Belgian Lao Zhu, the “old matchmaker” who has been rooted in China’s ports for ten years

“In 2005 I became aware of the existence of a large collection of historical artifacts, i.e. Chinese ship models in Antwerp. I started to lobby Mr Mark Van Peel, our vice mayor and chairman of the port, to share this unique collection with China. But it was not easy.” In an office with ship models on a windowsill, Jan Van der Borght, representative of Belgium's Antwerp Port Authority in China, told reporters about the story that he led to the exhibition of the lost Chinese ancient ship models in China.

Jan, who was nicknamed “Lao Zhu” by Chinese friends, introduced in detail the historical origins of the Chinese ancient ship models and Belgium. In 1904, the Qing government selected 125 ship models to participate in the World Expo in St. Louis, USA. In 1905, when the Belgian city of Liege began to organize a World Expo, the Qing government and the Belgian government agreed that the latter would be responsible for transporting the ship models, which the Qing government had left in St. Louis, to Belgium. After the Expo was over, the Chinese models were kept by the Royal Museum of Art and History in Belgium and were transported to the Maritime Museum in Antwerp for restoration in 1947.

Jan Van der Borght, representative of Belgium's Antwerp Port Authority in China