A while ago, the popularity of the documentary "But There Are Books" brought fire to Mr. Shen Xieyuan of the Nanjing Library, a bibliographer of ancient books who still works eight or nine hours a day at the age of ninety-eight.
Shen Xieyuan's story was broadcast in the second season of "But There Are Books" and was deeply loved by netizens
He was the editor-in-chief of the sub-department of the Catalogue of Rare Books of Ancient Chinese Books, and traveled for ten years for this unprecedented book compilation project; he was also a discerning edition identification expert, and when the ancient books arrived in his hands, he "knew what it was" as soon as he got it.
In addition to work, Shen Xieyuan also has a rather vivid side in life.
He has a good appetite and a good amount of wine,
Interested in gossip to the outside world,
It is the "treasure of the town hall" that colleagues "love".
He also has a very good memory,
Talking about the past with Qian Zhongshu, Hu Shi and other famous artists,
Or more than ten years after compiling the Catalogue of Rare Books of Ancient Chinese Books,
The details are all in plain sight.
Now Elder Shen still works eight or nine hours a day
The unprecedented project of compiling the bibliography of ancient Chinese books in history was edited by Shen Xieyuan as the sub-editor
At the Nanjing Library,
We met this lovely old gentleman,
Talked to him about his past,
He never ceased to be enthusiastic about his work,
And his "secret to longevity".
98 years old, working 9 hours a day
The office of the Ancient Books Department of the Nanjing Library is very quiet, and there are occasional discussions among colleagues, all for the authenticity of a handwritten handwriting, a certain illegible variant character, and so on. When the discussion really did not come to an end, they would consult Mr. Shen Xie, because he was the "recognition ceiling" in the office.
Shen Xieyuan bent down to work in the window position. Because his body was bent low, and the table full of books and materials was piled up like a hill, at first glance, it was almost impossible to find his person.
This well-known expert and colleague in the field of domestic version catalogs, the "living fossil", is ninety-eight years old. At the age of ninety-eight, he came to work as usual from Monday to Friday, and every morning, he took the bus alone, turned 3 on the 18th and got off at the Nanjing Library Station. He went to work at nine o'clock and he was never late.
Shen Xieyuan takes the bus to work alone every day Picture source "But there are still books"
Bibliography is an urgent study, involving the accumulation, collation and utilization of various types of literature. Mr. Shen Xieyuan has been doing the collation and compilation of the "ShiLi Ju Inscription" for 20 or 30 years after his retirement, and is still in the proofreading stage.
"Shi Li Ju Inscription" is a collection of inscriptions by the Qing Dynasty bibliophile Huang Pilie. Huang Pilie is known as "the first person to collect books in five hundred years", calling himself a "bookworm" and "book idiot", living on a tight budget in his later years, still "raising books with books", and obsessed with books all his life. In addition to the collection of books, his achievements in the fields of proofreading, engraving, and inscription have also made the "Yellow Trek" an important treasure of the academic community.
Since the Qing Dynasty, ancestors have done the "Shi Li Ju Inscription", but they are not comprehensive enough, and there are many errors and omissions. Shen Xieyuan was determined to compile a more comprehensive and perfect version.
Every day is to work hard at the workstation
It was a tedious project, he didn't know a computer, from compilation to completion, more than 800,000 words, all by hand. He has no assistants, and "no one else can help at all." Only when he needed to communicate with the outside world, he would ask colleagues and friends to help collect books and materials from all over the world, and other tasks were written word for word by bending over his desk.
Over the years, people in the relevant fields of academia, whenever they found relevant books and materials, would also write letters to Shen Xieyuan to judge and compile, just because he was the most professional Huang Pilie expert now.
A cart full of books that only he could sort out
Next to his workstation was a small cart full of bibliographies he needed, and only he knew best which books to put where.
He has been very popular lately because of the broadcast of a documentary. But he didn't know anything about his popularity in the online world, and he didn't care.
In the face of the sudden increase in interview demand, he cooperated with him very kindly, but only asked us: "Is it okay to come back tomorrow?" I've been interviewed today, and I don't have time to do the right thing. ”
His main business is naturally to compile books. He said that after the "Shi Li Ju Inscription", he also had to sort out Huang Pilie's poetry collection and chronology, and only after these three things were completed could it be regarded as a great completion. So he's very sorry for the time now.
Working until around 12:00, it was his lunchtime. He used to go to the cafeteria later because there were fewer people and shorter queues
At dinner, he likes to chat with younger colleagues, and the topic is wild, "what he thinks and asks." Sometimes it's "I heard that a certain university now has a school grass that is very popular?" Sometimes it's "Isn't it expensive to fill your teeth now?" ”
The colleague patiently replied: "Expensive, if you make up all your teeth, it is not a small amount." ”
Shen Xieyuan still had one tooth left, but it didn't seem to affect his enjoyment of food in the slightest. Eating in the canteen, he has meat and vegetable soup, so he eats slowly.
The owner of the contracted canteen made love to him and directly called him "old man". He said, "This old man is not simple, every day when he sees him, he eats everything, he can eat fried chicken legs, and he eats them with his hands." ”
Shen Xieyuan quipped to him: "You (contracted the canteen) for so many years, you have made a fortune." ”
After lunch, he hardly took a lunch break and went straight to work. This is the 67th year since 1955, day after day.
At four o'clock in the afternoon, he began to pack his things, put his bags on his back, and prepare to go home. The early spring in Nanjing had just warmed up a bit, and the sunlight was shining obliquely on his workstation. Before he left, he asked his young colleague to help him sort out his clothes.
The station returning from the library was about to cross a road, and Uncle Mao, who was in charge of his living, was not very reassured and would wait for him at the station to watch him slowly pace across the road.
A bite of food, a sip of wine, is what he enjoys every day after work
Although he ate everything in the canteen, Shen Xieyuan actually had some requirements for food. Uncle Mao Mao is a native of Suzhou and cooks a good dish.
He knew that Shen Xieyuan liked Su Bang dishes, and on the dinner table that day, a shrimp scrambled egg, a steamed small yellow fish, and a green dish were all shen Xieyuan's favorite taste, and he ate very fragrantly.
Shen Xieyuan must have wine for dinner, and that night he drank rice wine made by the farmer. It was no secret that he loved to drink, but drinking very moderately, one cup was enough, and it did not affect his extremely regular life today.
He repeatedly stressed: "This is better than the winter wine in Suzhou, only ten degrees, the degree is not high." "He also persuaded us to drink."
Speaking of Shanghai, he was very emotional. He spent a period of study in Shanghai, recalling that decades ago he went to Shanghai to find a friend, and the friend took him to a long-established restaurant to eat a bowl of snow vegetables and shrimp noodles, which he never forgot, to this day.
"The relationship with the library is like a fish in the water."
Shen Xieyuan recalled the names and units of his colleagues at that time, and the lines were not chaotic
After drinking, he was in a slightly better spirit and took old pictures to identify us one by one. There are very few photographs of his life, and the surviving photographs are almost all photographs of various academic conferences.
Shen Xieyuan is better known as the editor-in-chief of the book Catalogue of Rare Books of Ancient Chinese. For this, he traveled for a decade in Beijing and Shanghai.
Rare ancient books refer to ancient books with relatively important historical, academic and artistic value. In 1975, when Premier Zhou Enlai was critically ill, he proposed that "the general catalogue of good books in the country should be compiled as soon as possible", and a group of dozens of people was gathered.
In 1996, the "Catalogue of Rare Books" was published in its entirety, which was the largest book compilation project in China in the past hundred years. Fang Xing, director of the Shanghai Cultural Bureau at that time, commented that the project was "not feasible in the early ten years, nor ten years in the late." "Ten years earlier, people have not yet gathered together; in the late ten years, there are no old predecessors."
The book editing team handled hundreds of thousands of "cards" with book information written on them.
Shen Xieyuan still has a clear memory of this experience: "Shanghai is in yan'an hotel, beijing is in the State Council guest house. Eat two meals a day in Beijing. Eat a meal at 10:00 in the morning and dinner at 4:00 in the afternoon. The rest of the time, all work in the guest house. ”
Regarding this book compilation project, it is recognized that the largest workload is the "compilation" stage. Hundreds of thousands of cards with book information were shipped to Beijing, and the book compilation team "one person and one drawer" edited and sorted out the information on the cards one by one.
Shen Xieyuan has a very good memory, holding the group photo of that year, giving us the members of the book editing team at that time, and each person's name and unit are not chaotic at all. "Most of these people are gone now... This is Gu Lao, this is Liu Jiping, the curator of Beitu, and this is Ding Yu of Beitu, two years younger than me, who passed away not long ago. ”
Shen Xieyuan (first from right) and colleagues in the editing team: Ji Shuying (first from left), Gu Tinglong (second from left), Pan Jingzheng (second from right)
The "Gu Lao" in his mouth refers to Mr. Gu Tinglong, a version catalog scholar, who is also the father of scientist Gu Shufen, the winner of the 2020 National Supreme Science and Technology Award. Elder Gu once gave Shen Xieyuan a lot of help during his youth study, and the indissoluble relationship between Shen Xieyuan and the library was also concluded at that time.
In 1947, at the age of 23, Shen Xieyuan went to Wuxi National College Shanghai Branch to study, and his classmates and friends included Feng Qiyong (later a famous red scholar). He recalls that at that time, "the dormitory was small and there was no place to read." At that time, the provost of the National College was the calligrapher Mr. Wang Yuchang, who wrote a letter of recommendation recommending that these young people who were thirsty for knowledge go to the United Library to read books.
The United Public Library was once the spiritual home of Shanghai's intellectuals
Organized in 1939 by a number of scholars and celebrities, the United Public Library brought together a large collection of books by Jiangnan bibliophiles (now merged into the Shanghai Library). At that time, Gu Tinglong was serving as the director general of the United States Library.
Elder Gu received these young people, but whenever they wanted to read the books they were looking for, "The next time we come, they are ready for us." Shen Xieyuan completed the first draft of his book "Tu Shen Chronology" in the United Library.
The United House Library at that time was also the spiritual home of many intellectuals. Shen Xieyuan remembered that Hu Shi came from Beijing and read the Notes on the Water Classics in the library all day, because there were more versions of the United Masses. Before leaving for the United States, he wrote a souvenir of everyone in the library.
Young Shen Xieyuan
Qian Zhongshu also lived near the United People, and one day, he came to the library to read books, and it happened that Gu Lao was not there, so he talked with Shen Xieyuan, who came to open the door. During the conversation, they found that they were wuxi compatriots, and Qian Zhongshu's father, Qian Jibo, had also served as provost at the National College. The more the two talked, the more speculative they became, and Qian Zhongshu left an address and asked Shen Xieyuan to have time to visit.
Shen Xieyuan was very emotional, he had been there once, but unfortunately, the couple happened to be at home.
In 1948, Shen Xieyuan graduated from the national secondary school. With the help of Gu Lao, he entered the United Public Library to work. Later, he recalled: "At that time, the Kuomintang army did not withdraw from Shanghai, the library was occupied by the Kuomintang army, and the sandbag fortress was piled up at the gate. Staff can only enter and exit through the back door. ”
At the former site of the United People, Shen Xieyuan was once obsessed with the richness of the collection here
The daily work of the library also stagnated, and Gu Lao asked Shen Xieyuan to copy the book, and it was Wu Dayi's "Huanghua Chronicle". After the 20,000-word book was copied, Shanghai was liberated, and Shen Xieyuan was able to return home. Before leaving, Elder Gu instructed him: If the road is easy to walk, come back.
The old man who loved books all his life still remembers the richness and diversity of the library's collection, "If I go back at that time, of course, it will be good." Later, Shen Xieyuan went around and entered the Nanjing Library to work, continuing his lifelong fate with the library.
Stay professional and don't think about it
The "Greenhouse Bathing Monks Sutra" purchased by Shen Xieyuan for Nantu
Gu Tinglong once gave Shen Xieyuan a nickname, called "police station director", which means that he is very familiar with the deeds and lives of the ancients, "He said, I am like a police station chief, in charge of the ancient people's household registration."
Shen Jin, a bibliographer who had worked with Shen Xieyuan, later recalled this anecdote: In that year, He Jinyuan, who also belonged to the editorial board of the Rare Book Catalog, invited Shen Xieyuan to identify the authenticity of the "Huang PiLie School" in a certain engraving of the "Zhongwu Chronicle", and Shen Xieyuan determined at a glance that although the font was similar, it lacked Huang Pilie's "charm", which was copied by later generations.
Shen Xieyuan and his friends are in the former residence of Huang Pilie
Later, Gu Tinglong also presented a couplet to Shen Xieyuan. The upper link is "Fu Weng Yi Generation Meets Confidant", and the lower link is "Zhonglei Hook Xuan Xi Hou Sheng". Fu Weng is the number of Huang Pilie.
This pair of "golden eyes of fire" also helped him identify many precious classics.
Shen Xieyuan has worked in Nantu for more than sixty years, and in his own words, he has done two things, "one is cataloguing, the other is book procurement, and there is no third thing." ”
Nantu now has the "Treasure of the Ten Great Town Pavilions", two of which were purchased by Shen Xieyuan. One is the Northern Song Dynasty's "Greenhouse Bathing Monks' Sutra", from one of the four major library buildings in the late Qing Dynasty, a descendant of the Tieqin Bronze Sword Building. "I had dealings with his family's descendants, and he probably needed money urgently, so he sold me the scroll."
The transaction experience of the Dafang Guangfo Huayan Sutra is very legendary
The other is the Liao Dynasty's "Dafang Guangfo Huayan Sutra", which has a history of nearly a thousand years, and the value of cultural relics and academic value are extraordinary. The transaction experience of this treasure is also quite legendary. In the 1950s, Shen Xieyuan was introduced by people and met with sellers on the streets of Shanghai.
"So thick a roll, I opened it and looked at it, and halfway through it I knew it must be true. As soon as I asked for the price, the other party said 500, I gave him 500 yuan, took it and ran. Those who can't bargain, they don't sell when they bargain. His eyes narrowed with a smile, "This is all the accumulation of usual, things will be known when they get to hand, and it is too late to learn now!" ”
Over the Cloud Building collection
One of the major events in Nantu in recent years is the acquisition of a large number of books in Yunlou. The original owner of GuoyunLou was Gu Wenbin, a Qing Dynasty official, who went to Ningshao Daotai in Zhejiang Province and devoted his life to collecting calligraphy and paintings, but few people know that he also collected a large number of classic books and ancient books. This has been passed down for generations.
During the Republic of China period, the versionist Fu Zengxiang was allowed to read books in Yunlou that year, on the condition that "I can only read, not copy." Later, Fu Zengxiang silently wrote a catalogue of books in the Cloud Tower based on memory, which made this mysterious library famous.
Shen Xieyuan told this history, and what made him care more was his homework over the years. "In the collection of the Guoyun Building, there are two Huang Pilie inscriptions."
Shen Xieyuan used to love to read novels, but now because of the pity of time, he has seen less
As he got older, he began to feel that he didn't have enough time. So a lot of past fun was sacrificed. He used to love to read novels, chekhov and Maupassant, but now he reads less. "As soon as I read the novel, I was wasted, and I didn't have time to do the right thing." It is rumored that he loves to watch "Do Not Disturb", and now he does not watch it. The reason is the same.
For so many years, he never wanted to rest, because "I learn this, I like this, what do I do if I don't do this?" I don't have anything else to do. Others seem to be boring and tedious cataloguing work, he feels enjoyed: "Familiar is not uncomfortable, do what you like, always happy." ”
"Nine Six Sorcerer Shen Xieyuan"
He was often asked for the secret of longevity, and his theory was very simple: "Stay professional and don't think about it." Life is a little simpler, less desire. I've never thought about tomorrow,' the day after tomorrow, and I don't think about it. I summed it up in five words: Live every day well. ”
On the wall of his home hangs a calligraphy he wrote two years ago, which reads a poem:
"The western neighbors are rich and insufficient, and the eastern neighbors are poor and happy.
Liquor is brewed with hospitality, and gold is scattered for books. ”