Photo of a few crafts from the man's cold weapon collection. Photo: Pear Video

A collector with thousands of Chinese traditional antique cold weapons recently caused an online stir after saying that he plans to build a museum for his collection.

The 51-year-old man named Ma Fangrong became interested in antique collecting 21 years ago when he spotted a magazine about antique collections in Pingyin, East China's Shandong Province.

"I've spent more than 100 million yuan ($150,000) on this collection," Ma told local media, "There are around 1,600 pieces in total. Most of them are antiques created from the Song to Qing Dynasty."

Watching Ma cherishing his time with the collection he treasures so much, some netizens on China's Twitter-like platform Sina Weibo expressed doubts over the authenticity of the ancient weapons, worrying that he could have been deceived. Others, however, looked forward to seeing Ma's private museum open. 

"His wish to build a museum to exhibit his cold weapons for the next generation to learn from is an inspiring idea," a netizen wrote on Sina Weibo.

Global Times