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SIXTY-YEAR-OLD private collector, Chen Hanzhang, is
looking for a home for his 80,000 pieces of collections.
Chen collects a number of things. Today he has 38,000
Chairman Mao badges, 30,000 ancient coins, more than 10,000
historic pictures, 1,000 works of art and antiquities, and
several hundred books of newspaper clippings.
What he doesn’t have is a home to keep them in.
Chen sold his two family houses in Heyuan, Guangdong,
years ago to buy more collectables. Before moving to Shenzhen
in 1998, his family had to live in a simple house he rented
from one of his friends.
Now Chen and his wife, with his collections, are living
in their daughter’s 70-square-meter first-floor apartment in
Dameisha, Yantian District.
Before visiting Chen Sept. 12, I would never have
imagined that such a well-known private collector would
tolerate such cramped living and storage conditions.
His collections, housed in self-made wooden and
iron-plated boxes, are stacked up in every room. The boxes
occupy most of the space in the living room, leaving only a
narrow path leading to the kitchen.
There are no air conditioners in his daughter’s
apartment. Because of the humidity caused by recent rains,
Chen has to keep electric fans going in an attempt to protect
his collections.
Chen’s bedroom was a mess. The packed boxes piled up
against the walls. Unpacked items were scattered everywhere,
including on and under the double bed.
Chen cleared a chair for me to sit on. Then he kindly
turned the electric fan to blow at me, but I still felt stuffy
in the bedroom. With sweat on my back, I tried to calm down
and listen to Chen’s story.
Over 30 years ago, when he was working in the Heyuan Folk
Song Troupe, Chen began to collect Chairman Mao badges. The
itinerant performances in the countryside facilitated his
purchasing of various badges that had been issued.
In his collections, there is one super-size Chairman Mao
badge with 50-centimeter diameter, which used to hang on the
engine of a train with Nanchang Railway Bureau during the
“cultural revolution.”
When the “cultural revolution” was over, the special
badge was taken down and collected by a railway worker.
In the 1980s when Chen heard the news, he went to
Nanchang to try and buy the badge. But the worker didn’t want
to sell it.
Chen returned home empty-handed. He said he couldn’t eat
or sleep well. He went back to Nanchang two more times, and
eventually, he purchased the badge for 3,000 yuan. A huge sum
of money at that time.
In the beginning, Chen’s wife never interfered with how
he spent money. But later, she became unhappy when she found
out Chen had used grocery money to buy collectables.
One day, the couple emptied their pockets and searched
the entire house only to find eight yuan. Chen’s wife lost her
temper and said, “I’ve been following you so many years, but
I’ve never known what happiness is like. From now on, I won’t
let you touch money any more.”
“Honey, don’t think that I’m made poor by those
collections. Rather, you know that I’m a rich man,” Chen said
with a smile.
In fact, the next time she saw Chen find an item he
loved, she immediately persuaded him to buy it. She couldn’t
put a stop to something he obviously loved so much.
So far, he is the first badge collector in China to win
two awards from the Guinness Book Of World Records.
In December 1997, Guinness Shanghai General Headquarters
granted Chen a certificate for his work, Picture of Hong
Kong’s Handover, made up of 1,997 Chairman Mao badges.
In October 1998, another certificate was awarded to him
for his work, Picture of China’s Reunification, comprising
3,003 Chairman Mao badges.
Now, as he is getting older, Chen is beginning to worry
about where his collections will end up.
The present apartment at the seaside of Dameisha is
obviously not suitable for storing them.
“My biggest wish is to find a sponsor who will build a
special museum for the 80,000 pieces in my collections so that
these precious items will have a permanent home. A home that
is always open to the public,” Chen said.
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