Luo Zhewen
Centennial Luo Gong "No. 1"
Dou Zhongru
April 17, 2024 is the centenary of the birth of the famous ancient architect Mr. Luo Zhewen, as one of the most appealing banners in the field of cultural relics protection in China, Luo Gong has made achievements that are difficult for his contemporaries to match in the physical protection of single ancient buildings and in the field of creating cultural relics protection theory with Chinese characteristics. A few days ago, Luo Gong's academic research experts and their families gathered together to recall the achievements of the sages, and those who are interested in combing the 72 "firsts" of Luo Gong's 72 years of practice, and I would like to accompany the author at the end to try to cite one or two for readers.
罗哲文(1924—2012)
As we all know, Luo Gong is known as "the first person on the Great Wall". This is not only praised by Huang Hua, the leader of the older generation of the party and state and the first president of the Great Wall Society of China, but also the poem "The 80th Birthday of Mr. Luo Zhewen" written by the revolutionary old man Wang Dingguo in 2004, "Shenzhou has traveled all over the people, and the first person on the Great Wall" is evidenced, and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage issued an official proclamation after Luo Gong drove the crane in 2012. So, what are Luo Gong's immortal achievements in the research and protection of the Great Wall?
The first visit to explore the Great Wall
In the winter of 1947, Lin Huiyin, who was bedridden, called his disciple Luo Zhewen to his side and said: "Now that the peace talks have broken down and the civil war has started, it is very difficult to go out to other places to investigate and map. The Great Wall is one of the most important ancient buildings, and it is impossible not to investigate and map it. The workload is quite large, you are young, go first to take the lead, explore the way, and it is possible to call Zhiping (Liu Zhiping) and Zong Jiang (Mo Zongjiang) to go. ”
After accepting the assignment of his mentor, Luo Zhewen carefully searched for relevant information and maps, and decided to go to the two Great Walls of Juyongguan, Badaling and Gubeikou for exploration. These two places are not only important parts of the Great Wall, but they are also not far from Beiping, but they are the buffer areas for the confrontation between the Kuomintang and the Communist forces. After inquiring, Luo Zhewen learned that the war had not yet started at this time, so he chose a warm and mild day, brought an old camera and simple supplies, and went alone. At that time, the traffic on the road was very inconvenient, and Luo Zhewen alternated several methods such as taking a car, riding a donkey and walking, and it took several days to complete the "preliminary exploration".
A photograph of Badaling taken by Luo Zhewen in 1948
For the feeling of the first survey of the Great Wall, Luo Zhewen not only left a poem: "The broken base is ruined and the ancient remnants are ruined, and the sunset is like fire shining on Yanshan." Xiongguan has changed several vicissitudes, and the soul of the soldier can be safe", and later wrote:
This is the first time I have arrived at the Great Wall, and the desolate, majestic, magnificent, and difficult to cross the mountain, especially the moving scenery of the Great Wall galloping like a dragon, is still in front of me. Due to the sparse population and desolate location at that time, I did not dare to stay for a long time, so I took a few photos and hurried back.
The photos of Gubeikou and Badaling taken by Luo Zhewen in those years have become old historical photos today.
For the first time, the maintenance of the Great Wall was organized
In 1952, with the rapid development of various capital construction projects in New China, the maintenance project of cultural relics and ancient buildings across the country was also in full swing. In order to adapt to the current situation of the country and meet the yearning of domestic and foreign tourists for the Great Wall, Guo Moruo, then Vice Premier of the Central People's Government and Director of the Culture and Education Committee, put forward a proposal to restore the Great Wall and open it to the outside world. As a result, the construction of the asphalt road was handed over to the transportation department, and the restoration of the Great Wall became the responsibility of the cultural relics department.
One day in the early autumn of 1952, Luo Zhewen received a notice that he had an important task entrusted to him, so he hurried to the office of the director of the Cultural Heritage Bureau. When I walked through the door, I found that the room was almost full, and it turned out that this was a preparatory mobilization meeting specially held by Zheng Zhenduo, then director of the Cultural Heritage Bureau, to restore the Great Wall. At the meeting, 28-year-old Luo Zhewen was entrusted by Zheng Zhenduo with the important task of being the person in charge of repairing the Great Wall.
Luo Lao's first book on the Great Wall, The Great Wall of China - Juyongguan Badaling, was published by the Cultural Relics Publishing House in 1957
Luo Zhewen selected more than 10 right-hand men on the same day, and started by extensively consulting relevant historical materials. In the vast sea of historical materials, Luo Zhewen and others have carefully and patiently climbed and combed and sorted, and are keenly aware that after a long period of erosion, the part of the Great Wall, known as "Ten Thousand Miles", that can see the basic shape of the part at that time only accounts for one-tenth of the total length, and the part that is basically preserved only accounts for one-tenth of the part that can see the shape. Even so, it is difficult to restore the sections of the Great Wall that are basically intact.
Luo Zhewen decisively selected the two important areas of Juyongguan Badaling and Shanhaiguan as the focus of restoration, and then led the personnel to Juyongguan Badaling for exploration.
Luo Zhewen later recalled:
After we take the train to Badaling Station, we walk or ride a donkey up the mountain. At that time, Badaling was full of desolation, and since the Ming Dynasty, it has not been repaired for three or four hundred years. Standing on the Great Wall, I am proud to be able to participate in the first maintenance work of New China. The working conditions were quite difficult at that time compared to now. Several huts on Badaling had collapsed and could not stay at all, but once in order to investigate the situation in the ditch, they had to spend the night in a hut in Sanbao. The night breeze blows, and it's almost indistinguishable from sleeping in the open. Although the conditions were difficult, the majesty of the Great Wall always inspired us.
Luo Zhewen rewrote the old as "the broken base is ruined, the ancient remnants are ruined, and the sunset shines like fire on Yanshan; Today, the four are on the road of mediocrity, and we want to restore the old view of the long dragon", expressing the firm ambition and grand vow to restore the Great Wall. The maintenance of the Juyongguan Badaling Great Wall is also the first major project of the maintenance of ancient buildings in New China.
Luo Zhewen rewrote "Badaling Poems" in his later years
The cultural relics protection undertaking of New China has gone through three stages, namely, the protection of individual cultural relics and buildings, the protection of famous historical and cultural cities, and the protection of world cultural heritage. In the process of being called "the three major milestones of China's cultural preservation" in the industry, Luo Gong has "initiated" the work.
For the first time, he assisted Liang Sicheng to complete secret work
Luo Zhewen's engagement in the protection of cultural relics stems from his "secret work" completed in 1944 with his mentor Liang Sicheng - compiling the "Catalogue of Cultural Relics of the War Zone Cultural Relics Preservation Committee". In 1944, the Japanese invaders were losing and retreating on battlefields around the world, so the Allies drew up an all-out counteroffensive battle plan, and the Chinese battlefield was naturally the focus of the counteroffensive. In view of the possibility of destroying important cultural relics and historic sites throughout the country during the counteroffensive, some people of insight in China proposed to the Kuomintang authorities the establishment of a "War Zone Cultural Relics Preservation Committee," with Hang Liwu, vice minister of the Ministry of Education of the Nationalist Government, as chairman, and Ma Heng, director of the Palace Museum, and Li Ji, and Liang Sicheng, directors of the Preparatory Office of the Central Museum, as vice chairmen.
In order to ensure the safety of cultural relics and historic sites, the "Theater Committee for the Preservation of Cultural Relics" decided to compile a catalogue of key cultural relics and historic sites in the country as soon as possible, mark the specific names and locations on military maps, and distribute them to officers at all levels of the Chinese armed forces and US Air Force pilots participating in counteroffensive operations in a timely manner, so that they can quickly and accurately identify cultural relics and historic sites that fall within the scope of protection and avoid bombing and destroying them.
Regarding the process of compiling this catalogue by Liang Sicheng, in October 1993, Wang Shixiang recalled in an article entitled "Catalogue of Cultural Relics in the War Zone":
I remember that Mr. Liang started by compiling the Chinese catalogue and then translated it into English. At that time, because there were not many people in the school who knew English, some of the proofreaders were handed over to me. By the autumn of 1944, he had moved on to the labeling of the map. Because the map was a military secret and it was forbidden to leave its hiding place, Mr. Liang was often in Chongqing for half a year, and Mr. Luo Zhewen was transferred to participate in the map work.
When Liang Sicheng led Wang Shixiang and Luo Zhewen to compile this catalogue of cultural relics, he also suggested that the Allies should not bomb the enemy Japan, Kyoto and Nara, two ancient capitals with many ancient buildings. In this regard, Luo Zhewen once wrote:
One summer in 1944, Mr. Sicheng asked me to go to Chongqing with him to help him do some work...... Every day he brought me a bundle of blueprint paper, and asked me to draw the symbols he had drawn with a pencil, with a compass and a triangle, in drawing ink. Although I did not study the contents in detail, I generally knew that it was a map of the Japanese occupation zone, and the location of the ancient city, the ancient town, and the ancient architectural relics were marked. There are also some maps that are not China, and I didn't look carefully for them, but there are two places that I know, namely Kyoto and Nara in Japan, because when I entered the Construction Society, I read Mr. Liu Dunzhen's article on Horyuji Temple and Jade Insect Cabinet in Nara. But Japan is at war with us, so why should we draw it on a map of Japan? I didn't ask much at the time, because I realized that it was not appropriate to know.
Participated in the compilation of the first "Brief List of National Important Architectural Cultural Relics" in New China
Similar to the above work, Luo Zhewen also participated in the compilation of the "Brief Catalogue of National Important Architectural Cultural Relics" in early 1949. On January 31, 1949, after the Communist Party of China successfully took over the whole city of Beiping, representatives of the People's Liberation Army visited No. 8 Xinlinyuan of Tsinghua Garden and asked Liang Sicheng for advice on how to protect cultural relics and ancient buildings across the country in the upcoming large-scale People's Liberation War. Therefore, Liang Sicheng organized some teachers and students of the Department of Architecture of Tsinghua University and relevant personnel of the China Institute of Architecture to compile a "Brief List of National Important Architectural Cultural Relics" of more than 100 pages in a very short period of time, which was immediately handed over to the Library and Cultural Relics Department of the North China Higher Education Commission for printing, and then distributed to the hands of the senior generals and commanders of the People's Liberation Army as quickly as possible, so that many cultural relics and ancient buildings were saved from doom in the People's Liberation War.
In the process of compiling this "Brief List", Liang Sicheng led everyone to be self-reliant from searching for information to engraving steel plates, folding binding, and framing covers, just as the seventh volume of the "Transactions of China Construction Society" was published in Lizhuang. Luo Zhewen participated in the whole process of compiling the "Compendium" and was responsible for the engraving of the stencil wax paper of the whole book. Luo Zhewen later commented:
Although this brief list is extremely brief, it is full of the achievements of Si Chengshi, Hui Yinshi and the academic group of the China Institute of Architecture for many years. After it was sent to the People's Liberation Army, it not only played a major role in protecting ancient cultural relics during the War of Liberation, but also played a positive role in carrying out the investigation, protection and research of ancient cultural relics in the early days of liberation. It has become an early and important historical document in the history of cultural relics protection in New China.
The author witnessed and felt Luo Gong's cherishing of this historical document 20 years ago. In the summer of 2004, the author visited Luo Gong and mentioned related matters for the purpose of compiling a book on world heritage. Luo Gong first laid a blank sheet of paper on the table, and then carefully took out a yellowed booklet from a brown paper envelope, "A Brief Catalogue of Important Architectural Cultural Relics of the Nation", and then pinched the edge of the book with both hands and placed the book on the white paper, and gently pressed the upper and lower corners of the book with his fingers for each page opened, so that the book could be unfolded smoothly. When I was ready to help put the book ready, he hurriedly bent down to protect the book and said, "I'd better do it." This book is too old and too brittle. As he spoke, he pushed the book into the envelope little by little, then sealed it and put it back on the already dazzling shelves.
Witnessing this situation, how can we not be moved by Luo Gong's feelings of cherishing history so much?
What moved us was not only this, but also Luo Gong's lifelong dedication to cultural preservation since he joined the Cultural Relics Bureau at the end of 1950.
Advocated the creation of a "National Historical and Cultural City" for the first time
If the protection of individual cultural relics belongs to the old tradition, then the first initiative to create a "national historical and cultural city" is Luo Zhewen's pioneering contribution to the protection of China's cultural relics. After the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 1978, urban construction was in full swing, and cultural relics were repeatedly demolished and damaged. Even the State Council issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Protection of Historical Relics" and other incidents, but it failed to prevent the occurrence of incidents of destroying cultural relics during construction. Therefore, the idea of incorporating cultural relics and ancient buildings into the new urban construction plan for protection has become a consensus gradually formed by scholars such as Luo Zhewen. In this regard, Luo Zhewen believes after careful and in-depth thinking: "The best way is to combine the protection and construction of cultural relics, and at the same time consider the ancient architectural relics, the pattern of the ancient city, and the traditional style as part of the new urban planning and construction." ”
Therefore, in order to promote the early introduction of the initiative of a national historical and cultural city, Luo Zhewen began to emphasize on various occasions such as relevant meetings, "It is not enough to protect cultural relics as 'points', and it is also more difficult." Cultural relics should be put into the entire urban planning for protection" "China's ancient buildings, including the layout of cities in previous dynasties, are all treasures of the Chinese nation! To protect the ancient buildings in ancient cities, we must include them in the overall planning for the protection of ancient cities, and make overall plans and operations." Finally, under the active deliberation and appeal of Luo Zhewen, Shan Shiyuan, Hou Renzhi, Zheng Xiaoxie and other famous experts and scholars, the State Capital Construction Commission, the State Administration of Cultural Relics, and the State Administration of Urban Construction jointly submitted to the State Council on December 28, 1981 the "Request for Instructions on the Protection of Famous Historical and Cultural Cities on the Mainland". The CPC Central Committee and the State Council attached great importance to this, and the then general secretary of the CPC Central Committee issued instructions instructing Gu Mu, state councilor and director of the State Construction Commission, to be responsible for handling the matter. On February 8, 1982, just over a month after it was submitted to the State Council, the request was forwarded in the form of an official document of the State Council.
Pingyao Ancient City "Luo Zhewen Road"
At the same time, Gu Mu instructed Cao Dacheng, director of the General Bureau of the Construction Committee, Luo Zhewen, Zheng Xiaoxie, and others to jointly handle the matter. Subsequently, Luo Zhewen drew up the relevant documents in less than a month with reference to the experience of the Soviet Union and other countries in the protection of famous historical and cultural cities, and facilitated the publication of the first list of 24 national historical and cultural cities in China. In this regard, Luo Zhewen later concluded:
The announcement of the first batch of famous historical and cultural cities not only enables the protection of ancient buildings and cultural relics to be better incorporated into the scope of urban construction, but also expands the boundaries of cultural relics protection units, which can better consider the surrounding environment and the connection between each other, and form a complete historical and cultural city style. This measure to protect famous historical and cultural cities is another major development in the history of the development of cultural relics protection, and it is of stage-making significance, and it can be said to be the second milestone in the protection of cultural relics of ancient buildings in China.
He initiated China's accession to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee
The third milestone in China's cultural relics protection - joining the UNESCO World Heritage Committee and opening the road to China's "World Heritage Application" is also inseparable from the initiative of Luo Zhewen and others. This cannot but start with the famous proposal of the four members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. In 1985, at the Third Session of the Sixth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Hou Renzhi, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), drafted a proposal entitled "Suggesting that China Should Join the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage as soon as possible." Hou Renzhi and Yang Hanxi, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a famous biologist, Zheng Xiaoxie, deputy director of the National Committee of Experts on the Protection of Famous Historical and Cultural Cities and a well-known urban planning expert, and Luo Zhewen, president of the Chinese Cultural Heritage Society and a famous ancient architect, signed the proposal. However, many people in the world do not know the specific process of submitting this well-known motion of the four committee members, so that some articles either misunderstand the number and time of the motion, or they have misunderstood whether the four committee members have signed the motion in their own hands, and even worse, they have even made the names of the four committee members appear to be on display. After the author checked the original text of the proposal, it was confirmed that the number of this proposal should be "Proposal No. 663 (Education)". So, on the question of whether all four committee members signed the proposal, we can find the answer in a letter written by Hou Renzhi to Chung Hyo-sub:
Comrade Xiao Yan:
I am glad to learn that you and Comrade Zhewen have returned from Nara, yesterday afternoon at the closing meeting of the CPPCC, I saw Shan Lao (note: referring to Mr. Shan Shiyuan), I asked him if he had seen you and Comrade Zhewen, he said that I had met you in the hall, so I walked around the hall a few times, and when the meeting ended, I stood on the stone steps in front of the Great Hall, hoping to see you, and I regret that I did not get my wish. I also failed to see Comrade Tetsuwen.
You sent me a letter before your arrival, and I received it at Jingfeng Hotel. I fully understand your concern for the protection of cultural relics and scenic spots, and it is precisely because of your infection that I took the initiative to draft a proposal. The full text of the "Cause of Action" will be copied and sent to you. The "Cause of Action" and "Measures" are now transcribed as follows. ......
I have already signed on your behalf, and I am sure that Comrade Zhewen will agree, so I have signed on his behalf. In addition, Comrade Yang Hanxi (National Committee for Man and the Biosphere) and I were also four people who signed the signatures, and did not solicit many signatures, but we asked Comrade Yang Bozhen of the National Commission for UNESCO in advance and asked him to read the full text, and he also added some content. After returning to school, I will gather all the things, and please tell Comrade Zhewen about this matter as soon as possible (I don't have your phone number with him). Say hello in a hurry!
Hitoyuki
In the early morning of the 9th
It can be seen from this that when the four committee members jointly signed the proposal that year, Zheng Xiaoxie and Luo Zhewen did not personally sign the proposal, but Hou Renzhi signed it on their behalf. After the proposal was submitted, the relevant departments made a reply that year:
With regard to the mainland's participation in the UNESCO Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, in May this year, the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture, the State Science and Technology Commission, and the Academy of Sciences jointly signed a report to the State Council entitled "Request for Instructions on the Mainland's Acceptance of the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage." The State Council has approved the approval. It has been learned that the NPC Standing Committee will deliberate in mid-November.
Secretariat of the National Commission for Education, Science and Culture of China
1985.11.6
On November 22, the 13th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Sixth National People's Congress decided to ratify China's accession to the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. On 16 December, Cai Jintao, First Secretary of the Permanent Delegation of the People's Republic of China to UNESCO, and Amadou-Makhtar Mbo, then Director-General of UNESCO, officially signed the text document of China's accession to the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage at the United Nations Headquarters in Paris, thus opening the road to China's remarkable application for the World Heritage List.
In 1987, Luo Zhewen personally wrote the text of the Great Wall's application for World Heritage Status, and six cultural monuments, including the Great Wall, became China's first batch of World Cultural Heritage sites. In 2004, at the 28th session of the World Heritage Committee, Luo Zhewen proposed for the first time to amend the Cairns Resolution, which states that "a country can only nominate one World Heritage Site per year", and the meeting finally agreed to adjust the number of World Heritage nominations to two per year.
Interested parties can move to the Wangjing Cultural Square of the Badaling Great Wall from April 17 to July 6, 2024 to see the "Meeting the Great Wall: The Centennial Academic History of Mr. Luo Zhewen's Birth".
Source: Vertical, Issue 4, 2024
Text/Photo: Dou Zhongru (Director of the Fifth Editorial Office of China Culture and History Publishing House Co., Ltd., author of "Luo Zhewen's Biography", planner of "Luo Zhewen's Complete Works" and "Luo Zhewen's Memorial Anthology")