By Fu Wen

Twenty-four famous works of calligraphy that were donated by a local resident to authorities in Xianyang, Shaanxi Province, were held secretly by two government officials for more than a decade, the Shaanxi-based China Business Daily reported Sunday.

Zhuo Deng, 62, of Xianyang, donated 131 pieces of calligraphy to local Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in 1986. Famous revolutionary and calligrapher Yu Youren wrote the calligraphy. Zhuo estimated the value of the scripts at 50 million yuan ($7.4 million).

He told some reporters that he felt the scripts have become the personal property of officials. He said the scripts became missing after an exhibition tour in 1992.

Tian Xiaodong, secretary general of the Xianyang CPPCC, said at a news conference Saturday that the scripts were never returned to Xianyang CPPCC after the tour.

Tian confirmed that 78 pieces were found in Sanyuan Museum, while 24 pieces were stashed away by Cui Dezhi and Zhang Aili, officials in Sanyuan county.

Tian said the whereabouts of six to nine scripts remain a mystery.

All the calligraphy works belonged to Zhuo's father, who used to be a close attendant to Yu and the works were passed to Zhuo when his father died in 1966.

Zhuo told the Global Times Sunday that he is not satisfied with the investigation's results so far.

"I never saw the calligraphy works after the donation and nobody told me where all the works have gone in past years," Zhuo said. "If the calligraphy works cannot be well-preserved and displayed, I have no face to see my dead father after I die."

Zhuo said the Xianyang CPPCC did not inform him about the news conference. "When I showed up at the news conference, officials told me to leave," said Zhuo.

Qin Tao, a lawyer who provides free legal counseling to Zhuo, told the Global Times Sunday that he hopes the local CPPCC would respect Zhuo.

"The Law on Donation for Public Welfare Undertakings says Zhuo is entitled to know where his donation went and how it was used and he could reassign a recipient if he thinks the current recipient did not preserve and use his donation well," he said.

He said Zhuo reserves the right to get back the scripts under the contract law, which stipulates that donors could get back donations if the recipients do not do a good job of caring for the works.