——Yihai Hook Shen: Reading Mr. Yan Jing's "Ten Years with Aunt Yuan Xiaoyuan"
Centenarian Mr. Yuan Xiaoyuan
On the morning of January 17, 2021, Mr. Ma, an old friend of the collector, was talking in the store when an old man suddenly came outside the door, gentle and elegant. Saying that the family was in a hurry to frame the paintings and send them away, I quickly took out the painting cylinder he brought, and took a closer look, all of which were fu characters written by the centenarian Mr. Yuan Xiaoyuan, a total of 16 paintings. I thought to myself, how could he have so many of Mr. Yuan's blessing words? Curious, I talked to him, and during the conversation, I learned that he was Mr. Yuan's nephew and secretary, Yan Jing. Because I had an understanding of Mr. Yuan before, I had more topics with Mr. Yan Jing, talked with him about Mr. Yuan's experience of studying in France and serving as China's first female diplomat, talked about Mr. Yuan's husband Ye Nan, and talked about "Yuan Pinyin", and the most talked about was Mr. Yuan's last ten years in Nanjing. Teacher Yan Jing is over eighty years old, his thinking is clear, but his hearing is not good, and it is a little difficult to communicate with him, so I ask him to answer, and sometimes I need to talk with the help of a pen. Teacher Yan Jing came to the store four times, and each time there was a new topic, and I was happy to talk to him. What impressed me the most was that he accompanied Mr. Yuan through the last ten years of his life, which was the ten years of hard work of Yan Jing's teacher and aunt, and also the ten years of Mr. Yuan's "poetry, calligraphy and painting" art blooming in Nanjing. Now, for the younger generation, mentioning Mr. Yuan Xiaoyuan may feel a little strange, but when it comes to Jin Yong and Qiong Yao, everyone should understand that Mr. Yuan is their common aunt. Of course, Mr. Yuan did not rely on them to make a name for himself, this is a later story. This excerpt of Yan Jing's "Ten Years with Aunt Yuan Xiaoyuan" is shared with zhujun to commemorate Mr. Yuan Xiaoyuan, the predecessors!
Teacher Yan Jing wished Mr. Yuan Xiaoyuan a happy birthday
Excerpt from the original text of Mr. Yan Jing's "Ten Years with His Aunt Yuan Xiaoyuan":
In 1997, at the invitation of Hu Yonghui, the general manager of Jinling Hotel, her aunt stayed at Jinling Hotel for several months and held the first exhibition of poetry, calligraphy and painting in her life at the end of the year. The idea of holding a painting exhibition was put forward by Mr. Lu Hua, a good friend of my aunt and a former reporter of the "Yangtze Evening News", and when Mr. Lu Hua talked to me about this matter, I had some concerns: My aunt's original poetry, calligraphy and painting works were too few, how could I hold an exhibition? At least fifty works had to be produced to fill the exhibition hall. Teacher Lu said: You don't have to worry, Elder Yuan is full of energy, living in the Jinling Hotel, such a good condition, let her show the poems she wrote in the past in various forms, banners, couplets, horizontal cloaks, fans, big bucket squares, small bucket squares... Let her improvise some landscapes, turquoises, and flowers, won't she all have them? Fifty works is never a problem.
At the exhibition of Mr. Yuan Xiaoyuan's calligraphy and paintings, Mr. Xiao Ping delivered a speech
With the encouragement of Teacher Lu, the aunt was also eager to try. My aunt is a person who is not willing to be lonely, and she will definitely do what she wants to do, not to mention that she originally has a foundation in calligraphy and painting, and she has been familiar with it for more than a month, and the hotel hall has been full of dozens of masterpieces of her old man's home.
The United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee replied to Teacher Yan Jing
Teacher Lu invited the famous painter Mr. Xiao Ping to the hotel many times to talk with his aunt about calligraphy and painting works, and when Teacher Xiao Ping read his aunt's calligraphy and painting works, he praised them greatly: Yuan Lao's poetry and paintings revealed her temperament and cultivation, "casual" is her biggest feature, natural and naïve, really painting like her people, such as her poetry, and also like her people. At this time, the aunt will humbly say: You Teacher Xiao has passed the prize! Song Wenzhi, a famous painter who lived in the next room, also praised: Mr. Yuan's landscape is a traditional painting method, and not many people can paint it today.
Mr. Yuan Xiaoyuan (middle) and Teacher Xiao Ping (left) exchange calligraphy and painting, and on the right is Xiao Bao, the son-in-law of Teacher Yan Jing
At the end of November, the "100-year-old Yuan Xiaoyuan Poetry, Calligraphy and Painting Exhibition" was grandly opened at the Jinling Hotel, and not only provincial and municipal leaders, but also famous calligraphers and painters attended the opening ceremony, and Chen Haosu, president of the Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries of the people of Chinese, and my eldest aunt Yuan Jing, also came from Beijing and Tianjin to express congratulations, and several central leaders also sent congratulatory messages. At the opening ceremony, Chen Haosu delivered a warm opening speech, which Was highly praised by Teacher Xiao Ping. During the week of the exhibition, the visitors were endless and the reviews were overwhelming. The eldest aunt talked about the first exhibition afterwards: I didn't even expect it to be so sensational and so lively, and now I have something to do in Nanjing!
Mr. Yuan Xiaoyuan Art Museum Celebration (Wujin, Changzhou)
After the success of the first exhibition, the aunt's life in her later years was more colorful, traveling, improvising poems and paintings; receiving guests, sending poems and paintings. Subsequently, a large number of calligraphy and painting works have been accumulated, and new works have been continuously published. In the following six years, the aunt successfully held the "Yuan Xiaoyuan Centennial Poetry calligraphy and painting exhibition" at the Jiangsu Provincial Art Museum, the National Art Museum of China, the Liu Haisu Art Museum, and the Guan Shanyue Art Museum, all of which showed enthusiastic scenes and achieved complete success.
Mr. Yuan Xiaoyuan and Mr. Yan Jing's family: (from left: Mr. and Mrs. Yan Jing, Mr. Yuan Xiaoyuan, Xiao Bao, Yuan Yuan, and Xiao Jie)
Since then, in addition to being a famous social activist and a centenarian patriotic elderly, the aunt has been active in the political stage, and as a famous calligrapher and painter, she has participated in calligraphy and painting seminars and PEN meetings in the whole country, the province and Nanjing. In fact, after the aunt gave up her American nationality and returned to China, in addition to establishing the Beijing International Chinese Character Research Association in Beijing, she also established the Beijing International Calligraphy and Painting Research Association in Beijing's "Guozijian". It was just that my aunt had no time to take care of it, but I didn't expect to regain my pen and ink in my old age, and I made a big show of my love of calligraphy and painting in my youth to the extreme. At this time, the aunt really made a big name in Nanjing, media interviews from all sides, CCTV and provincial and municipal television stations recorded documentaries, etc., only the recorded tapes have reached more than 20 boxes, but also let our family busy!
Recent photo of the author and Mr. Yan Jing
About the Author:
Wen Hui, whose ancestral home is Hubei, now lives in Nanjing. The one who descended the mountain orchid signed himself to pick up the master of the ink house. He served in the army for sixteen years and served in a certain unit of the former Nanjing Military Region. He is currently a member of the Calligraphy and Painting Professional Committee of the Jiangsu Collectors Association, a teacher of the Calligraphy and Painting Examination Committee of the Jiangsu Provincial Federation of Literature and Painting, a member of the Nanjing Calligraphers Association, a researcher of the Nanjing Academy of Culture and Art Education, a member of the Writers Association of Jurong City, Jiangsu Province, and a director of the Artists Association of Jingshan City, Hubei Province.