The treasure of Galdan Read online

  Andrej Andrejew

  The Treasure of Galdan

  This story is about the treasure of the 17th century Mongol prince Galdan. Though a fiction it partially describes true historical events and persons. The author has extensively travelled in Asia and the former Soviet Union. The contents of the book are based on his personal experience, extensive literature search and interviews with the witnesses of the Second World War, Stalinist era and Chinese Civil War.

  ©Copyright Andrej Andrejew 2014

  All rights reserved

  Beijing, April 2013

  1

  Robert Thurley, the ambassador of the United Kingdom in the People’s Republic of China, was looking out of the window of his office. It was April and the signs of coming spring were very clearly visible. The month of March had been rather awful. Clear sky was always a rare sight in Beijing but in March the omnipresent smog was further aggravated by the fine sand, blown into the city from the Goby desert by the spring winds. The change of seasons in Beijing followed an interesting pattern. The winter could arrive within a few days at the end of October. You could use an air conditioner in the car on Friday and need heating on Monday. The spring also took just a week to come.

  He was thinking about his prior deployment as ambassador in Astana, Kazakhstan. The air there was not that polluted but the winters were very tough, with strong cold winds making talking on the street impossible. Actually the best place was his penultimate deployment as consul general in Istanbul. That was really a great city to live in.

  At this point he was interrupted by his personal assistant Emily. Emily was in her fifties and had come directly from London where she worked in the foreign office for 3.5 years after returning from Islamabad. Thurley wanted his prior PA Jane to come with him to Beijing, but after 3 years in Astana she felt like she really needed to live in a better environment. Therefore she moved to work at the embassy in Prague.

  “Sir, should I make copies of the article for everybody?”

  Tom Sullivan, head of the press and PR section, had sent him a copy yesterday evening, asking to put it on today’s agenda for the working meeting of the heads of sections. The article was criticizing the selling of certain objects at an auction in London last week. The author claimed that they were an integral part of Chinese cultural heritage and had apparently been taken out of the country illegally. He expressed his surprise that the British authorities did not appear to monitor such deals and wondered what their attitude was to the selling of cultural objects coming from dubious channels.

  “I believe Tom attached the article in his email from yesterday. Actually he has asked everybody to read it prior to the meeting but to be on the safe side let’s distribute copies.”

  The meeting started at 9:30 sharp, with the head of political section Tony Sanders, head of cultural section Nick Brown and the head of staff Sarah Quinn attending.

  “Tom, would you like to summarize your point for us?”

  “Yes, sir. As I have informed all of you yesterday, the paper published this article on Monday. The objects mentioned are allegedly from the treasure of the 17th century Mongolian prince Galdan, but there are also are some objects from the Tang times among them. The undertone of the article is rather unfriendly, for example the parallels with Aurel Stein. As you know the Chinese newspaper is unlikely to publish so strong an article accusing another country without it being approved by their government. Therefore we should try to figure out more details about this issue and ask London to check on their side. Any comments or questions?”

  The first to comment was Tony Sanders. Although he was a British diplomat, he had spent his childhood in San Francisco. Because of this he had the American art of expressing his views in a forthright manner.

  “Unless I got it wrong, the stuff wasn’t reported as being stolen from some Chinese museum or palace or temple? Or have they discovered any recent excavation site from which the objects might have been taken?

  “No, it doesn’t look like that.”

  “But then what are their allegations based on? Following this philosophy every private owner of old china ware can be accused of theft! And what about all other objects of art sold at different auctions worldwide? Look at the Hong Kong auction for example. That had some objects from the Song dynasty. Why has the treasure of this Galdan caused such a fuss? And, if the prince was Mongolian, why is it Chinese cultural heritage anyway?”

  “This is what we need to figure out.” said Thurley calmly, “Nick, do you have more information for us?”

  “Not yet sir, but I will start looking into it right after this meeting.”

  “I would really appreciate that. Sarah, anything from your side?”

  “Do we have to plan for any hostile actions towards British nationals?”

  Thurley paused for a few seconds.

  “I wouldn’t expect that at this time, but this is a valid point Sarah. Unfortunately Peter couldn’t attend today but the consular section should definitely be informed. I will inform London today and would ask you Nick and you Tom to try to collect all possible information, and we’ll get back to it on Friday. Please liaise with Tony where required. And now let’s go to the next point.”

  After everybody had left, Thurley looked out from the window again. The view wasn’t at all bad. Located on the fifth floor of the western wing the windows overlooked Ritan Park. And it was relatively quiet even with them being open. The Guang Hua street where the embassy was located just a few minutes’ walk to the south of one of the major arteries of the city – Jiang Gou Men Wai street, but the noise didn’t rise this far.

  Thurley was thinking about today’s discussion. He totally agreed that this issue should not be dismissed as something trivial. One of the things that makes a good Foreign Office servant is the ability to pick up really important snippets out of the flood of information. The current issue was definitely important and should be taken seriously. Although not an expert in the Chinese history the ambassador had read a lot prior to taking up his posting to Beijing. In Chinese history textbooks, Britain’s actions were infamous. Every schoolchild had learned about the humiliation of the Opium Wars and the role of Britain in the suppression of Tai Ping- and Boxer rebellions. Much emphasis was put on looting of palaces and libraries in Beijing by the allied armies which were under the British command at that time.

  Scientific foreign expeditions into western China also came under heavy fire in those narrations. In fact explorers from many countries had roamed the region between the end of the 19th century and the 1930s. Among the most famous were the Russian Nicolai Przewalski, who had a wild horse named after him. Carl Gustaf von Mannerheim, later the charismatic commander-in-chief of the Finnish army, had participated in an expedition in the area as an officer of the tsarist army.

  As for the western explorers, the top five were the German brothers Schlagintweit, Albert von LeCoq (also a German), the Swede Sven Hedin and the Brit Sir Aurel Stein. All of these explorers took valuable objects back home. The total amount reached hundreds and hundreds of boxes of treasures. But nobody caused such wrath as Sir Aurel Stein. The reason had to be the significance of his discovery in the Mogao Caves at Dunhuang and of course his methods. He cleverly fooled the custodian monk, managing to take away the original of the Diamond Sutra printed in the 9th century on wooden tablets (amongst other treasures). This story was later presented as an outrageous case of treacherous theft and retold to many visitors of the site. The clumsy attempts of some tourists to suggest that otherwise the scripts would perhaps be rotting in the caves or destroyed by the Red Guards, only poured petrol on the flames. To summarize, Britain was not cast in a good light in the discussion about lost Chinese national treasures. The anti-Brit
ish hostile mood did not always rest with silent anger. In 1967 during the Cultural Revolution, a mob of the Red Guards had stormed the British Embassy and heavily damaged the building. Had Zhou Enlai not intervened, this could even have claimed lives.

  This was the reason why he thought it being important to inform the headquarters in London and investigate locally. He had confidence in his team. Well perhaps with the exception of Nick. Nick was a bright and diligent officer but he had only moved to Beijing two months ago from Santiago de Chile, where he was in charge of consular affairs. In the foreign office it was often said that cultural attaché was a sort of back burner for those whom you couldn’t entrust with more important tasks. In fact this wasn’t true. You couldn’t expect somebody who just moved from Latin America to become an expert on China within a few days. Such was the system of rotation in the foreign office. In charge of a certain department in one country one minute, you may be deployed to another one and entrusted with completely different tasks. Of course the previous experience and skills did play a role in selecting the next deployment but there was no guarantee. At the end of Nick’s term in Santiago de Chile there was no position of his rank free in the countries where he could use his very good command of Spanish. Thus he came to Beijing. Other embassies tried to employ specialists on the country who weren’t always recruited from the diplomatic pool. There were several pros and cons for both systems but the British foreign office structure was like it was, and one had to deal with that.

  2

  Nick Brown was well aware of his limitations. He knew that the several books on Chinese history and culture which he had read prior to coming to Beijing were not enough even to provide a sound basic knowledge. This challenge was not specific to Nick or even the British diplomats in general. For this very reason the embassies employed or contracted so called ‘local fixers’. In the most cases they were Chinese. Like Mr. Zhang in the facilities section who could manage virtually each problem and was very quickly at that. Whether it was arranging a driving license for a new arrival or customs clearance of a shipment, he knew whom to call and what to do.

  Another category of helper were the local expats. They had lived in Beijing for decades and worked for embassies (usually of their own country) without having an official passport. And, although they were paid better than Chinese, still it was a far cry from the salaries of the diplomatic staff. Some of these local expats had quite exotic backgrounds, their biographies would have made interesting books.

  Nick’s department had two local Chinese assistants. After the meeting he asked Ms. Liu to search the internet for “Prince Galdan” while he had a think about who could advise on this matter. Ms. Liu has worked under his predecessor and had a degree in Chinese literature. She suggested looking for Mr. Ion Popescu. Mr. Popescu was a Romanian in his sixties, who had been living in Beijing for nearly 30 years. He had started at the Romanian Trade Mission in 1984. After the revolution in 1989 he decided not to go back home and tried to earn a living however he could. Chinese immigration authorities, despite their unsentimental reputation, were quite sympathetic in such cases and prolonged his visa every time. After having tried several jobs and business ideas Mr. Popescu moved into the furniture trade. Chinese furniture, whether really old or just made to look it, was a good business for export. He started it dealing with merchants at the Qiao Wai market but then, together with his Chinese partner, expanded his operations as far as Xinjiang province. He had a good connection with the Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage. This helped him to get the necessary export approvals quickly and without much hassle. In some cases it was difficult to determine whether the piece was 60 or 130 years old. Mr. Popescu had experience in how to use these grey zones. But he always adhered to two fundamental rules:

  Never sell fakes

  Never assist in exporting prohibited antiques (except those in the afore-mentioned grey zone)

  He was well aware of the draconian penalties for smuggling cultural relics and also the precariousness of his status as well-connected but still just tolerated foreigner. Some embassies had used his services when diplomats wanted to take furniture bought in China back to their home countries. For a reasonable fee he evaluated the pieces, advised the buyer as to whether they were exportable and managed all necessary paperwork. If required, he could help to find good furniture or arrange a piece made according to the wishes of the client. At the same time his connections to the embassies were quite useful for him from time to time. Logistics companies valued him highly since he could inconspicuously recommend their service to the embassies.

  Nick decided that this person might be a good place to start. He asked for his phone number.

  “Mr. Brown,” Ms. Liu said politely but firmly, “you know, in China it is very important that you are introduced by somebody who already knows the person. Let me do this.”

  She called Mr. Popescu who suggested meeting for lunch at the Stone Boat café in Ritan Park.

  Nick selected a table in the far corner of the café and waited for Mr. Popescu to arrive. A tall gentleman with straight posture entered the café and started to look around.

  “Looks like an Italian count. He has something impressive in his demeanour,” thought Nick.

  “Are you Nick?” the gentleman asked in clear but quite accented English.

  “I hope you haven’t already eaten? You know, this is not the best place to eat out but I know some good dishes. Actually my office is only a kilometre away.”

  “Of course, I will leave ordering to you. How about starting with a drink?”

  “Just water please. Do you speak French by the way?”

  “Well, on a basic conversational level I would say but my Spanish is fairly good.”

  “Oh, I understand a lot of Spanish but cannot speak it. Let's continue in English, however mine is quite bad. Sorry for that.”

  “No Mr Popescu, your English is really good enough.”

  In the meantime Popescu called the waiter.

  “So, I’ll take water and for you?”

  “I’ll have a bitter lemon.”

  Mr. Popescu ordered the drinks in obviously heavily accented but fairly good Chinese.

  “Now tell me. What can I do for you?”

  “Well, Ms. Liu has told me you might be the right person to advise on a delicate issue.”

  “Which is?”

  “Mr Popescu, have you ever heard of a 17th century Mongolian prince, Galdan?”

  “Ah, I see. The recent article?”

  “You know about that?!”

  “Of course my dear! I have to be aware of something like that. After all I export old furniture and must know the mood of those who guard over the national heritage. To be honest I don't know the details and have never heard of this prince. But I know where we could ask. I see our drinks are coming. Let's order food and while we are waiting I’ll make some calls.

  “How about the Sichuan style duck and the stir fried eggplant? The cook is really good here.”

  “I bow to your recommendation.”

  “Sichuan Kao Ya, hai yao Yuxiang Chiedzi,” Popescu ordered.

  He took his mobile and called somebody, talking in Chinese.

  “Tomorrow 10:00 here? That will get us to the northern fourth ring road by 11:00. There is an Institute of Tibetology, quite well-known. I know the deputy director and I am sure she will able to help. Let us drive with my car. And please dress conservatively, officially. I have announced I’ll be bringing a British diplomat and they have certain expectations of how he might look.

  “Certainly, will do. Mr. Popescu, I mean... I wanted to ask. All this help will take your time, so...”

  “Oh no, forget it! I will not take any payment for this. Should I incur some expenses I will let you know, but for the time being it is just fine.”

  After the lunch Nick returned to the embassy and was asked to come immediately to Thurley’s office. After a few minutes he was again on the fifth floor.

  “Liste
n Nick. Just 30 minutes ago I had a conversation with London. The issue is much more complicated than it seemed to be this morning. Among the objects are some which are sacred for Tibetan Buddhists. One of them is so called Sapphire Buddha which originates from India and is estimated to have a value of 4 million pounds. Apparently it was a present from Dalai Lama V to the prince.

  The Chinese authorities will pursue this issue; that’s a given. Is there any chance we can hurry along the research? I will inform the rest of the heads of sections but at this point your research is the most important. And the instruction from London was that we should take a strictly reactive position in dealing with Chinese officials. Should you be confronted with any problems, please refer to Tom.”

  Nick told the ambassador about the planned meeting and was asked to report the results immediately upon his return.

  4

  In the morning he met Mr. Popescu in Ritan Park as agreed and they headed for the fourth ring road. At first they turned left on Jiang Guo Men Wai and then to the north on the third ring. As usual at the intersection with Dong Zhi Men Wai road there was a traffic jam. While they were waiting, Mr.Popescu, now not distracted by driving, started to talk.

  “I was thinking yesterday about this matter, you know. You may learn about this prince today but what’s next? If you really want to investigate this story we need somebody who has good knowledge of the current history.”

  “Do you have somebody in mind?”

  “Yes, I think I know somebody. There is a guy here in Beijing. A freelance cameraman actually but he is also a journalist. He is Belgian and has lived here for six years. Two years ago he was a cameraman for the National Geographic crew reporting about the advance of the Gobi desert, and he is well connected with quite a lot of locals. To be honest I don't know if he will want something for this help but I could imagine that he will just want to have it as his story. What do you think?”