Text | Li Shugong
Mr. Lao She, who was born in no. 5 Courtyard of Xiaoyangquan Hutong, Xinjiekou, Beijing, formerly known as Shu Qingchun, a Manchu, is a famous modern novelist and playwright in China, who is well-known at home and abroad, and has won the title of "People's Artist".
In the 1930s, Lao She was invited by Qilu University to teach in Jinan twice. The first time was from July 1930 to June 1934, and then he went to Qingdao to teach at National Shandong University. The second time was from August to November 1937, when he returned to Jinan from Qingdao and taught at Qilu University again.
Lao She twice taught at Qilu University and left four residences in Jinan. Taught at Qilu University for the first time and lived in two places. The first is the first room in the southwest corner of the second floor, located in the former Qilu University's office building, McCormigu Building (which was destroyed by a fire in 1997). The second place is 58 Nanxin Street, which has been living for more than three years.
Lao She taught at Qilu University for the second time, and although he only lived in Jinan for more than 3 months, he changed two residences successively. He first briefly lived in the "Old East Village" bungalow on the campus of Qilu University (which no longer exists), and then moved to a former foreign professor's villa at No. 2 Changbai Road (now No. 11 Changbai Road). The small building is divided into two by two doors juxtaposed in the middle and two staircases rising in parallel, Lao She lives on the east half, the downstairs two are living rooms and study rooms, and the three upstairs rooms are bedrooms. Later, due to the outbreak of the War of Resistance, the Japanese army approached Jinan, and Lao She lived here for only two months, and then went south to Wuhan alone to publicize the anti-Japanese resistance. Today, the building has also been renovated several times and is home to many families.
Of the four residences in Jinan, two have been destroyed and one is unrecognizable. No. 58 WeinanXin Street, the longest residence and the most well-preserved, is one of the few surviving and well-preserved celebrity former residences in Jinan, and has now been opened as the "Lao She Memorial Hall". In the spring, summer, autumn and winter, the visitors are endless, and every holiday, it is full of tourists. Here, people remember Lao She, read Lao She, feel Lao She, follow the footsteps of Lao She, taste his historical origins with Jinan, and look for the spiritual coordinates of Jinan, a famous historical and cultural city.
The confirmation, protection and restoration of this former residence is also a little-known story.
Qilu University, where Mr. Lao She worked, was one of the earliest church universities in China, known as "the first university in North China" at its peak, and together with Yenching University in Beijing, it was called "Northern Yannan Qi". The former Nanxin Street is adjacent to Baotu Spring to the north and Qilu University to the south. Professor Qi Da, political dignitaries, and celebrities live here.
The ancient Nanxin Street is a bent north-south alley on the north side of the former Qilu University, and the original house number of The Old House No. 58 is No. 54, and the original building is a thatched house built of adobe barriers. At that time, the gate was located on the east side, and the main room was located on the west, north and east sides of the second gate. Among them, Lao She lives in the north room, and there are three open houses. The east wing in the courtyard is the gang room, and the west wing is used to hold miscellaneous items.
In 1950, the owner renovated and rebuilt the original house foundation, demolished the second door and the shadow wall, and the adobe wall and grass roof were changed to red brick walls and green tile roofs, but the original layout of the courtyard remained basically unchanged.
Later, the small courtyard changed owners several times, and the last owner was an old man surnamed Xu. He and his family have lived here for decades, and no one knows that this was the house where Lao She once lived. In 1981, after Mrs. Hu Xiaoqing, Mrs. Lao She,and her daughter Shu Ji personally visited, it was confirmed that this was her and Lao She's former residence in Jinan, and they took a group photo with the Xu family and gave them calligraphy and paintings. Since then, it has been recognized by Jinan City as the second batch of cultural relics protection units, hung up the metal plate of "Lao She's Former Residence", and the courtyard has gradually entered people's vision.
At first, the Xu family was quite proud of this, and hung a photo with Hu Haoqing on a conspicuous wall, and everyone said that this mansion was Lao She's former residence. Chinese and foreign scholars and celebrities who came to visit Lao She's former residence also made the Xu family famous for a time. However, after a long time, the visit of Chinese and foreign tourists and scholars will inevitably disturb the normal life of the Xu family. Because the house is still private property, the cultural relics department has no way to allocate funds for repairs.
In 2006, the courtyard was announced as a provincial cultural relics protection unit, and the reputation of the courtyard became more and more famous. Since then, in order to commemorate Mr. Lao She and highlight the cultural and educational role of celebrities' former residences, the Jinan Municipal Government has acquired this private courtyard and implemented repair and restoration projects. Since its launch in October 2013 and completed in April 2014, it has basically reproduced the layout and original appearance of the former residence of Lao She in the 1930s, and opened it to the public as the "Lao She Memorial Hall", which has greatly enriched the connotation of Jinan, a famous historical and cultural city.
After the renovation, the old residence of Lao She is located at the bend of the southern section of Nanxin Street. A small gatehouse was added at the entrance of the east side of the road, two black painted doors, and a plaque hung from the lintel, which read "Jinan Lao She Memorial Hall". On the wall on the left side of the doorway is inlaid with a bluestone plaque engraved with the four characters of "Lao She Former Residence".
Walking into the old residence, you will still be greeted by a clean and simple small courtyard. The black marble base in the courtyard is a bust of Mr. Lao She. On the left side of the statue is a large water tank with a lotus flower, and in front of the water tank is a pomegranate tree with a thick bowl and a stone well next to the tree.
According to the staff, Mr. Lao She likes flowers and trees very much. At that time, the courtyard was full of all kinds of flowers and plants, and at most there were more than a hundred pots. There is also a not-so-small lilac tree and a large water tank lotus flower. In the morning and evening, Lao She used the well in the yard to fetch water to water the flowers and fertilize and catch insects. Later, the lilac tree died, and the owner of the small courtyard planted the pomegranate tree that is not small now.
The north side of the courtyard is still the original three main rooms, the foundation is completely untouched, and the setting in the room has basically retained the original appearance. The middle hall is a living room, with a table in the middle, two wooden chairs on both sides, the back of the table and chair according to The customs of Jinan, and the north wall is hanging in the middle of the "Lao She and Jinan" banner written by Mr. Shu Yi, the son of Lao She.
The west room is a study, a bookcase is placed on the north side, and a desk and a worn-out rattan chair are placed in front of the south window, and the table is placed with pen and ink, folding fans and glasses, which reminds people of the sweaty summer of Lao She, the left hand shaking fan, the right hand book creation image.
The east room is a bedroom, a double bed occupies half of the side, the bedside wall hangs a wedding photo of the two people, a dresser is placed in front of the bed, the east wall next to it hangs a picture of Qiu Ju that Hu Yuqing is best at, and there is also a desk and rattan chair in front of the south window. The two compartments on the east and west sides of the courtyard display pictures and books and other cultural relics from different periods of Lao She.
In this old residence, Lao She spent the most free and beautiful and happy period of his life. He spent his honeymoon here. At the beginning of 1931, during the winter vacation, Lao She returned to Beijing, and through the introduction of primary school classmates, he met the talented daughter of the Beishi Division who was also a Manchu, and later studied under the famous painter Hu Huqing of Qi Baishi, and immediately fell in love. In July of that year, Lao She returned to Beijing to marry Hu Huqing. Only half a month later, the two returned to Jinan and rented the house. The bedroom on the east side of the main house is their honeymoon room. Two years later, Lao She harvested the crystallization of love, their first child fell to the ground, and Lao She, who was obsessed with Jinan, specially named her beloved daughter Shuji.
Jinan is known as the "Qushan Art Sea", and famous artists gathered here during the Republic of China period. Lao She has a wide range of hobbies, often walking from his former residence to Baotu Spring, domestic shopping malls and other music venues, becoming the most loyal audience of cross-talk, Shandong fast book, big drum book performers.
At various teacher-student gatherings held at Qilu University, Lao She often performed a Peking Opera cappella or stand-up comedy, and even played the authentic Shandong Yang style Cha Quan. Every time there is a wonderful performance, it will instantly laugh and collapse the audience of teachers and students.
Not far north of Lao She's former residence is Baotu Spring. Living here, Lao Shewensi is like a baotu spring. Here, Lao She wrote a large number of works, mainly including the novels "Cat City", "Divorce", "The Legend of Niu Tianqi", and most of the short stories in "Catching up", including many essays such as "Winter in Jinan".
Even in the summer of the furnace, he never stopped working. Lao She recalled in the article "Summer Break": "In a year, only the summer vacation is a good time to write things, and you can write more than 100,000 words in one go. The summer days are naturally very hot, and I am not afraid; the heat of the day, my heart is even hotter, and God has to be defeated by me, because I have addiction. ”
In the more than four years he twice taught at Qilu University in Jinan, in addition to being busy teaching, Lao She actually wrote and translated more than 150 essays, long, medium and short stories, essays and foreign works in his spare time, many of which were handed down from generation to generation. This period can be said to be the first peak period of Lao She's literary and artistic creation. January 1, 1934, was a harvest day, and seven of his articles were published in seven publications in one day.
The novel "Daming Lake" is a long novel set in jinan's "May 3" massacre, and before it was published, the manuscript was destroyed by the "128" war. Lao She later used the most wonderful fragments to create the novella "Crescent Moon" and the short story "Black and White Lee".
The novel Divorce was printed and distributed in domestic translations and translations into Japanese, English, Russian, French, German, Swedish and Danish languages. Shu Yi wrote in the article "My Father Lao She": "'Divorce' is one of my father's most famous novels. It has been published in ten editions, second only to Shoko the Camel of all of his father's novels. Abroad, there are ten translations of Divorce. In terms of the number of translations, "Divorce", together with "Camel Shoko" and "Cat City", belongs to the top three. ＂
Shu Yi also said: "'Divorce' marks the maturity of the father. According to Mr. Shu Yi's interpretation, we may be able to understand that Jinan is also a new starting point or turning point for Lao She's works to continue to mature.
Lao She has been to many cities in China, in addition to Beijing and Jinan, there is also a former residence of his in Chongqing and Qingdao. Among the domestic cities that Lao She has visited, he only regards Jinan as his second hometown, and has written several biographical articles devoted to Jinan, which can be described as a special love.
He deeply loves the willows and lotus trees of Jinan's landscapes and springs, lakes, and the stone streets and alleys of the ancient city and the style of the city. He reveled in the beautiful and comfortable scenery of Quancheng, and also fell in love with the profound Qilu culture. He strives to exhaust his talents to describe Jinan's unique landscape with the most beautiful words and poetic language, and dedicates his enthusiasm to this ancient city of culture for thousands of years. Many cultural relics in the exhibition hall of Lao She's former residence show people his infinite and affectionate love for Jinan.
Lao She wrote intoxicatingly in the immortal famous article "Autumn in Jinan": "The autumn of Jinan is poetic. If you have an old city in your fantasy, there are big city towers that are asleep, there are narrow ancient stone roads, there are wide walls, there is a clear stream flowing around the city, reflecting the shadow of the mountains, and squatting on the little chicks in red robes and green pants. If there is such a realm in your fantasy, it is a Jinan. If you can't imagine that many people don't fantasize about it - please come to Jinan and have a look. "God gave the art of summer to Switzerland, the spring to the West Lake, and the autumn and winter to Jinan."
In another immortal work, "Winter in Jinan", he brilliantly described: "In the winter of northern China, and there can be warm and sunny weather, Jinan really has to be a treasure land." "An old city, with mountains and water, all basking in the sun under the sky, sleeping warmly and comfortably, just waiting for the spring breeze to wake them up, is this an ideal realm?"
Lao She enthusiastically praised Jinan's spring water: "Jinan, this is a city famous for its spring water. The so-called 'family spring water, every household weeping willow', is said to be the beautiful spring city of Jinan. "Speaking in quantity, quality, and form, where can the water be compared to Jinan?" ”......
Lao She's amorous Jinan is simply a beautiful paradise on earth that is rare in the world!
Standing in the cultural relics exhibition hall of Lao She's former residence, all visitors are like the baptism of Mu Lao She's works of art and Chinese culture. Shandong people have a very proud slang: who does not say that my hometown is good! Yes, it is precisely because Lao She regards Jinan as his second hometown that he can write such a wonderful and wonderful masterpiece.
As the sun sets, the beautiful Jinan autumn dusk shines like gold all over the small courtyard of the old house. I think that in that immortal brilliance, there will also be the brilliant light of Mr. Lao She's people's artist!
This year, Jinan's rainfall has been particularly abundant, and by early October the groundwater level had reached its highest level in nearly 56 years. Baotu Spring, which has been gushing for 8,000 years, is even more cheerful and endlessly tumbling in the air, and the spring is like a wheel, and the waves are like hidden thunder. Lao She's spirit in heaven, if you can feel the pleasant sound of Baotu Spring hitting your soul, how many popular praises should you write about the immortal beauty of today's Jinan...
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