It is said that this is one of the countries that plunders and collects the most Chinese cultural relics, in the museums around the country, China's cultural relics and treasures are also countless, almost all of the more than 1,000 public and private museums in this book have Chinese collections, the number should be in the millions, the collection of Chinese cultural relics in the vast sea of Chinese cultural relics includes Ma Yuan's "Cave Mountain Crossing Water Map", "Hanjiang Solo Fishing Map", Liang Kai's "Snow Landscape Map", "Li Bai Xingyin Map", "Six Ancestors Intercepting Bamboo Map", Li Di's "Red and White Hibiscus Picture" In later generations, the sky-high price of 436.8 million yuan was auctioned in Yanjing, setting a world record for Chinese art transactions. The unknown Northern Song Dynasty calligrapher Huang Tingjian's "Pillar Inscription" and many other masterpieces.

The calligraphy of Wang Xizhi, a famous calligrapher and "sage of calligraphy" in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, has been lingering for thousands of years. Wang Xizhi's "Funeral Post" was introduced into the book in the Tang Dynasty, or brought by the monk Jianzhen when he crossed to the east, and was collected by the royal family, which is considered to be the only authentic work of Wang Xizhi in the world. Because he was greatly influenced by China, he was very devout to Chinese culture. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the royal family rewarded those who received many treasures of Chinese documents. He said that he "returned all the city's literary books to the sea", and brought back half of the ancient books in the Sui and Tang courts, amounting to more than 1,800 books and more than 18,000 volumes. In the 80s of the 20th century, the collection of ancient books before the Qing Dynasty in China amounted to more than 7,500 kinds. Of the 700,000 books in the Oriental Library, 1/3 are Chinese ancient books. Many of the cultural relics that have been handed down to the book in China have been preserved for thousands of years, especially the ancient books are the most spectacular. The "Book Road" on the sea has saved many rare and rare books in China, which contain rich and profound ideas and philosophies. It has played a huge role in the excavation, collation and research of Chinese ancient books and other cultures.

Today, with the rise of China and the revival of culture, is it necessary for us to return, ask for, and return all these cultural relics that have been treasured in the book so that Chinese culture can be relatively intact? It is undoubtedly the best way to deal with the cultural relics looted from China since 1840 by temporarily implementing the principle that "sovereignty belongs to me and you keep it", and of course, it can only be beyond the reach of Chinese cultural relics obtained by legal means before 1840.

In 1961, the Chinese cultural delegation visited Moscow and held talks on further strengthening cultural, scientific and technological exchanges between China and the Soviet Union. The Chinese side demanded that the Soviet Union follow Article 1 of the Second Garrahan Declaration of 27 September 1920: "The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic declares that all treaties previously concluded between Russia and China will be null and void, that all territories previously seized in China and all Russian concessions in China will be renounced, and that everything that Tsarist Russia and the Russian capitalist class have seized from China will be returned to China permanently and without compensation." The principle of returning to China the cultural relics plundered by Tsarist Russia from China.

In this regard, the Soviet side said that many of the Chinese cultural relics plundered by the Tsarist army were taken away by the old Tsarist Russian nobles who had gone into exile abroad and sold to their new countries of residence. For this part of the cultural relics, the Soviet Union is now powerless. The other part is stored in the Institute of Oriental Studies in St. Petersburg, and the Soviet Socialist Federal Government has never considered ownership of these ancient porcelain, statues, books and other cultural relics looted from Tsarist Russia belonging to the Chinese. The return of fraternal socialist China to fraternal socialism as soon as possible is also the wish of the political axe and the people of the Soviet Union.

The attitude of the Soviet Union was good, but it was a bit bad to come up with a list of more than 6,000 Chinese cultural relics to be returned.

Tsarist Russia was also a big player in plundering China's cultural relics, and it did not "draw" cultural relics and treasures from China, and came up with a list of more than 6,000 Chinese cultural relics to be returned, which was obviously not enough. The reason why the Soviet side did this was that after the Soviet Union overthrew the Tsarist government, it did not allow these disgraceful "trophies" that clearly bear the mark of the aggression of the Tsarist Empire to be made public in the market, and the cultural relics looted by Tsarist Russia in China were hardly seen in public during the Soviet period, and how many of them are rarely known.

But this time they miscalculated. The Chinese delegation then took out a copy of the catalogue of the collection of the Institute of Oriental Studies in St. Petersburg and handed it to the Soviet side, which included not only Chinese cultural relics from the Ming and Qing dynasties in the Old Summer Palace and the Chinese Forbidden City, but also 12,000 more precious Dunhuang testaments, which once again made the Soviets feel terrified of China's intelligence system. How these high-level Soviet secrets fell into the hands of the Chinese seems to be enough for the KGB to be busy for a while.

The source of this information in China is very simple: for the Chinese cultural relics plundered by Tsarist Russia, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Chinese research institutes have cooperated with the Russian side to sort out some cultural relics books. The catalogue I got from there was published in a heritage magazine when I returned. The magazine was subscribed to in the library of the base's middle school. After the base came to this era, almost every piece of information, even the textbooks of primary and secondary schools, became an important top-secret material and an important source of information for the state.

The Soviet Union now has 12,000 Dunhuang testaments in the St. Petersburg Institute of Oriental Studies, second only to China, and only 20,000 Dunhuang testaments exist in China, ranking second in the world, while the rest were divided and plundered by Britain, France, China, Austria, Sweden and other countries.

After nearly one year of negotiations between China and the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union finally agreed to return 26,053 precious Chinese historical relics in phases, including the Xixia Double-headed Buddha in Heishui City and the Dunhuang Testament, and China will also return 15,739 Soviet cultural relics from various museums and cultural research institutions in the Far East in phases. China and the Soviet Union have jointly established the Sino-Soviet Cultural Exchange Center in West Siberia -- the Friendship Palace, which regularly holds various cultural exchange activities.

So far, China and the Soviet Union have completely solved the problem of the return of Chinese cultural relics plundered by Tsarist Russia.

At the invitation of the U.S. political axe, Li Dawei led a Chinese scientific, technological, and cultural delegation to visit the United States in February 1961, and the two sides held talks on cooperation in the space program and the return of Chinese cultural relics.

During his meeting with President Kennedy, Li Dawei first congratulated the short-lived 35 th US President Kennedy: "Mr. President, I sincerely congratulate you on becoming the youngest president in US history at the age of 43. I really appreciate what you said in your speech, 'AsknotWhatYourCountryCandoForYou, AskWhatYouCandoForYourCountry.' I am confident that the United States will be able to make greater progress under your leadership. ”

"Mr. Li Dawei, welcome to the United States again, I have heard of you for a long time, you are a person who can constantly create new concepts and a great prophet." Kennedy shook Li Dawei's hand and said, "What kind of astonishing prophecy will you bring us this time?" ”

Li Dawei smiled in his heart and said, I predict that you will die at 12:30 on November 22, two years later, accompanied by Vice President Johnson, under the indiscriminate shooting of Main Street in Dallas, Texas, do you believe it? However, he said: "I predict that with the efforts of scientists in China and the United States." Within 10 years, astronauts from both China and the United States will finally be able to land on the moon. ”

Kennedy was anxious to change the situation in which the United States lagged behind China and the Soviet Union in the space race. It would be more desirable to get help from China, which was far ahead of the United States and the Soviet Union in space exploration. Kennedy said with some emotion and firmness: "First of all, I am convinced that our country will accomplish one goal by the end of this decade, which is to land astronauts on the moon and return safely." No single space program could be more exciting for humanity, and no plan could be more important for long-range space exploration. Nor is there any plan as expensive and challenging as the moon landing. ”

Li Dawei also said to Kennedy with a smile: "I believe that mankind will cross 5,000 years in the near future and realize the dream of going to the moon from the earth to the moon." Let us bear witness to this prophecy of mine."

"I sincerely hope that the United States and China can carry out broader and deeper cooperation in this area." Kennedy told Li Dawei hopefully: "It is true that there is too much money spent on space exploration, and it is beneficial for both of us to cooperate with the United States and China to jointly explore the space field and share the costs." ”

Li Dawei, of course, knew that all of what Kennedy said would come to fruition as scheduled, on July 16, 1969, almost six years after Kennedy's assassination. The huge "Saturn 5" rocket carrying the "Apollo 11" spacecraft ignited and lifted off from the Cape Kennedy launch site in the United States, starting the space journey of mankind's first landing on the moon. American astronaut Neil. Armstrong, Edwin. Aldrin, Michael. Collins piloted the Apollo 11 spacecraft on a journey of 380,000 kilometers, carrying the dream of all mankind to the surface of the moon. The U.S. Apollo program cost $25.5 billion. It is very necessary for China to intervene in this plan, find out the strength of the United States in the space field, and train a group of aerospace experts and astronauts for China. And in China, this cooperation project can also make a lot of money. Li Dawei cooperated with Kennedy and said: "I very much agree with this proposal of Mr. President, so let us join hands with China and the United States to complete this great initiative of sincerity and benevolence for the peaceful use and development of space." ”

The two sides then discussed the principle of strengthening cooperation between China and the United States in the field of space. The framework for cooperation between the two parties was defined. Negotiations between China and the United States on cooperation in the field of space are going very smoothly.

Another task of Li Dawei's visit was to solve the problem of Chinese cultural relics looted by the United States.

During the talks on the return of Chinese cultural relics looted by the United States, the two sides engaged in a fierce contest.

At the beginning of the talks, US Deputy Secretary of State Mackibull took a very tough attitude: "As far as we know, major museums in the United States do collect some Chinese cultural relics. However, unlike Britain, France, China, Russia and other countries, most of the Chinese cultural relics collected by major museums in the United States are purchased through legal channels. These belong to the personal property of the American political axe and each collector, and there is no question of returning them to China. ”

Li Dawei was prepared for this attitude of Makibur, and he immediately said undoubtedly: "Mr. Makibul, you should be very clear that since 1840, the Western imperialist powers have plundered a large number of cultural relics from China through a series of wars of aggression. As far as the source of these cultural relics collected by you and every collector is concerned, they are all illegal and looted, and these Chinese cultural relics that you have collected, whether they are plundered directly from China or purchased by you, cannot change their status as stolen goods plundered by the imperialist powers through wars of aggression, so they must be returned to China unconditionally no matter what. ”

"No, no," said Macchibhur, pretending to be upright, "the property of the American political axe and the private property of American citizens are sacrosanct!" ”

Li Dawei looked at Makibul, a hegemonic bull, and fought back-for-tat: "The property of your US political axe and the private property of American citizens are sacrosanct, can the Chinese political axe and the property of the Chinese people be infringed upon at will?" ”

Makibur thought for a moment and said, "Mr. Deputy Foreign Minister, as we all know, we in the United States have been committed to the development of China's cultural undertakings, as early as 1907 Theodore. In his advisory to Congress, President Roosevelt stated: "It is advisable for our country to help China to educate so that this huge number of people may gradually reconcile to the conditions of the modern world." The method of assistance should be to recruit students to come to the United States and enter our universities and other institutions of higher learning, so that they can become successful and talented, and understand that our country's education circles will be able to appreciate this good intention, work together with morality, and sponsor the country's grand event. Subsequently, we, the United States, returned half of the "Gengzi indemnity" to China as a financial aid for students studying in the United States. ”

"Mr. Deputy Secretary of State, we are now talking about the issue of the United States returning Chinese cultural relics, and you should not talk to me about the United States' return of Gengzi indemnity," Li Dawei saw that Makibul wanted to change the topic, and said very unceremoniously, "As far as the Gengzi indemnity itself is concerned, it is a shameless plundering of China by the Western imperialist powers." The reason why President Roosevelt did this was entirely because James, president of the University of Illinois, claimed in a memorandum to Roosevelt in 1906: "Whichever country can educate this generation of Chinese youth, which country can reap the greatest benefits of spiritual and commercial influence as a result of the effort made in this regard." It is far more reliable for business to follow spiritual domination than to follow the military flag. The U.S. government took this step with the aim of creating a new group of leaders for the intellectual and spiritual domination of China for the United States by attracting Chinese students. ”

Seeing that Li Dawei was not moved at all, Makibul said without appreciation and with some anger: "I only put forward this historical fact because I want you Chinese to know that we Americans are different from Britain, France, Yue, and Russia, and we don't even want money. ”

Although Li Dawei did not personally experience the disaster of the Eight-Nation Alliance's burning, killing and looting in Yanjing. But if you look at the United States in Iraq in later generations, you can see what kind of scene it was. After the U.S. occupation of Iraq, more than 15,000 artifacts were looted, including many pieces of jewelry and pottery from ancient Mesopotamia. In the end, after repeated appeals from the international community, 1/3 of the looted cultural relics were recovered. Li Dawei said with great contempt for the so-called civilization of the United States: "Mr. Makibur, the broken bottles and jars in China that you are talking about, broken copper and iron are not only precious ancient Chinese artworks, but also a part of Chinese culture and history. You don't want to be so noble as you Americans, the Eight-Nation Coalition is burning, killing and looting in Yanjing, which is not a race and a madness. ”

Li Dawei knew that the United States had collected more than 200,000 fine Chinese cultural relics in major museums in later generations, and most of these cultural relics were illegally obtained through smuggling abroad after China's reform and opening up. The 10 Chinese antiquities exhibition rooms at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, include rare items in various categories such as sculptures, paintings, bronzes, and ceramics. Among the more than 5,000 ancient Chinese paintings in the museum, there are the representative work of the Tang Dynasty painter Yan Liben, which can be called a national treasure, "The Emperor of the Past Dynasties", the well-preserved Tang Zhangxuan's "Pounding and Lian Tu" Song Dynasty copy, and Song Huizong's "Five-colored Parrot"; The University of Pennsylvania Museum in the United States has the "Fist Hair" and "Sa Lu Purple" in the Chinese national gem carving "Zhaoling Six Horses". However, in the collection of the Forest of Steles Museum in China, the two horses in the "Six Horses" can only be replaced by replicas; Almost half of the collection of the Freer Museum of Art in Washington, D.C., is Chinese cultural relics, including calligraphy and painting, Buddhist art, bronzes, jade, pottery, etc.; The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco has more than 2,000 pieces of ceramics, more than 1,200 pieces of jade and 800 pieces of bronzes from the Neolithic Age to the Qing Dynasty, making it the museum with the richest collection of Chinese jade in the world. In addition, the library of the University of Chicago in the United States has a collection of nearly 14,000 volumes of ancient Chinese rare books of nearly 400 kinds, and the library of Columbia University has 15,000 volumes of Chinese genealogy. But what he can be sure of is that at least 10 percent of this huge number of artifacts, or more than 20,000 pieces, must have been looted.

(To be continued)