ONCE a curious youth who traded cigarettes for antiques, Zhao Wenlong today is a connoisseur with a private garden museum of China's past. Yang Di visits.

Zhao Wenlong grew up around a classical Chinese garden because his working-class family maintained the estate of a powerful Shanghai gangster. From humble beginnings and early struggles, Zhao has become a distinguished collector of antiques and is building his own garden museum in Songjiang District.

Today collecting Chinese antiques and collectibles has become enormously popular worldwide, both for aesthetics and for investment. Prices are sky-high.

But Zhao, now 55, got started long ago as a youth because beautiful remnants of China's history touched his heart and fascinated him. He began collecting at a time when antiques were easy to come by and China viewed its own history as backward and feudal, its artifacts dismissed as rubbish.

Zhao's collection of more than 10,000 pieces dates mostly from the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, but some are even older. He is well known within collectors' circles and a self-taught connoisseur.

To learn more about this exceptional man and his mission to preserve China's past, I went all the way to Jiuting Town, Songjiang District, where Zhao has established his empire of a garden museum and reassembled old structures.

With its white exterior walls and black-tiled eaves, Zhao's antique world is easily recognizable from a distance. Upon entering huge wooden gates, my mood mellowed into peace and harmony as walls shut out the clatter of modern Shanghai.

I was transported back into a classical garden of Jiangnan, the region south of the Yangtze River. Meticulously restored residences, halls, pavilions, corridors, water courses, ponds, rockeries, even geese conjured up a bygone, tranquil world.

The treasures of 30 years of collecting are both showcased and stored in a warehouse where wooden furniture and wooden building materials are piled up. Workers are busy repairing furniture.

Zhao is enthusiastic in pointing out what he calls the "old stuff" lying around and explaining the cultural meaning behind some of the elaborate pieces.

After all these years, many people say Zhao should be living a life of luxury, but his lifestyle is low-key, he dresses simply and doesn't surround himself with status symbols of the nouveau-riche.

Zhao could be come a billionaire if he decided to sell, but personal gain and fame have never been his purpose, and he personally opposed to selling.

"In the past 30 years, my passion has been collecting China's past. Passing valuable cultural assets along to the next generations is my ultimate goal," Zhao said.

Early life

Zhao's life has been intertwined with Chinese gardens, old furniture and antiques. His grandfather was the gardener for the private residence (now Guilin Park in Xuhui District) of Huang Jinrong (1868-1953), Shanghai's most powerful mob boss in the 1920s and 30s. Zhao's earliest impressions of Chinese culture came from the walled, Suzhou-style Huang family garden.

After graduating from high school, Zhao was dispatched to the countryside, then Shanghai's suburbs, in 1974 during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76). He found himself in the Jiang Family Hall on today's Caobao Road in Xuhui District. Those were not good days for the Jiang family who were caught up in political upheaval.

But Zhao found himself in a familiar setting: a classical garden residence with fine wood furniture that reminded him of his childhood. There he again saw delicately carved Qing Dynasty furniture and calligraphy inscribed in garden rocks. Zhao's interest in traditional culture was nurtured.

"My first antique purchase was a rosewood dressing table in 1975 that cost 100 yuan (US$15), when I was only earning around 50 yuan a month," Zhao said.

His second acquisition was a bronze incense burner from the Xuande reign (1426-1456) in the Ming Dynasty. He bartered a 3.5 yuan carton of cigarettes for the burner from a peasant.

"The first thing that I asked myself was whether it was beautiful. I adore things of quality and age."

During Zhao's six years "in the countryside" - where young people were sent to learn from peasants - Zhao collected more than 10 antiques and was drawn into the history of China.

At that time antiques and pre-1949 relics of all kinds were deemed among the "four olds" that had to be eradicated: old culture, old customs, old habits and old ideas.

When China's reform and opening up began in late 1970s, Zhao saw his opportunity. He became a buyer for Sinopec petroleum group in Minhang District. He earned more, learned and read more about antiques and collected. He regularly and relentlessly visited antiques and curios shops and vendors on Guangdong, Liulin, Huating and Weihai roads. He learned about everything - jade, porcelain, bronzes, decoration of all kinds and furniture.

"At that time there were no fakes on the market," he said.

He traveled around China to collect. In 1986 Zhao and his wife were earning around 110,000 yuan a year and he had money for collecting.

"I quit smoking to save money, took my hobby seriously and turned into an antique collector," he said. "When everyone was buying TVs and modern furniture, I spent all my money on old things."

Soon the 19.5-square-meter apartment Zhao shared with his wife and daughter on Tianlin Road was overflowing and there were more than 40 large antiques. "We couldn't even move in the small space," he said.

In 1996 Zhao sold some items and opened an antique shop and storage facility on Caobao Road. His main customers were Chinese from Hong Kong, Taiwan and abroad - almost no one from the Chinese mainland.

While many people today buy antiques as investments, back then collectors were focused on the beauty, culture and history - not profit. Zhao kept selling and improving his collection, earning a reputation for a key and discerning eye among collectors.

After almost two decades of collecting, Zhao and his fellow collectors were invited to museums in Italy and France in 1999. He was astonished to see so much Chinese furniture in Europe. He saw a table that would sell for 5,000 yuan in China selling for 50,000-80,000 yuan at a flea market in Paris.

That first trip was a turning point for Zhao.

"On the flight back to Shanghai, I made a decision: close the antiques shop, stop selling furniture, expand my collection and preserve heritage. The last thing I want is for the next generation to only be able to appreciate our heritage in foreign museums."

Friends called him crazy, but he persevered in his ambitious plan.

In 2000 he bought almost one hectare in Jiuting Town, Songjiang District. With an initial investment of 4 million yuan, he hired craftsmen and workers to build a Chinese garden, including pavilions and halls to display his collection.

It is still not completed.

He drew up the plans himself and changed it as he got new inspirations. He scouted the Yangtze River Delta region and gradually purchased more than 10 old houses and pavilions. They were disassembled, the parts numbered in blue prints and reassembled on his property. One of his acquisitions was an old house of the famous Rong family in the Jing'an Temple area.

Each building is furnished with period furniture, creating an atmosphere of the everyday life of well-to-do people at that time. It is predominantly Suzhou-style furniture with beautiful, elegant design, superb craftsmanship, precious wood and fine materials. Famous furniture making centers were located in Beijing, Suzhou and Guangzhou during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Guangzhou furniture was solid and Beijing furniture reflected tastes of the royal court and nobles.

"The furniture from Suzhou and surrounding areas had the highest artistic value," said Zhao. "The superb craftsmanship was reflected in lines, curves, carving and meticulous construction."

Furniture mirrored social and economic development of different periods and slight differences in styles and materials might reflect major changes in society.

"It takes hundreds of years for an item to acquire a patina and vintage look. How antiques are maintained is important. Too much polishing, for example, might diminish the value," he said.

In 2008, 270 Ming and Qing chairs from Zhao's collection (he has 2,000 chairs) were exhibited in Changshu, Jiangsu Province, drawing considerable attention from serious collectors and expert such as Hu Desheng and Zhang Dexiang from the Palace Museum.

Today the booming international market for antique Chinese furniture has sent the value of many of Zhao's pieces up to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Actor Jackie Chan once visited Zhao's antiques garden and suggested cooperation with Zhao, but he refused.

"It is not a matter of fame or money. I am happy to lend any part of my collection for a public exhibition for the public good."

Zhao, today an eminent collector, considers it his "patriotic duty" to collect and preserve China's cultural heritage. His museum is a big step toward that goal.

"Bit by bit, the whole garden will become a museum area in two years," he said. "Walking into the garden museum will be like traveling back in time and landing in a home in the Qing Dynasty," Zhao said. "It's a shame most of the younger generation only recognizes LV - it's good to expose them to history."

Like any private museum owner, Zhao has worries about sustaining his operation. Many museums are unable to operate without public support and favorable policies.

"Simply keeping the lights on and paying staff is a daunting task. I will probably always face shortages of funds - tickets alone cannot cover the costs," he said.

But that's the price of his mission.

"I'm doing the right thing to save the country's past glory, its culture and history for our next generation," he said. "I am just a warehouse guard."