BEIJING, China

Searching through the rubble of demolition sites across the 800-year-old capital of China, Li Songtang has unearthed a treasure trove of ancient relics. They include gate piers depicting Mongolians and the Han Chinese during the Yuan dynasty, a Buddhist carving that is more than 1,000 years old, and a Ming dynasty marble fish water tank.

Li Songtang is neither museum curator nor antiques expert, but an ordinary man who did not want to see China's rich history lost to modernization during the late 1970s.

"I used to sit on the stone gate piers in front of our family home and recite poems. They were like my little friends," said the 60-year-old Beijing native who, like many Chinese, used to live in homes decorated with stone carvings, some of them ancient. When he saw some old sculptures being smashed, "I felt like they have been killed. I was very sad."

Li said he thought he should put what was being deemed as "city trash" in a "grand hall," so he set up a museum in a home with a courtyard that he owns. He spends every Sunday in the museum that now houses 5,000 pieces, talking to people about the art and value of the sculptures.

"This tells the 'Chasing Han Xin under the moonlight' story," he said of one relic. "This is a horse stepping stone from the Yuan dynasty. There are few relics from the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368). This is the best courtyard in China, and it is free to visit."

Li began to rescue the artwork at the end of the 1970s, which marked the start of China's economic reform and opening up.

The courtyard of Li's museum is free for all, while the ticket price to the indoor collection is 30 yuan (US $4.40).

The ticket revenues do not cover the museum operations, so Li subsidizes it out of his own pocket.

Source: CNN