On May 2, Mr. Xie Chensheng (1922-2022), who was hailed as "a living history of chinese cultural relics protection", passed away at the age of 100. As early as the 1950s, under the leadership of Zheng Zhenduo, he participated in and witnessed the rescue and return of national treasure-level cultural relics such as "Mid-Autumn Festival", "Boyuan Ti", "Xiaoxiang Tu" and so on. Xie Chensheng is the main author of the Interim Regulations of the State Council on the Protection and Administration of Cultural Relics (1961) and the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Cultural Relics (1982).
The Paper's Ancient Art features a reminiscence article written by Xie Lao's assistant Xiu Shuqing in his later years.
On the morning of May 2, Xie Chensheng died at the age of 100, and he was born and went away, as if there was providence in the underworld.
After knowing the news of his death, call or send messages to his old friends from the past and the people who used to visit him regularly, which is the etiquette he taught me before he died. Several of them, such as Sheng Yonghua, were still asking his old partner, Aunt Wang, how was the situation, and told the truth: he had passed away last summer. For a few days, the phone messages kept coming, and there were really many people who missed him. On May 6th, I said a final farewell to Xie Chensheng and finished my affairs, so I had time to write about him in my mind.
More than ten years ago, because of the introduction of Teacher Danqing, I was able to accompany him all the time. Elder Xie Chensheng and Teacher Danqing have a very deep relationship, they are masters and apprentices, just like father and son, the friendship between them, I am the most direct witness. Teacher Danqing asked me to take care of Xie Chensheng's daily life in Beijing to the best of my ability, so I often helped the old man to do some trivial things in life, and I would also accompany him out to participate in activities, or accompany him on business trips. Xie Chensheng was old and tall, I called him grandpa, and when I introduced himself to the outside world, he said that I was his student. During the ten years that I knew him, he treated me like a granddaughter, lovingly and lovingly, with many guides, encouragements and help. Thinking about it carefully, over the years, I have never encountered his cold-faced criticism, and if there is something wrong, he will also be angry, but the object of anger is not me, but someone else, in his place, I have felt the protection of the short child.
Xie Chensheng worked in the early years of the old shadow
He is a person from the Republic of China era, enlightenment and education are in the Republic of China, family origins, although only high school, but has a deep cultural literacy. His cousin Xie Guozhen was 21 years older than him, his mother died early, and his father was busy with official duties, basically growing up with his cousin. Xie Guozhen is Liang Qichao's proud protégé, rich in books, all of whom are famous scholars of literature and history, and his only daughter Xie Ying and Xie Chensheng are similar in age, but they do not like literature and history, and Xie Chensheng always likes it. Xie Guozhen has a humorous personality, likes and is good at telling stories, often telling him historical allusions, ancient book versions, and golden stone tablets, Xie Chensheng said that the more he listened, the more he liked it. When he gradually forgot many people and things, he still remembered his eldest brother. Another person who will also remember is Zheng Zhenduo, Zheng Zhenduo has a deep influence on him, this is what I often let him talk about the past when slowly realized, his personality, speech and demeanor will unconsciously imitate Zheng Zhenduo, but Zheng Zhenduo loves to drink old wine Habits He can't learn, because he is allergic to alcohol. With these two scholars, Xie Chensheng had direct contact with many cultural celebrities by chance, such as Ma Heng, Xu Senyu, Ye Shengtao, Lu Kanru, Lü Shuxiang, Qian Zhongshu, Zhao Puchu, Zhou Zuoren and so on. When Xie Chensheng said that culture is the root and soul of the nation, he often mentioned the story of Gao Huan, saying that the founder of Northern Qi, Gao Huan, was originally a Han Chinese, but he was Huhua, and when his son Gao Yang was emperor, he summoned Gao Huan's old subordinate Du Bi to inquire about the employment strategy for governing the country and the state, and Du Bi honestly replied, "Humble car and horse guests, will have to use Chinese." Gao Yang thought that Du Bi was mocking him for being a humble man with no culture, and he actually killed Du Bi for this reason. This story Xie Chensheng always heard from Chen Yinke's conversation, he felt that Chen Yinke's exposition was very wonderful, and he always remembered it. In the process of growing up, there were many opportunities like this to listen to stories and learn knowledge. Later, he had a lot of contacts with Shang Chengzuo, Gu Tinglong, Su Bingqi, Xie Zhiliu, Qi Gong, Fang Xing, Yang Renkai, Zhang Han, Zheng Xiaoxie, Su Bai, Feng Qiyong, Ma Chengyuan, Xu Pingfang, Zhou Ganzhi, Wang Qingzheng, Jin Chonghe, Fu Xinian, etc., and his traditional cultural skills were never looked down upon by these academics. Not only does the old school have roots, Xie Chensheng's old English is still very good. I remember once accompanying him on a business trip to Zhenjiang, which was the Chinese hometown of the American female writer Pearl Buck, where Pearl Buck lived for eighteen years. After chatting with the local pearl buck researchers, Xie Chensheng recited a large paragraph of text in front of me, and to my surprise, he could even recite a large paragraph of "The Earth" in English in his nineties. Xie Chensheng is very talented in language, Shanghainese and Suzhou dialects are not in the word, and can communicate normally with locals. He has four dry daughters, the daughters of his friends when he was young, the dry daughters often call him to greet, the language used for communication is Shanghainese, their communication, now I only remember a word "Gazi mother", is the dry daughters call Xie Chensheng old wife meaning. He would also sing Suzhou Pingtan, Northern Shaanxi Zizi, etc., and when he was happy, he could come for a while in front of his wife and a few of our acquaintances.
In 1995, the members of the Ancient Calligraphy and Painting Appraisal Team reunited at the Beijing Dayuan Hotel, from left to right: Xie Chensheng, Liu Jiu'an, Yang Renkai, Xie Zhiliu, Qi Gong, Xu Bangda, and Fu Xinian.
Ancient calligraphy and painting appraisal team tour appraisal
In his lifetime, he only did the protection of cultural relics, and the only work unit was the State Administration of Cultural Heritage. The only witness and important participant in the whole process of cultural relics protection in New China is not an exaggeration at all. From 1946 to Shanghai as Zheng Zhenduo's assistant, except for the three years of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, he was engaged in cultural relics protection work all his life. Even during the three years of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, his organization was still in the Cultural Relics Bureau, and he also helped north Korea protect cultural relics. In "A Letter from the Korean Front to the People of the Motherland" (published in the fourth edition of the People's Daily on March 19, 1951): "Not long ago I passed by the site where King Lee of Korea once lived. It is now a national history museum with some Ming Dynasty buildings. It is a pity that this cultural heritage, which has historical and artistic value, was blown up by enemy aircraft on the afternoon of our arrival! Ninety-six peaceful residents were killed and more than sixty were wounded in this bombing, and while the fire was still burning, a few of our comrades took the plunge into flames and rescued more than a hundred scroll calligraphy paintings and some ceramics. There I met a young North Korean man, Kim Tsung-rin, who worked in a museum. In his room, I found a rare archaeological book, Lelang. I wrote Chinese characters and told him that this book is very precious in China. He was amazed that I knew all this too! After leaving the rest, or even during the period of serious illness, Xie Chensheng did not stop working. The question of whether it was a divorce had troubled him for a while. He reported to the Cultural Relics Department of the Cultural Takeover Committee of the Beiping City Military Control Commission in September 1949, and it was Luo Ge who saw luo ge, who said that Zheng Zhenduo had called to inform Xie Chen's old age, and now that the cultural relics bureau had not yet been established, let him go back first. At that time, the Cultural Relics Bureau was still making preparations, and Wang Yeqiu was in charge of the preparations. After reporting, Xie Chensheng returned to Shanghai to help Zheng Zhenduo move, and it took more than a month to return to Beijing. In this way, when handling the leave procedures, there is trouble, and after writing the certification materials, it can be regarded as solved. After leaving at the age of 73, he is still busy with the protection of cultural relics, busier than the general staff of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, and after the age of 90, his daily working hours remain five or six hours, which continued until 2018, when he was 96 years old. After the age of 96, his physical condition has not been very good, the condition has improved slightly, he will care about work, but also occasionally go out to participate in activities, what he thinks and thinks about has always been cultural relics protection, he hopes that his body can get better, so as to continue to adhere to the correct policy and guidance of the cultural relics protection law, so as to continue to fight against the illegal incidents of destroying cultural relics.
In 1952, he took a group photo with Jin Yi (first from the left) in Yangdeok, North Korea
In May 2019, he took a group photo in front of the former residence of Haining Wangwei.
In December 2020, he participated in the annual meeting of the Protection Committee of Famous Historical and Cultural Cities in Xicheng District, Beijing.
"Instructions of the Government Council of the Central People's Government on the Protection of Ancient Cultural Relics and Buildings", "Reference Standards for the Export of Cultural Relics", "Interim Measures for the Protection and Management of Cultural Relics Protection Units", "Interim Administrative Measures for the Repair of Revolutionary Memorial Buildings, Historical Memorial Buildings, Ancient Buildings, and Grotto Temples", "Trial Measures for the Custody of Museum Collections", "Several Opinions on the Protection of Cultural Relics and Books in the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution", "Code of Conduct for Cultural Relics Staff", "Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Cultural Relics", "Ministry of Public Security," Opinions of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage on Severely Cracking Down on the Criminal Activities of Excavating Ancient Tombs", "Guidelines for the Protection of Cultural Relics and Monuments in China", "Interim Measures for the Protection and Management of Cultural Relics in the Barracks of the Nanjing Military Region", "Notice of the State Council on Strengthening the Protection of Cultural Heritage"... There are more than 50 documents drafted by Elder Xie Chensheng or drafted as an important participant in the laws and regulations of China's cultural relics undertakings, and he has made great contributions to the gradual establishment of the new Chinese cultural relics protection regulatory system. The thirteen tombs of the Wanli Emperor embroidered dragon robe reproduction, the tomb of the King of Nanyue excavation and protection, the reproduction of the Zenghou Yi chimes, the protection of cultural relics in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area, the third national cultural relics census, the Liangzhu site declaration as a World Heritage Site, the protection of the Jingdezhen Royal Kiln Site... He has made outstanding contributions. Protection of the ancient city of Beijing, protection of the ancient city of Nanjing, protection of the ancient city of Changzhou, protection of the five avenues of Tianjin... His achievements in the protection of cultural relics can be made on a long list, but he rarely mentions his past achievements, because he always has work to be busy, and he will talk about it when it involves the past or asks him in private.
On the 30th anniversary of the discovery of the Tomb of the King of Nanyue, from left to right, zhang Zhongpei, Geng Baochang, Xie Chensheng and Quan Hong were in order.
His life was full of fighting spirit, fighting against erroneous tendencies in cultural relics policies and regulations, and fighting with stakeholders in the protection of cultural relics and monuments. He is dedicated to justice, dares to adhere to principles, is not moved by fame and fortune, his life is very simple, and he is never afraid of retaliation. Once he asked me to call someone who had just come to visit him, urging someone to come back and get the large amount of cash he had secretly left behind, and he asked me to tell them to come back quickly and get it, and if they didn't take it back, he would hand it over to the Discipline Inspection Commission, and the man could only obediently come back to get it. There was also a local mayor who sent him gold bricks and was persuaded by him. Later, when I went on a business trip with him to the city where the mayor had been promoted, Elder Xie Chensheng told me that if I called him, he would have to invite us both to dinner. Elder Xie Chensheng has also received threatening phone calls many times, and there are people who say anything harsh. I once asked him, blocking the developer's financial road, are you not afraid of people coming to the door to retaliate? He was sitting on the couch with a stick in his hand and said he wasn't afraid, and when the bad guys came, they would beat him with sticks. This stick is a souvenir he bought when he took his family to the Great Wall, and he liked it very much and often took it at home. Outside of work, he has been battling the disease, being diagnosed with bladder cancer at the age of 71, which later metastasized to the lungs and lungs, and underwent several major surgeries. Except for the extremely painful period, the average person cannot see that he is a cancer patient. His attitude towards cancer is that when it is time to do treatment, listen to the doctor's words to do the treatment, take what medicine to take on time and in quantity, and the rest of the time is normal and busy.
Self-condition poetry
Ming Zhi poems
Xie Chensheng is very tenacious in doing things, and he is a person who is good at thinking and discretion. What he believes should be done, things that are conducive to the protection of cultural relics, will always spare no effort to promote. After living in an old house in Anzhen for decades, he himself lived in a one-bedroom 302, his wife lived in a two-bedroom 301 next to him, and outside of the time spent shopping for vegetables and cooking and watching news broadcasts, he and his wife basically did not interfere with each other. There are often visitors during the day, and at night, young people from younger generations often come to talk to him. In the dead of night, it is time for him to think seriously and write. He would repeatedly consider how things should be done, who should be found to solve difficult problems, many important things were promoted, many letters were written, and he thought about them in the middle of the night. So he is a night owl, often sleeping at two or three o'clock at night, or even at three or four o'clock, getting up at eight or nine o'clock in the morning. This routine was not broken until he moved to a new home at the age of 95. After moving to a new home, the living environment has become better, and he no longer has to buy vegetables and cook by himself, but he is still very uncomfortable for a while. He didn't know the surroundings of his new home, and in his own words, he couldn't find anywhere. Buying things, going to the bank, getting a haircut, etc., or asking us to take him back to his original residential area. In the past, people who often came to chat with him rarely came to the door, he lived with his grandson's family, and his grandson had just had children, so everyone consciously bothered less.
Xie Chensheng respects the teacher, cares about the dedication and achievements of the teacher, and treats friends and juniors with affection and righteousness. He said that he and Zheng Zhenduo's family got along like relatives, and after Zheng Zhenduo's death, he often went to his home, and Zheng Zhenduo's old mother, wife, and son were all sent away by him, and he handled the aftermath. He said that Wang Yeqiu had not promoted him, but he had done a big thing for Wang Yeqiu. It was around 1980 that Wang Yeqiu was relieved of his post as director of the Cultural Relics Bureau, and rumors circulated at home and abroad that Wang Yeqiu had sent a large number of confiscated cultural relics to Kang Sheng during the "Cultural Revolution." Elder Xie Chensheng found Wang Zhen and wrote two letters to the central leaders in a row. The relevant commemorative activities of Zheng Zhenduo and Wang Yeqiu are all organized by Xie Chensheng, who has been inheriting the legacy of these two pioneers in the cause of cultural relics protection in action and practice. Zhang Heng, who was once the deputy director of the Cultural Relics Department, is also a person that Xie Chensheng admires. As early as when Shanghai compiled and printed the "Collection of Famous Paintings of the Tang and Song Dynasties Collected by Yun Huizhai", Elder Xie Chensheng admired Zhang Heng's level of calligraphy and painting collection. Zhang Heng died early, and Xie Chensheng has been thinking about it, and wants to photocopy and publish Zhang Heng's unfinished works of calligraphy and paintings, "Notes on the Appreciation of Muyan Zhai Calligraphy and Painting", and finally publish it in the Cultural Relics Publishing House at the end of 2000 under his impetus. Shen Zhu, former deputy director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, is a good friend of Xie Chensheng, and every year he receives new tea and good tea, he will send some to Shen Zhu. On the morning of the day of bidding farewell to Xie Chensheng, Shen Zhu's wife Called In a High Voice and said that Xie Chensheng and Shen Zhu had agreed before their deaths. When Zhang Zhongpei, the former president of the Palace Museum, was seriously ill, Elder Xie Chensheng actively contacted the hospital for him. When I heard the news of his death, I asked Dai Zhigang and I to go to my home to deliver flower baskets as soon as possible. Mr. Zhang's farewell ceremony, Xie Chensheng is old, many people advised him not to go, but he was not at ease, he said that one was to see whether Zhang Zhongpei's aftermath had received due attention, and the other was worried that Zhang Zhongpei's students and descendants did not know the depth and shallowness of the collision with Zhang Zhongpei's mentor Su Bingqi, and only after going there to see it was relieved. I still remember that before he set off, he told Su Bingqi about regional typology, and when he returned, he told him how he had taken a fancy to Zhang Zhongpei and Yu Weichao and his later interactions with them. Zhang Hoardsheng, former director of the China Cultural Relics Newspaper, once told me that he went to attend a small gathering organized by Huang Di of the Cultural Relics Publishing House, and he felt that Huang Ti also called Elder Xie Chensheng "Xiao Xie" to his face, and now everyone calls him "Elder Xie". I asked Xie Chensheng, he didn't care, Huang Di died, he asked me to call Huang Ti's home, indicating that he could not come to comfort due to physical reasons and could only call on behalf of him. Another thing, Huang Qi, who settled in Europe, stored a set of "Ancient Chinese Calligraphy and Painting Catalogue" in Xie Chensheng's place many years ago, and Xie Chensheng always remembered that he said that when his body and spirit were still good, he must return this set of books to her. In the first two years, through tossing and turning, I finally returned this set of books. The relationship between Elder Xie Chensheng and disciple Danqing is very close, whenever the disciple comes to Beijing, most of the first meal is eaten at home, the old man will go out early to purchase ingredients, carefully prepare meals, after all, it is very old, can make two or three dishes, it is not easy. This meal, I can often eat, Xie Chensheng's old craftsmanship is very good, his specialty dishes are borscht, potato beef, crab yellow tofu, these dishes are laborious to make, every time he will choose the same as the main dish. He said that his cooking skills were learned from the imperial chef of the Forbidden City, and when he first came to work at the Cultural Relics Bureau, Mr. Zhang Heng and Fu Xinian's father Fu Zhongmo often took him to eat delicious food, and the two of them had money at that time, and often went to a shop where he had been a chef in the Forbidden City.
Group photo with his wife Wang Huizhen and his friend Shen Zhu.
Huang Di organized a small gathering, and the front row was Peng Qingyun, Jin Chonghe, Xie Chensheng, and Fu Xinian in the left row, and Zhang Hoarding and Huang Di in the back row.
He loved the country and the party incomparably. When he was young, he was deeply influenced by Aischi's "Popular Philosophy" and so on, and when he was in high school, he defected to Yan'an without success, and joined the volunteer army to go to the DPRK for three years before he slightly understood his wish to serve the country. His own affairs were rarely troublesome to the unit and the state. Many years ago, he bought a cemetery for himself and his wife, and he did not want his future affairs to cause trouble for the country. After leaving, as long as you call, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage will send a car for him. But he himself is very clear, it is the cultural relics bureau's business, he will ask for a car, if not, generally do not add trouble to the unit. In his 90s, he went to the hospital to see a doctor, sometimes took the bus by himself, and fell several times on the way back and forth. After many persuasions, he did not act alone. Every time he went with him, he would invite him to eat delicious food. Often go to eat is the braised pork opposite the Red House of Peking University, which is not far from his designated hospital Xiehe, and you can also go to the retirement office in the Red Chamber to sit down, chat, and understand the recent situation of some old comrades of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage. His wife is ten years younger than him, the cooking skills are not good, rarely cook, occasionally hot meals, mix a small cold dish or something, leg and foot inconvenience basically do not go downstairs, procurement and cooking tasks are Xie Chensheng old. Sometimes he was busy and couldn't cook, so he took his lunch box to a nearby shop to buy food, and the owners of several small shops near his home knew him. He also fell on the way out to buy food, and there were pictures of him with Band-Aids or gauze on his head in the media, which were basically caused by wrestling outside. So that every time you go out, someone follows, the wife can rest assured, no one follows him afraid of him wrestling. When someone familiar with me asked, he said proudly, you see my bones are hard, and it's okay to fall! During his lifetime, he wrote numerous letters to successive leaders, but only one of them was about himself. It was at the time when his cancer was developing so badly that he could not contact a very famous doctor himself, and could only seek help, and he was grateful for the approval of Premier Wen Jiabao.
In the autumn of 2021, disciple Danqing came to Beijing to celebrate his birthday.
In January 2020, she was at home with student Xiu Shuqing.
Because he was familiar with Xie Chensheng's old illness, he had long been mentally prepared for his death. Many times before, the doctor told him to be ready to leave at any time, but also with hope, because he had come from the critical condition many times before. The first two critical notices, his daughter was shocked to hear the doctor's words, but looking at his spirit, it did not look like she would leave at any time. Later, a few times, his daughter said that listening to the doctor's words has heard the experience, the doctor is according to the worst situation to explain to the family, our old man is tenacious, can survive. Sure enough, he survived several critical illnesses. He is very strong, in front of outsiders never cry out pain, the past two years his physical condition has not been very good, the cancer cells that have been contained in the past few years have also taken advantage of his weakness and continuous development, he often feels pain, ask him where the pain is, he sometimes points here, sometimes points to there, sometimes can't say where the pain is, and now passing away is also a relief.
The past has poured in, tears, let's write here first!
Dear Grandpa, all the way! May heaven be free of sickness!
Xiu Shuqing May 8, 2022