Young I.M. Pei
"Mr. Bay, what a crap you have, it looks like a cheap diamond."
"This Chinese will ruin Paris!" "Paris doesn't need the pyramids, hand over the Louvre!" This is the second time in Pei's career that he has been so seriously questioned.
And that year, he was 64 years old, just two years after the completion of the "Kennedy Library," which gave him a lot of honors.
The success of the Kennedy Library earned Pei the Gold Medal of the American Academy of Architecture, but that did not make the French willingly hand over their national treasure to Pei. They questioned the architect from the East as to why he could remodel "the most precious building in France."
The glass pyramid of the Louvre in France designed by I.M. Pei
Pei hopes to empathize with the French people: "I come from ancient China, and I can most deeply understand the French people's cherishing of ancient buildings and respect the traditions of the French people." "But this is useless, the French cannot allow Egyptian pyramid-like architecture to be placed on the Square of the Louvre.
In the face of doubts, Pei insisted on his design philosophy: "Taking the simple and modern pyramid as the main entrance to the Louvre is like people starting from ancient Egyptian civilization and exploring modern art, which has excellent symbolic significance." ”
For the stubborn Frenchman, Pei took the simplest approach to justifying his design. He built a one-to-one physical model on Piazza Napoleon, which was visited by more than 60,000 Parisians. He spoke to the public about the design concept in a simple way, and eventually Pei won the approval of the French, allowing him to transform the Louvre.
Beijing Fragrant Hills Hotel
Four years later, the renovation was completed. The Louvre, on its first appearance, amazed the whole of France. The entrance to the pyramid structure on the ground is beautiful, and the sunlight is sprinkled through the glass material to the expanded Louvre exhibition area below, so that the original dark and gloomy dungeon is once again baptized by sunlight. Exhibits that have not seen the light of day for many years have also been revitalized.
Once again, Pei's design has won worldwide praise for its complete reversal, but the designer seems to have become accustomed to such a situation. "After the matter is whisked away, hidden and famous", after accepting the award from President Mitterrand, he calmly withdrew from the scene and returned to the "world of one person".
According to many of his foreign counterparts, Mr. Pei was a man who seemed friendly but not easy to approach, humble and courteous, but with a strong sense of distance. The dean of the Yale School of Architecture also said that Pei was a "very indifferent person, never taking a stand on controversy, and only silently calculating in his heart." ”
The Mihide Museum of Art, Japan
In fact, this is not the real I.M. Pei, but he has entrusted all his enthusiasm and sincerity to his family and nation. His work has spread around the world, from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., to the Mihide Museum in Japan, from the Museum of Islamic Art to the Glass Pyramid of the Louvre, from the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong to the Javits Convention Center in New York City.
But all of these buildings are works of which he is proud, and only the sealed works of his later years are his most beloved "little daughters" - the Suzhou Museum. It was the legacy of his life's work for his hometown.
Born in 1917, Pei was one of the most humiliating experiences of our thousand-year-old country, but this did not affect Pei's love of "country" and "home", which stemmed from the sense of belonging that the Pei family had built for their people.
Left one I.M. Pei
I.M. Pei was born in the Pei family in Suzhou, and he is the 15th generation grandson of this Famous Suzhou Family.
Although Pei's achievements are related to his own talent and efforts, the "wealth" given to him by the Pei family is also a condition that cannot be ignored. It's just that this "wealth" is not money and industry, but the hundred-year family training of the Bei family.
Suzhou Beishi did not originate in Suzhou, but migrated here in the middle of the Ming Dynasty from Lanxi County, Zhejiang. Although Lanxi County is not as famous as Suzhou and Hangzhou, its scenery and scenery are more than those of Suzhou and Hangzhou, especially rich in exotic flowers. Therefore, the local people in Lanxi County have a good chance of making a living from the operation of medicinal materials.
Pei's mother
The ancestors of the Pei family also started with medicine, admired the prosperity of Suzhou, and moved their family to Suzhou. But this family is not a rich family at this time, but it is just one of the toiling people from other places who come to Suzhou to make a living. It's just that the Bei family's business is different, the so-called "no adultery and no business", most of the merchants pursue profits and light righteousness, but the Bei family has always attached importance to righteousness.
Once, when the family Bei and Yu were robbed, they were accompanied by their own medicinal herbs, money and partners' entrustment money. In a hurry, Bei and Yu fled with the client's money without thinking, and the result, of course, was that their goods were looted.
However, although the loss was not small this time, the client's property could be returned by the original number, which won the Pei family a good reputation of "keeping promises and keeping promises" and won the trust of the local people.
Pei's stepmothers Jiang Shiyun and Zhang Xueliang
To the fourth generation of descendants Pei Qizuo here is more unlucky. The family had a hard time gaining a foothold, and did not expect Pei Qizuo to die early, leaving only Gao Tang's young son and a lady. Mrs. Cheng wanted to die of martyrdom, thinking that her only son was only 7 years old, and her mother-in-law was already old, so she could only serve her parents and raise her young son with sorrow and pain.
Orphans and widows, the economic situation of the Bei family at that time was not optimistic, in addition to living expenses, there was no money left for the children to go to school. Fortunately, Cheng's literacy and hyphenation, personally taught his only son to read and write. When this child grew up, the reorganization of the family business allowed Bei's ancestral business to return to its former prosperity.
By the time it reached Bemutin's generation, the Beimard family had lasted for 7 generations. More than a hundred years have passed, from the Ming Dynasty to the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. With the arrival of the "Kangqian prosperous world", the Bei family also ushered in its first highlight moment.
Pei Zuyi and Jiang Shiyun
When Bemutin's father, Bei Qiangu, took charge of the family, the Bei family had completed the initial accumulation of property and was a little famous in Suzhou. But the Fame of the Bei family is not that they are "rich", but "accumulated good". The Bei family is in the pharmaceutical business, and Bei Qiangu often receives people who look down on the sick.
In Bemutin's generation, because the family foundation gradually became solid, the good deeds were even more generous. In years of disaster, Bemutin would open warehouses to relieve the victims and sell its own grain at a price below market value. There are many rich and capable people in this world, but not everyone is willing to lend a helping hand when others are in difficulty. What is even more rare is that the Bei family has been doing their best to help the township from beginning to end.
With wealth as the foundation, the Pei family also began to follow their own wishes to develop into different fields. From the military to politics, literature, collection, art, and so on, no matter which field is at ease.
Pei and his wife, Ailing Lu
Time came to modern times, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was in turmoil at the end of the Qing Dynasty. As a large household in Suzhou, the Pei family is naturally not spared, and the twelfth generation of the head of the family, Bei Kanghou, has taken refuge in Shanghai to escape the chaos of war.
Pei Kanghou's grandfather, Pei Yong, was a great collector who had many masterpieces that were destroyed by the taiping rebellion. In order to avenge the hatred of the country and the family, After Settling down in the family, Bei Kanghou immediately joined Zuo Zongtang and served him. In his later years, Bei Kanghou returned to Suzhou, purchased more than 100 houses near the Lion Forest, and opened a yizhuang to relieve the people living in difficulty while building the ancestral hall.
The Bei family has lasted for more than four hundred years and prospered for 15 generations without reason. Generally speaking, even if a person who has the ability to set up a good church is a relief to the children of his own family. For example, the family school of Jia Fu in the dream of the Red Chamber is basically direct children and relatives. After all, the rich have distant relatives in the deep mountains, and once they open their mouths, the relatives who come to run are afraid that there will be a steady stream.
However, the "Liuyu Yizhuang" built by Pei Kanghou was not limited to the sons of the family, as long as the surname "Bei" could be received by the Yizhuang, among which there was a child named Pei Runsheng. At that time, Beconhou did not expect that this child and his son Belitai had created the second highlight of the Bey family.
Pei Runsheng studied in "Liuyu Yizhuang" at an early age, and at the age of 16, he went to Shanghai to work under the introduction of Yizhuang. He inherited the diligent and honest style of the Pei family, worked diligently in the dye shop, and directly entrusted the business house to Pei Runsheng when the boss died.
When it is properly operated, Pei Runsheng will use the large profits he earns to buy a house. In 1917, he returned to his hometown in Suzhou and spent 9900 silver yuan to buy the then dilapidated Lion Forest, and at the same time acquired more than 1,000 acres of houses around the Lion Forest and merged them into Bei's private houses.
Pei Runsheng bought this mansion and spent a lot of money to repair it, not for his own enjoyment, but to use it as a righteous village. Although Pei Runsheng soared to the top, he always missed the help of his uncle Bei Kanghou, and if he did not have the custody of "Liu Yu Yizhuang", he could not have achieved today.2 Since he has the ability, of course, he must spare no effort to support the disciples in the clan.
Pei's family
"Hsinchu is higher than the old bamboo branches, all supported by old stems." If Pei Runsheng's family wealth is left to his children and grandchildren, of course, it is enough for his children to squander at will, and perhaps even the money of his grandchildren has been earned. But the Pei family never just looked at the front of their eyes, from the beginning of Bei Kanghou.
If Bei Kanghou had not established the "Liuyu Yizhuang", Pei Runsheng, whose in-laws were separated by 18,000 miles, would naturally not have defected to the Bei Kang Hou family. Then Pei Runsheng may also succeed in the future, but he will not spend hundreds of millions of silver dollars to build a righteous village in the Lion Forest, and this great charity of Ze Yu's descendants will naturally not exist.
Then, Pei will not have the opportunity to live in the Lion Forest. Pei said: "Suzhou is the aesthetic far point of his design road, and Shanghai is the place where his architectural dreams take off." Although Pei only returned to suzhou "Lion Forest" for the holidays of his youth, the influence of this famous garden on him has been interspersed throughout his design career and exploded in the design of the "Suzhou Museum" in his later years.
Mr. and Mrs. Pei
Therefore, Pei Runsheng said: "It is better to leave off descendants with virtue than to leave offspring with unique production; it is better to leave descendants with public property." "The results personally verified by generations of the Bei family have also become the family training of the Bei family.
How many famous and prestigious families have been destroyed on the "wall of brothers", and there are not a few rich people in modern times who have lost their families due to competition for family property. And the Bei family has never had a family dispute in hundreds of years, which really responds to the phrase "home and everything is happy". It can be seen that although the Bei family training is only 30 words, it is the essence of the words.
Belitai, who was the same age as Pei Runsheng, took a completely different path from him. Belitai is the eldest son of BeconHou, this child has no interest in doing business, he is determined to serve the country, obviously it is not okay to be a businessman, Belitai wants to take a career.
I.M. Pei and his son
In 1890, when the 24-year-old Belle Tai kao Xiucai was continuing to participate in the township examination, his father was seriously ill and recruited him to go home to inherit the family business. Unable to disobey his father's orders and was really not interested in doing business, Belitai closed the property and handed it over to a special person to take care of, and he coincidentally entered the county court to be in charge of money, food and taxes.
Although he was not from the Imperial Examination, Belitai still indirectly embarked on a career path, but after entering the official palace, he learned all kinds of unknown insiders. Disappointed, Bellita followed his old boss Chen Guangfu and assisted Chen Guangfu in establishing the Shanghai Commercial Savings Bank. Belle Tai is the manager of Jiangsu Branch.
This branch of Bei Qiangu began to enter the era of the financial industry from Belitai, and his son Bei Zuyi pushed the Bei family in this period to a new height.
After graduating from university, Pei Zuyi entered Sheng Xuanhuai's coal and iron company, and through Sheng Xuanhuai, he met Song Ziwen, who was preparing to set up the Bank of China at that time. Pei Zuyi helped Song Ziwen raise funds and naturally entered the work of the central bank, and during his tenure, he was honest and self-sustaining, and never took a penny more.
Pei's family
In 1892, Pei Zuyi married Zhuang Lianjun, who was still in the Qing Dynasty, and Zhuang's father was the Qing Dynasty Guozi Jianjiu, equivalent to the current Minister of Education. Zhuang Lianjun was born into a famous family, good at calligraphy and music, extremely talented, very common language between husband and wife, and excellent feelings.
In 1917, Zhuang Lianjun gave birth to his eldest son, which was I.M. Pei. When Pei was young, he often read and wrote with his mother, who believed in Buddhism, and Pei also followed his mother in the monastery, and his personality was honed very calmly and quietly.
Later, Pei encountered setbacks in his career, and people often said that he did not care about the evaluation of outsiders, but in fact, he did not care at all.
On the one hand, it stems from absolute confidence in one's own work. He said that his architectural style does not belong to any genre, and his design never pursues a narrow personal style, but to integrate the local natural pattern and humanistic culture to design the architecture that best fits the region.
On the other hand, it is the personality of "settling with the encounter", "things will always be known in the end". This style of "settling with the circumstances" has become a unique "Pei style" in the history of world architecture, and no one can emulate and surpass it.
Kunqu master Pei Jinmei (first from left) and architectural master Bei Shoutong (first from right) and his father Bei Wansheng
The arrival of I.M. Pei has allowed the ancient family of Pei to extend the fresh blood. Father Bei Zuyi hopes that the 15th generation of the Bei family can inherit the family business and develop in the financial industry. But Pei had his own ideas.
When he was young, he first arrived in Shanghai with his father, and he was surprised to see that the modern scenery of Greater Shanghai was completely different from the style of Suzhou. It turns out that different houses can present such a variety of styles.
As he grew older, Pei became more interested in architecture, and at the age of 18 he followed his father's orders to study finance in the Uk. But when he arrived in England, he immediately repented and ran to the United States alone to be admitted to the University of Pennsylvania, and later entered MIT to study engineering.
Pei's willfulness did not cause his father to be dissatisfied, but instead acquiesced to his son's "disobedience", and it was precisely because of Pei's tolerance and respect that he became a world-famous architect.
Lion Grove Beth's ancestral home
In 1940, Pei graduated from MIT, and he remembered his childhood dream of "building a big house for China" and was eager to return to China to work. However, at that time, the domestic situation was extremely unoptimistic, the Japanese army occupied Shanghai, and the country was filled with gun smoke, where was his place to play? Pei followed his teacher's advice and stayed at Swey Engineering for the time being.
In 1942, Pei and Lu Ailing married in New York, USA. Lu Ailing is also from a famous family, her father and I.M. Pei are still alumni, and Lu Ailing herself graduated from Wellesley College, which is rich in "first lady", and is also an alumnus with famous women such as the Three Sisters of Song and Hillary.
After Lu Ailing got married, she did not go out to work, but she taught her husband and children at home, but her husband and godson were different. Lu Ailing signed up for the Haval Graduate School of Design's landscape architecture project, and became Pei's most powerful assistant in his career with professional knowledge, unique vision and accurate judgment of current affairs.
In addition to assisting Pei, Lu Ailing also undertook the parenting and education of her children. Pei is very busy at work, and Lu Ailing has become a communication link between her husband and her children. Years later, even as adults, the children still maintain the habit of having to go home every weekend to reunite.
The Pei family has continued to the 17th generation, and Pei's three sons and one daughter have long been the best in their respective industries. "Gentleman's Zee, the fifth generation and beheading", why so many once brilliant families can not escape the fate of rise and fall, but the Bei family is an exception?
In fact, from one family to another, although the governance methods are different, the reason is the same. Looking at the ancient dynasties of the continent, although the founding monarchs of each dynasty were a generation of masters, no dynasty lasted more than 400 years.
It has nothing to do with the dynasty, but the people who manage the dynasty have a problem. In fact, "three generations of wealth" is a very characteristic of Chinese characteristics, and every family and dynasty that was once extremely powerful has one or more "heroes", and their decline is invariably destroyed in the hands of "losers".
But the problem is that "losers" are not born "losers." The ultimate power, luxurious life, after several generations, the descendants will forget the hardships of the predecessors to start a business, feel that the wealth and glory are innate, do not think about the difficulties of the predecessors to start a business.
Looking back at the Bei family, there has never been a "loser". Both men and women must study, and men must work. The elder and the young are orderly brothers and brothers, and there is no family strife. Those who are able to take care of their families and are always grateful to be taken care of. When choosing a partner, it is not important to be beautiful and prefer talent.
Such a family can at least be able to be alone when it is poor, and the rich will also help the world. As the saying goes, "The house of good deeds will have a lot of celebration." "Although the blessing has not yet arrived, the misfortune is far away.
Suzhou Museum