, antique calligraphy and painting have become the secret weapon of officialdom communication, and "elegant bribery" has become a trend.

In ancient times, Shilin was ashamed to talk about money and was so elegant, so he used antique calligraphy and painting as a medium to achieve the best of both worlds. The big corrupt officials in the Ming and Qing dynasties were not "vulgar" people. Zhang Zeduan's "Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival", Tang Wu Daozi's "Nanyue Picture", Wang Wei's "Yuanguang Xiaojing", Song Huizong's "Autumn Eagle", Song Gaozong's "Title Wang Zhongqimei", and Su Dongpo's "Ink Bamboo" were all once in the collection of Yan Song, a corrupt official in the Ming Dynasty. It is said that Yan Song loved chess, so he received hundreds of pairs of jasper, white jade and gold and silver chess.

He Shen, a big corrupt official in the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, was also known for his love of "elegant bribes". He Shen is not a person who does not learn and does not know, and he is quite insightful in books and paintings, although the number of masterpieces collected is only more than 170, but it is absolutely a fine piece. Emperor Qianlong is also a lover of calligraphy and painting, "Shiqu Baoji" is the best proof, so He Shen often used rare calligraphy and painting to "bribe" the emperor.

Unfortunately, this tradition has been well preserved. "The use of art as a tool for bribery is a new topic in the legislative, judicial and disciplinary fields. Some discipline inspection cadres reluctantly said: "The higher the level of the cadre, the higher the value and proportion of art in the bribes received." ”

From Lai Moumou, Wen Moumou, Ma Moumou, to Li Moumou, Xu Moumou, Liu Moumou...... Among the high-ranking officials who have fallen in recent years, all of them have been found to have treasured antiques, calligraphy and paintings. From Qi Baishi and Zhang Daqian to Chen Yifei and Fan Zeng, from porcelain and purple sand to ivory and mahogany. There are also more avant-garde contemporary artworks.

The most famous of these is a police chief, Wang Moumou, whose collection of antiques, calligraphy and paintings in his home is simply a shame for many professional museums. This "Tianyi Museum" includes 195 works of calligraphy and painting. 27 pieces of ancient porcelain and Western artworks, 1,351 pieces of stamps, cultural relics, bloodstone, etc. Among them, there are many excellent products, such as Qi Baishi's "Spring Mountain Map", the French bronze gilt harp pattern tray table clock, and the Doucai Tuan flower pot during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty......

"Learn from Zeng Guofan from politicians, and learn from Hu Xueyan from business." Today, the story of Hu Xueyan, a red-roofed businessman who was rich and rivaled in the late Qing Dynasty, is still respected by many people, and such a story is recorded in "The Biography of Hu Xueyan":

In the seventh year of Guangxu, in order to help Zuo Zongtang go west, open a shipping bureau, and run foreign affairs, Hu Xueyan planned to "borrow 3 million taels of foreign silver" from foreign businessmen in Germany and Britain. However, this plan is going to happen. It was necessary to get permission from the Qing government. At that time, the head of the household department and the prime minister, the minister of national affairs, and the minister of the Yamen (equivalent to the current Minister of Finance and Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation) Bao Jun were a figure who had to be fought for.

However, Hu Xueyan didn't know Baojun, and it would be futile to send money rashly. As a result, Hu Xueyan, who had long been well versed in the way of "elegant bribery", came to Liulichang and found a credible antique dealer to act as a middleman for "gift-giving".

Hu Xueyan asked the antique dealer to contact Bao Jun, saying that some buyers liked this painting very much and were willing to ask Bao Jun for 30,000 taels of silver to "cut love". Bao Jun naturally knew that although this painting was good, where would it be so expensive. At the moment, I understand and tell the antique dealer that he is willing to "the beauty of adulthood" with the virtue of a gentleman.

The transaction, in today's parlance, is called "money laundering."

In view of the increasing prominence of bribery in the form of works of art. The Commission for Discipline Inspection promulgated new regulations: Officials are not allowed to collect antique calligraphy and paintings, and they are not allowed to charge pen polishing fees, and so on. However, there are too many ways to "work around" after all.

"I bought a broken teapot in Panjiayuan, and then I said it was from the Ming Dynasty. Send it to the auction house for auction, and then someone will auction it for a million. This does not seem to be a violation of any law. And it's very elegant, I can only say that I have good eyesight and pick up leaks. This is called taking the false as the true. Lang Yong said. "I took a Qianlong vase and put it in the glaze factory, you bought it for 10,000 yuan, it is actually worth 1 million, which is called true and false. ”

We don't know how many times such episodes have been played out in antique shops and auction houses. "One story I heard was that two companies were bidding for a 10 million project, and the opponent gave the leader a Land Rover for a free test drive. The company here didn't have so much money, so it spent thousands of yuan to find someone to imitate a Qi Baishi, took it to the auction company to sell it and took a selfie, and auctioned more than 80 (10,000), and then sent it to the leader with the payment voucher of the auction company. Lang Yong said.

At one time, the "green landscape map" of Zhang Daqian received by Wen Moumou was appraised as much as 3.64 million yuan, which shocked many people, but in the subsequent trial, it was identified as a "general imitation" by the State Cultural Relics Appraisal Committee of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

It's just that I don't know, did Wen Moumou do the thing about the person who sent the painting?

There is another thing that is even more bizarre, a huge loan fraud case revealed a shocking secret: Yang Moumou, the former vice president of the Palace Museum, and other 5 top appraisal experts, issued a sky-high appraisal of 2.4 billion yuan for the "golden jade clothes" made by the scammers.

As a result, the two presidents of the China Construction Bank believed in the economic strength of the fraudsters, and after discovering that they had been defrauded of more than 600 million yuan, they not only did not report the case, but also continued to provide more than 400 million yuan of funds for their violations, leading the bank to lose more than 540 million yuan in the end.

After three months of hard work, the reporter flipped through more than 350 dossiers and contacted the experts at that time for in-depth interviews. They admit that during the assessment, they did not even open the glass cover of the "golden jade clothes", but only walked around, "the process is not very regular".

Even the appraisal experts dare to come here like this, so why don't others? This matter has been pierced for days and days, and five appraisal experts, this is still possible.

In the file of Xie Moumou's loan fraud case, there is a testimony of a witness, Niu Moumou. Xie Moumou's first-instance verdict excerpted some of them: Xie Moumou had two "antiques", one was a "golden jade clothes" and the other was a "silver jade clothes". Actually, the two "jade clothes" I wore with the jade pieces he gave me were worthless. He insisted that I find an expert to evaluate the two "jade clothes". I went to Wang Moumou, the former secretary general of the China Collectors Association. Wang Moumou also found 4 experts including Moumou, the former vice president of the Palace Museum, to make an evaluation report for the "jade clothes". The appraised price is 2.4 billion. Xie Moumou gave the expert hundreds of thousands of evaluation fees.

Let's not talk about the process of money laundering, that's how it is anyway. But later, I heard Yang Moumou say that this thing is still quite ridiculous, ridiculous and sad, it is simply a group of irresponsible people doing an irresponsible thing.

In fact, this Yang Moumou Zhang Tianyuan didn't know him, but Professor Li Mingguang and Yang Moumou were close friends, and after this incident, he went to ask about it, because he really didn't believe that Yang Moumou would help people do this kind of thing.

Now in his eighties, he is the former vice president of the Palace Museum

Everyone walked around the outside of the glass cabinet and took a look

Yang Moumou sued Dong Xuejuku. Before the identification, he didn't know anything about Walson Group, and only met Xie Moumou at the scene.

Yang admitted that the appraisal process was indeed not in accordance with the rules.

"To be honest, it's just a few dozen minutes. The cabinet was not opened during the appraisal, so everyone walked outside the glass cabinet to take a look. Because it is through the glass, it is not convenient to look at it. Yang said.

Yang Moumou told Dong Xueshu that if it is to identify the cultural relics in the Palace Museum, it must not be just seen. You have to "get started". And that time, the "jade clothes" were never taken out of the glass cabinet, and the experts did not ask to open the cabinet.

"Anyway, the history expert is here, he is a master in the field of cultural relics identification. I was under his leadership. Yang Moumou said that because there was no process of raising hands to vote at that time, he followed the crowd. What others say, you say.

At last. Everyone signed the assessment report, had a meal and left.

When Yang Moumou learned from Dong Xueshu's mouth. When the appraisal report became a tool for Xie Moumou to defraud money from the bank, he expressed his surprise.

"I didn't think of it as an appraisal event, but as a friendship event, a cameo. They invite you to come, give you a little appraisal fee, and you're done agreeing with them. Yang Moumou said that during the appraisal, Xie Moumou did not say his intentions, and he did not expect that the assessment report would be illegally used.

Yang Moumou said that before leaving, Xie Moumou gave each person an envelope, which may contain 10,000 yuan. "I don't participate in these activities anymore now, and I write books at home. Yang Lao said.

At that time, when Dong Xueshu told Zhang Tianyuan about this, he said: "I believe that Yang Lao is a person, he was deceived by others, otherwise it would be impossible to buy him with ten thousand dollars, although I am not sure that Yang Lao must be a high-spirited person, but this is really a bit outrageous, even if Yang Lao is stupid, he will not sell himself for so much money, why should he?"

Zhang Tianyuan didn't know how he felt when he heard it, anyway, he had the most intuitive understanding of money laundering from that time.

It is precisely because of this that as soon as he heard that someone offered 100 million yuan to buy a fake blue and white porcelain, Zhang Tianyuan immediately thought that this was money laundering.

You must know that although the black market is a black market, it can also issue regular bills, this thing is a high imitation, and the imitation is very good, so Zhang Tianyuan and Jun Ruhai can see some clues, and Jun Ruhai is not very sure, if this thing is used as a gift, it is absolutely okay.

However, Zhang Tianyuan is not from the Commission for Discipline Inspection, although he hates money laundering in others, but there is no way, he is just an ordinary businessman, what others like to do, that is someone else's business, don't interfere with his affairs, that's enough.

Huri finally heard the man's bid.

"It's 100 million, right?

"Just have a bill and a formal certificate. The man said.

"You can rest assured that there is, and it is all stamped, and it will never be fake. Before Hu Li could speak, the gold chain was excited first, so he didn't care whether the blue and white porcelain was real or fake, and whether it was money laundering or not, anyway, they were the ones who made the money, and that was enough.

After the transaction was over, the man in the sunglasses left with his things in his hands, without saying a word of superfluity, and even less interested in the next lot.

He left, and the people who stayed didn't want to talk about it much, because everyone knew that even if it was a real blue and white porcelain, it might not be worth 100 million, let alone Zhang Tianyuan, even Ouyang Xiaodan and Ye Yulan, who didn't understand the rules of antique auctions, felt that there was something wrong with it.

"My dear, what the hell is going on, asking for 100 million in one breath?"

"Don't squeak, how much money people want to spend is someone else's business, it has nothing to do with us, let's just rest assured about the next auction." Zhang Tianyuan stopped Ouyang Xiaodan's questioning. (To be continued......)