According to The Standard, posted on 13 March, another bronze fountain head (the Dragon) belonging to the set of the 12 zodiac animals was found in the hands of a Taiwan collector. I wonder if it will be any easier for the Chinese government to retrieve it in comparison with the previous two.
I must confess that I am no patriot to China, and I just totally disagree with Mr Cai's tactic. He might have successfully delay the purchase but if what the Chinese government kept arguing about was the immorality of trading a national treasure for money, I just cannot understand how Mr Cai can justify his own act of breaking the rule of auctions as an owner of an auction house himself. Is it moral then? If that is immoral, why did the Chinese government accept the donation of the horse head from Mr Stanley Ho in 2007? The money was also earned by another auction house, was it not?
Besides, the value of antiques (or relics) is ever-changing. How can we measure how much the heads earn their price as a piece in the Summer Palace? And how much they earn as one of Yves Saint Laurent's collections?
Anyway, the whole incident was just an ironic hullaboola. Let's just wait and see what be happen at the end?
Remarks:
I really doubt as to whether he acted merely on behalf of his own will or as assigned by the Central Government. This is not uncommon that the government intervenes in other issues which are against it without revealing itself.
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