A cultural stroll through the capital
In Beijing, a city with a deep history, every courtyard has many stories, and every historical and cultural neighborhood is a book about the city, and the stories about the city naturally penetrate into literary and artistic works. The "Beijing Culture Walk" column focuses on discovering the Beijing imprint in books, videos and sounds, leading everyone to find the place where the cultural story of Beijing takes place. When you have time, you may wish to take this "cultural map" with you, roam the streets and alleys of Beijing from a literary and artistic point of view, experience a journey across time and space in the real scene, and feel the historical context of the ancient capital of Beijing.
However, I really love Beiping. This love is almost unspeakable. I love my mother. How to love? I can't say. I smiled slightly alone when I wanted to do something to please her old man; I wanted to cry when I thought of her health and was not at ease. Words are not enough to express my mood, only smiling or crying alone is enough to expose my heart to the outside. My love for Peiping is also close to this. It is easy to praise a certain point of this ancient city, but then it is too small to regard Peiping. The Beiping I love is not a trivial thing, but a whole piece of history that is glued to my soul, a large area, how many scenic spots, from the dragonflies of Shichahai after the rain to the tower shadow of the Yuquan Mountain in my dream, all accumulated into one piece, there is a me in every small event, there is a Beiping in every thought of me, this can only be said.
—— "Thinking of Beiping" Lao She
Every city has a unique way of life, and for Beijing, a city of culture, someone has summed up some elements of life that are "necessary" to experience.
For example, go to Nanluoguxiang to visit the hutongs during the day,
Go to Houhai Bar Street for leisure in the evening,
In the spring, go to Yuyuantan to see the cherry blossoms,
Go to Fragrant Hills in autumn to see the autumn leaves...
Another thing that cannot be missed is to go to Beijing Renyi to watch dramas,
It is best to watch Lao She's "Tea House".
No writer can represent Beijing like Lao She, and no writer's work can be directly defined by "Beijing flavor" like Lao She's work. He was the first person to open the "Jingweier" literature, and his works can be used as a model for the "Jingweier" literature. As the famous scholar Zhao Yuan said in "Beijing: City and People": Lao She belongs to Beijing, and Beijing also belongs to Lao She. Lao She is a well-deserved and gifted Beijinger, "although he has completed himself because of Beijing, at the same time, he has enabled Beijing to examine itself through his eyes and understand its own charm."
Lao She writes in the study of Dan Persimmon Courtyard
Although the "Lao She Tea House", named after "Lao She" and "Tea House", is at the front door where you can drink a large bowl of tea, the drama "Tea House" is staged in Beijing Renyi on Wangfujing Street. As a classic in the history of Chinese contemporary drama that is difficult to surpass, every time "Tea House" is performed, it is a major event in Beijing's literary and art circles, which can be described as unprecedented and difficult to find tickets. However, I don't know if the audience will remember to visit the former residence of Lao She, which is close to Renyi, when watching the changes in China for more than half a century in the "Tea House". The scenes of the era in "The Tea House" were created here by Lao She.
Coming out of Beijing Renyi, going south along Wangfujing Street, and then west when you walk to Dengshikou West Street, you can see a series of quaint alleys that are gradually moving away from the bustling streets of Wangfujing. Among them, there is an inconspicuous Fengsheng Hutong, and the first chic and small courtyard near the mouth of Fengsheng Hutong is the former residence of Lao She.
Lao She's former residence is an irregular courtyard, and once you enter the main entrance, it is a narrow and long courtyard, and a wooden shadow wall crosses to the right, which is the main body of the former residence. There is a large fish tank in the yard, but instead of the "canopy fish tank pomegranate tree" like a typical old Beijinger, there are two persimmon trees planted by Mr. Lao She by hand. In autumn, yellow persimmons hang from the branches like small lanterns. Because of these two persimmon trees, the small courtyard has a very beautiful name - Dan Persimmon Courtyard.
The "Dan Persimmon Courtyard" is now open to the public as the Lao She Memorial Hall.
The east and west wings of the courtyard are now set up as commemorative exhibition rooms, which show Mr. Lao She's childhood and creative process through a large number of precious libraries, photos, manuscripts and living relics, as well as the collection of different versions and various texts of Mr. Lao She in various periods. The museum has thousands of books, calligraphy and paintings, wooden furniture and other daily necessities, and since its opening to the public, tens of thousands of people from home and abroad have come to visit.
"Dan Persimmon Courtyard" is the last residence of Mr. Lao She, who has lived here for 16 years and created countless masterpieces here.
Mr. Shu Yi, the son of Lao She, is the author of the article "Lao She Former Residence - Dan Persimmon Courtyard, No. 19 Rich Hutong". Let's follow Shu Yi's brushstrokes and walk into Mr. Lao She's "Dan Persimmon Courtyard" together.
Mr. Lao She's "Dan Persimmon Courtyard"
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Shu Yi
Lao She (1899-1966), Manchu, Beijinger. His original name was Shu Qingchun (舒庆春), and the character Washeyu. He has served as a deputy to the National People's Congress, a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a vice chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, a vice chairman and secretary of the Secretariat of the China Writers Association, and the chairman of the Beijing Municipal Federation of Literary and Art Circles.
After graduating from Beijing Normal School in 1918, Lao She served as the principal of Beijing Seventeenth Primary School and a Chinese teacher at Nankai Middle School in Tianjin. In 1924, he went to England and served as a lecturer at the Chinese of the Oriental College of the University of London, during which he created a long satirical novel "Lao Zhang's Philosophy", "Zhao Ziyue" and "Erma". After returning to China in 1930, he successively served as a professor at Qilu University and Shandong University. In 1936, the masterpiece novel "Camel Shoko" came out. After the outbreak of the National War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Lao She began to write scripts and engage in anti-war literary activities. In 1944, Lao She began to create a long tome based on the fallen Peiping, "Four Generations Together". In 1946, he went to the United States to give a lecture. He returned to China in 1949. In 1951, the Beijing Municipal Government awarded him the title of "People's Artist".
Mr. Lao She's last residence is an ordinary small courtyard, located in The Dongcheng District of Beijing, Fengsheng Hutong, no. 10, almost in the city center, convenient transportation, from Wangfujing Commercial Street and the famous Dong'an Market, Longfu Temple are very close, the Municipal No. 2 Middle School, Yuying Middle School, Beiman Middle School is nearby, children can go to school nearby, Cuihua Lou, Donglaishun, Zaowen and other time-honored restaurants are also within easy reach, the next small restaurant does not need to worry.
The advantage of this small courtyard is that it can be quiet, and usually only the bees on the flowers and the birds in the trees can happily break its silence.
The gate opens in a small north-south alley named after a ming dynasty princess named "Fengsheng". The south entrance of the hutong is through the House of Qizifu, that is, The Street of Milk House (now known as Dengshikou West Street). After the death of the husband, Fengsheng Hutong was renamed Rich Hutong, and the house number was also changed, which is now No. 19.
Entering the gate, there is a brick shadow wall, there are two small south rooms, which are lived by the workers who guard the door, and in winter, it is also a shelter from pomegranate trees and oleanders. After Mr. Lao She moved in, he planted a date tree against the street wall in the gate. Behind the brick shadow wall, Mr. Lao She asked someone to transplant a Taiping flower, which is a famous flower that only exists in the Imperial Garden of the Forbidden City. Later, it grew into a large cluster of two meters in diameter, and it was full of white flowers, and the milk workers shouted loudly as soon as they entered the gate: "How fragrant!" There is also a large pot of silver star begonias under the eaves of the small south house, which is also more than one person tall, often topped with a clump of red flowers, and when Mr. Lao She sends guests out, he often points to it and says: "This is my family treasure!" ”
Behind the brick shadow wall is a small outer courtyard, self-contained, with three small gray-roofed houses. The outer courtyard has a street gate leading to the street of TheUzfu, but it is never used. The open space in the outer courtyard is Mr. Lao She's flower garden, which has been planted with chrysanthemums and dahlias, as many as more than 100 pots.
After the decoration of the courtyard, it is still very similar, there are five north rooms, three east and west rooms, all of which are ridged tile rooms, and in the middle is a small square courtyard. Entering the gate around the Taiping Flower there is a second gate leading to the inner courtyard, and entering the second gate there is a wooden shadow wall, painted green. There are crossways leading to the east, north and west. Beyond the Yongdao is the land, where flowers and trees can be planted. Mr. Lao She attaches great importance to this, he loves flowers and plants all his life, but he rarely has the opportunity to practice. With this open space, you can experiment, do as you please, cultivate, beautify, create. The first thing was to entrust the people to the West Mountain to transplant two persimmon trees, one on each side of the Yongdao. Because of these two persimmon trees, later, Mrs. Hu Yanqing named the courtyard "Dan Persimmon Courtyard" and called her studio "Double Persimmon Zhai". After the death of Mr. Lao She, the Japanese writer Mr. Mizumi wrote three consecutive memorial articles, all of which were named after these two persimmons - "Cricket Gourd and Persimmon", "Persimmons in Beijing", and "Persimmon Words". Persimmons became the symbol of this small courtyard.
In this small garden, many kinds of flowers and plants have been bred, including plants that Mr. Lao She called a family treasure, as well as a short flower, a wax plum, a large Ningxia goji berry, two large pots of mountain shadows, a large vat of water onions, and three kinds of red, white and yellow arrows.
Two of the three main rooms in the north house are used as living rooms, and the first room on the east side is the lady's studio and bedroom. The East Ear Room is a bathroom with flush toilet and bidet. There is a small boiler room outside the wall of the East Ear Room, which is equipped with a small heater for heating the whole hospital in winter. The West Ear Room is Mr. Lao She's study and bedroom, dark, damp and small, lived for a few years, and made another big change. There was a small patio between the original East and West Ear Room and the Northeast Wall of the East and West Houses, and after the renovation, the ash roof was added, and glass doors and yarn doors were installed. The east side of the winter as a restaurant; the west side and the west ear room opened up, becoming a large room, and the roof of the shed was added to increase the brightness of the room, and the floor was paved with wooden floors, which solved the problem of "black, tide, and small". Mr. Lao She lived in this house for 16 years and spent his old age, composing 24 drama scripts and two novels, among which the sensational ones were "Longsugou", "Willow Well", "West Looking chang'an", "Tea House", "Female Clerk", "Family Portrait" and "Zhenghong Flag". The drama "Longsugou" won him the glorious title of "People's Artist". The drama "Tea House" has become a reserved play of the Beijing People's Art Theatre, which represents the first time that Chinese drama has gone abroad and is well-known in Europe, America and Asia. The novel "Under the Red Flag" has become a masterpiece juxtaposed with "Cat City", "Divorce", "Camel Xiangzi", "Four Generations in the Same House", "Crescent Moon", "My Life", and "Micro God", which is one of his masterpieces of fiction. Unfortunately, "Under the Red Flag" could not be written, and the political environment after 1963 forced the creation of the novel to be interrupted.
The furnishings in the living room are strictly arranged according to Mr. Lao She's intentions, showing his interests, hobbies and personality everywhere. In addition to the flowers in the living room, there are many paintings, and there are always about 10 Chinese paintings hanging on the walls, with the paintings of Qi Baishi, Fu Baoshi, Huang Binhong and Lin Fengmian as the main ones, just like a small art gallery.
Autumn is the golden season in Beijing, the wind is small, the sky is high, the crab is fat, and it is also the busiest time for Mr. Lao She at home, and he also frequently invites friends to come home to admire the chrysanthemums. He vacated two rooms in the east room, temporarily converted the dining room into a flower exhibition hall, and arranged hundreds of pots of chrysanthemums in high and low rows for people to see. After appreciating the chrysanthemums, it is natural to "appreciate" a Meal of Beijing-style Food.
When an old man full of interest in life creates a dream home with the greatest enthusiasm, this home must be ingenious, and Mr. Lao She's home is dazzling with a high degree of oriental cultural color. It's really cute and a great taste of home.
[This article is excerpted from the 30-year Collection of "Vertical and Horizontal" 1983-2012, volume 2011]
The most beautiful season in Beijing
In the season when the persimmons are red
Walk into Lao She's "Dan Persimmon Courtyard" together
Embark on a trail ride
Address: Beijing Dongcheng District Dengshikou West Street Rich Hutong No. 19 courtyard
Persimmon Viewing Period: 2021.10.1 to 2021.10.24
Reservation method: "Lao She Memorial Hall" WeChat public account
Remarks: Please make a reservation when visiting
The content of this article is based on the "Beijing Literary Map" and the Lao She Memorial Hall
Some of the pictures in the article come from the Internet, only for knowledge exchange, if there is infringement, please contact to delete