I picked up the glass that hadn’t been broken and put it in my palm, reached out and said, “This glass is three hundred years old. You seem to value cameras, watches and telescopes very highly, but more advanced cameras, watches and telescopes are being produced year after year, yet no one else in the world can make such a wine cup. This is part of our national cultural heritage, and every Chinese should be proud of it.”
The young man whose revolutionary action I had interrupted said aggressively, “Shut up! These are the Four Olds, they are useless playthings for the feudal emperors and modern bourgeois elements to enjoy, they are not important to us proletarians. They cannot be compared with the camera telescope that could meet the needs of the struggle in times of war. Chairman Mao, the great leader, taught us: “Nothing is broken, nothing is established. In order to build a new socialist culture, we must first destroy the old one.”
Another Red Guard took over and said, “The purpose of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution is to destroy the old culture, and you can’t stop us.”
I was shivering with anxiety and struggling to find a counter-argument to convince them to stop their foolish destruction. Before I could think of something to say that would convince them, another young man came down from the third floor carrying one of my Kuan Yin Bodhisattvas in his hands. I turned around and asked him uneasily, “What are you going to do with it?”
He held the statue of the Goddess of Mercy aloft and shook her carelessly in mid-air, saying, “It’s a feudal superstition, I’m going to throw it in the garbage can.”
The statue of the Goddess of Mercy is a beautiful sculpture, a product of the genuine Fujian Huahua kiln. It is the work of Chen Wei (transliteration), a famous Ming Dynasty sculptor of the 17th century. There is his seal on the back of the statue base. The exquisite evocative nature of that creamy white statue is indescribable. Her serene expression is so lifelike, and the flowing train of her robe looks so natural that one almost cannot believe it was carved from hard porcelain. Its glaze is so lustrous and lustrous, the texture is so soft, I usually put her in a box with a soft satin backing, for she is too valuable to display it. I only to some famous, and have an interest in porcelain and connoisseurship of the connoisseur to show the statue.
“No, don’t throw it, please.” I was so excited that my voice trembled. He only coldly glared at me and continued to wave the porcelain statue in mid-air. Now he was carrying the goddess of mercy with only two fingers.
Pleading seems to have failed to move them. I think if we continue to deal with them, we need to adopt the language of their position. It seems that I have to use some diplomatic rhetoric and tact. If they still thought that I was on their side, I would never be able to recover the treasures and save them from destruction. At that time, I no longer considered them as my own property, and as long as they could be preserved from destruction, I no longer cared who they really belonged to.
“Red Guards, please believe me, I support you. You are here to represent the Great Leader Chairman Mao; how can I oppose the representatives of our Great Leader Chairman Mao? I know the purpose of the Cultural Revolution. When you made your demands, did I not voluntarily hand over all the keys?” I said.
“Yes, you did.” The teacher nodded in agreement with me. The Red Guards, who were surrounding me, seemed to be in a slightly more relaxed mood.
As if encouraged, I continued: “These antiques are all cultural relics, they are old, but they need to open the way for a new socialist culture. I think these things should be copied away, but not immediately destroyed. Remember, they were not made by bourgeois elements; they were created by ancient craftsmen; don’t you respect the labor of these craftsmen?”
One of the Red Guards at the back called up impatiently, “Don’t believe her fancy words. She is confusing us. She wants to protect her own belongings.”
I quickly turned to her and said, “No, no, your coming to my house has raised my socialist consciousness. It is not right for me to take possession of these beautiful and valuable things; they should belong to the people. I beg you to send it to the Shanghai Museum. You can discuss with the experts there. If the experts there advise you to destroy them all, there is still time for you to do so.”
A young woman interjected, “The Shanghai Museum is closed and the experts are being censored. Some of them are also class enemies. In any case, they are intellectuals. Chairman Mao, the great leader, said that the bourgeoisie is the skin, and the intellectuals are the hairs growing on this skin. If the skin does not exist, how can the hair be attached? The bourgeoisie nurtured the intellectuals, so they are on the same front. Now we want to defeat the bourgeoisie. Naturally, the intellectuals must likewise be defeated.”
This time she brought up Mao’s quotation, which was unfamiliar to me. But I did not have time to study it. In order to achieve what I wanted, I went on to say, “In that case, you can ask some people you trust for advice, some people with authority. For example, the vice mayor of Shanghai may also be available. Surely there are many private individuals in Shanghai who also collect such relics. The government must have a special policy to deal with them.”
“Humph, you are really a class enemy who does not appreciate the world. You don’t understand the situation at all. You are debating with us so endlessly, either asking us to discuss with other class enemies or with those old cultivators in the government. You talk about national policy, and the only valid policy now is in this book.” The young man fished the book of Mao’s quotations out of his day pocket and held it high, saying, “The teachings of our great leader, Chairman Mao, are the only valid national policy.”
I shifted the focus of our argument and said, “I saw a slogan ‘Long live the world revolution!’ , don’t you want to plant the red flag of our great leader Chairman Mao’s revolution all over the world, do you?”
“Of course. But what does this have to do with you? You’re just a class enemy.” A young woman said sarcastically. At the same time, she warned the other Red Guards, “She’s a cunning woman, don’t listen to her nonsense.”
I got desperate and said, “Do you know that these antiques are worth a lot of money? They can be sent to Hong Kong and sold for a large sum of foreign currency. You can use the money to carry out a world revolution.”
What I said in the end had an effect. They listened in silence. The great prospect I had painted for them, of taking up a glorious task on the whole stage of the world revolution, made them a little dizzy, especially at present, when they were intoxicated with the so-called power.
I seized the opportunity to take advantage of this state of mind and continued: “Please put away these porcelain ornaments and send them to a safe place. You can sell them or give them to a museum. Just follow Chairman Mao’s instructions to handle them correctly.”
After all, she may have been a few years older, and that teacher felt a responsibility. She asked me, “Can you be sure that the things you have in your collection are priceless? Can you tell me how much they are worth?”
“I can get out the log book that records the dates of their purchase and the amount I paid for them. Now, their prices are increasing, especially in foreign markets, and I estimate that they are worth at least $10,000.” I told them.
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