流失文物返還背后的故事

小呆

我在文物交接儀式的一張現(xiàn)場合影里發(fā)現(xiàn)，有一位浙商也在美國見證了整個(gè)儀式。于是，我第一時(shí)間連線了參與本次文物交接的中方工作組的浙商丁滬生，聽他還原文物交接現(xiàn)場和流失文物背后的故事。

中美史上最大的一次文物返還

丁滬生是總部位于印第安納波利斯的印州美中商會主席、海育國際教育科技有限公司董事長、師董會導(dǎo)師，也是浙大校友，浙江大學(xué)熱能工程學(xué)士、工程熱物理碩士。

“我只是接待文化部和外交部的工作組和領(lǐng)導(dǎo)們，做好后勤保障工作;海量的前期工作由美國聯(lián)邦調(diào)查局打擊藝術(shù)犯罪組的眾多探員和印第安納大學(xué)普渡大學(xué)聯(lián)合校區(qū)的Cusack-McVeigh教授及她的數(shù)十名學(xué)生花了近五年時(shí)間完成，國家文物局的專家們也付出了大量心血！”

在美國的丁滬生向我們講述了儀式現(xiàn)場的整個(gè)過程。

這是中美歷史上最大的一次文物返還儀式，中國國家文物局外事處處長溫大嚴(yán)與美國聯(lián)邦調(diào)查局代表簽署并互換文物返還證書。

美國副助理國務(wù)卿阿萊莎在交接儀式后瀏覽了現(xiàn)場展示的20多件文物，當(dāng)看到一尊面帶微笑的陶俑時(shí)說：“他看起來很激動(dòng)，（因?yàn)椋┧R上要回家了！”

丁滬生從美國聯(lián)邦調(diào)查局（FBI）打擊藝術(shù)犯罪組了解到，此次交接的文物來自印州南部頗有爭議的一位傳奇私人收藏家唐納德·米勒博士（Dr. Donald Miller）收藏的4.2萬多件文物中的一部分，由FBI打擊藝術(shù)犯罪組的特工于2014年4月在他的農(nóng)場別墅查獲。隨后印第安納大學(xué)普渡大學(xué)聯(lián)合校區(qū)的Cusack-McVeigh教授帶領(lǐng)她的數(shù)十名學(xué)生，在中國文物局專家的支持幫助下，歷時(shí)近五年時(shí)間將文物清理分類完成。

亦正亦邪的米勒博士

91歲的美國私人收藏家米勒的故事，2014年4月美國很多媒體曾有過報(bào)道。不過，丁滬生說，2015年老人已經(jīng)在美國去世。

通過與Cusack-McVeigh教授，以及負(fù)責(zé)偵查這起現(xiàn)實(shí)版“奪寶奇兵”的FBI主任特工Carpenter先生的介紹，丁滬生大體還原了一個(gè)比電影更傳奇的故事。

米勒從普渡大學(xué)獲得博士學(xué)位后，第二次世界大戰(zhàn)期間曾在美國陸軍通信兵團(tuán)服役，后作為曼哈頓計(jì)劃的一部分被招募到新墨西哥州的Trinity原子武器試驗(yàn)基地工作。米勒博士和他的妻子Sue于1984年成立了Wyman研究公司，該公司開發(fā)并銷售業(yè)余無線電SSTV（慢掃描電視Slow-scan TV）和ATV設(shè)備。

米勒博士對文物收藏和尋寶的極度癡迷，始于童年時(shí)代在家中農(nóng)場的地里挖到原住民用的箭頭。

他是一位環(huán)球旅行家，多年來周游了200多個(gè)國家，收集了數(shù)萬件來自世界各國的珍貴文物，其中包括來自中國的明代玉器、真人大小的紅陶雕像、埃及的石棺、插有箭頭的印第安人頭骨化石、美國南北戰(zhàn)爭紀(jì)念品等。

丁滬生說，米勒博士向FBI特工承認(rèn)，他對文物收藏癡迷到上癮的地步，沉迷其中無法自拔，這使得他難免在收集藏品的過程中跨越了法律紅線，以非法或不當(dāng)方式取得很多藏品。這也正是FBI從米勒博士家中收繳了7000多件文物的原因。

隨著老人的過世，這4萬多件文物藏品當(dāng)初是如何被獲取的大多成謎。丁滬生說，與此前部分媒體報(bào)道不同的是，F(xiàn)BI并未收繳米勒博士的所有藏品，而僅僅是收繳了可以確認(rèn)為非法或不當(dāng)取得的7000多件文物。

“米勒博士收集文物跨度長達(dá)80年，他也從未對外隱瞞他的寶藏，而是歡迎周圍民眾來家里參觀。雖然達(dá)不到博物館館藏的保護(hù)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，老人還是盡了最大努力收藏保管這些珍貴的文物，藏品總體保存良好。老人也熱心公益事業(yè)，做了不少善事?？梢哉f，米勒博士是個(gè)亦正亦邪的傳奇歷史人物?！倍f。

目前，F(xiàn)BI的調(diào)查工作仍在進(jìn)行中。

（圖片來自視覺中國）

助讀

近年來，國家文物局通過外交斡旋、司法合作、友好協(xié)商等方式，促成包括圓明園獸首、大堡子山金飾片、虎鎣以及美國政府三次返還文物在內(nèi)的30余批次4000余件（套）流失文物回歸中國。

第一次，2011年3月，美國政府在華盛頓舉行儀式，向中國歸還十余件美國國土安全部于2010年收繳的珍貴文物，包括北齊石灰?guī)r佛像、清代瓷瓶、宋代觀音頭部雕像等。

第二次，2015年12月，美國政府向中國政府移交中國流失文物和化石，包括16件（組）玉器、5件（組）青銅器、1件陶器在內(nèi)的22件流失文物和1件古生物化石。經(jīng)中方專家初步鑒定，有關(guān)文物均為唐代以前文物，具有很高的歷史和藝術(shù)價(jià)值。古生物化石是來自中國遼寧的赫氏近鳥龍化石，距今約1.6億年。

這一次返還，就是第三次，中美雙方歷經(jīng)長達(dá)5年的努力，涉及多個(gè)文物門類，這次儀式現(xiàn)場展示了其中的20余件（套）文物。

Chinese Antiques Come Home from USA

By Xiao Dai

After spotting Ding Husheng， a businessman from Zhejiang， in a photo taken at a ceremony at Eiteljor Museum in Indianapolis to send a cache of 361 Chinese antiques back to China， we contacted him to know more about the event.

Now based in Indianapolis and engaged in the handover work on the Chinese side， Ding provided reception and support services to a group of Chinese officials from the Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Foreign Affairs to work with the government of the United States to return the 361 artifacts to China. “I was in the services. All the previous works were largely done by FBI agents and Professor Cusack-McVeigh and dozens of her students in the past five years. Experts from China National Administration of Cultural Heritage also took part in the work before the handover.”

The handover was the third and the largest one between China and the USA. The government officials attended the handover ceremony to send the artifacts back to China. Officials from the USA and China signed a repatriation agreement at the ceremony held on February 28th， 2019.

The Chinese government has not yet revealed a manifest of all the 361 artifacts， but the cache includes antiques that date back to times from the Qing Dynasty （1644-1911） to the Neolithic Age in China， which is about 5，000 years ago. Most of these artifacts were unearthed from ancient tombs in China.

The United States government first returned a group of ten plus antiques to China in March 2011. The artifacts had been seized in 2010 by the Department of Homeland Security. The second repatriation occurred in December 2015 when the US government handed over twenty-two pieces of jade， bronze and pottery and one fossil to the Chinese government. All the 22 antiques date back to the time before the Tang Dynasty （618-907）. The bird fossil is about 160 million years old.

Controversial Figure： Dr. Dr. Donald Miller

Ding told us that the 361 artifacts were from the huge collection of Dr. Donald Miller. In April 2014， FBI agents grabbed the Chinese artifacts at a farm of Dr. Donald Miller. Then with the assistance of Chinese experts， Professor Cusack-McVeigh and her students spent about five years appraising， cataloguing， and documenting them.

Ding learned the story of Dr. Donald Miller from Professor Cusack-McVeigh and Mr. Carpenter， an FBI agent in charge. Miller obtained a doctoral degree at Purdue University in Indiana. He served in the USA army in World War Two and was stationed in New Mexico during the Manhattan atomic bomb project. He and his wife started a business in 1984， developing and selling radio products for amateur radio enthusiasts. With a penchant for treasure hunting and working as an amateur archaeologist， he traveled widely around the world and participated in numerous excavation projects， and built up a treasure collection of over 40，000 pieces. FBI investigated and seized about 7，000 pieces of his collection， telling Dr. Miller that his artifacts were suspected as “stolen” and that it might take a dozen years or more to catalogue them and determined what was lawfully owned and what was not.

Dr. Miller admitted to the effect that some of his collectables came from channels that were not exactly legal. In more than 80 years as a treasure hunter and collector， Miller never hid his collection from the public. He did his best to keep the collection in good conditions. He supported charitable activities， gave tours to schoolchildren and Scout troops who came to visit his collection on field trips， and built churches in Colombia and Haiti. He passed away in 2015. With his demise， how he actually acquired all the artifacts and built up such a colossal collection largely remains unknown.

The investigation is not yet over， according to Ding Husheng.

elicacies makes my mouth water，” she confesses. “I have traveled a lot， but Wenzhou cuisine is the best. When I am in Paris， New York and Rome， I go out of my way to find Chinese restaurants where chefs from Wenzhou work. Occasionally， I travel from Como where I live an hour by train to visit China Town in Milan for the only purpose of having a taste of fish ball soup.”