(Ecns.cn)--A collection of rare ancient books by Ji Xianlin, a noted Chinese linguist and historian who passed away in 2009, has been sold by his son Ji Cheng for 16.2 million yuan (US$2.55 million) at the 2011 Autumn Auction held by China Guardian Auction Co. Ltd, according to reports Tuesday.
The large transaction pushes the turnover rate for rare ancient books to 98 percent in the auction world, but the practice is notorious for provoking widespread rancor. Some say that Ji Cheng is a black sheep who failed to respectfully care for the rare books he inherited from his father.
The decision to sell these books was not made by Ji Cheng alone; he discussed the matter with family members he insists, adding that how to deal with his possessions is really up to him, and he did not think it was anyone else's business.
According to Ji Cheng's lawyer, the sold allotment was just a small part of the extensive collection that Ji inherited from his father and the decision was based on two reasons. As the books are rare, selling them to people who understood their value would in fact help to preserve them. Secondly, as the book collection is very large he needs to find more space to properly house them, so selling them was a good solution.
Many items in the priceless collection of Ji Xianlin were stored at Peking University, including ancient paintings and calligraphy from the Ming and Qing dynasties, the lawyer Li Jiquan, added.
Most collectors agree with the way Ji Cheng dealt with his rare, ancient books. "These books used to be possessed by individuals and sought out for private collections; selling them helps return these books to the forum of public scrutiny and study," said Ta Xiaotang, senior official of the auction company.
The value of these books lies in their contents so "if collectors just keep the books," comments a rare ancient book lover online, "and fail to research the content, their true value will be buried."
On the same note, the day Ji's collection was auctioned off, another auction of rare ancient books occurred, but the turnover rate was only 67.3 percent.
