My interaction with Mr. Liu Bingsen
Text/Yu Hongwen
The late famous calligrapher Mr. Liu Bingsen was a very influential master of calligraphy in the contemporary calligraphy circles of the mainland, (in fact, his calligraphy and Chinese painting also had deep achievements). Mr. Liu Bingsen, Zi Shu An. Born in August 1937 in Hebei, he died on February 15, 2005 at the age of 68. Before his death, he served as a researcher at the Palace Museum in Beijing, vice chairman of the Chinese Calligraphers Association, vice chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, vice president of the Buddhist Association of China, standing committee member of the National Committee of the Chinese Political Consultative Conference, and chairman of the Calligraphy Education Professional Committee of the China Education Association.
My acquaintance with him was by coincidence. Around the second half of 2002, I was then the director of the Shandong Provincial Ethnic Affairs Commission and the director of the Provincial Religious Affairs Bureau. At that time, all departments directly under the provincial government were angry about organizing associations. I feel that I am the director of the Nationalities Committee and should vigorously promote national culture and prosper the national cause. Therefore, preparations were made to establish the Shandong National Calligraphy and Painting Institute. When preparing for the inaugural meeting, I wanted to invite a celebrity from the field of calligraphy and painting to speak at the conference in order to expand publicity and open up a good situation. Coincidentally, the niece of a comrade in my unit was working as a nanny in Liu Bingsen's house, and because of this relationship, this comrade was more familiar with Liu Bingsen. Therefore, I asked him to ask Mr. Liu Bingsen to attend the opening ceremony and speak, and to hire him as a consultant for the National Academy of Calligraphy and Painting. At the time, I was worried that the celebrity would not agree. Unexpectedly, Mr. Liu promised to attend on time.
The day before the establishment of the National Calligraphy and Painting Institute (September 15, 2002), Mr. Liu Bingsen and his wife flew to Jinan, and I personally went to the airport to pick him up and arranged to stay at the Yuquan Senxin Hotel. After dinner, I sent Liu Bingsen to the guest room to rest. He said, "Director Yu, I heard that you want me to write a banner?" (I had him convey the meaning of asking him to write a banner of "Home and Everything".) I said, "That's great, you rest first, and we'll talk about it tomorrow." Mr. Liu said: No need to rest, write immediately. So, he asked his wife to open the box and take out the pen and ink brick table, and I had already prepared rice paper and felt in the guest room. Mr. Liu first grinded ink on the yantai, washed the pen, folded the paper, laid the felt, and then stood on the book and began to write. He first wrote the two letters of "Home and" from right to left, and then wrote the words "Xing" and "Shi" from the left, leaving an empty space in the middle, and finally wrote the word "Wan". I thought, why didn't he keep writing from the right? Probably for the sake of the whole layout, so it looks better. When he dropped the money, he wrote: "Brother Hong Wenren, Liu Bingsen Book", I asked him: Teacher Liu, you are older than me, how can you call me a brother? He smiled and said: This is the rule, it should be called that. I'm not good enough to say it again. Finally, his wife took out the seal, the printing box, and he signed and sealed it carefully and carefully. I watched the master writing around me, the force penetrated the back of the paper, the pen and ink were energetic, in one go, very atmospheric. To this day, this painting has been hanging in my living room and has become the left and right inscription of my tutor.
The next morning (September 16, 2002), the inaugural meeting of the National Academy of Calligraphy and Painting, attended by several provincial leaders, talked a lot in the lounge. At the conference, on behalf of the China Book Association (he is the vice chairman of the China Book Association) and himself, he warmly delivered a warm speech, expressed congratulations, and made some requests. The attendance of Mr. Liu Bingsen added a lot of brilliance to this conference.
Later, I went to Beijing on a business trip and went to his house to see him. He received me warmly. Another time, I went to Beijing for a meeting, and when he heard about it, he invited me to dinner, which was very approachable and amiable. In February 2005, the bad news suddenly came that Mr. Liu Bingsen had passed away due to illness, and I was shocked and very sad after hearing it.
At present, the evaluation of Mr. Liu Bingsen in the calligraphy circles is mainly good, and there are also a few criticisms. But in my mind, Mr. Liu Bingsen has always been a very respectable calligraphy master. I'm now learning to write letters, mainly to study his posts, and maybe that's important
cause. （2020.3.8）
One dot number paints Mawon