Dec 14 2018

Antique

Antique is a thing of history from which we know the culture of that time. It is good to be exhibited by government organization to let public know the culture of the past.
But, nowadays some people will collect antique for his own hobby if he is rich. We cannot understand that antique is a dead thing, why people want to own it for his pleasure. We can imagine that if a man faces a dead thing day and night, surely he will be bored to that thing one day.
Decades ago, Hong Kong had a vase of ancient time to be auctioned to public. Through competition in auction, a Japanese gentleman succeeded to get this vase by paying nine million Hong Kong dollars, a big amount at that time, even now. He was so happy that he could own this vase. Next day he held this vase in arms like a baby to board a plane on his way home. We could not understand why he was so much interested in this old vase by paying such a big amount.
At the end of Ching Dynasty, there was an antique street in Peking, business very prosperous. It was due to the bankruptcy of Ching Dynasty, the previous government officers now jobless and poor. But, they had many antique in their hands which they obtained from people of different walks of life either legally or illegally. Now, they were poor and they had to sell those antique to support their living. Many people became rich by transacting the antique business from Ching royal families.