The more detailed Xu Honggang's life, career and previous official positions in the Ming Dynasty, the better.
Moderator: Two portraits handed down in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty have a history of more than 400 years. In the Ming Dynasty, there was a great official named Xu Honggang. At that time, he asked a painter in the court to paint a portrait of his parents. Nowadays, these two portraits are precious cultural relics. But today, more than 400 years later, Xu Honggang's descendants filed a lawsuit because of these two portraits.
There are 369 plaintiffs, all descendants of Xu Honggang, living in Weizi Village, Huashui Town, Dongyang City, Zhejiang Province. Xu Dexing, the village head and the representative of 369 plaintiffs, said that the portrait was handed down from generation to generation and was the property of the villagers. The defendant in the lawsuit is also a descendant of Xu Honggang. They are a brother and sister. My sister's name is Xu Yueying and my brother's name is Xu Xiqiang. These two portraits are now in their hands. Since the portraits are now in the hands of the Xu brothers and sisters, why do the villagers in the village ask them for these two portraits? This matter has to start with the relationship between the portrait and Weizishan Village.
In Weizishan Village, 78-year-old Xu Xixin knows the history of portrait painting best. Lao Xu Man Xixin is the 13th generation descendant of Xu Honggang, the senior minister of the Ministry of War of the Ming Dynasty. He told reporters that he was born in 1554 and is the eldest son of the Xu family. According to legend, when he was young, he always cried day and night for some reason. One day, his father took him to visit Wei Zi now. As a result, Xu Honggang miraculously stopped crying, which aroused his father's curiosity and decided to move his family here. Therefore, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, Xu Honggang's father moved to Weizi Village with his family. Since then, the Xu family has lived here for generations. The house where the Xu family lived in the Ming Dynasty was listed as a provincial-level cultural relics protection unit in Zhejiang Province on 1997.
Lao Xixin said that since the Xu family moved to the mountain village, they have been studying hard with their two younger brothers.
Has become an official of the court. Xu Honggang, in particular, has always achieved the position of Minister of War and become the highest officer in charge of the national army. According to historical records, Xu Honggang was shrewd and cautious all his life, and he was honest and clean, and was deeply appreciated by Ming Chengzu at that time.
Therefore, Xu Honggang's father and grandfather were appointed ministers of the Ministry of War. A small village of Weizishan suddenly produced three ministers, and the whole Xu Shi family reached its peak.
After Xu Honggang became the minister of the Ministry of War, he asked the court painter to draw these two portraits in order to thank his parents for their upbringing. In this portrait, all the golden parts are painted with real gold. The whole portrait is painted on silk cloth, and what is more precious is that five letters and inscriptions of two emperors of the Ming Dynasty are copied above the portrait. These two portraits are very precious cultural relics for the Xu family.
After the portrait was completed, Xu Honggang made a rule in the whole Xu family: the portrait belongs to the descendants of the Xu family, and in the future, the descendants will take turns to keep it in the order of generations, and each household will keep it for one year, and a part of the land rent will be used as the storage fee. Lao Xu Mansisin also said that the person who preserved the portrait would hang the two portraits in the lobby for the whole family to worship and pay their respects during the festival. He remembers taking part in the activities of worshipping portraits when he was young.
According to the records of Xu's genealogy, this family rule of taking turns to keep the portrait lasted for three or four hundred years. It was not until 1949 that the portrait was handed over to a descendant of Xu Jitian. At this time, the establishment of New China coincided with the disintegration of the Xu feudal family. The activity of hanging the portrait has never been carried out again, and the portrait has been placed in Xu Jitian's home.
In addition to the descendants of the Xu family, other villagers living in the village also know that Xu Jitian is the last custodian of the portrait. Since then, the Xu family has experienced several special historical movements. Until the death of Xu Jitian in 1997, the portrait has not been handed down because it has not been explained to others.
At that time, all the descendants of Xu Shi thought that these two portraits of their ancestors no longer existed, but no one expected that in February this year, these two portraits suddenly appeared.
The appearance of this portrait is quite dramatic. Chen Rongjun, director of Dongyang Cultural Relics Management Office, is an important witness. He told reporters that in February this year, he received a report from two cultural relics merchants that a peasant woman surnamed Xu planned to sell two portraits of her ancestors. After reading the inscription on the portrait, they judged that it should be the portrait of Xu Honggang, the minister of the Ministry of War of the Ming Dynasty. The informant said that the peasant woman surnamed Xu did not sell the portrait to them because the price was not negotiated.
After listening to the report, Director Chen immediately realized the value of these two portraits, because they are historical celebrities in Dongyang. So director Chen immediately contacted the descendants of the Xu family in the village and confirmed that there was such a thing as an ancestor portrait. It turns out that the woman who intends to sell the portrait is also a descendant named Xu. According to seniority, she should be the 13th generation descendant of Xu Honggang, and her father is the last custodian of the portrait, Xu Jitian.
According to Xu, their family has an old house in a mountain village with a double wall. When father Xu Jitian was alive, he hid the portrait in the interlayer of the wall. 1977, his parents died one after another, and she also married to Tang Hong village next door. The only son in the family lives in prison because of a crime. Since then, the old house with the portrait hidden has become more and more deserted because no one takes care of it.
In February this year, when the old house collapsed, Xu came back to sort out the things in the house and took out the portrait from the crack in the wall. Just as Xu moved the portrait out of the mountain village,
I met two cultural relics dealers, who are the informers mentioned by Director Chen. As a result, the portraits of ancestors that disappeared for nearly half a century reappeared in the sight of Xu Shi's descendants. While celebrating the recovery of the portrait, the villagers in Weizishan village began to worry about its fate, because they heard that Xu planned to sell it.
Knowing that Xu's brother and sister were going to sell the portraits of their ancestors, the villagers in Weizi Village were all very alarmed. They said that these two portraits are unusual for all Xu Shi's descendants, and their commemorative significance far exceeds their economic value. Moreover, according to the family rules, these portraits should belong to the descendants of Xu Shi, and Xu and his brother and sister have no right to sell them. So they sent someone to discuss with Xu's brother and sister, hoping that they could return the portrait to the village.
However, Xu is firmly opposed to returning the portrait to the mountain village. She said that these two portraits have been stored in her home for decades, which are the legacy left by her father and should belong to her and her brother. Moreover, her father took great risks to protect these two portraits, so he should try not to let outsiders get their hands on them.
Xu said that when she was young, someone once mobilized her father to hand over the portrait, but her father refused. At that time, her father said that people without children would burn portraits, and people with children would not. This sentence is fresh in Xu's memory. The descendants of the Xu family in Wei Zicun also recognized Xu's father's efforts to preserve the portrait. They said that as long as Xu's brother and sister agreed to return the portrait, they were willing to take out some money to keep it for them.
After several negotiations, the Xu descendants of Wei Zicun failed to get back the portrait of their ancestors. Considering that the portrait is still in the hands of Xu brothers and sisters, they may sell it at any time.
The descendants of the Xu family in Weizishan village want to protect the portrait by legal means. Together, they took Xu and her brother to court and asked the court to order the two brothers to return their portraits.
Moderator: The guest in our studio today is Professor Wang Yong from China University of Political Science and Law.
Professor Wang, in this lawsuit, the villagers in the village have deep feelings for their ancestors, and the expression of this feeling is condensed in their desire for these two paintings. First of all, the keeper of this painting thinks that this painting should be left by his father, because it has been kept in his home for 50 years. However, the villagers in Weizi Village believe that according to the old rules, this painting should belong to all the descendants of Xu Shi. What do you think of the ownership of this painting?
Wang Yong: When we judge who owns the property, we follow a basic premise, that is, presumption of possession. Whoever owns it is considered the owner. Unless we have evidence to the contrary that he is not or the owner is someone else. In this case, Xu Honggang has always made a rule that this painting does not belong to one of his descendants, but belongs to his descendants, who take turns to keep it.
Moderator: Xu should not be the sole owner of this painting, but should share it with other descendants of the Xu Shi family. But I know there seems to be a rule abroad that if a person keeps something for a certain number of years, legally speaking, its ownership will naturally transfer to him.
Wang Yong: This is the prescription collection system. The civil laws of other countries have stipulated the system of prescription acquisition. For example, a father keeps a painting for others, which is not his own, but his children think that this painting is his father's property and inherit it. They took possession of the property in a peaceful and non-violent state, and at the same time took possession of the painting in an open way, which lasted for 10 years.
Moderator: But is there such a prescription acquisition system in our national law?
Wang Yong: We don't stipulate prescription purchase. Many people think that this system violates some traditional virtues of our country, such as collecting money and returning things to their original owners. There are deeper reasons. Our research on this prescription collection system is not deep enough, at least now may not be a particularly good time to launch it. Suppose that China has stipulated the prescription acquisition system, in this case, Xu Jitian does not constitute prescription acquisition, because he did not take public possession.
The Dongyang Municipal People's Court, which accepted the case, held that, judging from the history of the Xu family, the two portraits were kept by the Xu descendants in turn before liberation, and it was impossible for any custodian to have all the ownership of the portraits. Although there were portraits in the defendant's home after liberation, this was caused by historical reasons, which did not mean that they obtained the ownership of the portraits.
In addition, the court also held that the characters in the portrait were the ancestors of all the descendants of Xu Shi, not just the ancestors of the two defendants. Therefore, the court ruled that the portrait should belong to all descendants of Xu Shi, including the defendant, and they will elect representatives to keep the two portraits in the future. At the same time, in the process of hearing the case, the court also considered that the family members promised by the defendant had well fulfilled their obligation to preserve the portrait. If they ask, the plaintiff will give it.
At present, these two portraits are temporarily sealed by the court. The villagers in Weizi Village told reporters that after the judgment came into effect, the first thing they had to do was to ask someone to repair the portraits first, and then collectively decide how to save the two portraits in the future.
Moderator: This case is a happy ending for the descendants of the Xu family. As Xu's brother and sister, they (the family) should legally get some compensation for the custody of this painting in the past 50 years, so we also hope that the descendants of the Xu family can properly and harmoniously solve this problem so that the two paintings can be preserved forever.