In the tenth year of Tang Xianzongyuan's reign (815), Liu Zongyuan, who had just been recalled to Chang'an from Yongzhou in Hunan, was again ostracized by the ruling faction in the middle of the dynasty and was demoted to Liuzhou, Guangxi, with no hope of returning to Beijing. On a sunny afternoon, he and his entourage rafted the Liujiang River, and when they reached the foot of Longbi Mountain, they were suddenly shocked by the beautiful scenery in front of them, which was one of the eight ancient scenery of Liuzhou, "Longbi Return". In the face of such a grand scene, Liu Zongyuan landed on the shore, walked in search of the ghost, and accidentally found the treasure... Thus, a stone completed the gorgeous transformation from a nameless to a thousand years of literary play.
On a cold morning in December 2010, Xie Yandong, a well-known local jade carver in Liuzhou, once again appeared in the bustling crowd. He is mainly engaged in jade carving work on weekdays, but he often encounters customers who come to the door with strange stones and ask for help in carving them into brick platforms.
Although jade carving and brick making belong to the same stone carving art, they are interlaced like mountains, and they are not completely sure, and Xie Yandong does not dare to start easily. Therefore, as soon as he had time, he ran to the second-hand book market, trying to find books related to "Yan culture" to recharge himself.
The four treasures of the study room are strong and strong
Pen, ink, paper and stone, the four treasures of the literary room in traditional Chinese culture, have always been the utensils of the literati and historians to compose brilliant Chinese civilization and express their inner feelings.
In the four treasures of the study room, the paper is easy to gray, the pen is fragile, the ink is fragile, and the only stone is strong and has been passed down for thousands of years, so there is a saying that "the literati have the stone, the jude beauty has a mirror, and the most intimate in life". For thousands of years, bricklayers have held carving knives in their hands and moved on the delicate and warm stone, creating countless ingenious brick carving arts, among which Duanyan in Guangdong, Sheyan in Anhui, Taoyan in Gansu and Chengniyan in Shanxi are known as the "Four Famous Stones" in ancient China.
Xie Rendong suddenly stopped at an old book stall in the second-hand book market, and a dusty, slightly historical copy of "Chinese Famous Yan , Local Yan" caught his attention. He said that when he saw this book "Local Yan", he was very surprised that there was a Yantai in Guangxi, and there was only one kind of Yan selected, that is, Liu Yan.
This discovery aroused great interest from Xie Yandong. To be selected as a famous Chinese Yan, I think Liu Yan was once popular. However, the introduction of Liu Yan in the book only sees text, not pictures. Xie Yandong later asked many stone collectors, but still did not see the true face of Liu Yan.
Since it is a party name, why is it so mysterious?
At that time, Liu Zongyuan stopped at the foot of Longbi Mountain and accidentally found that there was a stone on the side of the river beach that was unusual, its color was dark, the feel was delicate, and it had a pure and soft brilliance, which was the best material for making bricks. Liu Zongyuan was very happy in his heart, personally fished two pieces back to the house to chisel into a stone, studied the ink to try, found that it was indeed ink fast and fine, slippery does not reject ink, astringent pen is not lagging, can be called the best in yan. Therefore, Liu Zongyuan recorded this discovery in the "Liuzhou Landscape Near-rule Tourist Record": "Xunshui is north and east, under the big wall. Its wall is known as the Dragon Wall, and there are many beautiful stones under it, which can be yan. ”
At that time, because of political frustration, his relatives left one after another, and Liu Zongyuan, who had just arrived in a remote town in the south, once felt depressed and sad. Whenever he sends love with poetry books and uses ink with a pen, the Stones of Longbi Mountain placed on the case can always make him feel comfortable and calm, his heart is clear, and his feelings are relaxed. Especially when he went deep into the people, came into contact with the industrious and simple people of Liuzhou, and understood the difficult life of the local people, he rekindled a strong sense of responsibility in his heart, and once said indignantly: "Isn't it enough to be a politician!" "Determined to serve as an official in Liuzhou for one term and benefit one party."
Liu Zongyuan, whose life has gradually settled down, often thinks of a person - his good friend Liu Yuxi, who has a similar fate. The two suffered at the same time, far away from the border. They were brothers of the same heart, confidants with similar ideas, and after making Jia Yan, Liu Zongyuan immediately repaired a letter and attached it to Yantai, and sent his men to Lianzhou (present-day Lianzhou, Guangdong) to give Liu Yuxi. Receiving the stone gifted by Liu Zongyuan, Liu Yuxi, if he received the most precious treasure, placed it in the book case every day and carefully viewed it. Thinking back to the love of the same window in those years, the pain of the current depreciation, thousands of thoughts actually surged in his mind for a while, and he couldn't help but pick up his pen to write "Xie Liuzi Hou Sent Stacked Stone Stones".
The origin of Liu Yan
Wu Jie, former vice president of liuzhou cultural exchange promotion association: The name of Liu Yan, one is because he is a meaning of Liuzhou, and another meaning is that this Liu Yan was first developed by Liu Zongyuan, so it was named "Liu Yan".
Director of Liuzhou Museum Cheng Zhou: In the tang, Song and Yuanming eras, the literati and scholars were proud to have a liu yan, so liu yan had its important position after the four famous yans.
Since the Yantai made by Liu Zongyuan has not been passed down, for a long period of history from the Song Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, there is no physical evidence to support whether the Stone of Longbi Mountain was developed or made into a Yantai. As a result, there has always been a saying in the folklore: Liu Zongyuan was just lucky and stumbled upon a good stone, and the other stones under Longbi Mountain did not have the conditions to make a stone platform.
So, is this really the case?
Around the 1980s, the Liuzhou Arts and Crafts Factory received a task from the Liuzhou Municipal Government: to solve the ancient mystery of the Longbi Mountain stone.
Liuzhou Arts and Crafts Research Institute Artist Professional Oil Painter Su Yanling: (Longbi Mountain) There are still remnants there, looking for it is to find it, but it is all broken stones, not so good. Later, I went to Sanmenjiang, found a larger rock, took it back to see if there was any bad one, always talked about it.
However, due to the need for pure handmade production, although this batch of willow stones is of good quality, the production scale is not large, the influence is limited, and after a short time, it disappears into the dust of history. Nowadays, it is difficult to find the willow stones produced in the market.
More than thirty years later, Xie Rendong stumbled upon the traces of "Liu Yan" in the second-hand book market, according to the book "Chinese Famous Yan · Local Yan", Liu Yan stone is composed of layers of rock slabs, shaped like stacks of books. Xie Yandong, who was familiar with Liuzhou Qishi, immediately realized that this was not the most common stacked stone in Liuzhou? He had this stack of stones in his home, or he had picked it up many years ago near the Sanmenjiang Bridge in Liuzhou.
Since 2010, Xie Rendong began to try to carve a brick platform with stacked stones, and at the second Guangxi Arts and Crafts Exhibition, his Liu Yan work "Bamboo Brick" immediately caused a sensation when it appeared, and successfully won the gold medal of the "Eight Gui Tiangong Award" that year.
The news of Xie's award attracted the attention of the Liuzhou Museum. Liuzhou Museum is organizing local literary and historical experts to systematically explore and study the history of Liuzhou, and "Liu Yan", which has a strong historical and cultural heritage, is undoubtedly an excellent topic. If you want to reproduce the glory of Liu Yan, finding the right vein is the first priority.
Soon after, the Liuzhou Museum set up the Liuyan Research and Development Group, and according to the guidance of the predecessors of the Liuzhou Arts and Crafts Factory, the members of the group set out for Longbi Mountain with confidence. However, when we really entered the practical stage, a tricky problem arose.
Liuzhou City Museum Wei Happy: Summer is all on the mountain, from top to bottom, the whole mountain we have all walked, all the stones on each floor have been taken back, and the tens of kilometers of the river have all been taken back, but it is said that it cannot meet the requirements of this yan.
After the first defeat, the R&D team searched for many parties in order to find the Liuyan vein. According to the memories of local elders, the willow stones were readily available at the water's edge and were huge. Why is it that the stones found today are brittle and easy to crack when carved.
What's the problem?
Again, questions
When he was at a loss, Wei Yue heard a saying: in 2002, the Liuzhou Municipal Government launched the "Baili Liujiang" project and built a safflower hydropower station in the lower reaches of the Liujiang River.
Tang Monk, president of the Liuzhou Strange Stone Association: After the Safflower Hydropower Station came together, all the stones that were originally on the beach went under the water.
Ordinary free diving is not enough to meet the deep-water working environment, and Wei is willing to go to Zhanjiang to learn professional scuba diving.
A few months later, will Wei Yi, who has returned from his studies, be able to successfully find the rough stone of Liu Yan from the Liu River? After a thousand years, can the Liuzhou Museum exhibit Liu Yan Fanghua again? Next week's show will be revealed.