"On the Road to Qiandian"
Li Lincan
[Add] Li Zaizhong, eds
Published by Beijing Publishing House
In 1940, the Publishing Department of the Ta Kung Pao Museum issued a pamphlet of only 125 pages, Li Lincan's "On the Qiandian Road", which included five articles, including "On the Qiandian Road", "Essays on Lijiang", "Dali Qingbixi", "WashMatang", and "Preliminary Investigation of Ancient Zong Art".
One of the best little books written on the Southwest Highway Line
On June 1 of that year, Shen Congwen also published an article in Kunming's "Central Daily" entitled "On the Qiandian Road", and Mr. Shen finally commented: "In fact, the best readers of this book should be thousands of tourists on the southwest highway line and foreigners who live in various parts of the southwest, but they are very separated from the local mountains and rivers and scenic spots." For them, this is the best reference book, the author's writing is quite beautiful, especially for the description of local landscape characteristics, there are many illustrations, if compared with the recent bookstore printing of similar books, it should be regarded as the best written small book. ”
Of course, Shen Congwen's comments also pointed out two regrets about the book: one is that "there are still a few articles that have not been included"; the other is that "the illustration plate making cannot show the beauty of the original painting". In his later years, Mr. Li Zaizhong, the philosopher of Mr. Li Lincan, devoted himself to the study of China's early cultural and cultural undertakings and cross-strait cultural exchanges, and he retraced the path his father had taken, sorted out his father's manuscripts, and after repeated consideration, he had the recently published "On the Qiandian Road". This book crowns Shen Congwen's comments as a prologue, and pays tribute to Mr. Shen, who encouraged them to write and paint and encouraged them to dig into the rich mine of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau! This is followed by Li Zaizhong's article "Man is the Road Out", arguing that the book "On the Road of Qiandian" aims to promote the philosophy of walking. In this article and the editor's note and afterword, Li Zaizhong explained the new version very clearly, adding Li Lincan's diary, three scattered notes, and the "Ten Records of Zhongdian" that had been single-handedly traveled during this period, and appended a posthumous manuscript by Li Lincan, "The Thrill of Walking Xiangqian", and Li Yu's "Unforgettable 1938". This part actually explains the section from Hunan to Guizhou before "Qiandian Road" and the walking expedition. If we read from the back to the front, we will get the west lake art college (central) from Yuanling to Guiyang, from Guiyang to Yunnan route. Another appendix of "Song of the Plateau" is after arriving in Kunming, when the Art College established the Plateau Society, and at this time a group of literary and artistic youths of the Southwest United University also organized a Plateau Society with Shen Congwen as the mentor. With the mediation of Li Lincan, the two plateau societies formed a good alliance for Qin and Jin, and held a grand meeting in Shen Congwen's home. The article "Song of the Plateau" also said with great ink that Teng Gu, the principal of the art college, had a unique vision of frontier art, and wanted to discuss the religious art of Nanzhao, and proposed the "Frontier Art Investigation Plan", originally Qiu Xi was responsible for the pattern, Yu Peng was responsible for the music, and Li Lincan was responsible for painting, and later Qiu and Yu could not go there for some reason, so Li Lincan carried out research alone. The result was the writing of two dictionaries of the Naxi people and a number of southwest travelogues.
Remember some of the people and stories of the big times
The new edition of "Qiandian Daoshang" completely makes up for the shortcomings of the first edition pointed out by Mr. Shen. In terms of article collection, the inspection report of this "frontier art investigation group" was almost fully launched; in the accompanying pictures, Li Lincan's sketches along the way were put in as much as possible, with exquisite design and full of literary style, and at the same time, some commemorative photos left by Li Zaizhong re-walked this road after 80 years, these photos and Li Lincan's hand-drawn hand-drawn juxtaposition, not only make people sigh at the great beauty of The Si, but also lament that things are not human.
What is even more lamentable is that Li Zaizhong died suddenly in Canada on August 8, 2020, at the age of 71, and he finally missed coming to the mainland and did not make the trip, nor did he see the publication of the book.
The stories behind "On the Road to Qiandian" are very rich, and Li Zaizhong has compiled the work, hoping that we will remember some people and stories of that big era, including the seven warriors who moved from Yuanling to the Guiyang "Walking Propaganda Group": Li Lincan, Xia Ming, Yuan Hongwei, Xu Shuxun, Liu Luye, Yang Dewei ("Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea, There Is a Missing He Xiangu"), Li Lincan as the Captain, Li Yuguan Finance (December 3, 1938 - December 30, 1938, Principal Teng Gu instructed to pay attention to cultural relics and monuments along the way) The Three Musketeers Li Lincan, Li Changbai and Xia Ming (February 7, 1939 – March 3, 1939) traveled from Guiyang to Kunming. Behind this is the support and encouragement of Shen Congwen, Teng Gu, Dong Zuobin, Li Gongpu and other gentlemen.
Returning to the text of the "Qiandian Daoshang", there are some places that really make people cry. For example, the beginning of the "fire from Guiyang": "Guiyang's most prosperous cross area is completely destroyed, the fire is burning on all sides, people from all directions are running to the bronze statue platform in the new city, the wilderness field is a bunch of people, a pile of box bars, each pile means that this is a 'home'... On the grass by the side of the electric pole lay a small doll lonely, the yellow wax belly was a hole through the machine gun bullet, his mother was snatched out of the bombing, fire, and squeeze, until here it was seen that she had held it for such a long time, it turned out to be a dead little doll, although the mother was gone, the little doll lay here. This, too, turned out to be a 'home'. ”
But the book is by no means immersed in sadness, but is full of "We will build again!" "The pride of the book, the style of the book is very high. He Zhaowu, a witness of that era, said in the "Record of School": "There are two conditions for happiness, one is that you must feel that your personal future is bright and beautiful, but this is very vague, very hazy, and not necessarily a clear goal." On the other hand, the prospects of the whole society must also be better and better every day, and if the society as a whole is corrupt, the individual cannot be truly happy. These two conditions happened to be at the same time when I was in school, when it was the war years, but because of the war, it seemed intuitive and vague, but it was very certain that the war would be won, and that after victory it would be a very good world, and it would be a very good life. I wasn't the only one at the time, I believe the vast majority of young people had this vague feeling. People always live by hope, and these two hopes are the most fundamental, so at that time, although the material life was very bitter, I felt very happy. So Lee said, it was a great time.
The Naturalization Temple in Zhongdian is hand-painted by Li Lincan
Only in the face of real problems can we make progress
Li Lincan is a student of painting and is very sensitive to color, so the depiction of "On the Road of Qiandian" is rich in color, which is really "a scene that is difficult to write, such as in the present; the meaning of inexhaustibility lies outside the words". He said in the article "Dali Qingbixi": "There are two kinds of things in the world, usually ideals or fantasies are more beautiful than the facts themselves, but there is also a kind of right and wrong seeing the real thing can not arouse your fantasy." Without arduous fieldwork, the so-called "Taoist nature" can only stay in words.
In "Miao Min of Guizhou", Li Lincan also said: "Miao Yi itself is the best painting object, not their unique clothing, but they all have innocent expressions." In the society where we have to wear masks to live now, we really can't distinguish between true and false, the people who circle with us every day we really can't grasp his expression, people who study painting pursue the truth, but this is difficult to find around us, but in the Miao area, we see how many beautiful black eyes, one by one are emitting real light, their mood we see very clearly, happy to laugh innocently, see people are also looking seriously with their eyes, that is, shyness is also innocent shyness, and now we are around the fake hiding eyes closed, We felt that they were more intimate, and it reminded us of why Gao Had to go to the island of the Savages to paint at that time. What is even more interesting is that the scope of investigation of "On the Qiandian Road" is very extensive, not only involving ethnic groups, customs, cultural relics, clothing, arts and crafts, but also the issue of Miao-Yi relations, opium issues, and military service related to national defense.
Li Lincan said in his diary of the expedition on February 21, 1939: "Now Siberia is the breast of Russia, and we will also develop the southwest into our largest warehouse." Let's start developing! It was also at this time that Li Lincan determined his life's career: the study of Naxi Studies and the cause of Chinese literature and literature.
We can say that this time the national difficulties have moved south, so that Chinese young people can truly treat themselves, treat our situation, and truly weigh all of us. Only in the face of real problems can we make progress. "The country is broken and the mountains and rivers are here", that tests the wisdom of every conscience. A large number of people with lofty ideals participated in the investigation of the southwest frontier, which promoted the new harmony of the southwest plateau culture and the central plains culture, and this transformation and greatly promoted the new vision and new development of Chinese art, ethnology, sociology and other aspects. There are countless examples in that big era that are worth learning from.
Author: Meng Mu
Editor: Jiang Chuting