In the following days, Liang En and his team used Shudu as their base to travel around the city and its surroundings, visiting places such as the Giant Panda Breeding Center, the Provincial Museum, and Qingyang Palace. Interestingly, while touring the Provincial Museum, they coincidentally met the host of the upcoming meeting. At his invitation, Liang En filmed a short video about cultural relic protection in the museum.
As one of the world's top historians and archaeologists, and being of Chinese descent, Liang En has considerable fame in China. The items he has donated have also earned him a good reputation. Consequently, he has many fans in China. The museum curator invited him to make a video, hoping to use Liang En's fame to promote cultural relic protection.
Cultural relic protection is crucial for every country, but cultural relic theft is rampant everywhere. In the United States, Europe, or the Middle East, wherever there are relics, large-scale theft and smuggling are common. In the U.S., many ancient indigenous relics are excavated, and the domestic relic market is also the most abundant. The situation in the Middle East is different. The region's chaos has led many organizations to dig up and sell relics openly.
China, too, is a hotspot for relic theft. Organizations like Golden Dawn often assist the Chinese government in recovering illegally exported relics. Liang En is well-received in China for similar actions, having returned many illegally exported Chinese relics, including top-tier items like murals from the Thousand Buddha Caves and two of the Six Steeds of Zhao Mausoleum.
Because of this, the museum curator invited Liang En to call on the public to pay attention to cultural relic protection. This type of speech was easy for Liang En, as he had given many similar speeches before and could deliver a high-quality performance in one take.
After briefly touring the famous sites around Shudu, the meeting began. On the first day, Liang En, as an invited guest, gave a speech about the connection between ancient legends and real history, showing that many ancient legends have historical backgrounds. His speech received enthusiastic applause, not just out of politeness, but because he proved his point with real cases.
Unlike in foreign countries, China has a tradition of using historical records to find ancient sites, like the ancient city of Daliang, found through Sima Qian's "Records of the Grand Historian."
In the following days, they discussed the discovery, survey, and protection of cultural relics, especially balancing protection and commercial operations. This topic was essential because relic protection often can't rely solely on government funding and needs various financial sources. However, commercial exploitation and relic protection can conflict. Over-commercialization can harm relic protection efforts.
For example, the ancient architectural complex called X's Family Courtyard in northern Shanxi Province suffered from protection issues due to over-development. Worse, problems like tourist scams and food safety issues led to its 5A scenic spot certificate being revoked.
This recent incident prompted a broad discussion about the limits of commercial development for ancient relics. While no one suggested stopping commercial development, as China has too many relics to protect with just funding, they concluded that commercial development is necessary but should not overshadow the primary goal of relic protection. Further discussions on details were needed.
Besides the main meetings, they held a series of smaller meetings where Liang En shared the discovery process of various ancient sites. Chinese scholars were particularly interested in firsthand information about foreign archaeological sites, which Liang En, as the discoverer of many famous sites, could provide, including previously unpublished information.
Comparing this information with reports from Chinese archaeological teams, scholars could fully understand the overall situation of those foreign sites and learn valuable lessons. For instance, restoration techniques differ between the East and the West, with the East preferring to keep relics as they were, while the West aims to restore them to their original appearance. This is why relics in Western museums often look newer than those in Chinese museums, due to different preservation methods.
Liang En also discussed field archaeology techniques in China, such as excavating and protecting ancient wooden artifacts, especially those with only lacquer remaining. One academic contribution included records and images of the excavation and maintenance of an Eastern Zhou Dynasty chariot, showcasing a uniquely Chinese archaeological site.
Images showed that the wooden structure of the chariot had decayed, leaving only the lacquer and metal parts, but Chinese archaeologists had successfully cleaned and preserved these, revealing the original presence of a horse-drawn chariot.
This experience was eye-opening for Liang En, affirming that his participation in the exchange meeting in China was truly worthwhile.
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