"Disagree? Are you going to leave it for those bureaucrats to ruin? Are you going to leave it to rot in the Forbidden City?"
Upon hearing Zhuang Rui raise this question, Professor Meng's voice suddenly rose a few octaves, and a look of indignation appeared on his face.
"Teacher? What's wrong?"
Zhuang Rui was puzzled, wondering what he had said that displeased his teacher.
"This has nothing to do with you. Some time ago, I wanted to retrieve a pottery jar depicting a figure from Liu Xiu's tomb, which was unearthed from the Forbidden City recently, for research purposes. But... but unexpectedly, the item was destroyed..."
Professor Meng became increasingly angry as he spoke. That pottery jar could easily be considered a national second-class protected cultural relic, but after it was damaged, it was neither reported nor repaired. Instead, it was concealed within the Palace Museum.
If it weren't for Professor Meng's research needs and the accidental discovery of the damaged pottery jar, this matter would probably never have been known to the world, not even to those in the field.
Professor Meng had reached his limit with this bureaucratic system, so he didn't want to see any precious artifacts found on the "Awa Maru" being ruined by the bureaucrats of the Palace Museum.
"Okay, teacher, I will definitely stick to my guns regarding cultural relics..."
Zhuang Rui was furious when he heard about this. As a cultural relics supervision department, it was impossible for them to properly preserve the precious historical relics left by their ancestors. Moreover, they were shifting responsibility after the relics were damaged. Zhuang Rui could not trust such a department.
"Damn it, I'm never exchanging exhibits with the Palace Museum again. It's so unreliable..."
After listening to Professor Meng's explanation, Zhuang Rui was still a little scared. He was relieved that nothing went wrong with his promise to Jin Pangzi to exchange exhibits with the Palace Museum. Otherwise, he would have been heartbroken if his precious items had been damaged or lost.
Professor Meng's expression softened, and he pointed at Zhuang Rui, saying, "Hmm, some people care about political achievements and won't pay much attention to these things that can't be eaten or drunk. We should be able to negotiate a deal, but it'll be a bargain for you..."
"Teacher, you participated in the first salvage operation. What artifacts were on the Awa Maru? Tell me about them! I've heard that the Peking Man skull was on the Awa Maru. Is that true or not?"
Ever since Zhuang Rui heard the name "Awa Maru" from the vice minister, this question has been lingering in his mind for most of the day.
"You little rascal, I knew you'd ask that question..."
Professor Meng laughed upon hearing this, and after pondering for a moment, he said, "Xiao Zhuang, how much do you know about the Peking Man skull?"
Professor Meng wasn't trying to test Zhuang Rui, but the Peking Man skull is involved in a very complex history, and without understanding the circumstances at the time, it's impossible to make any inferences.
"Teacher, everything I know comes from the textbooks, plus some rumors, so it's not reliable..."
Zhuang Rui scratched his head sheepishly. The Peking Man skull is more significant to anthropologists and historians than to archaeologists, so when he saw the related reports, he only treated it as a story.
However, due to his professional sensitivity, Zhuang Rui still remembered the ins and outs of this matter. Back in the 1920s, Chinese scientists discovered two teeth belonging to early humans in Zhoukoudian. In October of the same year, when the scientific community in Beijing reported this important discovery, it immediately caused a sensation at home and abroad.
Subsequently, the Geological Survey of China and Peking Union Medical College joined forces to carry out large-scale excavation work at the Peking Man site in Zhoukoudian. One day in early winter, during the excavation, young paleontologist Pei Wenzhong suddenly saw a small hole with a narrow opening that only allowed one person to pass through.
To find out the truth, Fei Wenzhong entered the cave alone and unexpectedly discovered many animal fossils inside. After a day of excavation, an archaeological discovery that shocked the world finally emerged.
It was already dark when Fei Wenzhong, who was digging by lamplight, discovered a Peking Man skull. At that time, half of the skull was still in the soil. After careful and meticulous excavation, the first Peking Man skull was finally completely unearthed.
At that time, Pei Wenzhong personally rode in a car, using his own two quilts, mattresses, and felt blankets to wrap this rare treasure and escort it to the city.
In 1936, Jia Lanpo discovered three more Peking Man skull fossils in the Ape Man Cave. In total, a total of 6 skulls, 12 skull fragments, 15 mandibular bones, 157 teeth, and broken femurs and shin bones were unearthed, belonging to more than 40 individuals of different ages and genders.
The discovery of the Peking Man site and its fossils is a major event in the history of paleoanthropological research worldwide. To date, no other paleoanthropological site has yielded such a wealth of fossils and other materials related to ancient humans, cultures, and animals as the Peking Man site at Zhoukoudian.
The Peking Man fossils have thus become a rare treasure that has attracted worldwide scientific attention. Although not the earliest human, as a representative of the intermediate link between ape and human, it is known as "the most meaningful and moving discovery in the entire history of ancient humans". Therefore, the preciousness of the "Peking Man skull" is self-evident.
However, precisely because of this, it also became the object of covetousness of some speculators and imperialists. The five Peking Man skulls and a batch of fossils excavated by Pei Wenzhong and others mysteriously "disappeared" during the War of Resistance Against Japan.
In 1941, relations between Japan and the United States became increasingly tense. In Beiping, which was then occupied by the Japanese army, the Japanese army began to occupy some institutions of the neutral United States in Beiping.
Although Peking Union Medical College Hospital, which housed and preserved the Peking Man skull fossils, was American property, it was not immune to damage at the time. Under these circumstances, the Cenozoic Research Laboratory decided to find a safer place to store the Peking Man fossils.
Because the contract signed between China and the United States during the joint excavation of fossils stipulated that all fossils unearthed at Zhoukoudian were Chinese property and prohibited from being transported out of the country, the US legation refused to accept them at the time.
After coordination by the Nationalist government, the US ambassador to China in Chongqing agreed and authorized the US legation in Beiping to receive these precious ancient human fossils and prepare to transport them safely to the United States for preservation.
In the early morning of December 5, 1941, a special train for U.S. Marines departed from Beiping. As planned, after the train arrived in Qinhuangdao, the fossils were transported to the "President Harrison" ship and then shipped to the United States.
Unfortunately, just as the Marines were preparing to return to the United States, the Japanese launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, which triggered the Pacific War. The Japanese army quickly occupied American institutions in China, and the US Marine Corps barracks in Qinhuangdao were also occupied by the Japanese army. The Peking Man skull disappeared without a trace.
This became a shocking theft that has captivated the world, and the search continues for more than half a century.
In 1998, Jia Lanpo, the "father of Peking Man," joined forces with more than ten other academicians to launch a "great search at the end of the century," but ultimately found no valuable clues and remains unsolved to this day.
Chapter 1011 Peking Man Skull (Part 2)
After listening to Zhuang Rui's understanding of the Peking Man skull, Professor Meng suddenly stood up and called out to Zhuang Rui, "Xiao Zhuang, come with me..."
"Teacher, what's wrong?"
Zhuang Rui was taken aback when he saw Professor Meng open his rest room in the research institute. Because Professor Meng often worked day and night on his research, he had prepared a room for himself and sometimes stayed at the research institute.
He had never allowed Zhuang Rui or anyone else to enter this room before, not even Dr. Ren, who had followed him the longest. So when Zhuang Rui saw Professor Meng let him into the room, he felt rather strange.
Professor Meng's room wasn't large. Apart from a bed, it was surrounded by bookshelves filled with various historical documents. Zhuang Rui used his spiritual energy to examine them and discovered that many of the books possessed spiritual energy, making them veritable rare and valuable ancient scrolls.
After entering the room, Professor Meng opened the bottom shelf of a bookcase and took out a thick stack of documents. Zhuang Rui could see that the papers were already slightly yellowed.
Professor Meng placed the materials in front of Zhuang Rui and said, "Zhuang Rui, these materials are what I've collected over decades. You can take a good look at them; they might be of some help in determining whether we can find the Peking Man skull..."
Zhuang Rui looked around the room; there wasn't even a place to sit. He couldn't very well sit on Professor Meng's bed to watch, could he? So he said, "Professor Meng, how about... we go outside to watch?"
"Okay, I'll take these materials back after you've finished reviewing them..."
Professor Meng treasured the stack of documents in Zhuang Rui's hands. Some of these documents were collected by him, while others were left to him by the old scientists who had personally excavated the Peking Man skull.
Zhuang Rui agreed, took the documents out of the room, sat down in the living room, opened a document bag, and took out the documents inside to read them carefully.
Time flew by as Zhuang Rui read, and he was captivated by the true historical records from decades ago. By the time he finished reading all the materials, it was already dark.
"Damn, it's past nine o'clock..."
Zhuang Rui glanced at his watch and realized it was already past nine o'clock at night. He had actually been sitting here for five or six hours. He stretched his limbs and felt a little sore all over.
When Zhuang Rui took out his phone, he found seven or eight missed calls, all from home. Since he had been discussing business in the afternoon, he had put his phone on silent.
"Um, teacher, you haven't left yet?"
Zhuang Rui put down the documents in his hand and stood up when he saw Professor Meng walk in from outside, carrying a lunchbox.
Professor Meng placed the lunchbox on the table in front of Zhuang Rui and said with a smile, "I know you'll be watching for a long time, so I went home and made some food. But this old man prefers light food, I don't know if it'll suit your taste..."
Professor Meng was genuinely satisfied with his last disciple. Although Zhuang Rui was young, he was renowned in different fields of the antique and jade industry, and he had not lost his knowledge of archaeology.
The discovery of the Dingguang Sword a few years ago, the discovery of the real and fake Liu Xiu tombs this year, and the ancient shipwreck from the Song Dynasty some time ago—all these discoveries have shaken the world's scientific community, and Zhuang Ruina's status as a researcher was obtained precisely because of these discoveries.
As a veteran scientific research staff member and an educator, Professor Meng felt only joy. Especially when he saw Zhuang Rui studying the materials day and night, it was as if he saw his former self. That's why he went home and cooked a meal for Zhuang Rui.
"Teacher, thank you..."
Upon opening the lunchbox and seeing the still-steaming food, Zhuang Rui was deeply moved. At that moment, Professor Meng became the only mentor Zhuang Rui truly recognized, following Uncle De and Gu Tianfeng.
Professor Meng waved his hand and said with a smile, "Eat quickly, it'll get cold in a bit..."
After Zhuang Rui wolfed down his meal, Professor Meng pulled a notebook out of his documents and said, "Have you read what's in here?"
Zhuang Rui looked up at the notebook, which appeared to be popular in the 1950s or 60s, nodded, and said, "I've seen it. This must have been left by Professor Fei Wenzhong. It contains a very detailed account of how the Japanese forced him to reveal the whereabouts of the Peking Man skull..."
Professor Fei Wenzhong, who was the first to discover the Peking Man skull, was arrested by the Japanese on the day Beijing fell to the Japanese and imprisoned for more than forty days. However, he was inexplicably released after Japan declared war on the United States.
Based on the timing of the Japanese capturing the US Marines who were escorting the Peking Man skull fossil, various indications suggest that the Peking Man skull and numerous gold, silver, calligraphy, and painting artifacts must have fallen into Japanese hands at that time. However, after the war, the Japanese vehemently denied obtaining the Peking Man skull.
As a result, the Peking Man skull became the biggest cultural relic missing case of the last century. Although generations of scientists have never given up searching for it since the early days of the People's Republic of China, it has never been found.
However, Zhuang Rui found a different piece of information about the Beijing skull from another document, namely the information about the salvage of part of the Awa Maru in the 1970s.
At the time, the salvage team found a small official seal and a round inkstone belonging to Zheng Yu, a high-ranking official of the puppet Manchukuo regime, in the broken hull. This led them to conclude that the ship was carrying a large number of treasures from northern China and provided strong evidence that the "Awa Maru" might have been carrying the "Peking Man skull".
There is much information about the Peking Man skull fossil, but it is difficult to distinguish between genuine and fake. There is even a report that when US President Nixon visited China, he gave the Chinese government what the US believed to be the whereabouts of the fossil as a top-secret gift, saying that the fossil might be on the Japanese shipwreck "Awa Maru".
Based on various indications, it is highly likely that the Peking Man skull was on the Awa Maru. However, due to the limitations of diving technology in the 1970s, it was not possible to effectively clear the seabed silt and retrieve all the items. As for the whereabouts of the Peking Man skull, it remains unconfirmed.
"Zhuang Rui, what do you think is the likelihood that the Peking Man skull fossil is on the Awa Maru?"
Professor Meng knew that his disciple was different from others, and many of his insights had often been proven correct. So at this moment, Professor Meng asked Zhuang Rui in a questioning tone.
"It's very likely, but there's one thing that's hard to explain: the skull fossil disappeared in 1941, while the Awa Maru sank in 1945. There's a four-year gap. Why wasn't the skull transported to Japan during those four years?"
After reviewing so much information, this was the point that Zhuang Rui found hardest to understand. Logically speaking, the Japanese should have sent such a priceless treasure back to Japan immediately after acquiring it, instead of waiting four years to send it to the "Awa Maru".
After hearing Zhuang Rui's question, Professor Meng nodded and said, "I have also researched this question for a long time, and there are two explanations."
The first explanation is that the Japanese stole these fossils from the Americans, and the US government negotiated with Japan regarding the fossil incident. In order to deny obtaining the fossils, Japan secretly transported them to Northeast China, which was then Manchukuo, for safekeeping...
The second explanation is that the Japanese simply did not recognize the object as a Peking Man skull fossil. During that time of war, human remains were very common, and even if these remains were placed in a box, they might not have attracted the attention of the Japanese.
If the second explanation is true, then the Japanese sent these boxes containing fossils, along with the gold, silver, calligraphy, and paintings, to Northeast China, and only loaded them onto the Awa Maru four years later during their evacuation…
To solve the mystery of the Peking Man skull fossil, a great deal of work was done in China. Based on the account of a Japanese veteran, the Ritan Park in Beijing was secretly excavated. Afterwards, investigations were carried out in many places where skull fossils might be found, but nothing was found.
From Fei Wenzhong's generation of scientists, through three generations, no one was able to find the whereabouts of the Peking Man skull fossil, which left many older scientists with unfulfilled hopes.
Since participating in the salvage operation of the Awa Maru in the 1970s, Professor Meng has been secretly searching for relevant information on the Peking Man skull fossil. After extensive analysis, Professor Meng is convinced that the skull is most likely from the Awa Maru.
However, due to his imprisonment in the late 1970s, Professor Meng has always harbored some resentment about the salvage of the "Awa Maru". Otherwise, given his reputation in the industry, he probably would have initiated a second salvage operation for the "Awa Maru" long ago.
However, after this incident, it triggered Professor Meng's memories, which led him to show Zhuang Rui the materials he had researched over the years. As a Chinese scientific researcher, Professor Meng naturally hopes that the Peking Man skull fossil will reappear in the world.
"Teacher, I'll take this job. As long as that ship really does contain Peking Man skull fossils, I'm sure I can find them!"
After reading those documents, Zhuang Rui felt deeply the urgency and helplessness of the older generation of scientists. This moved Zhuang Rui deeply, and he was so excited that he blurted out some bold words.
"Hey kid, don't talk big. What if that thing rolls out of the box and into the sea? How are we going to find it?"
Professor Meng smiled as he looked at the confident Zhuang Rui. In truth, he didn't have much hope of finding the Peking Man skull fossil.
"Hehe, teacher, I've always been very lucky. Isn't that Dingguang Sword a legendary item?"
Zhuang Rui chuckled upon hearing this, then changed the subject, saying, "But... teacher, if this skull fossil is really found, it has to stay in my museum..."
Chapter 1012 Negotiation (Part 1)
"Well... let's talk about it later..."
The Peking Man skull fossil is a huge deal; it is extremely important data and evidence for the study of the evolutionary history of ancient humans. No matter how precious the cultural relics and antiques are, they cannot compare to it. Therefore, Professor Meng dared not agree to Zhuang Rui's request.
"Teacher, according to these documents, there are about three or four boxes of calligraphy, paintings, and other antiques, but the calligraphy and paintings are definitely beyond saving. I can't work for nothing, can I?"
Zhuang Rui felt a surge of excitement when he thought about the grand occasion of his museum acquiring Peking Man fossils. He thought that if this thing were in his own hands, it would definitely be more useful than if it were kept in a national laboratory.
"Xiao Zhuang, I really can't give you an answer to this, but... you can talk to the relevant departments later. If the Peking Man skull fossil is indeed found, the ownership will definitely belong to the state, but... you can also have the right to use it..."