Out of Prison Again

Ma Du had naturally done quite well for himself over the past few years. His business prospered, his writing was good, and he had not neglected his editorial work either. In the end, he even rose to the position of deputy editor-in-chief. But because his business was doing so well, and because he preferred antiques anyway, he had always been somewhat distracted at work. By the early nineties, he simply quit his job and returned to his old path.

He collected things while beginning to write books about collecting. From time to time, he would also tag along with Old Guan and Ragpicker Hou to hang around the Palace Museum. They were all experts there, and he got along with them quite happily.

Later, once he had collected too many things and had nowhere to put them, he recalled what they had said over drinks back then—he wanted to establish a private museum. That was no easy matter. Han Chunming had been the first to mention it. He had even entered Jingcheng's real estate industry and completed several projects, yet he still did not have a private museum of his own. Like Wang Yan, he had his possessions scattered among several courtyard homes, paying people to watch over them.

Buying land required a stated purpose. If one said they were buying such a large plot to build a private museum, would it even be approved? And a museum had to be open to the public and charge admission—how could an ordinary person possibly get all those permits? Even Ma Du had run back and forth who knew how many times, communicating repeatedly with every department involved. With the help of several assistants to the Palace Museum's directors, it took years before there was finally this Guanfu Classical Art Museum, China's