The Long Sky: Seventy Years of Me and the Camera
Zhang Houquan Oral Zhang Zhijie Shan Leng Finishing
Zhejiang University Press
Mr. Zhang Houquan's narration
It all started in the late 1990s. At that time, Li Wenjun, the director of the Wenzhou Exhibition Center, was my photography friend, and he knew that I had been photographing the scenery of Yandang Mountain during this time, and specially rushed from Wenzhou to Yandang Mountain to discuss with me and invited me to open a one-person Yandang Mountain scenery photography exhibition at the Wenzhou Exhibition Hall.
After the matter was settled, the selection of films, enlargement, and other things, prepared for several months, during which I went to the Wenzhou Exhibition Hall many times, and met Chen Zhongxian, the deputy director of the exhibition hall at the time, who was studying the history of Wenzhou woodcuts, and it was my old friends Dong Ming and Li Ying's unforgettable friends, so the conversation increased, and he wanted me to provide him with "Luxi Island Shipwrecked Woodcut Comic Strip" and Yueqing's early woodcut cultural activities.
Map of Yueqing County in 1901
After that, Li Ying also called me specifically to mobilize me, meaning that it is not easy for young people to do things, "to promote the younger generations", so I wrote this material out in 2000 and provided it to Chen Zhongxian. Later, Yueqing compiled the "Collected Essays of Mr. Zhang Longguang", which included the article "Woodcut Comic Strip of the Shipwreck of Luxi Island". I remember that there was a dialogue at that time, the editor wanted me to change the title to "Zhang Longjiang, the pioneer of the woodcut movement", I felt inappropriate, such a big topic, not a descendant of mine can say anything, the editor also listened to my opinions, did not change.
In 2001 and 2002, I spent most of my time in Yueqing, where I was hired to photograph and edit albums for the highway construction process in Yueqing. During this time period, I read some reminiscences of Yueqing history, which are inconsistent with my own personal experience, and I remember that including a copy of Yueqing's party history materials, which were still issued in the form of red-headed documents, also had obvious inaccuracies. Therefore, many of my friends, both in the cultural circles and those who study the history of the Party, have suggested that I record the events of my experience.
The album shooting of Yueqing Expressway should continue until the completion and opening of the expressway, so the relative time is relatively relaxed, except for going to Yandang Mountain to collect wind and no other special work, I began to write materials on the themes of "Greeting the Liberation of Yueqing" and "Arts and Crafts Artists" at this time. I also wrote some of my childhood memories.
I also knew Zhang Zhijie at this time, he was the editor of Yueqing's "Language Tabloid" at that time, and came to me to ask for a photo of the scenery to use in the "Language Tabloid". When I came, I saw the written materials I had spread on the table, asked me what I was writing, and talked, I was telling stories, and he was also listening to stories. After that, he served as the president of the Yueqing Historical and Cultural Research Association, remembering the story I had talked to him, and asked me for a manuscript. In 2003, I had already returned to Hangzhou, and after the manuscripts were brought back to Hangzhou, some of them were provided to He Yu, the author of "Changtian Meiyue", who sorted them into texts and sent them back to me for revision, a process that lasted for two or three years. Part of it was Shan Leng who helped me sort out the article and provided it to Zhang Zhijie, probably in 2014, there was already a "Yueqing Historical Society Journal", and the first article was published in the journal.
In the following years, Zhang Zhijie and I had more telephone contact, he had other daily work, so according to him, the recording and collation was paid to be done, which is equivalent to "shorthand", because the people who recorded it did not understand the history of Yueqing, and there were many mistakes, so after getting the first draft, Shan Ling and I went through some sorting and supplementation.
In 2016, Zhang Zhijie hung up his post in Hangzhou, and there were more contacts, sometimes it was small talk, sometimes it was an event or story with a theme. The way is basically that he recorded, and then sent a transcript, which was then sorted out and supplemented by Me and Shan Ling. In 2017, Zhang Zhijie came to Hangzhou from Yueqing for many business trips, and every time he came, he would come to have a drink with me and chat. Several special reminiscence articles written during this period were published in the Journal of the Yueqing Historical Society.
Some of the equipment that Mr. Zhang Houquan has used in the seventy years that accompanied photography
Usually at home, I like to tell stories, and Shan Ling likes to listen to stories. Because she has been engaged in university journalism and communication for a long time, everything is particularly true, especially the ins and outs of the details, and she must be asked very clearly. The "chronology" began in 2017, after all, it is two generations, so she needs to sort out a schedule to rationalize her own thinking and clarify the rules.
The book was proposed by Zhang Zhijie in 2017, and he applied for Yueqing's cultural project funding. But at the time, it was a dozen or so separate articles, not systematic, so I wasn't quite sure exactly how to do it. Remembering this thing, like an old box, usually does not turn over, things are placed there, and it will not be remembered from time to time, but when the box is opened, it will be turned out one by one, more and more abundant. A few days ago, after the book came out, my son was rare to see because he was in Shanghai, he didn't know how we worked, he was surprised to see the book, he made a long phone call to chat, he asked me, remembering things so well, happy things are not happy things to remember, is it going to be very uncomfortable? I said no, unhappy things, let it press on the bottom of the box, don't have to turn it over.
Zhang Zhijie and Shan Ling are the finishers of the book, and their respective points of concern are different. Zhang Zhijie is more concerned about the history of Yueqing. Shan Leng's focus is relatively large, she likes to listen to the stories of Yueqing cultural traditions, and likes to listen to me tell the story of scenery creation. Sometimes at dinner, chatting about details that had not been mentioned before, she immediately told me to pause and ran to get a voice recorder for me to talk about. After sorting out the chronology, Shan Leng came up with the question of "Seventy Years with Me and the Camera" and suggested that I systematically talk about my photography creation experience, so that after 2017, after the intention, she told Zhang Zhijie about the idea. After that, she divided into two parts to describe the before and after I began to engage in photography, as well as my creative experience.
In 2021, after the book began to be edited, Zhang Zhijie wrapped up the articles published in the past seven years and sent them to the editor-in-charge. Shan Leng consulted with the editor-in-charge and reorganized it according to the main line of photography and the way of cultural sub-lines to increase readability.
The title of the book, "Long Shots of The Long Sky," was given to me, and the subtitle, "Seventy Years with Me and the Camera," was singled out.
Over ninety years old, there are four, you can also publish a book to review your life, but also did not think before, this book can also make many people, including young people like, very happy. The process of life is very much like opening a blind box, and it is difficult to say what you will touch. But at my age, all the boxes are basically opened, and it's fun to go back and look at the contents of these boxes.
Shan Ling's narration
Dad has a good memory and can tell stories, and my friends and I know it. My friends often tell me that I really like to hear your dad tell stories. I myself may have been accustomed to it before, there is no special feeling, and I often regret that my mother is too good at telling stories, so I feel very difficult to write my mother now, and many of my mother's creative details are still heard in my father's story. But how good my father's memory was, it was only when he sorted out his dictation that he had a deeper understanding. This morning, I also talked about whether in 1951 when he was studying at the cadre school, he asked him to write down the names and seats of all 13 classmates in the class when he was studying yueqing normal school, and he could record it verbatim, but most of them also remembered. Think about myself, the names of my classmates, no more than 10 of them can be reported.
Mr. Zhang Houquan is filming
Taken circa 1959 in Hangzhou.
I have always lived with my father, and the details of the story are more brought out during daily chats, so most of the later work of sorting out and supplementing the manuscript is undertaken by me. I think when the story in the depths of My father's memory is extracted, it is like a string of crabs, one biting one, pulling longer and longer.
Two days ago, I sorted out the old books and turned to several woodcut collections published in the 1940s, one was the "Collection of Chinese Prints", two "Soviet Prints" compiled by Lu Xun, the two books published by the Chenguang Publishing House, and a "Spring Wild Woodcut Collection" compiled by Mr. Nobuo. Go ask Dad, he said, "Oh, these books are still there?" I haven't seen it for a long time and thought it was lost. So he brought out a small story, which was not recorded in "Long Shots". In 1948, when my father was studying at Shanghai Sports College, he saw in the newspaper that Chenguang Publishing House had published advertisements for these two woodcut collections, so he went to find the Chenguang Publishing House on Middle Sichuan Road on Sunday. At that time, the Shanghai General Administration of Posts and Telecommunications was on the north side of the Sichuan Road Bridge, facing west and east, and did not find the "morning light", but saw the outlet department of the Times Publishing House opposite the General Administration of Posts and Telecommunications, which was run by the Soviets, but the clerk was Chinese. So I went in and saw that there were "Eight Years of Anti-Japanese War Woodcut Collection" and "New Woodcut", and I was very happy and bought it. Because he wore the school badge, the clerk chatted with him, and dad asked the clerk where the morning light company was. The clerk said, "It's on the seventh floor of the building diagonally opposite."
So he immediately ran across the road with great interest. The building had an elevator but no one opened it, so Dad went up to the seventh floor, he knocked on the door, and Chenguang Company was a small office, and there was only one person. The man who opened the door asked, "What are you here for?" "He said he had come to buy books. The man was very vigilant, first observed whether anyone was following, and then asked him who he was? Where did you know there was this book for sale? What does a college student studying physical education do to buy woodcut books? After answering one by one, it was said that Yefu and Zhang Huaijiang... The man finally believed him and bought the book as he wished. Dad said, "A long time later, I still knew from Mr. Huaijiang that Chenguang Company belonged to Zuo lian, and the staff was interrogated because they didn't know me and were afraid that I was a secret agent." ”
At the end of 1948, the way back to his hometown from Shanghai was very embarrassing, after returning to Yueqing, these "red" books also need to be careful to avoid people's eyes, but today opened, the quality of the book is still very good, I want to come to dad has been very careful to preserve.
About this "long sky long shot", there is another important point, one is my little friend Zhu Yuanzhi, when she read the first draft, she constantly asked us to add "notes", she said "otherwise others can't understand it", under her point, "notes" more and more, now most of the people who have read these notes like it, which is the original contribution. Second, the designer Cheng Chen is my friend for many years, but also a very personal designer, she designed a unique artistic language for this book, so that the appearance of the book is very suitable for the identity of the narrator.
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