After the award ceremony and dinner, Zhou Hexuan, like the other laureates, gave six academic lectures and participated in a symphony recital.

On December 16, at the invitation of Crown Prince Oscar, Zhou Hexuan and his wife Zhang Leyi went to visit the East Asia Museum.

It is a large museum with a collection of more than 30,000 pieces, mainly from China, Japan, India and Southeast Asia, with Chinese artifacts accounting for more than 90%.

As soon as Zhou Hexuan and Zhang Leyi walked into the museum, Crown Prince Oscar brought an old man in his 50s over and introduced: "Mr. Zhou, this is Professor Andersen and the director of the East Asian Museum. He has worked for the Chinese government as a consultant on mining matters. ”

"Hello, Professor!"

"Hello, Mr. Zhou!"

The two shook hands with each other and greeted each other.

Zhou Hexuan felt that Andersen's name was very familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere, and he asked: "Professor Andersen, did you work for the Beiyang government or the Nanjing government before?" ”

"The Beiyang government," Andersen, who speaks fluent Chinese, said with a smile, "I have lived in China for 11 years, mainly working on geological exploration and archaeological discoveries. ”

Archaeological finds?

Zhou Hexuan, who was familiar with history, reacted suddenly, and the Anderson in front of him was the discoverer of the famous Yangshao cultural site, known as the "father of Yangshao culture"!

It was because Anderson discovered the Yangshao site and excavated a large number of painted pottery that Crown Prince Oscar paid out of his own pocket to support China's geological exploration and archaeological research work. With the help of sufficient funds, in one year from 1923 to 1924 alone, Andersen discovered more than 50 prehistoric sites in China and transported a large number of Chinese prehistoric artifacts to Sweden.

Zhou Hexuan did not show any dissatisfaction, and accompanied by Oscar and Andersen, he took Zhang Leyi around to visit the museum's collections.

Walking to the front of a platform, Zhou Hexuan saw a large number of prehistoric jade, jade yue, jade jue, jade ring, jade knife...... He finally couldn't help it and asked, "Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince, these seem to be prehistoric relics, so they can't be bought with your money, right?" ”

Crown Prince Oscar smiled and said: "Of course not, these cultural relics are borrowed from China." ”

"Borrowed?" Zhou Hexuan was puzzled.

Andersen explains: "To be precise, it was a ten-year lease, and we signed a loan contract with the Chinese government in Beiyang. ”

Zhou Hexuan really wanted to say that his mother sells batches, this kind of prehistoric cultural relics can be rented, what does the Beiyang government do to eat!

After easing his emotions a little, Zhou Hexuan asked, "Professor Andersen, can I take a look at the cultural relics lease contract?" ”

"Of course." Anderson laughed.

The contract was placed in the museum, and Anderson quickly found it.

Zhou took a closer look at the start date of the contract — May 1924, when Cao Kun was president and his direct line of warlords ruled the city. At that time, the direct warlords were divided and fighting, Feng Yuxiang was his own faction, and there were Sun (Zhongshan), Anhui, and Feng "anti-direct triangle alliance" outside, which was almost the most intense period of Chinese warlord melee.

Alas, after many years, it is estimated that the person responsible can no longer be found.

"After the fall of the Beiyang government, who do you pay rent?" Zhou Hexuan asked.

Anderson replied with a smile: "Of course, it is the Nanjing government." These artifacts are on legal lease and we pay the rent on time every year and have never been in arrears. ”

Zhou Hexuan flipped through the contract and said, "The ten-year lease has passed, right?" ”

"Indeed," Anderson said, "we also want to return the cultural relics to China, but the Nanjing government has not cooperated." Or rather, they want to continue renting, after all, the annual rent is very substantial. ”

Zhou Hexuan has thoroughly understood that the Nanjing government is afraid of trouble. It costs money to transport these artifacts back to China, and it costs money to transport them back for safekeeping, but they are left in Sweden, and the Nanjing government can lie down and collect the annual rent.

But the problem is that the rent of these relics is too cheap!

There are more than 12,000 Chinese prehistoric cultural relics marked on the contract, and the annual rental fee is only 100,000 oceans, and the average annual rent for each cultural relic is only 8 yuan.

Historically, there have also been some archaeological and cultural relics experts in China who actively called on Andersen to return cultural relics. Andersen eventually agreed to return them, but the War of Resistance Against Japan broke out, and most of the more than 10,000 prehistoric artifacts were lost in transit.

Perhaps, some of these relics were not returned at all, and were embezzled by the Swedes!

Since Zhou Hexuan has encountered it, it is naturally impossible to stand by and watch. He silently returned the loan contract to Andersen, and prepared to immediately send a telegram to Cai Yuanpei and Li Shizeng, asking them to organize cultural relics experts to appeal for the matter.

Crown Prince Oscar smiled: "Mr. Zhou, in fact, it is a good thing that these cultural relics remain in Sweden. Like you said, East and West need to communicate, and these artifacts let Sweden know and understand China. We have set up a 'China Committee' and a 'China Club' to conduct research around these cultural relics, so that more and more Swedes will like China. ”

"Hehe, probably." Zhou Hexuan smiled dryly.

Several people continued to walk forward, and came to a bronze object, and Crown Prince Oscar introduced: "This is the chariot of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, four horses to ride. There is an old Chinese saying called 'the country of ten thousand multipliers', and what we see now is 'one multiplication'. ”

Zhou Hexuan was completely numb, and only infinite sighs remained.

This bronze in front of you is a treasure of the town hall wherever it is placed. It is half a man high, and four horses pull a chariot, and you can vaguely see the scenery of the princes of the Spring and Autumn Period.

"This is also on loan?" Zhou Hexuan asked.

"I bought it," Crown Prince Oscar smirked, "I went to China more than ten years ago and bought it for 20,000 silver dollars." I come to see it every week and take care of it myself. You see, how delicately and brilliantly I have cared for it. It's my baby, the love of my life! ”

"I want to buy it back, can I?" Zhou Hexuan asked.

The Crown Prince Oscar shook his head repeatedly: "No, no, no, it's not for sale." Even the Far Eastern Museum can only be exhibited for three months a year, and the rest of the time is kept in my private collection. ”

Zhou Hexuan was silent.

At least Crown Prince Oscar really likes this bronze and takes good care of it, even in the 21st century, there is still no damage.

Zhou Hexuan hated the British Museum even more, because there were so many Chinese artifacts there. Except for some that were taken out for exhibition, most of them were thrown away in the warehouse and left to rot, and it took ten years and eight years to take them out and maintain them. That's really a desecration of cultural relics, an insult to China, and the British are much worse than the Swedes.

After seeing the bronze chariot, Zhou Hexuan no longer had any interest in continuing to admire. He casually found an excuse to leave, and then went straight to the Stockholm City Telegraph Office, and sent a telegram to Li Shizeng and Cai Yuanpei to cross the ocean, asking them to immediately call on the Nanjing government to take back the cultural relics.