Author: Shen Ziyou (Heart of the Far Mountains)
Wang Mingyan's new copy of "Fat Yan Zhai Re-evaluation of the Stone Record" began in 2018, under the planning and guidance of Mr. Hu Wenbin, vice president of the Dream of Red Mansions Society of China, which lasted 6 years, and was finally published by Shandong Fine Arts Publishing House in April 2024. European small block copying, rice paper printing, antique packaging. The first edition was printed for the first time in 300 sets of 4 volumes.
"Lipid Yan Zhai Re-evaluation of the Stone Record" (Jiazhu Edition) is the most important, the most precious, and the rare book closest to Cao Xueqin's original manuscript among the many versions of Dream of Red Mansions, and it is also the source of lipid science, which has a very high historical status and red value. However, due to the reasons of the applicant, there are many typos, variant words, missing words, overlapping words and other incomprehensible sentences, which hinder reading and are prone to misjudgment. The new manuscript is faithful to the original, and after correcting the errors, proofreading in detail, and eliminating the scribbles of later generations, according to the original specification model, it still follows the original 4 volumes, and is also copied in red and black in neat small letters, so that the black text and the red fat batch are not bad, and the details such as chapter backs, page numbers, and line paragraphs are not disordered. Printing using rice paper, packaging antique book covers, from the inside to the outside of both the perfect and the original, by the red science, calligraphy circles and readers alike.
Zhang Qingshan, President of the Red Society of China, Executive Deputy Director of the China Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center, Vice Chairman of the Expert Committee of China's Application for the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity to UNESCO, and former Secretary of the Party Committee and Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Arts, wrote the preface to the manuscript, Mr. Li Yanxuan, a famous contemporary calligrapher, calligraphy educator and librarian of the Shandong Museum of Culture and History, Mr. Liu Hongliang, a famous seal carver, and Mr. Qiu Mugen, a famous red scholar, assisted in the planning and operation, so that the work of the new manuscript could be carried out smoothly. In the past six years, it is with the warm care and support of the Chinese Red Society and all walks of life that the new copy of "Fat Yan Zhai Re-evaluation of the Stone Record" came into being and was successfully published.
The new copy of "Fat Yan Zhai Re-evaluation of the Stone Record" has been published, which has aroused great attention and welcome from all walks of life. On July 31, 2024, the "Congratulations to Wang Mingyan on the publication of the new copy of "The Re-evaluation of the Stone Records of Fat Yan Zhai" and the handover ceremony to the Chinese Red Society, the Dream of the Red Chamber Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Arts, and the Dream of the Red Chamber Journal were held in Beijing. Subsequently, the Beijing Cao Xueqin Society, the National Library of China, and the libraries of Tsinghua University, Peking University, and Beijing Normal University successively collected the manuscript and gave it high praise and gratitude. The National Library of China stated in the "Donation Certificate" that "all the donated documents have been received, and this certificate is specially issued to thank you." Tsinghua University Library also believes that "the donation of books enriches the collection of Tsinghua University Library and will play an important role in the cultivation of talents and scientific research of Tsinghua University", and held a grand ceremony to praise the "Honorary Certificate of Book Donation" to express its gratitude.
Wang Mingyan is the former deputy director of the Political Department of the Fourth Division of the Railway Corps, and has been fond of calligraphy since he was a child. After his retirement, he studied and studied at the Provincial University for the Aged for ten years, and firmly grasped the essence of calligraphy in theory and practice. On this basis, he used various pen styles to transcribe the poems of "Dream of Red Mansions", which were exhibited at home and abroad, and attracted the attention of calligraphy and red scholars. After being entrusted with the new copy of the "Fat Yan Zhai Re-evaluation of the Stone Record", he is nearly eighty years old, and he still devotes himself to the proofreading and transcription of this famous work with enthusiasm, whether it is in front of the sickbed of his wife who is seriously ill, or during the period when he is suffering from eye disease, he insists on slackening and tirelessly, checking the proofreading in the vast information, and copying it between the rulers with a small Kaiteng with a fly's head, which lasted six years, and finally completed this hand-me-down work.
When Chinese calligraphy meets literary classics, it will inevitably collide with dazzling sparks. The advent of the new manuscript of Wang Mingyan in the Jiazhu book of "Fat Yan Zhai Re-evaluation of the Stone Record" embodies this point in a concentrated manner. If you can have it, you can appreciate it, you can study it, you can give it to your friends, and you can collect it for generations.
2024.10.1 in Jinan, Quancheng
The author Shen Ziyou (heart to the distant mountains), a native of Rizhao, Shandong, enlisted in the army in 1970, transferred to the army in 1984, and retired from the 14th Bureau of China Railway.
Editor: Li Xunxiu/Li Yuanfeng/Yang Xiaofu Editorial Department of Qingyanwei Literature