After the award ceremony and dinner, Zhou Hexuan, like other winners, gave six academic lectures and participated in a symphony concert.
On December 16, at the invitation of Crown Prince Oscar, Zhou Hexuan and his wife Zhang Leyi visited the East Asian Museum.
It is a large museum with a collection of more than 30,000 items, mainly from China, Japan, India and Southeast Asia, with Chinese cultural relics accounting for more than 90%.
As soon as Zhou Hexuan and Zhang Leyi entered the museum, Crown Prince Oscar brought an old man in his 50s over and introduced: "Mr. Zhou, this is Professor Andersen, who is also the director of the East Asian Museum. He once worked for the Chinese government
, serves as a consultant on mining matters.”
"Hello, professor!"
"Hello, Mr. Zhou!"
The two shook hands and exchanged greetings.
Zhou Hexuan felt that Anderson's name was very familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere. He asked: "Professor Anderson, did you work for the Beiyang government or the Nanjing government before?"
"Beiyang Government," Anderson said with a smile, speaking Chinese fluently, "I have lived in China for 11 years, and my main work is geological exploration and archaeological discovery."
Archaeological discovery?
Zhou Hexuan, who was familiar with history, suddenly realized that the Anderson in front of him was the famous discoverer of the Yangshao Cultural Site, known as the "Father of Yangshao Culture"!
It was because Andersen discovered the Yangshao ruins and excavated a large amount of painted pottery that Crown Prince Oscar personally used his own money to support China's geological exploration and archaeological research. With the help of sufficient funds, in only one year from 1923 to 1924,
, Andersen discovered more than 50 prehistoric sites in China and transported a large number of Chinese prehistoric cultural relics to Sweden.
Zhou Hexuan did not show any dissatisfaction. Accompanied by Oscar and Anderson, he took Zhang Leyi to visit the museum's collections.
Walking to a platform, Zhou Hexuan saw a large number of prehistoric jade articles, jade axes, jade rings, jade rings, and jade knives... He finally couldn't help it anymore and asked: "Your Highness, these seem to be prehistoric cultural relics.
You also bought it with money, right?"
Crown Prince Oscar smiled and said: "Of course not, these cultural relics are borrowed from China."
"Borrowed?" Zhou Hexuan didn't understand what he meant.
Anderson explained: "To be precise, it is a lease. The lease period is ten years. We signed a cultural relics lease contract with the Beiyang Government of China."
Zhou Hexuan really wanted to say, "Mama sells batches." If such prehistoric cultural relics can be rented out, what does the Beiyang government do for a living?
After calming down a bit, Zhou Hexuan asked: "Professor Andersen, can I see the cultural relics lease contract?"
"Of course." Anderson smiled.
The contract was placed in the museum, and Anderson quickly found it.
Zhou Hexuan carefully looked at the start date of the contract - May 1924. At that time, Cao Kun was the president and the Zhili warlords ruled the city of Beijing. At that time, the Zhili warlords were divided and fighting endlessly. Feng Yuxiang formed his own faction, and there were others outside.
Sun Yat-sen (Zhongshan), Anhui, and the "Anti-strait Triangle Alliance" were almost the most intense period of war between Chinese warlords.
Alas, after so many years, I guess the person responsible can no longer be found.
"After the Beiyang government falls, who will you pay your rent to?" Zhou Hexuan asked.
Anderson smiled and replied: "Of course it is the Nanjing government. These cultural relics are legally leased. 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 period has expired, right?"
"Indeed," Anderson said cheerfully, "We also want to return cultural relics to China, but the Nanjing government has not cooperated. In other words, they want to continue renting them out. After all, the annual rent is very considerable."
Zhou Hexuan has completely understood that the Nanjing government is afraid of trouble. It costs money to transport these cultural relics back to China, and it also costs money to transport them back for safekeeping. Instead, they keep them in Sweden, and the Nanjing government can just collect the annual rent.
But the problem is, the rent for these cultural 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 yuan. The average annual rent for each cultural relic is only 8 yuan. No wonder Andersen and Oscar never default on rent.
Historically, some domestic archaeological and cultural relic experts actively called on Andersen to return the cultural relics. Andersen finally agreed to return them, but when the Anti-Japanese War broke out, most of the more than 10,000 prehistoric cultural relics were lost in transit.
Perhaps some of the cultural relics were not returned at all and were misappropriated by the Swedes!
Now that Zhou Hexuan had encountered him, he naturally could not stand idly by. He silently returned the lease contract to Andersen, and prepared to send a telegram to Cai Yuanpei and Li Shizeng immediately, asking them to organize cultural relic experts to appeal for the matter.
Crown Prince Oscar smiled and said: "Mr. Zhou, it is actually a good thing for these cultural relics to stay in Sweden. As you said, the East and the West need exchanges, and these cultural relics allow Sweden to know China and understand China. We have specially established a 'China Committee' and
The 'China Club' and research around these cultural relics have made more and more Swedes like China."
"Haha, maybe." Zhou Hexuan responded with a dry smile.
Several people continued to walk forward and came to a bronze vessel. Crown Prince Oscar introduced: "This is a chariot from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, with four horses riding on it. There is an old saying in China called 'The Land of Ten Thousand Chariots'. What we are seeing now is
Among them 'one multiplier'."
Zhou Hexuan was completely numb and could only sigh endlessly.
The bronze vessel in front of you is always a treasure wherever you place it. It is half a person tall, with four horses pulling a chariot, and you can vaguely see the scenery of the princes in the Spring and Autumn Period.
"Is this also on loan?" Zhou Hexuan asked.
"I bought it," Crown Prince Oscar said with a proud smile. "I went to China more than ten years ago and spent 20,000 silver dollars to buy it. I come to see it every week and do maintenance on it myself. You see, it
How meticulously cared for and how radiant it is by me. It is my baby, the love of my life!"
"I want to buy it back, is that okay?" Zhou Hexuan asked.
Crown Prince Oscar shook his head repeatedly: "No, no, no, it is not for sale. Even the Far Eastern Museum can only display it for three months a year, and the rest of the time it is kept in my private collection."
Zhou Hexuan remained silent.
At least Crown Prince Oscar really liked this bronze and took good care of it. Even in the 21st century, it still has no damage.
Zhou Hexuan hates the British Museum even more. There are too many Chinese cultural relics there. Except for some that are put on display, most of them are thrown into the warehouse and left to rot. It takes ten or eight years to take them out for maintenance. That is really a desecration of cultural relics.
In insulting China, the British are much worse than the Swedes.
After seeing the bronze chariot, Zhou Hexuan no longer had any interest in continuing to admire it. He just found an excuse to leave, and then went straight to the Stockholm Telegraph Office to send a transoceanic telegram to Li Shizeng and Cai Yuanpei, asking them to immediately appeal to the Nanjing government to take it back
