An era has the characteristics and bones of an era, and each generation also has its own unique spirit and culture. If you want to gain insight into a person's personality, you will know a thing or two from their works. When we visit the Forbidden City now, the plaque reads
The "Palace Museum" font is elegant and full of vitality, which is the plaque inscribed by Mr. Guo Moruo for the Forbidden City when the People's Republic of China was founded.
From the font, we can vaguely see Guo Moruo's inner excitement, which is a ardent yearning for the new China, and the courage to break the dust of the past and meet the new sunrise. For Guo Moruo, we are all familiar with him, he is a famous writer and lyricist in the modern history of the mainland, but his life has not only spent in prose and poetry, but also has a lot of research on history and archaeology. Because it was in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, his works all carried the atmosphere of perseverance and struggle, and contained reflections on life and national views.
Therefore, when Guo Moruo was invited to write the plaque of the Forbidden City in 1971, he also integrated his usual free style into it, writing "The Palace Museum" in a book, hoping to give the Forbidden City a new face. This reflects the cultural connotation of Guo Lao inheriting the past and inheriting the past, hoping to inherit the traditional civilization in a better way without losing the local culture.
So, what did the plaque look like before 1971? When you see this old plaque, you may be shocked, because the five big characters written on it do not look like they are from the hands of famous artists, ordinary, and do not seem to have any appreciation value. If you know the people behind this word, you will lament that it is not easy to come out of.
Speaking of Li Hongzao, a famous minister of the late Qing Dynasty, it is estimated that many people know that he and Li Hongzhang are political old enemies and belong to the main war faction in the invasion of China by the great powers. Politically, he was known for his honesty, and he was also quite accomplished in art, writing a brilliant "yan body", but unfortunately his talent was not left to his son.
Speaking of his son Li Shizeng, he was also a big figure in the Republic of China period. Although he was born at the end of the Qing Dynasty, he became a young man of the new era in the wave of studying abroad.
1920
In 2006, after studying in France, he was commissioned to establish the Sino-French University and at the same time founded the Sino-French University of Lyon in France. These two universities are very helpful for cultural exchanges between China and France, not only promoting the integration and promotion of cultures, but also enabling modern China to pour more new ideas.
However, his greatest contribution was the construction of the Palace Museum. At that time, his superiors gave him the order to count cultural relics and build damaged buildings, and after he took over, he began to carry out the repair of cultural relics. He organized archaeologists and historians to sort and classify the cultural relics in the Forbidden City, and carefully sealed the books. It can be said that the cultural relics in the Forbidden City can be preserved so completely, which is inseparable from Li Shizeng's work.
But his work didn't go well either. Because many people around him were disgusted with the antiques in the Forbidden City and the "old antiques" of the new era, he was also criticized. However, as one of the old antiques, Li Shizeng still insists on his own opinion. After all, he had experienced the turbulent and turbulent era of the late Qing Dynasty, and he had respect and love for these cultural relics. Even if it is a new era, it does not mean that the products of the old era need to be completely abandoned.
In 1926-1928, he was forced to flee, and then returned to reorganize the Council and serve as president of the Council of the Forbidden City. When the Forbidden City was completely completed, in order to commemorate his contribution to the restoration of the Forbidden City, his superiors proposed that he be asked to write an inscription for the Palace Museum, which is the source of the original plaque.
In this plaque, we can see that this character is completely different from Guo Moruo's font, it is immersed in the atmosphere of the times, and it still cannot let go of those painful pasts. Li Shizeng's font reveals his rigorous style, but also implies their family's clean and fair family style culture. Under the influence of his father Li Hongzao, his heart also has the idea of worrying about the country and the people and the style of perseverance. This italic is a symbol of his character and past experiences, and due to the times, he has not yet let go of the old times, so the font shows a dignified atmosphere.
Through these two plaques, we seem to relive the old days of the Republic of China. These years are like the cultural relics of the Forbidden City, which have been baptized by time and will eventually become warnings and memories in our hearts. After all, taking history as a mirror can be known. In the present beautiful era, we should still worry about the imprint of the times in our hearts.