2006年NPR美国国家公共电台二月-Buying Back China's Lost Art Treasures

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Steve Inskeep: Many Chinese businesses and collectors are using their new wealth to buy back some of the country's history. Treasures plundered¹ in wars or stolen by tomb robbers. One company has made this its specialty². The Poly corporation, which started as an arms trading branch of china's military. NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports from Beijing.

Anthony Kuhn: Poly Plaza³, the company's towering headquarters, overlooks a major intersection⁴ on Beijing's east side. On the second floor is the Poly Museum, where museum assistant He Hui shows off some of the collections gems⁵. There is a set of eight bronze bells in various sizes handcrafted 2800 years ago. There's a rare ritual wine vessel⁶ from the Shang Dynasty some 3000 years old.

He Hui: There are two dragons here on the side handles. The head on the lid is an owl⁷. Further down we have mythical⁸ beasts with the trunk of an elephant, the head of an ox, and the feet of a sheep.

Anthony Kuhn: Nearby are several bronze animal head sculptures. Poly rocked the Chinese art world when it bought them for a total of 4 million dollars at auctions⁹ in Hong Kong in 2000. At the time, media reported that Poly was willing to pay any prices to reclaim¹⁰ the sculptures which French and British troops plundered from the Imperial Summer Palace in 1860. Poly Museum's curator Jiang Yingchun is an archeologist by training. He explains Poly's motivation this way.

Jiang Yingchun: We thought what will Poly Corporation leave to future generations, he recalls. We decided¹¹ that only these ancient Chinese works of fine art are everlasting¹².

Anthony Kuhn: Jiang says that Poly cut all its ties with the Chinese military in 1998. He insists that Poly buys artworks with its own corporate¹³ earnings¹⁴ and is not acting¹⁵ on the government's behalf.

James Mulvenon: There is a very strong motivation at the heart of this to restore China's national treasures.

Anthony Kuhn: James Mulvenon is an expert on the Chinese military at the Center for Intelligence Research and Analysis, a Washington DC based think tank.

James Mulvenon: I really think they are sincere. There is a lot of people who think that this is just a front, I do think it is sincere but there are commercial benefits to be in a cultural patron. I think it does, to a certain extent, take some heat off of them. Because, you know, they had a fairly nefarious¹⁶ past.

Anthony Kuhn: Poly was created under the People's Liberation Armies General Armaments Department, it got its start selling weapons and has since diversified¹⁷ into real estate and cultural ventures. Its current president is He Ping, son-in-law of the late leader Deng Xiaoping. Poly's former president, Wang Jun, sipped¹⁸ coffee with President Clinton at the white house in 1996 amid a controversy¹⁹ over campaign contributions by foreign interests. Earlier that year, US Customs officials uncovered an alleged²⁰ conspiracy²¹ to import 2000 Ak-47 rifles into the US. Indicted²² in the case was Ma Baoping, Polly's former representative in the US and the former vice²³ curator of the Poly Museum, he left the US before he could be arrested. Foreign museums and collectors need not worry about their collections, museum assistant He Hui says that for all its formidable connections, Poly is not about to buy up all of China's overseas art treasures.

He Hui: As for artwork that has been lost overseas, if they were lost through illegal channels, then they should come back. But if they were legitimately²⁴ purchased, and taken overseas by, say, businessmen or missionaries²⁵, those should remain abroad.

Anthony Kuhn: Past controversies²⁶ seemed to have had little affect on Poly, the museum is moving this year to larger quarters across the street. The company's relations with the US are apparently²⁷ in good shape too; last year the US army approved a 29 million dollar contract for Poly to equip the Iraqi Army with Chinese made guns and ammunition²⁸.

Anthony Kuhn: Anthony Kuhn, NPR News.