"You are born to be useful"
——Remembering my old friend Mr. Ren Yude
Text/Zhang Huaiyuan
(In 2007, Ren Yude and Zhang Huaiyuan took a group photo at Ren's house.) ）
In recent days, I have been frightened for no reason, and I have a premonition that something is happening. On April 18, the bad news of his old friend Ren Yude came out. The news did not surprise me, as I knew that he had been seriously ill for several days.
One day at the end of last year, I suddenly dreamed of Brother Ren, so I hurried to visit him at home. He greeted me with a grin, and by that time he was too delirious to call my name and still be able to interact with me.
I said, "Dude, draw me a cat!"
(On December 28, 2023, Ren Yude painted "Divine Beast" and Zhang Huaiyuan's "Inscription".) ）
It is said that he has been out of writing for many years, but he has rarely refused the requests of old friends. Zhi Guojun took the pen and paper, and the brother drew with the pen, and after a while, an animal in the shape of a divine beast appeared on the paper. Zhi Guojun reminded: "Sign it." He wrote the words "Ren Yude painting". Zhi Guojun reminded again: "There is still a date." He was at a loss. Zhi Guojun drafted the words "December 28" on his behalf and asked him to copy it, but it was copied as "December 28". I wrote the inscription with the title of "Title Ren Yude's Divine Beast Picture" and solemnly collected it.
This painting is the last memento that Brother Ren left me.
This day is December 28, 2023.
(After Ren Yude finished painting, he took a group photo with his wife and Zhang Huaiyuan.) ）
On April 10, 2024, I went to see Brother Ren at his house again. It was found that the condition was already serious and bedridden. I drew close to his ear and said to him:
"Dude, dude, do you hear me calling you?"
Brother Ren's eyelids seemed to blink, but he couldn't open them, and his lips opened every time, but he couldn't speak.
Suddenly, the past events that Ren Yude and I have intersected for many years came to my heart one by one......
In 1972, not long after I was transferred to work in the county government office, one day a cadre from the agency compound returned from going to the countryside in the western joint venture and brought back an easter egg - he painted the pattern of "Chang'e Running to the Moon" on the empty eggshell, and exclaimed that he had discovered a talent. Later, I learned that the author was from Miaojiazhai and was called Ren Yude. I thought to myself, all birds are phoenixes, maybe Miaojiazhai will fly out of the phoenix.
In 1973, Ren Yude was selected to work as a pattern designer in the county paper-cutting factory. The distance between us has been, and we have more interactions with each other. Whenever he has a new work, he is always willing to show it off to me or give it to me. So, I gradually became intoxicated with his art world.
(In 1973, Zhang Huaiyuan's article by Ren Yude was published on the cover and inside pages of the Great Wall Literature and Art publication.) ）
February 1983 was the cold season around the Spring Festival. On the winter night after work, I burned the stove red, and alone in the night light, I arranged the paper-cuts given to me by Ren Yude on the large desk for careful viewing. The more I watched, the more I appreciated, and an article couldn't help but be born. This is "Ren Yude and His Wei County Paper-cutting" published in the fourth issue of "Great Wall Literature and Art" sponsored by the Zhangjiakou District Federation of Literary and Art Circles in 1983.
After publication, I forwarded a copy of the sample to Ren Yude. He seemed ecstatic, and immediately came to the machine with two glass frames he had drawn to see me off. This is his masterpiece, painting a cute cat, which I think is the best glass painting mirror in Wei County. "Vote for me with a peach, and repay it with Qiong Yao. Bandit retribution, always think it is good. ("Book of Songs") friends, mutual gifts, is reasonable, but also the embodiment of friendship.
(Ren Yude gave back Zhang Huaiyuan's two glass mirror paintings)
Today, I still keep these two frames as precious things, and I didn't expect that the person who once painted a moving cat pattern could only paint a picture of a mythical beast in his later years.
At that time, I didn't expect that this article about Ren Yude's paper-cutting would be the pioneering work of my long journey of researching paper-cutting in Wei County. In 1984, I published in the magazine "China Arts and Crafts" about "Wang Lao's Paper-cutting Art", which was followed by Wang Lao's award. No matter how many articles I have written in my life on paper-cutting and how many books have been published, Ren Yude is the first person I have written. No matter how many books introduce Ren Yude, the one I wrote should be the first one. In the early days of each other's business, the two were so soul-dependent, and on the grand road of their careers, they left precious memories for each other. In hindsight, it still taught me to be excited.
Now, Brother Ren, you abandoned me, how can you teach me how to be embarrassed?
If a place wants to prosper culturally, it should have both creative and critical talents, relying on local strength to promote its own geniuses. This is also a sign to measure the spiritual realm of a place's cultural heritage. Wei County has always been full of talents, only in the paper-cutting industry, there have been world-famous masters like Wang Laoxian. What's more valuable is that there are many talents and successors, so when I commented on Ren Yude in the article, I used the words "stand on the shoulders of Wang Laoxian". It is precisely with this concept in mind that I have made great efforts to interview and study Mr. Wang, and it is also with this philosophy that I have made great efforts to promote Ren Yude to the outside world. The nature of my work is to "make wedding clothes for others", I have never seen Wang Laoxiang, but I still work hard for him, let alone a friend like Ren Yude.
(Zhang Huaiyuan is Ren Yude's "Zodiac" published in the second issue of "Farmer's Digest" in 1987)
In 1986, I took the opportunity of a business trip to Beijing to hand over a batch of Ren Yude's works to my art editor friend Sister Sun, among which "Zodiac" was published on the back cover of the second issue of Farmer's Digest in 1987. My mood at that time was that whenever I went on a business trip, I always took Ren Yude's works with me, looked for opportunities to push them out, and solemnly instructed the editor to sign Ren Yude's name, so as to fulfill my responsibility as a friend.
For this, I am glad that we have helped each other and walked together from the blue threads of the road.
Since 2001, I have been invited by the county party committee to edit the journal of the Wei County Paper-cutting Industry Association. In a chat with Ren Yude, I dug out the "Learning the Art of Paper-cutting in Wei County" that he had written, and I helped him revise one or two sentences, and with his consent, it was first published in the 5th issue of "Wei County Paper-cutting". In October 2002, Ren Yude and I were elected as the vice president of the Wei County Paper-cutting Industry Association, and the intersection became more frequent.
(Ren Yude designed a hollow hook decoration for the lintel of the entrance of Zhang Huaiyuan's house)
Any multi-talented artist will always shine in many ways. Ren Yude is familiar with folk art, and it is a masterpiece when he drips out. Once, when my building was decorated, the lintel of the entrance needed to be decorated with a little shape, so I asked Ren Yude for help. Ren Yude designed the hollow hook pattern, and I drew the drawings according to the one-to-one ratio and asked the carpenter to do it, which is quite national and folk flavor, and I appreciate it.
Ren Yude's paper-cut pattern design has won the praise of many people, and has become an important town for paper-cut artists in Wei County after Wang Laoxiang and Zhou Yongming. In Wei County, paper-cut patterns are imitated and copied by many artists, except for Wang Laoxian, which is Ren Yude. According to my observation over the years, most of the paper-cutting workshops in Wei County have imitated Ren Yude's patterns.
Ren Yude's artistic achievements are not only reflected in the art of paper-cutting, but also in many spillovers, such as clay sculptures. In his later years, his clay sculptures were lively. After the advent of Ren's clay sculpture, it spread widely. In October 1994, the Ministry of Culture held an exhibition of "Chinese Folk Art" at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing, and Ren Yude's paper-cutting and clay sculptures were included in the exhibition. In 2000, I wrote "Ren Yude's Clay Sculpture Art", which was later compiled into the seventh volume of my humble book "Jing Yexuan's Words".
After the county party committee moved to the new compound and Ren Yude's new residence was built to the south of the compound, it became more convenient for us to communicate with each other. I came down from the fourth floor of the agency, less than 100 meters south, and I was the Ren family. Once, I said to him, "Your clay sculpture is so expressive, why don't you make me a statue?"
(Ren Yude's statue of Zhang Huaiyuan)
Brother Ren wanted to take a picture of me, and sure enough, he made a sculpture for me. My request was to hold a javelin-like brush to reflect my intentions. He didn't listen to me: "Isn't that like a beggar's stick?" I was not convinced: Isn't Zhao Zilong, the victorious general, standing with a gun like this?
Controversy is controversy, and I am still very grateful to Brother Ren. I said to my grandchildren, "When my grandfather dies and you want to worship, bow down to this statue." "It's a pity that I haven't waited for my descendants to worship my statue, but Brother Ren has waited for me to worship before his spirit. Woohoo, alas!
At the time of life and death, the tide of memories is surging like waves, and I can't help myself. Then I remembered that when Brother Ren first came to work in the county paper-cutting factory, I once went to his design room on the second floor of the paper-cutting factory. Suddenly, a dignified and generous middle-aged woman took a boy by the hand and came upstairs.
Brother Ren pointed to the woman and said, "This is my woman." ”
Then he pointed to the boy and said, "This is my son." ”
Oh, it turned out that it was the sister-in-law and the noble son-in-law who arrived, and this scene is still in front of me. Now, Zhi Guojun has come out and is outstanding, and it has become a big climate. Brother Ren, you have a successor, what else is not satisfied?!
Brother Ren, farewell. I have nothing else but to write these few words, and I will send you away with these bitter words. Sick and dying, that's all I can do. I had secretly made the decision not to teach anyone around me to slip down the tip of my pen, and that was the only thing I could give back to my friends. If we can often have a cup of tea and talk about the art of cutting together, how good it is, how far will you go!
Xu Zhimo has a poem, "Quietly I left, just as I came quietly; "Brother Ren, you may not know, you didn't leave quietly, what you took away may be an era, an era that belongs to Ren Yude in the history of Wei County paper-cutting. History is ruthlessly throwing new topics to the descendants of the paper-cutting industry in Wei County to see how they break it down.
Li Bai said, "I am born to be useful", but I want to say to Brother Ren, "You are born to be useful." Brother Ren used one of his paintbrushes to create a rich world of artworks.
A place where a master is unborn. The appearance of Ren Yude is not only of great significance in the history of paper-cutting in Wei County, but also in the cultural history of Wei County, and perhaps the long-distance effect in the future can shock people.
Ren Yude gave us everything he should have given us, and he left without any worries.
It's time for us to consider how to repay him.
I always feel that Wei County behind him, if he can't do something to give back to him, I'm sorry for him.
It's a pity that as a generation of masters, I didn't see the complete collection of my works come out. As a friend, I can only blame myself for my lack of support, what else can I say about others?
April 19, 2024, Ulju Jingyexuan
About the Author:
Zhang Huaiyuan, born in 1946, is a native of Wei County. He has worked at the village, township, county, and provincial levels, involving factories, rural areas, education, and government departments. Among them, he has been in county-level enterprises and county-level industrial management departments for 10 years, township and county-level rural management departments for 10 years, and comprehensive research departments at the provincial and county levels for 10 years. He is now a freelance writer, a specially invited researcher of the Wei County Working Committee of the China Paper-cutting Art Research Base, and a consultant of the Wei County Paper-cutting Association. Books have been published or printed, including more than 20 monographs on economics and culture. Among them, the main ones are: essay collection "Jing Yexuan Manga" (eight volumes), ideological essay "Reflection Era", biography "Wang Laoxiang Biography", master work introduction "Wang Laoxiang Paper-cut Collection" (co-edited with Hua Jia), paper-cutting research "National Intangible Cultural Heritage Weixian Paper-cutting" and so on.