When foreign powers use forged documents to label the Old Summer Palace’s bronze animal heads “ownerless,” and 3D replicas of Dunhuang scrolls try to erase real history, Chen Yan, an intern researcher at the Qingzhou City Museum, awakens after his blood falls before a gilt Buddha statue from the Northern Qi dynasty
“National Treasure Recognition System bound successfully. Touch a cultural relic to awaken a scene from history and borrow the spirit of Huaxia.”
From then on, he uses the Buddha statue’s “power of compassion” to drive off relic thieves, the Tang Sancai horse’s “might of the prosperous Tang army” to face-slap those claiming the treasures originated in the Western Regions, and the King Goujian Sword of Yue’s “overlord’s aura” to sweep through the underground black market.
Not satisfied with activating relics one at a time? He forms the National Treasure Guardians Alliance, using the Terracotta Army’s “power of military formations” to equip retired soldiers and the “power of eloquence” in the bamboo slips of The Analects to empower students. One person bonds with a treasure, and the whole team powers up!
When faced with the Origin Society’s plan to erase civilization, he plays the original melodies of the Book of Songs on the Marquis Yi of Zeng’s chime bells, projects a panoramic view of ancient Shu with the Sanxingdui gold scepter, and finally activates the Great Yu Flood-Control Cauldron. The mark of the unification of the Nine Provinces spreads across every forged document
“You may steal our relics, but you can’t steal the roots of our civilization!”
From Longxing Temple in Qingzhou to museums overseas, from treasure appraisals and bargain finds to face-slapping livestreams watched around the world, Chen Yan proves with one national treasure after another that these relics are never cold antiques. They are the soul of Huaxia, engraved in our bones.
When bronze swords become blades of light to protect the homeland, and ancient paintings and calligraphy unfurl as shields against lies, every relic cries out in this battle to defend civilization:
“I shall return!”
