【Live sound】Tan Zhaozhang, collector of ancient maps of Hong Kong
These are some of the oldest pictures in foreign countries. The four hanging on the wall represent 400 years. This is from the 15th to the 16th century, and the 17th to the 18th century. Here is a Chinese picture. The oldest is from the Song Dynasty. This is 800 to 1000 years ago.
[Explanation] A dazzling array of old maps, antique old books and magazines, and the fragrance of ink all over the house. In a map gallery in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, the reporter met Tan Zhaozhang, a collector of ancient Hong Kong maps.
For decades, he has been engaged in the collection and research of ancient maps. He is also known as the "Map King" in the industry because of the large number of collections, the complete categories, and the rarity of some ancient maps.
[Concurrent] Hong Kong ancient map collector Tan Zhaozhang
At the beginning, I estimated that I had about 200,000 maps, that is, a small number of 1/3 are ancient maps of various provinces and cities in China, and the other part are maps of different places in foreign countries, adding up to about 200,000 maps in the two parts.
[Explanation] Tan Zhaozhang was born in the financial industry and first worked in a bank. The reason for his work made him travel around the world.
In the early years, technology was not developed, and paper maps were a "must-have" for Tan Zhaozhang who never left his hands.
The opportunity to really start collecting maps has to go back to an ancient map from the 19th century that a friend gave him when he was on a business trip in New York, USA.
[Concurrent] Hong Kong ancient map collector Tan Zhaozhang
When we were leaving, he gave me an ancient map of a small American town. It was drawn on copper plates. How do I know that I was on the way, because I might sway left and right on the car, and then I fell asleep. Well, this thing may have been left next to this car.
I went back to New York to stay at the Hilton and couldn't find it, so I was in a hurry.
Because there are street stalls in these three streets of New York on Saturdays, I went to the street stalls to find them, but I couldn't find them, but I found a lot of old maps of New York.
[Explanation] It was this unplanned overseas adventure that made Tan Zhaozhang completely addicted to collecting maps.
Since then, almost every time he went to a city, he would go to the local antique market to find ancient pictures.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Tan Zhaozhang was employed by Peking University as a visiting professor, and taught apprenticeships in the Mainland, teaching international administration and finance.
In his spare time, he always goes to Beijing Panjiayuan to "Taobao".
[Concurrent] Hong Kong ancient map collector Tan Zhaozhang
I leave at 4 o'clock and arrive at Panjiayuan before 5 o'clock.
It's all sand, it's all sand, and there are some people who can't see clearly, but I have a flashlight, and you want to be with the friend he met in the dim light.
He will definitely give me some things. What does he mean? He doesn't sell them, but I like to talk for a long time two or three days later, because I told me that I was a professor of Peking University. I said you can rest assured that I won't sell them. Just give it to me, but you can't ask for too much. I teach and I don't have much money, so don't be too expensive.
[Explanation] For Tan Zhaozhang, the value of a map cannot be measured only by money, but by the level of historical development contained in it.
Through the comparison between ancient and modern Chinese and foreign countries, we can know that the past is not easy, and it can also inspire and guide the future.
[Concurrent] Hong Kong ancient map collector Tan Zhaozhang
First of all, I focused on Mr. Sun Yat-sen's "The Strategies for the Founding of the People's Republic of China". The railways built at that time (conceptualized) were a few tenths of what they are now, so I compared today's high-speed rail map. Putting them together and comparing, I realized that we have broken through many major barriers and achieved results that are accepted by the common people.
So I like to use ancient maps to compare with today's maps. At a glance, I know the dreams of the past, and the reality of today is displayed in front.
[Explanation] In Tan Zhaozhang's view, ancient maps contain important information such as politics, economy, humanities, and geography of the era and region of the painter. They are not only symbols of the wisdom of the ancients and sages, but also precious materials for people to study history today.
[Concurrent] Hong Kong ancient map collector Tan Zhaozhang
First it is a tool of wisdom and second it is a tool of strategy.
The map can put all the factors in the distance into one space, and in a space-time, how to use the space today, so the strategic thinking is generated from the map.
[Explanation] In recent years, Tan Zhaozhang has given and loaned thousands of collections to different professional research institutions such as the Hong Kong Central Library, the University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the National Library of Singapore.
He hopes to encourage the younger generation to understand the history of China and the world from the map, learn from the past, and make progress.
Reporter Fan Siyi Liang Yuan reports from Hong Kong
Responsible editor: [Luo Pan]