Chapter 1057: Qi Baishi's shrimp sells for 200 yuan?

'Of course there is no problem, please!'

After saying that, Yan Sihai made a gesture of invitation and then led Xia Yu, Liu Zhihe and the others inside.

After turning a few corners along the corridor, Xia Yu realised that this was another building, equivalent to an annex of the Museum of the Chinese Revolution, which, in addition to a guest house and restaurant, also had a dedicated calligraphy and painting exhibition hall.

And the calligraphy and painting exhibition hall was precisely Xia Yu's goal.

After entering the exhibition hall, the scene in front of Xia Yu's eyes brightened.

He saw that there were quite a few people standing in the large exhibition hall, most of whom were elderly people of a certain age, except for a few foreigners, admiring the calligraphy and paintings hung on the walls.

Xia Yu took a quick glance and conservatively estimated that there were at least a few hundred hanging scrolls in the large exhibition hall. Some were only a few feet long and wide, while others were five or six metres long. After just a quick glance, Xia Yu was convinced that these paintings were almost all masterpieces!

Xia Yu walked straight up to a painting. It was an ink wash painting of a group of swimming shrimps, each with a different posture, lifelike and full of verve. The painting captured the feeling of the shrimps swimming calmly and the lively mood of 'being happy in what you are doing' as well as the beauty of the poetic mood.

This shrimp painting is good!

Xia Yu looked again at the characters and red seal in the bottom right corner.

There were only two characters, but they made Xia Yu's eyes light up, and a look of certainty flashed in his eyes.

White Stone!

There was a square red seal beneath the characters, and there were not many lines in the characters inside, but Xia Yu could still make out that the top left corner was the character 石 (stone) and the bottom right corner was the character 白 (white).

This is Qi Baishi's seal!

Sure enough, Yan Sihai's introduction, which sounded at this time, affirmed Xia Yu's judgment.

'Mr Xia, this painting is by the old master Qi Baishi. Our museum has several hundred of his paintings in storage, but due to the size of the exhibition hall, only a dozen are on display. This one is considered medium-sized.'

Hearing that the museum had several hundred of the old master Qi Baishi's paintings in storage, Xia Yu was a little surprised and asked curiously, 'How much does the old master Qi Baishi sell this painting for?'

Yan Sihai immediately said, 'If you sell this painting externally, it will cost 200 yuan.'

Xia Yu's eyes widened slightly, thinking that he had heard it wrong. Looking at Yan Sihai, he asked again, "More than 200 yuan?'

Yan Sihai thought that Xia Yu was saying it was too expensive, so he hurriedly explained, "Mr. Xia, this is indeed the price for an old master's painting. The main reason is that the old master has been dead for more than 20 years, and each of his paintings is sold out, and his reputation is relatively high, so the price is a bit higher.'

'For example, the paintings of the master Li Keran are much cheaper now because he is still creating art. His masterpieces are 15 yuan per foot, and you can buy an early painting for 8 or 9 yuan.'

'If you want to buy this painting, I can give you a 50% discount!'

Hearing Yan Sihai say this, Liu Zhihe gave him an unsatisfied look and hastily added, 'Mr Xia, if you like this painting, I can give it to you directly on behalf of the museum. You can take any painting you like here!'

Yan Sihai looked at Liu Zhihe when he heard what the latter said, and noticed that Liu Zhihe kept giving him signals. He immediately changed his words and said, 'That's right, Mr Xia, you are our VIP. Take whichever painting you like. I'll have someone wrap it up for you now.'

Xia Yu was a little between tears and laughter. Seeing that Yan Sihai seemed to be about to call someone, he hurriedly waved his hand to stop him.

'Director Yan, Director Liu, there's no need for this. Without rules there can be no boundaries. If I want it, I will buy it! I still have that kind of money!'

'Let's go look at the paintings over there!'

After saying this, Xia Yu walked forward, ignoring Qi Baishi's painting.

Liu Zhihe and Yan Sihai looked at each other, not knowing whether Xia Yu liked the painting or not.

The two men could only hurry to keep up with Xia Yu's footsteps.

Next, Xia Yu stopped in front of many paintings, and Yan Sihai would give an introduction. Xia Yu inevitably asked the price, and Yan Sihai would give a truthful answer.

After a while, Xia Yu looked at the paintings and calligraphy of the masters hung all around, and a feeling welled up in his heart, feeling sorry for them.

These masters, both deceased and living, were very famous in China, but their masterpieces were sold at low prices at the National Museum of Chinese Revolution, located near Tiananmen Square.

According to Yan Sihai, many artists took the initiative to sell their paintings here for a living, because they could get a higher price if they sold to foreign guests, and they could also contribute to the country.

But what about the price?

Li Keran's paintings ranged from 7 to 15 yuan per foot.

Li Kuchan's paintings cost more than ten yuan per foot.

Wu Zuoren's paintings cost six to seven yuan per foot.

Lin Fengmian's paintings cost three to four yuan per foot.

Zhang Daqian's paintings also cost more than ten yuan per foot.

And what about the works of those deceased masters?

Qi Baishi's shrimp paintings, Xu Beihong's paintings of galloping horses, Pan Tianshou's paintings of flowers and birds, Wu Changshuo's calligraphy and paintings, Huang Binhong's landscape paintings...prices range from tens to hundreds of yuan. (This is a true story. Some of them were sold for over 200,000 yuan, and are worth tens of billions of yuan today.)

In this era...

Hey, it's all poverty that's causing this!

Seeing Xia Yu standing still and silent for a long time, Liu Zhihe became a little worried and asked in a low voice, 'Mr Xia, what's wrong?'

Xia Yu woke up with a start. Looking at the worried expressions of Liu Zhihe and Yan Sihai, he gave a small smile and shook his head, saying, "Nothing, just thinking of something.'

Afterwards, he looked at Yan Sihai and asked with some puzzlement, "Director Yan, I have a question for you.'

'Please go ahead, Mr Xia!' Yan Sihai said immediately.

'You just said that the income from selling calligraphy and paintings here is mainly used to improve the funding of the museum and to entertain foreign guests. Is the income from selling these paintings at this price enough? Can they be sold?' Xia Yu asked.

Yan Sihai felt a little embarrassed, looked at Liu Zhihe again, and sighed, saying, 'Mr Xia, to be honest with you, the income from selling calligraphy and paintings is definitely not enough. According to the requirements from above, we have to receive foreign guests when they come to the museum. The standard for the reception is three yuan per person, but how can three yuan be enough? The difference is covered by the income here, but the Chinese people don't have much money and can't buy many paintings, and foreign guests don't understand our national culture and buy few of our calligraphy and paintings.'

'Up to now, it is almost impossible to continue operating. As a national museum, it is also embarrassing for us to sell calligraphy and paintings here, but this is the hope of many artists, so we are also in a difficult situation now and don't know what to do.'

Hearing Yan Sihai's words, Liu Zhihe looked at Xia Yu awkwardly.

Xia Yu looked a little complicated, not knowing what he was thinking.

After a while, Xia Yu let out a long breath, glanced around at the calligraphy and paintings, and then said to Yan Sihai with a solemn expression, 'Director Yan, I want to buy the calligraphy and paintings!'

Yan Sihai glanced at Liu Zhihe and saw that the latter was nodding in approval. He beamed with joy and asked, "Mr Xia, which calligraphy and paintings do you like?'

Xia Yu glanced around and calmly said two words: "All of them.'

'All of them?'

Yan Sihai was taken aback, blinked, and asked uncertainly, 'Mr Xia, do you mean all the hundreds of calligraphy and paintings hanging here?'

Xia Yu shook his head. Just as Yan Sihai was a little disappointed, Xia Yu's words completely shocked him.

'I mean all the calligraphy and paintings in your museum that are available for sale, those that are hung here and those that are not. I want them all!'

Once these words were spoken, not only was Yan Sihai shocked, even Liu Zhihe was also taken aback by Xia Yu's actions.

Yan Sihai had seen people who bought calligraphy and paintings in large quantities here, but this was the first time he had seen someone as carefree as Xia Yu who just casually said that he wanted it all.

'Mr Xia, to give a conservative estimate, we have tens of thousands of paintings in storage. Are you sure you want them all?'

Xia Yu nodded slightly and said with a faint smile, 'Just tens of thousands of paintings, I'll take them all. If you can come up with more, I'll take those too. I'll take as many as you have!'

'I have a museum in Hong Kong that is large enough to house a million cultural relics and works of art. It is currently empty, so it would be perfect for buying some paintings and calligraphy to fill it up.'

After Xia Yu confirmed, Yan Sihai's face was full of surprise and joy, which he could not hide. He quickly said, 'Mr. Xia, don't worry. Our museum cooperates with schools and institutions such as the Huaxia Academy of Fine Arts and the Huaxia Fine Arts Association. Generally, we cannot accept their works here. They still have a lot of works there. If you need them, I can bring them all here!'