Hong Kong tycoon Hui Wing-mau donates priceless ancient map of Silk Road to Palace Museum
Wealthy businessman bought the Landscape Map of the Silk Road from a private collector for 133 million yuan
When Hong Kong tycoon Hui Wing-mau instructed his company to buy a Ming dynasty Silk Road map for 133 million yuan, he knew the value of the item was beyond just the price tag.
His company, Shimao Group, recently bought the Landscape Map of the Silk Road from a private collector and donated it to the Palace Museum in Beijing, adding one more relic to the world-renowned museum that is home to 1.8 million treasures.
The low profile tycoon, once ranked by Forbes as China’s second richest person, bought the map because it carries significant historical value of China’s understanding of the Silk Road in the Ming dynasty. He felt he needed to buy it, especially after China’s President Xi Jinping has launched the go-global trade strategy, the “Belt and Road Initiative”.
The map’s value ended up probably being beyond what even Hui had expected. When US President Donald Trump visited Beijing in November, President Xi took him on a visit to the museum’s “relic museum” and the map was one of the items the two leaders saw.
“The value of the map cannot be measured by money,” Hui said at a ceremony on Thursday as the museum officially marked the transfer. “Today, (the map) is finally home.”