Preface

My name is Wu Zhiyong, also known by my studio name Zhide Zhai. I have a deep passion for the culture of ancient bronzes and stone inscriptions. I was born in Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province, in 1974. At the age of thirteen, I started my journey in business—selling home appliances, supplying river sand and gravel, running hotel accommodations, and engaging in mining, processing, and trading. These ventures laid the economic foundation for my later pursuits in collecting and scholarly research. In 2012, for the sake of my children’s education, I immigrated to Vancouver, Canada.

My collecting journey began in the late 1980s, focusing mainly on postage stamps and ancient coins. In the 1990s, I expanded to various antique objects. I paid a fair amount of “tuition” by acquiring many fakes, which led me to stop buying for five or six years. It was only when I began to participate in auction houses that I found pieces truly worthy of my heart—mostly bidding on ancient bronze mirrors and rare, major treasures of ancient coinage through China Guardian and Beijing Poly.

After moving overseas in 2013, I frequently took part in auctions held by Christie’s New York, Sotheby’s, and various auction houses in Japan, searching for precious cultural relics that had been lost overseas. Two state‑treasure‑level artifacts were successfully repatriated to China:

The first is a colossal bronze ritual tripod weighing 1,200 jin (approximately 600 kg), bearing the cast inscription “Made in the 21st year of the Jiajing reign, Ming Dynasty.” Its form closely resembles that of a bronze tripod in the Palace Museum (Beijing), whose inscription is engraved “Made during the Qianlong reign, Qing Dynasty.” This cast‑inscription tripod is considered the prototype of the Ming‑dynasty original in the Palace Museum collection.

The second is a bronze image of Shakyamuni Buddha, 130 cm in height and weighing 880 jin (approx. 440 kg), with the reverent dedication: “Reverently made on the tenth day of the first month of the fourth year of the Zhenguan reign, Tang Dynasty.” This sacred statue was commissioned by the Fourth Patriarch of Chan Buddhism, Master Daoxin, together with a hundred devout followers who raised funds for its casting. After being kept in Vancouver for many years, it was finally shipped back to China through Beijing Customs at year’s end, to be permanently enshrined in the homeland. The image is solemn and divine, its entire surface exquisitely worked and covered with the dedicatory inscriptions of its many patrons.

Since settling in Vancouver, I have continued my pursuit of collecting. Observing the existing museums here, and noting that Canada’s history is relatively short with limited cultural heritage, I conceived the idea of establishing a non‑profit museum in Vancouver—to enrich the cultural life of the local community and to help people overseas understand China’s five‑thousand‑year history and civilization. This vision has received strong support from my family and friends. I warmly invite all who share this dream to contribute your ideas and efforts to the joint endeavour of building this museum.

With sincere gratitude,

Respectfully,

Wu Zhiyong