Accidentally dug up an ancient vase containing 40kg of gold
In February 1982, when winter and spring began, villagers in Mutian town, Xuyi district, Jiangsu province, China prepared for early spring plowing.
In the village’s fields, farmers are working hard, cleaning canals to facilitate future sowing and irrigation work.
Suddenly, a field suddenly became lively, someone shouted something, then the three Van brothers left their work in the field, holding a jar full of mud and ran home in a hurry.
A villager working near the Van brothers called out to the others: “The Van family dug up gold. Let’s go to their house to divide the gold!”
The Van family has 3 brothers, the eldest brother is Van Y Tai. The three brothers are all married but still live with their parents. Van Y Tai acts as the head of the family.
Their family’s ancestors were farmers, and their brothers, in turn, still make a living by farming. But life is still very poor and difficult.
Of course, in 1982, it wasn’t just their family, the whole village mainly maintained a living by farming, making a lot of money and being rich was just an illusion.
Van Y Tai is an honest person, his words and actions are decisive, so the villagers have a good impression and elect him to be the captain of the village’s production team.
On February 10, 1982, the village organized the villagers to clean the canals next to the fields to ensure that water could be transferred smoothly for irrigation in the future. The team leader is responsible for assigning villagers each person to be responsible for cleaning an area. Three cousins are also in charge of a section of ditch.
The work is quite hard. While they were using a shovel to dig up rocks, they suddenly hit a hard object in the mud. Thinking that they had dug up a piece of rock, they used their hands to identify the object and tried to remove the rock to clear the flow. But when they touched it, the three Van brothers discovered that it was not a stone but a large vase. They looked at each other and then, without telling anyone else, they worked together to dig the vase out of the water for a few minutes.
Gold pieces sparkle in an ancient vase
When they opened the lid, they suddenly saw sparkling pieces of yellow metal. “Those are gold bars,” the youngest brother shouted. But then the two older brothers quickly kept quiet and together they quickly carried the vase home.
The Van brothers locked the door and cleaned the rusted metal vase. Unexpectedly, the jar was filled with gold bars, the estimated weight being up to 40 kilograms. Faced with that temptation, the three brothers agreed to divide the gold equally among the three families.
Unexpected decision
At first, Van Y Tai was very excited about this wealth falling from the sky. But after hesitating for a long time, he considered that this pot of gold was probably owned by the old landowner or was a historical artifact, and logically he should hand it over to the government.
But surprisingly, at this time many villagers were surrounding their house, because they thought that the pot of gold found on public land should be divided among all the people.
Van Y Tai tried to go straight to the government headquarters and notify the commune leaders. The government quickly reported to superiors and sent archaeological experts to Van Y Tai’s house to evaluate the precious vase. When the archaeological expert saw the vase, he was immediately happy. After careful examination, he confirmed that the vase was indeed a rare treasure, its value a hundred times higher than the amount of gold inside.
The vase is on display in the museum
It is a bronze vase that dates back to the Warring States period, with traces dating back to 315 BC. The vase and the gold were then displayed by the government at the Nanjing Museum, China. In 2013, it was included in the “National Cultural Relics Banned from Exhibition Abroad” by the China Cultural Heritage Administration. That further confirms its value.
The Van brothers contributed to the discovery of antiques. They were awarded 10,000 yuan. They use this money to renovate the old house and improve family life. Many villagers believe that, compared to 40kg of gold, the reward amount is nothing. They discriminated against the Van family because they handed over all their gold to the government, leaving the people without any benefit. But the three brothers do not regret having contributed to preserving history and culture. Later, 2 of the 3 brothers moved to another place to live, while the eldest brother Van Y Tai still tried to stay in his hometown to worship his ancestors.
