Recently, the provincial brother Jian I had a hand-painted New Year card, which was drawn by Gong Yitu's great-granddaughter Gong Shirun (1926-2015) in the mid-1980s (above). On one side is a colored loquat, and on the other side is a self-written loquat poem. Small greeting cards, carefully written, word by word, convey the splendid artistic and poetic heart of a famous girl. Later, the greeting card was issued by Wang Xiaoying (1904-2007) (below). Wang Xiaoying, wife of Gong Liyi (1902-1965), mother of Gong Shirun, descendant of Wang Renkan of the Qing Dynasty, and a famous talented daughter in Fuzhou. Gong Liyi Wang Xiaoying and his daughter Gong Shirun are also librarians of the Fujian Provincial Museum of Literature and History, and a family of three is hired to enter the museum, which is unique in the fujian literary and historical circles. A greeting card brings together the Danqing ink of the two generations of talented women of the Gong family, which is very rare.
Mailing greeting cards is the most common way for people to pay homage to the New Year before entering the mobile phone era, so as to pass on greetings, send condolences from afar, and express blessings.
The entire eighties were the era of the greeting card pandemic. Whenever the year is about to come again, people flock to bookstores or department stores to buy greeting cards and write three words and two words on them to send to people away. The words on the greeting card record the spiritual outlook of that generation, and also reflect the simple feelings of that generation, and the hand-written followed by the reincarnation of the greeting card form became a masterpiece.
At that time, I was most envious of those friends in the press and publishing circles, who, by virtue of the convenience of their work, could always send a greeting written on a new year card to their friends from afar. Some friends with calligraphy and painting expertise also play to their own advantages and draw greeting cards by hand, becoming an alternative among many greeting cards. At that time, it was only a cultural item adapted to the season, but now we have discovered the preciousness of hand-drawn greeting cards, which are often isolated and in small quantities. If the people who meet the greeting cards are celebrities, I believe they can be seen as works of art, not just objects that we once pinned on certain emotions associated with an era.
The small greeting card in front of gong Shirun's poetry and paintings in front of him is, of course, a broken shadow of that era, and the poetry and painting calligraphy looms the cultural upbringing of a famous girl. The pen and ink are quiet and calm, exuding a faint bookish atmosphere. Holding it in your hand and repeatedly showing it, you can't help but beat the knot.
Regarding homemade greeting cards, I have heard of another family man who also lived in Fuzhou, Shen Xiaoshou (1907-1995), who was also keen to write his own Auspicious language and send it to relatives and friends who were close to him. Even the calligraphers and painters in Fuzhou who had dealt with him could receive greeting cards from him and share his literary and ink karma. According to today's parlance, the approach of this family's children is quite down-to-earth, handing over and handing over, and approachable. It can also be regarded as Mr. Shen's love for fans, a paper handed over, how much meticulous thoughtfulness and warmth are placed, no wonder Mr. Shen's fame in Fuzhou is so big. We can praise Mr. Shen's emotional intelligence, or we can say how important the New Year card played a role in conveying people's emotions at that time.
A while ago, Brother Ruogu gave me a picture book of Song Province. Idly flipping through the album, I saw that Mr. Song had also drawn a lot of New Year cards before his death, and there were only a few strokes, and the wind god was all out. He loved to draw sketches like new year cards (above) so much that one reason to think of it was that his hand-drawn greeting cards were popular, and the painter had a benevolent heart, randomly lit and dyed, and had the right to make pen and ink. To measure a painter's artistic level, of course, it is necessary to look at large works, but small works are often more likely to reveal temperament.
The Han House contains a painting of Lady Jin Xueyi (1910-2008) (pictured above), also written in the 1980s. According to Jiang Bingchang, a disciple of Bai Banana, at that time, Mr. Jin often received greeting cards sent from all over the world, and in order to repay her relatives and friends, she had not written for decades and regained her old skills, painting plums as notes and overflowing as congratulatory films. It turned out that as early as the 1940s, Mr. Jin and his husband Bai Banana joined hands to die with "Bailan Jinmei". After decades of desolation, with a little practice, the brush is still in its old style. Most of them are drawn on a small square of rice paper, and when they are drawn, they are pasted on cardboard and signed with plutonium. But see the iron bone strange, cold rui lonely, slightly powdered, the plum blossom in the pen also sees Mr. Jin's personality. The Han Xiang tu that appears in the name of the greeting card is the last Han Mo Qi light left by this strange woman to the world.
Traveling American Scholar Wang Fangyu (1913-1997) at that time, the homemade greeting card was an A4 paper, the center of which was outlined with a Chinese vertical axis, which was roughly imitated in the form of an illustration of Li Yu's "Casual Love", on which Cao Quan wrote "Congratulations on the New Year", and the drop was in the name of Mr. Wang and his wife Ms. Shen Hui. This is an outpouring of the Chinese complex of the older generation of overseas Chinese. Later, when the helmed out, I received a photocopic from him. By its very nature, it is not so much a greeting film as a greeting note. The paper handed over to each other seems to have returned to the appearance of the congratulatory notes between the scribes in the old Days of China.
The provincial lu asked me if anyone had written a greeting card today, and I didn't know the overall situation. As far as I came into contact with, mr. Liu Tao, an art historian, still retains the old habit, and every year when the New Year comes, he will definitely set aside three or two days, and he will buy flowers in Liuli Factory to write congratulatory notes, ji yi two, sending blessings, leaving behind the vitality of our national culture.
When we lament the convenience brought by mobile phones, do we think of the separation from the past caused by modern communication tools? For example, letters, such as more niche hand-drawn greeting cards. Today, whenever the New Year's bell rings, there will also be "e-cards" in the mobile phone software for people to choose. From the form to the greeting, it is often luxurious and grand, as long as you move your finger, you will appear in front of your relatives and friends in your name. I don't know what other people think of this e-card, but from my heart, I very much reject such a greeting card.
Nostalgia for the fading greeting card, perhaps caring about the innocent era behind the greeting card.
The culture at that time did not have so many "stand-ins", and everyone was sincerely facing the world.
August 13, 2021 Beijing North Seven Double Gui Bookstore
Author: Tang Yinfang
Editor: Wu Dongkun