At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty was already crumbling and in danger under the attack of foreign iron hooves.
The long period of isolation has led to a lack of understanding of Western culture, which is seen as alien and threatening.
However, with the aggression of the Western powers and China's repeated setbacks in military and political aspects,
Many progressive intellectuals have realized the advanced nature of Western culture in terms of science and technology, systems, and so on, and have advocated comprehensively studying the West in order to improve themselves.
But some radical young people are caught in such a strange circle.
That is, there is an unlimited worship of foreign cultures, while there is an extreme disregard for one's own culture.
It is precisely in this extremely unequal process of cultural exchange that a foreigner from Western civilization is extremely obsessed with Chinese culture.
He has constantly spoken out for Chinese culture and has lived a Chinese life through and through.
He is the famous Dutch sinologist and diplomat - Gao Luopei.
Nowadays, perhaps people don't think there is anything special about Chinese and foreign couples.
However, this was during the Qing Dynasty.
What is even more unexpected is that this Chinese son-in-law's achievements in Chinese culture have made most Chinese ashamed of themselves.
Connecting with Oriental culture through love
Let's look at Gao Luopei first, although this is a Chinese name, he is actually an authentic foreigner.
His real name was Robert Hans Gulick, a Dutchman.
His father was a military doctor in the Dutch East Indies Army, where he grew up until he was 12 years old.
Photo of Gao Luopei on the island of Java, Indonesia
Influenced by his grandfather, he was fascinated by Oriental culture and art from an early age, and was fascinated by the Chinese characters on the porcelain in his home collection and the Chinese landscape depicted in Verne's novels.
After entering Leiden University, he did not hesitate to choose Sinology as his main major, and he was diligent and studious, mastering 15 languages.
The name Gao Luopei was chosen by himself, according to the antiphon of "Gu" and "Rob" in the name.
In 1935, after graduating with a doctorate, he successfully joined the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was sent to Tokyo, Japan, as an assistant interpreter.
During his tenure in Japan, he was not allowed to do his or her own job.
Gao Luopei, who has a keen interest in oriental art, actively participates in local academic groups and tries art forms such as calligraphy, seal carving, painting, and guqin.
During the contact, he was fascinated by the deep, mellow and ethereal Chinese guqin, and the unique charm of the guqin deeply attracted him.
In September of the following year, he took advantage of a business trip to Beijing for a month-long visit and study, worshiped Ye Shimeng, a senior citizen in the piano world, as his teacher, and bought an old qin.
This was his first real contact with the Chinese guqin.
He began to visit Chinese luthiers living in Tokyo to learn how to play the guqin, and he also collected and studied a large number of historical texts related to the Chinese guqin.
Whenever he had the chance, he traveled to China.
At the beginning of 1941, he went to Beijing to study the piano with Guan Zhonghang, a pianist of the Jiuzhi School.
Gao Luopei (right) and guqin master Guan Zhonghang
Through an in-depth study of the Chinese guqin, Gao Luopei confirmed that the origin of the Japanese qin was from China, and strongly refuted the Western view of the time that Eastern culture originated in Japan.
To this end, he also translated Ji Kang's Qin Fu and wrote an academic treatise on Chinese guqin culture in English, Qin Dao.
In addition to the translated scores of the guqin, various works on the qin, and the documents related to the guqin, he also presents the deep connection between the style of Chinese literati and the guqin culture for Western readers.
For the first time, Westerners can recognize and know this ancient musical instrument from the mysterious Oriental country and the Chinese cultural connotation it carries.
In 1942, with the outbreak of the Pacific War, Gao Luopei left Japan, after which he traveled to East Africa and India.
Guqin Yayun continues to be born
Because of his love for oriental culture, Gao Luopei actively applied to work in China.
In 1943, he was sent to the Dutch embassy in Chongqing, China.
Gao Luopei, who was appointed as the first secretary
In that era of displacement, Chongqing gathered most of the cultural people who fled the war.
Gao Luopei also quickly integrated and adapted to life in Chongqing.
Here he met the oriental goddess of his dreams, Ms. Shui Shifang, a socialite from Jiangsu.
Shui Shifang was born into a famous family, the granddaughter of Zhang Zhidong, a famous Qing Dynasty minister and a famous Westernist leader, and his father Shui Junshao was also a diplomat, who worked in the Chinese Consulate General in Leningrad and later served as the mayor of Tianjin.
Shui Shifang himself was a graduate of Qilu University and worked as a secretary in the embassy at that time.
Gao Luopei fell in love with her at first sight and launched a passionate pursuit.
In 1943, Gao Luopei married 22-year-old Shui Shifang.
In a happy married life, Gao Luopei, who became a Chinese son-in-law, is also more and more integrated into China.
Gao Luopei greatly admired the life of the Chinese literati who "poetry and wine, piano, chess, calligraphy and painting".
He gave himself the words like the ancient Chinese: Forget to laugh, number: Zhitai.
And worship the famous guqin master Ye Shimeng as a teacher, this teacher is a great background, he is the nephew of the Empress Dowager Cixi, after the Xinhai Revolution changed his name to Ye Qian, the word Hefu, the number of poetry.
Gao Luopei painted a small portrait of his teacher Ye Shimeng
Gao Luopei often wears a loose robe at home, drinks Chinese tea, and plays the guqin.
In addition, he also carefully arranged a Chinese study full of antique charm for himself, and named it "Yinyue Nunnery".
He has always been a keen collector of ancient Chinese books, and soon filled the study to the brim.
Gao Luopei's love for the Chinese guqin reached the point of obsession.
He often plays in the study by himself, in order to communicate with more people who love the guqin, and jointly promote the development and inheritance of guqin culture.
He actively prepared and successfully founded the "Heavenly Organ Society".
On February 25, 1945, on the eve of the Lantern Festival, dozens of literati and scholars gathered in the capital officially gathered to establish the "Heavenly Organ Society".
On the list of members of the Qin Society, there are many famous people, including Yu Youren, Feng Yuxiang, Xu Yuanbai, Cheng Wujia, Xu Wenjing, Yang Dajun, etc.
Practice calligraphy diligently to cultivate the connotation
Gao Luopei not only loves the guqin, but also other achievements in Chinese culture that most Chinese will be ashamed of.
These are his calligraphy works.
At first sight, people will be amazed by this, and it is hard to imagine that this is the work of a foreigner.
Most foreigners are still in a stage similar to "painting" for Chinese calligraphy, but Gao Luopei is already really "writing".
He was so fond of Chinese calligraphy that he continued to practice it for 37 years.
His wife recalls him by saying that he devotes himself to the practice of calligraphy every day, without stopping.
Gao Luopei is particularly good at cursive, and his cursive writing can be described as unique. The strokes are vigorous and powerful, and each stroke is full of strength and strength.
He has a deep understanding and mastery of Chinese calligraphy, and his works show charm and technique that are not inferior to many Chinese calligraphy experts.
His interest in Chinese calligraphy also led him to translate Mi Fu's "Yan History" translation.
This cannot but make people admire his artistic attainments and ability to comprehend Chinese culture.
In addition, he can also write classical Chinese, sometimes write poems and sing with Chinese friends, and exchange calligraphy;
Gao Luopei's couplet to Mr. Shen Yimo
Gao Luopei not only has high attainments in piano art and calligraphy, but also has a certain ability in seal carving.
Although he may not be as well-known as he is in other fields, there are relevant materials and studies that show that he also dabbled in and practiced the art of seal carving.
It can be said that Gao Luopei completely "lived as a Chinese literati".
Write novels and leave masterpieces
One day, Gao Luopei happened to read a public case novel of the Qing Dynasty in China, "The Four Strange Cases of Wu Zetian", and was shocked for a while.
He admired and was deeply impressed by Di Renjie's legendary case-solving story.
He was amazed at the long history of Chinese crime novels, which had been popular for hundreds of years before the advent of Western detective novels.
In the book, Di Renjie's ability to solve criminal cases, exquisite plots and vivid character descriptions are not inferior to Western detective novels, or even better.
He is eager to share these wonderful Chinese stories with the Western public.
With Di Renjie as the protagonist, he created a series of short and medium-length detective novels that integrated the characteristics of the East and the West, and compiled them into "The Case of Di Gong of the Tang Dynasty".
The novel caused a sensation as soon as it was published in the West, and people rushed to read it, and Di Renjie became a household name in the West with the book.
Since then, the book has been reprinted in more than one million copies, translated into more than a dozen languages and distributed in various countries, and the University of Chicago has included it in the list of required reading for students.
Gao Luopei himself became famous because of this.
For Gao Luopei, the years spent in Chongqing were of great significance.
After marriage, Gao Luopei and Shui Shifang were married to the chords and had three sons and one daughter.
In 1946, due to a job transfer, Gao Luopei left Chongqing.
Group photo of the farewell dinner of the Tianfeng Organ Society to Mr. and Mrs. Gao Luopei (taken in Chongqing in March 1946)
Years later, he mentioned in his autobiography: "The years spent in Chongqing have been of inestimable value to my academic and artistic research."
In 1967, he died of illness in The Hague, the Netherlands, and his deep affection for Chinese culture continued throughout his life.
Gao Luopei's life has covered a wide range of Chinese studies.
He is not only highly accomplished in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, but also has in-depth research on housing, clothing, and jewelry in the past dynasties, as well as the history of brothels, the situation of prostitutes, and even animals.
Books such as "Examination of Ancient Chinese Rooms" and "Examination of Gibbons" have effectively filled many gaps in these research fields in the mainland.
He was also an exceptional collector and connoisseur.
After his death, all his books and manuscripts were generously donated by his family and collected in the "Gao Luope Library Room" specially set up by the Institute of Sinology at Leiden University in the Netherlands.
In 2014, the China Three Gorges Museum in Chongqing also received 116 pieces (sets) of cultural relics from Gao Luopei's personal collection during his lifetime for permanent collection, research and display.
His wife, Shui Shifang, did not hesitate to say about her husband: "He is not a foreigner!" From the time we know that he was dying, he did not stop practicing calligraphy for a day; He loves to eat Yuan cup sausages and Sichuan food, he is really a Chinese."
Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia - Shui Shifang
Baidu Encyclopedia - Gao Luopei