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Editor's Note
A few days ago, Mr. Xie Chensheng, a famous cultural relics expert, died of illness at the age of 100. Here, I would like to share the article of Mr. Zhu Wanzhang, a research librarian of the National Museum of China, and recall Mr. Xie Chensheng's pen and ink interests with you through the ruler. The article was originally published in China Cultural Relics Daily on August 23, 2016.
The patron saint of cultural relics, Xie Chensheng's pen and ink interest
——From Xie Chensheng's letter to Su Gengchun
When the author was sorting out the correspondence between Su Gengchun (1924-2001), a member of the State Cultural Relics Appraisal Committee and a calligraphy and painting appraiser, he found a letter from Xie Chensheng. There are no annual payments in the letter, nor are there any envelopes or postmarks left. In order to examine its ins and outs and check its cultural value, it triggered the idea of interviewing Elder Xie. At the recommendation of a friend, in a simple study in Anzhenli, Chaoyang District, Beijing, I met Elder Xie, who had passed the age of back. He himself opened the door and introduced me into the study. I gave him a copy of "Commemorating Su Gengchun and Collecting Fine Works of Calligraphy and Painting" and the humble books "Selling Summer and Qing Play: Focusing on the History of Calligraphy and Painting Collection" and "Learning Art Zhu Wanzhang and His Art World". After he looked through it carefully for a while, we moved on to the topic of the interview.
On July 6, 2016, Japanese author Zhu Wanzhang (left) at the residence of cultural relics expert Xie Chensheng
Xie Chensheng was one of two surviving members of the Group of Seven For the Identification of Ancient Chinese Painting and Calligraphy (the other being Fu Xinian). He was born in 1922 in Wujin, Jiangsu Province. He recalls that in 1946, his cousin and historian Xie Guozhen (1901-1982) was commissioned by the historian Fan Wenlan (1893-1969) of Northern University to buy books for the school, and he followed his brother to Shanghai. By chance, he met Zheng Zhenduo (1898-1958). Later, he became Zheng's secretary. Since then, he has forged a good relationship with cultural relics throughout his life. Xie Chensheng is a legendary figure in the cultural relics industry. He participated in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea and worked as a war correspondent. However, what really made him famous in the cultural and cultural circles was that he participated in the drafting of many important laws and regulations, including the "Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Cultural Relics", participated in the drumming and shouting of the protection of many cultural relics sites such as dinghai Old City in Zhejiang, and jointly proposed the establishment of a "Cultural Heritage Day" together with ten cultural relics experts such as Fu Xinian, Su Bai, and Chang Shana, to check the first interim measures for the protection and management of cultural relics in military camps, the "Interim Measures for the Protection and Management of Cultural Relics in The Barracks of the Nanjing Military Region". etc., known as the "guardian deity of cultural relics". Our topic began with the protection of cultural relics, and then we talked about the ancient Chinese calligraphy and painting appraisal team and its return to The Book with Su Gengchun. He said that in the 1960s, a calligraphy and painting appraisal team had been set up, and its members were Han Shenxian, Zhang Heng and Xie Zhiliu. Later, due to the early deaths of Han and Zhang and the "Cultural Revolution" and many other reasons, the appraisal work was stopped; In the 1980s, with the support of Gu Mu (1914-2009) and Deng Liqun (1915-2015), the identification team was re-established. At that time, the members should have been eight people, in addition to Xie Zhiliu, Qi Gong, Xu Bangda, Yang Renkai, Liu Jiu'an, Fu Xinian, Xie Chensheng, and Su Gengchun. Because Su was not in good health, he was worried about running around the country, the boat and car were tired, and his body could not eat, so he proposed to resign. Xie Chensheng felt very sorry. However, in his opinion, what is more regrettable is that Su Gengchun died in his seventies and failed to enjoy the big year, otherwise there would be one more heavyweight in the calligraphy and painting appraisal industry. From the topic of Su Gengchun, I introduced Xie Chensheng's letter to Su Gengchun.
Xie Chensheng sent a letter to Su Gengchun
The letter is only one page long, and the full text is as follows:
Old Sue:
Send three copies of the catalogue, please forward to Comrades Jin Ming, Wu Nansheng and Sun Leyi, and look forward to the reply after receiving it. Sincerely
salute!
Xie Chensheng, May 14.
Xie Chensheng said that his relationship with Su Gengchun began in the early 1960s after Su was transferred from Beijing Baoguzhai to the Guangdong Provincial Museum, and most of them were working relationships. During the "Cultural Revolution", he would go to Guangzhou twice a year at the Canton Fair, when Su Gengchun was responsible for the inspection and appraisal of export goods such as calligraphy and painting in the Canton Fair, so he almost always dealt with it. In 1983, when the tomb of the King of Nanyue was excavated in Guangzhou, Xie Chensheng and the archaeologist Xia Nai (1910-1985) went to Guangdong and remembered that he also had contacts with Su Gengchun; From November 23, 1988, the ancient Chinese calligraphy and painting appraisal team went to the Guangdong Provincial Museum to appraise calligraphy and paintings, until February 20 of the following year, when the appraisal work in Guangdong was completed, Su Gengchun accompanied almost the whole process, an appraisal, and every day he would look at the face and discuss some problems in the appraisal of calligraphy and painting. As for activities other than calligraphy and painting appraisal (such as calligraphy and painting exhibitions, tourist visits, PEN meetings, banquets, etc.), I don't remember it very clearly.
Xie Chensheng also said that he and Su Gengchun had a lot of correspondence, not more than one or two letters, but unfortunately it is difficult to find them now. Because of his close contact with Su Gengchun and his meeting is also very casual, he will call "Old Su" directly in the letter. In the mid-1980s, after Su Gengchun retired, he would go to Beijing every summer to escape the summer and live in the Tongzi Hutong apartment of Dongliulichang. They will also often meet and greet in Beijing. The Jin Ming (1913-1998) mentioned in the letter was a native of Yidu, Shandong (present-day Qingzhou), who served as secretary of the Central and Southern Bureau, secretary general of the State Council and first secretary of the Hebei Provincial Party Committee. Wu Nansheng is the former secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee, who likes to collect calligraphy and paintings, and in his later years he donated some calligraphy and paintings to the Guangdong Provincial Museum, Shantou City Museum and Shenzhen Museum, and published "Wu Nansheng Donated Calligraphy and Painting Collection"; Sun Leyi (1907-1990), formerly known as Si Qi, alias Yi jian, a native of Wuning, Jiangxi, served as vice mayor of Guangzhou in the 1950s and 1960s, deputy director of the Guangzhou Municipal People's Congress in 1981, and member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Unfortunately, Xie Chensheng has been unable to recall the approximate time of writing this letter and the name of the catalogue mentioned in the letter. However, the letter mentions Sun Leyi, who died on January 24, 1990, according to which it can be seen that the lower time limit of this letter should not be later than 1989.
Su Gengchun thanked Chensheng for his letter
In the 2010 edition of Mr. Xie Chensheng's Correspondence, there is a letter from Su Gengchun to Xie Chensheng, all of which are as follows:
Comrade Tatsusei:
Song and Yuan Shu briefed, and Hui Sui reported to Wu Nansheng. He was happy. He said that if someone could pay for us to collect it, it would be no better. Yesterday I met with him again, and he asked you to ask you about it, the 16th auction period has passed, I don't know if we have captured this thing? I don't know if there is any news in recent days, I hope you will give me a letter in my busy life. Best wishes
pleasant!
Su Gengchun worshiped
June 25.
The letter mentions the matter of Song Yuan shujian, and I hereby consult Elder Xie for specific circumstances. He said that there was indeed such a thing, but then it was not bought, and as for what reasons did not succeed, who was involved in this matter, and whose codex it was, many of them cannot be remembered clearly. I only vaguely remember that this batch of books was in Hong Kong, and I wanted to rescue them and submit them to the Guangdong Provincial Museum for collection, but in the end I did not succeed.
Interestingly, in a letter from Wu Nansheng to Su Gengchun, this matter is also discussed:
Comrade Gengchun and the comrades who took office:
I came in Shenzhen. Friends in Hong Kong informed: There are 25 Song and Yuan celebrity books to be auctioned in Hong Kong on June 16 (there is a "manual", attached please read), I don't know if it is authentic, whether the state wants to buy it? Please check the manual first to see if it is authentic. If you are interested in buying, it is best to send an appraisal expert to Hong Kong, help from friends in Hong Kong, see things, must be the real thing to be acquired, by friends to participate in the auction to buy (the price is about 30,000-50,000 yuan).
After Comrade Gu Mu and I read the instruction manual, we felt that the six pieces (characters) that we had seen may be authentic works, and they are all books and poems. However, whether there is acquisition value should be considered by the National Museum, if you feel a little interested, you should come to the appraisal authority to look at it first. If you need to go to Hong Kong, the procedures are done in Beijing, and friends are introduced by us here.
This matter, the time is too tight, I would like to ask you to make a long-distance call to Beijing (cultural department or palace museum) to ask, their meaning and possibility (is there any acquisition of foreign exchange). It is estimated that such small pieces, the Forbidden City may not be of much interest. That's it. If you are interested, send the "instruction manual", how to deal with it, please contact them.
Please return the "instruction manual" to me after it is used up.
Best wishes
Near good!
Wu, the morning of June 2. I'll be back in about six or seven days.
"Ren Occurring" in the letter, then director of the Guangdong Provincial Museum; And "Gu Mu" retired from the position of vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. The letter was written more than twenty days before Su Gengchun sent a letter to Xie Chensheng. Judging from the content of the letter, when Wu Nansheng first discovered this batch of Song Yuan rulers, Su Gengchun called (or wrote to) Beijing Xie Chensheng. Refer to the above letter again, and know that Xie Chensheng found the relevant buyer and intended to bid for it and submit it to the Guangdong Provincial Museum for collection. The two letters corroborated each other, and the whole incident of purchasing the Song and Yuanshu jian became clearer. Although this matter was not completed in the end, it condensed the heart of Xie Chensheng and other cultural relics protection experts and wu Nansheng and other local leaders to rescue precious cultural relics.
There is no exact year for Su Gengchun's letter, which is set as 1994 in the Correspondence of Mr. Xie Chensheng. If so, then Wu Nansheng Xinzha should also be this year.
As for the other correspondence materials of Xie Chensheng and Su Gengchun's travels, they are also involved in a letter signed by Su Gengchun and Song Liangbi (1929-2015), a ceramic appraisal expert at the Guangdong Provincial Museum, and written to Ren on December 17, 1975. At that time, two experts went to Henan to visit and study and collect cultural relics, which said: "Henan Province's Bodazhai is mainly to carry out an exhibition of 'Agricultural Science Dazhai', followed by archaeologists to cooperate with farmland water conservancy to carry out investigations, especially they held a provincial cultural relics work forum, the number of participants was initially set to be more than 200 people, and later a total of more than 300 people participated, and Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Beijing, Tianjin and other places from other provinces also participated in this meeting." Xie Chensheng of the Beijing Cultural Relics Bureau attended the meeting. We would like to send back a copy of the materials for their meeting (their meeting ended in Xinxiang, on the 15th)." The letter specifically mentioned Xie Chensheng and called his unit the "Beijing Cultural Relics Bureau", which was a mistake of the "State Administration of Cultural Heritage". According to the "Annals of Xie Chensheng", on September 30 of that year, the State Council decided that the State Administration of Cultural Relics was a bureau directly under the State Council, and did not mention the "Beijing Cultural Relics Bureau", which can corroborate the error in the letter.
When the author left Xie Lao at the end of the interview, he gladly grabbed the pen and inscribed the name of the book for me on the letterhead, the full text of which read: "Wu Xuan, Comrade Wan Zhang's souvenir, Xie Chensheng in the early summer of Shen Shen, when he was ninety and five years old." After writing it, he took out a seal from the drawer and said, "This is what Fang Jiekan carved." Fang Jiekan (1901-1987) was a famous modern seal engraver, who served as the vice president of the Xiling Printing Society, and had such works as "Wen Zong", "Two Han Official Seals", "Ancient Seals distinguishing forgeries", "Qin and Han Pairs of Knowledge and Collection", "Introduction to Kan on Seals", "Seal Seals" and other publications. I carefully put away the letterhead and deeply thanked chensheng and Su Gengchun and other scholars of the older generation of cultural relics appraisers for their academic spirit, just like this precious letterhead, we should cherish it, love it, and pass it on forever. (The author of this article, Zhu Wanzhang, is a research librarian at the National Museum of China, and this article was originally published in the "China Cultural Relics Newspaper" on August 23, 2016, and later included in "Rusu Qingfen: A Century of Painting Garden Books and Books".) ）