As it turned out, the stone had been discovered and dug up by five men. They had kept the find a secret even from their wives.

Yuan Liang, the Rongbaozhai purchasing agent says, "After we checked the stone, we began to negotiate. But after we made a deal, they said that they had to be paid in cash."

The Tianhuang stone deal was clinched at 135,000 yuan (US$16,310). The 50- and 100-yuan denominations of Chinese currency had not yet been launched at that time, so carrying such a huge amount of cash from Beijing to the mountain village would be a difficult and risky venture. Thus, everyone was sworn to secrecy about the transport of the money.

It was well worth the trouble. Rongbaozhai's Tianhuang stone is still one of the largest in the world, and is considered priceless.

But for all the acquisitions of treasures over the years, the experts at Rongbaozhai still consider the story of the Shaoxi Poems Scroll of Mi Fu the best.

Who was the young man? How had he come by so many state-level cultural relics? Was he a front man for someone who wished to remain anonymous?

Thirty years after Rongbaozhai bought the scroll, a local newspaper provided a lead that helped to solve the mystery.

In the March 30, 1996 edition of the Harbin Evening News, reporter Yuan Xiaoling wrote a feature story about the young man and his mother.

The family had kept their experience a secret for decades, and they wished to maintain their anonymity. The reporter used pseudonyms in the story.

The young man was named Ding Xingang, and it was his father, Ding Zhenglong, who had acquired the treasures

Ding Zhenglong was an educated man, having studied in Europe after graduating from Northeast University. In August 1945, he received an assignment to go to work at the Yingkou coal mine.

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