The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

According to data from UNESCO, as many as 164 million Chinese cultural relics have been lost overseas and are collected by 47 museums around the world. If the data from private collections is included, the number will be even more astonishing, with a conservative estimate of more than 1000 million pieces.

Britain is one of the countries that has plundered and collected the most Chinese cultural relics. Most of the Chinese cultural relics that ended up in Britain were from 1860 to 1949, with the burning of the Old Summer Palace by the British and French forces in 1860 and the Boxer Rebellion in 1900 being the worst disasters.

In addition, several lootings of the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang by the British-Hungarian Aurel Stein also resulted in a large number of Dunhuang documents, paintings, murals and other art treasures being lost overseas.

The major museums and libraries in the UK have collections of Chinese cultural relics from various dynasties, most of which were illegally looted from China by invaders during the modern colonial period and ended up overseas.

Among them, the British Museum is the museum with the largest collection of lost Chinese cultural relics, with as many as 2.3 Chinese cultural relics in its collection, of which about 2000 are on long-term display. The collection of Chinese cultural relics covers the entire art category of China, spanning the entire history of China, including engraved books, calligraphy and painting, jade, bronze, pottery, and ornaments.

The British Museum is naturally the first stop for the cultural relics expert group!
"Liangzhu culture jade cong! It's Liangzhu culture jade cong!" An old man in his seventies looked at a jade cong and couldn't help getting excited.

Others couldn't help but observe the jade Cong carefully!

The shape of the jade cong is square outside and round inside, representing "the sky is round and the earth is square", symbolizing the supreme divine power, and was used as a ritual vessel in ancient sacrifices. Jade is the essence of Liangzhu culture. This Neolithic Liangzhu culture jade cong collected by the British Museum is 49.5 cm high and dark green. The inside of the body is cylindrical and hollow, and the outside is a square column with decreasing thickness. It is divided into 19 sections horizontally. The grooves on the surface are similar to ladders. When Westerners first saw it, they mistakenly thought it was the "Tower of Babel" recorded in the Bible. It was looted and lost overseas after the "burning of the Old Summer Palace" in 1960. It is one of the treasures of the British Museum.

The shape and details of this Liangzhu jade cong reflect the extraordinary craftsmanship of the time. It is one of the tallest jade congs known to date, and can be called the "tall, thin and handsome" among jade congs. It is also the only Liangzhu culture jade cong collected by the British Museum.

Hua Xia has tried many times to tour this treasure, but has been firmly rejected by the British Museum.

The British Museum was founded in 1753. It is the oldest and most magnificent comprehensive museum in the world, and one of the four largest and most famous museums in the world. The museum houses many cultural relics and treasures from all over the world, as well as manuscripts of many great scientists. The richness and variety of its collections are rare in museums around the world.

The entire British Museum has a collection of more than 800 million pieces, and due to space limitations, a large number of collections cannot be displayed to the public.

The British Museum has witnessed Britain's most glorious era. It was built during the British Empire and has witnessed the empire's prosperity, the twilight of its hegemony, and its collapse.

Every piece of collection in the British Museum represents the achievements of the British Empire.

Almost none of the collections outside the UK were obtained legally in the UK.

Every Chinese cultural relic here represents a humiliation inflicted by Britain on China.

In the past, we took back Chinese cultural relics from museums and libraries in Germany and France. Now we have another opportunity to exchange them for Chinese cultural relics from museums and libraries in Britain.

Every expert knows that this was all real money invested by Panshan Group.

Although this is a shame, it is also a rare opportunity.

The first artifact identified by the expert group was a Liangzhu culture jade cong, and the second artifact was a Shang Dynasty double-ram zun. This zun is 45 cm tall, with a cylindrical mouth and a belly with two rams facing each other. The ram's horns are large and curved, and the mouth of the zun is decorated with string patterns and dragon-faced taotie. The jaws and belly of the ram are decorated with door ridges, symbolizing the beard and drooping hair on the belly. It is decorated with dragon face patterns, scale patterns on the belly, and dragon patterns on the legs. Two rams connected back to back carry the body of the zun, and the four ram legs are used for support. The image of the ram is vividly shaped. This Shang Dynasty double-ram zun was looted and lost overseas after the "burning of the Old Summer Palace" in 1860, and is now collected in the British Museum.

Each piece of Chinese cultural relic was appraised, carefully placed and shipped back to the country.

The British Museum announced that it had 2.3 cultural relics of various kinds from China, but in the end, the British Museum alone had 6.65 pieces, of which 0.99 were fakes. In more than three months, a total of 28.9596 cultural relics were shipped back to China from the UK!

The sky was clear and cloudless in the sea 500 nautical miles from the UK.

One 'Type 001' aircraft carrier, one 'Type 002' aircraft carrier, and thousands of British troops are training under the guidance of instructors.

除此之外，还有10艘054型护卫舰、6艘052型驱逐舰、1艘816型驱逐舰、2艘综合补给舰、6艘039型潜艇

Britain originally wanted to buy warships from the United States, but the American warships were too expensive. Even though Britain was an ally of the United States, the United States acted like brothers and would settle accounts clearly. The prices were so high that the British could not bear it.

A Perry-class guided missile frigate that has been in service for decades, including the "upgrade package", costs $2.5 million.

You know, now the US Navy purchases a brand new, latest model of "Perry-class" missile frigate, which only costs $2 million.

Old ships that have been in service for decades are sold at a higher price than new ships.

Britain, unable to tolerate any more, turned to the East.

After some communication, the British packed up the equivalent of two aircraft carrier fleets.

As a result, the Chinese Navy currently has only one Type 002B nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in service, and its original three aircraft carrier fleets have been reduced to only one aircraft carrier fleet.

The British tried their best to reorganize the expeditionary force.

There is no other way. We have to fight. Otherwise, Britain will be left behind by other countries.

In order to save the situation, Britain announced that it would send a 10-strong expeditionary force, including navy and marines, to punish Argentina.

Now the eyes of the whole world are on Britain and Argentina to see who will give in first.

The UK is even learning from the US and doing live broadcasts. It is now doing live broadcasts of training and will later do live broadcasts of wars.

A number of Argentine football stars have protested against the British tough attitude, believing that this will only lead to an escalation of conflicts between the two sides and a real war, rather than solving the problem.

But now, the British war machine has been started, the whole of Britain is filled with a strong war atmosphere, the government is constantly spending money, and even the previously overdue pensions have been paid out.

After receiving a large sum of money, the pound not only did not depreciate due to massive money printing, but instead hit the highest exchange rate against the US dollar since the US subprime mortgage crisis, and the pound appeared very strong.

The whole of Britain is reflecting on its policies over the past few decades. Many British people believe that if Britain had not been at peace for a long time and neglected its military preparations, Argentina would not have dared to do so. (End of this chapter)