Overnight, museums across the country began closing their doors. Museums in Xi'an, Shanxi, Chengdu, Chongqing—all citing upgrades or fire safety inspections—many of which won't reopen until after the New Year. The timing is too coincidental; just as the hot topic of the Jiangnan Chun scroll at Nanjing Museum heats up, so many museums suddenly close. You have to wonder, closing at this critical moment—could it be a strategic move to conduct self-inspections and rectifications, perhaps to avoid uncovering similar issues?

The incident at Nanjing Museum caused quite a stir. A Ming Dynasty painting by Qiu Ying, donated free of charge by the Pang Laichen family in 1959, was "disposed of" for 6,800 yuan in 2001, and 24 years later, it reappeared at auction for a staggering 88 million yuan, with a price difference of nearly 13,000 times. Once this was exposed, the National Cultural Heritage Administration set up a task force, and the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee and government also formed a joint investigation team.

Now, with so many museums closing simultaneously, the reasons vary widely. Huaihua Museum cites fire safety inspections; Zhuhai Museum mentions coordinating with a marathon event; Wuxi China National Industrial and Commercial Museum states maintenance and renovation of exhibition halls; and the Qiqihar Museum cites fire equipment upgrades. These reasons all sound legitimate, but their timing is suspicious, leading to inevitable speculation.

Museums are places that safeguard national relics and should be the safest places. But now, such incidents have left people feeling cold. The national treasures that survived through war and chaos should not be lost due to poor management in peacetime. Every artifact embodies the hard work and sacrifice of our ancestors.

This time, the incident