<h1>He was expelled from the Forbidden City, but became the "first player in Beijing"! </h1>
"If a person can't even play well,
Is it still possible to do a good job? ”
This is his famous quote.
Huang Miaozi said that he was "a plaything to make a family",
Qi Gong praised him as a "plaything hero".
Mr. Ma Weidu said:
The uniqueness is that,
Although born into the upper class,
But focus on the fun at the bottom of society,
It is rare among Chinese literati. ”
The Forbidden City expelled him,
So that the Forbidden City lost a scholar who studied in the East and the West,
Willing leaders,
But it forced out a unique one,
Encyclopedic folk relics, cultural relics and blogs.
He took it from the Prince of holland,
Highest Honor Of the Prince of Klaus, Netherlands,
Become the first person in China to receive this award!
He is Wang Shixiang.
Wang Shixiang
Chinese name: Wang Shixiang
Number: Chang'an
Nationality: Chinese
Ethnicity: Han Chinese
Place of birth: Beijing
Ancestral home: Fuzhou
Date of birth: May 25, 1914
Died: November 28, 2009
Occupation: Cultural relics expert, scholar, cultural relics connoisseur, collector
Law School: Department of Chinese Literature, Yenching University
Other achievements: Nomination Award for the First National Book Award, Special Government Allowance of the State Council, Highest Honor of the Prince Claus Award (designed to encourage exchange among artists and thinkers around the world), Librarian of the Central Research Museum of Culture and History, Member of the National Cultural Relics Appraisal Committee
Other works: "Compilation of Painting Studies", "Bamboo Carving Art", "Ming-style Furniture Appreciation", "Ancient Chinese Lacquerware"
Teenagers are called playing lords
Vulgar things into the elegance
Three-year-old Wang Shixiang
From the family tree point of view, Wang Shixiang is a standard family disciple, whose ancestors moved from Jiangxi to Fujian during the Ming Dynasty, and are one of the noble families in Fuzhou. His father, Wang Ji, served for a time as the secretary of the military minister Zhang Zhidong and the superintendent of students studying in France, and finally as the secretary general of the State Council of the Beiyang government. After work, he likes to visit antique shops and buy some broken ancient porcelain specimens; his mother Jin Zhang can be elegant and noble, and he can send love and painting outside the family. As a child, his family had private school teachers who taught Old Chinese, scriptures, history and poetry. The eldest uncle Jin Beilou was the leader of the northern painting circle of the Republic of China.
Mr. Wang Jizeng held one-year-old Wang Shixiang
When he was a child, Wang Shixiang, who was born in a noble family, hired private school teachers at home to teach scripture history and poetry, laying a good foundation for him in traditional Chinese studies. But his playful habits also began to show. At the age of 10, Wang Shixiang began to raise pigeons, holding a large pole to drive the pigeons. He also raised grasshoppers, learned bagua and tai chi, learned wrestling with Buku (wrestler) in the Qing Palace, and also learned to tame eagles and catch badgers. Following a group of former Qing dynasty veterans and young people, Wang Shixiang became a famous young playmaster in Beijing.
Wang Shixiang's old Tibetan imperial insect (grasshopper) cage
When he was in elementary school, he attended the American Expatriate School in Beijing's Ganmian Hutong, and because of the dove of English essays for several weeks, the teacher threw himself back in anger and rebuked: "If Ru does not change the topic in the future, no matter how good or bad it is written, it will be given to P (poor, that is, failing)!" ”
Wang Shixiang Calligraphy
His original major was pre-medical, after a period of study, the math, science, chemistry results were not passed, became a famous poor student in the school, and later transferred to the Department of Chinese Literature, and with the foundation laid by childhood, he was easily qualified and became an excellent student. After that, he was admitted to the research institute of Yenching University to study ancient Chinese painting.
However, Wang Shixiang's playfulness still did not change, he had the opportunity to be selected by the school to study at Harvard University, but the president resolutely disagreed, because he felt that Wang Shixiang was "unknown" and it would be insulting to the country if he did not get it right.
Immerse yourself in the cleaning of cultural relics
But he was "expelled" from the Forbidden City.
Wang Shixiang and his parents (third from the right is Wang Shixiang)
In the spring of 1939, his mother, who loved him the most, passed away, and the times became more and more difficult, and this stupid boy seemed to have grown up at once. Wang Shixiang began to study hard, and his graduation thesis was Huanghuang's huge work "Research on Chinese Painting".
At that time, Peiping had fallen into the hands of the Japanese Kou. Wang Shixiang traveled to Lizhuang, Sichuan, where the Academia Sinica is located. Liang Sicheng, a famous architect, recommended Wang Shixiang to Fu Sinian, director of the Institute of History and Linguistics of the Academia Sinica.
According to Wang Shixiang's recollection, Fu Si Nian came up and asked, "Where did you graduate?" ”
Wang Shixiang replied, "Yenching University." ”
Fu Sinian said: "Yanjing graduates do not deserve to come to us." Some people said that at that time, Fu Sinian was not accustomed to Wang Shixiang's "stupid qi".
Mr. Wang Shixiang's old collection "Mingyu Dragon Sea Beast Rosewood Pen Holder"
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Committee for The Liquidation of Cultural Relics was established, which was recommended by Mr. Ma Heng and Liang Sicheng, and Hang Liwu, chairman of the "Qing Damage Association," thought that Wang Shixiang was a rare talent, so he sent him to participate in the work of the Pingjin District Office of the "Qing Damage Association" with the position of assistant representative.
Song Dynasty Ma Hezhi's "Chibi Fu Tu Scroll" (partial)
At that time, Wang Shixiang was a young man in his 20s who was full of energy and had a strong interest in cultural relics, so he devoted himself to cleaning up cultural relics. On behalf of the country, he recovered more than 2,000 cultural relics looted during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, of which the Song Dynasty Ma Hezhi's "Chibi FuTu Scroll" and other items are national treasures.
From September 1945 to October 1946, Wang Shixiang recovered a total of 6 batches of cultural relics for the state, with a total of 2,000 to 3,000 pieces. Together with the 107 boxes of good books recovered from Japan, the number should be tens of thousands. This is the past of Wang Shixiang's life that makes him most proud, and he did not admit it, but later it became evidence of his "corruption".
In the "Three Antis" movement that began in 1952, Wang Shixiang, together with President Ma Heng and Mr. Zhu Jiayun, were listed as the key subjects of review. He was first imprisoned in the Dongyue Temple of the Forbidden City, and then detained in the detention center of the Public Security Bureau, where the examination lasted for more than a year and finally proved his innocence.
Wang Shixiang suffered from lung disease while in custody, and after being "released on bail," the Forbidden City expelled him from his public office. Later, he entered the Institute of National Music, and in 1954, the Forbidden City wanted to transfer Back to Wang Shixiang, but was refused.
Playthings and research objects
Play out the "Century of Learning"
He can not only play, but also write,
He played with things and studied things, played with culture,
Played out a "century of learning",
Known as "the first player in Beijing".
Although he left the Palace Museum and even left the mainstream sense of the cultural and museum circles, Wang Shixiang no longer had the opportunity to get close to the cultural relics he loved, but he could not give up the hobbies he had begun as a child. All his life, he has been collecting playthings, playing with a variety of things, such as crickets, pigeons, eagles, badgers, cross-dealing, cooking, fire painting, lacquerware, bamboo carvings, Ming-style furniture, etc. He plays these not for entertainment, but genuinely fond of them.
Wang Shixiang Tibetan, gift yunsun gourd set (five-piece set)
Everything he played with left a written record and his research experience. In the past, in the eyes of ordinary people, eagles and lackeys were the work of idle people in the market, and after he described and summarized these things, these things rose to the top and became culture.
Wang Shixiang's old collection - "Tang'an" cupola three-legged furnace
In order to get the love object, he is willing to spend money, willing to work, and even travels long distances, meals and drinks. In order to exhaust the bottom of the plaything, he made friends with many ordinary people and humbly asked for advice.
Wang Shixiang fire painting gourd pieces are inlaid with mahogany round box pairs and Wang Shixiang fire painting gourd pins
He recalled the collection of cultural relics in the early days of liberation. "I've been getting a car all day and there's a big shelf behind the car. I rode back to the big tables and chairs. I ran everywhere in beijing, and during the Spring Festival, I also ran to Jingdong Baodi County. Chinese New Year's Eve night, sleeping in the small shop. The little shop was cold and there was no fire. I took two shoe soles to the soles of the shoes and put them on the edge of the kang as a pillow. Only in this way can you buy extremely cheap objects. ”
Wang Shixiang Old Collection - Late Qing Dynasty Official Model Water Margin Story Grasshopper Gourd, Official Model Spring Dream Figure Grasshopper Gourd, Official Model Yunlong Lin Lion Grasshopper Gourd, Official Model Landscape Character Grasshopper Gourd
At that time, many cultural relics were not wanted, and they were extremely cheap, which gave Wang Shixiang an advantage. When he encountered expensive cultural relics, he exchanged them for jewelry left by his mother.
Shanghai Museum Mr. Wang Shixiang's old furniture:
To this day, many passages of his collection of cultural relics are still widely circulated. He once had a Buddha statue that he personally returned from Huangshan Mountain, and Huang Dagang, the son of his old friend Huang Miaozi (an art critic), recalled, "Shelving is now a cultural relics for sale, but at that time, it was indeed preserved by him." ”
Wang Shixiang Old Collection 11th-12th century, Pala Dynasty, alloy brass, red copper cast, silver and red copper inlay, height 12.5 cm, bottom width 10.5 cm, original collection, bibliography of "Li Songju Changwu Zhi - Self-cherished Collection"
At that time, Wang Shixiang returned to Beijing from Huangshan Mountain, specially bought a ticket for the Buddha statue, and some people got on the bus hoping that he would vacate the seat of the Buddha statue, and as a result, Wang Shixiang stood up on his own: "You sit here with me." Collector Ma Weidu once recalled that Wang Shixiang had a square table of huanghuali, purchased in Tongxian County, Beijing, the price was only 5 yuan, reluctant to transport fees, he held the handlebar in one hand, the leg of the table in the other hand, buckled the table on his back, rode home, so he was called "Poor King".
Mr. Wang Shixiang's collection of large incense
Some people say that the high realm of Wang Shixiang's collection lies in the fact that he has explained the tricks of how to achieve those beautiful things in the past. Behind the "thoroughness" is the sweat "soaking". It is riding a broken car to visit Xiaoshi City and visiting suburban towns to search for furniture; it is often going in and out of the Luban Pavilion to pay tribute to the disciples of the craftsmen; it is to read all the works on furniture in ancient and modern China and abroad; it is to wear a torn vest and shorts under the street lamp", "and the old man who smokes a cigarette bag pot is talking warmly" (Huang Miaozi).
After the age of 70, Wang Shixiang began to write books and published a number of books to study these playthings, not only involving traditional academic fields such as ornamentation, Ming-style furniture, ancient lacquerware, ancient music, bamboo carving art, and even the small skills of Beijing pigeon whistle, cricket spectrum integration, and gourd talking, which are often regarded as city folk customs.
Its Chinese words and sentences are remarkable and breathtaking. All these people, who are interested in his knowledge, can use Mr. Qi Gong's sentence as a guide to in-depth understanding: "Book by book, page by page, line by line, word by word, all of them are footnotes to the Chinese national culture." ”
Carved Bamboo Small Talk Wang Shixiang edited
Wang Shixiang once expressed his understanding of scholars: "To study ancient art, if you want to achieve something, you need to combine physical investigation, literature research and craftsmanship. That's what he said and that's what he did. When you think about it, this requires all-rounders, and it is not easy to talk about. Mr. Wang is not only a highly respected scholar in the academic field, a leader in the academic field, but also a recognized authority in the industry, and can also be called an "expert" by craftsmen. This is a true scholar.
Literati learned
Can cook is the real grandfather
From ancient times to the present, the famous food artists who seek their own pleasure have been in the same vein. Good eating, good doing, and good tasting are Wang Shixiang's other half of the "absolute learning" in terms of food. Wang Shixiang is known in the circle as the "Holy Hand of Cooking", which is respected by the great gourmet Mr. Wang Zengqi.
According to Elder Wang's own recollection: "In addition to studying in my childhood, I liked to go into the kitchen to see the chef do Lai, at that time, my family's home cooks were mostly famous teachers invited from all over the world, and the skills were very skilled. Under their guidance, I often went to the stove and fried and fried everything. Many years have passed, and many chefs have always thought that I am their peer, and do not know that my real work unit is in the Forbidden City. ”
Badly boiled fish fillets
Wang Shixiang has a lot of specialties, among which there are several flavors such as badly simmered fish fillets, bad simmered white, bad simmered winter shoots, and bad eggs and sea cucumbers. In addition, there are sea rice roasted scallions, snow vegetable roasted yellow fish, ham vegetable hearts, chicken slices roasted peas, sweet and sour spicy cabbage, mutton oil and tofu, bread shrimp... Good dishes are in taste, not in the expensive ingredients. Once an old friend dinner, asked each person to cook a dish on the spot, there are shark fins, there are sea cucumbers, there are prawns, there are fresh shellfish, Wang Shixiang made a cold dish: braised onions, the result was snatched up by everyone.
In his later years, he wrote about food, which was well received by gourmets, and was invited to serve as a special consultant of the National Culinary Master Technical Performance Appraisal Association.
Wang Shixiang once seriously told Tian Jiaqing (the only disciple of Mr. Wang Shixiang) that you young people do not take cooking seriously now, fool around, and when you are older, you will definitely regret it, you should study a few home-cooked dishes well, you will find a video recorder one day, record it, and you will not forget it later.
When it came to the good day, early in the morning he carried a large basket to the Tian family Qing's house. He prepared 5 kinds of home-cooked dishes, including fried sauce noodles, ball vermicelli boiled cabbage and his most famous skill, "braised onions", which is actually sea rice roasted scallions. He always uses the most common ingredients to make the most affordable home-cooked dishes, and the tableware he usually uses is the road goods bought at the grocery store on the street.
It was July, and it was getting hotter and hotter in the near afternoon, and he had to take off his vest and bare his arms. I said it was being videotaped here, so he would put it on. After wearing it for less than a few minutes, it was too hot to bear, and it could only be recorded by him bare-chested. After another two months, the weather cooled down. Mr. Wang thought about this file again, and said that the one shot by the bare shoulder was indeed not elegant enough, so let's record it again. This time he was wearing a Chinese gown, and the variety of green onions he bought was also suitable, fat and thick. We recorded it again carefully, especially the dish 'braised onions', in which he also gave a particularly detailed explanation. He said that no matter what, it could be passed down."
Wang Shixiang, who loves food, likes fresh and cheap seasonal vegetables, and eats from no mountains and treasures to more exquisite hotels, often subconsciously picking out the radish flowers, cranes, and small bridges used as decorations, "He did not deliberately want to do this, he was a very tolerant person in life, and this action was completely out of the instinct of latent disgust with formalism." Tian Jiaqing said.
He was in love with his wife
The couple's affection is so deep that they are white-headed
The person who understood him best in Wang Shixiang's life was His Wife Yuan Xuanyou. A large tree picture hung in the Wang family's home, which was carved by the lady herself to celebrate Mr. Wang's 80th birthday. Mr. Wang Shixiang's lifelong hobbies and pursuits were vividly expressed by his wife's paper carvings, and the fruits hanging on the trees not only included university questions such as furniture, bamboo carvings, and lacquerware, but also pigeon whistles, gourds, and badgers, which were gradually forgotten folk customs.
The cover of Mr. Yuan's work "The Collection of Playing Blades: Engraving on Paper" is the famous tree
And Wang Shixiang is also a confidant of madame. Ms. Yuan Tsuen-yyë learned the piano from Wang Mengshu at the age of 14, and was later taught by Mr. Pinghu, a guqin national hand, and her piano skills were more refined. When Yuan Quanyou played the piano, Wang Shixiang often accompanied him, so for nearly 60 years, he called himself "QinNu". Whether Wang Shixiang is in good times or bad times, his wife Yuan Quanyou has always been his supporter, a quiet harbor for him to hide from the wind and rain. Until 2003, Yuan Tsuenyi died of illness.
The Great Testament of the Holy One
Wang Shixiang and his wife are teacher-student love. One day after being admitted to the Graduate School of Yenching University, one day in 1940, a female student from Yenching University named Yuan Quanyi came to Wang Shixiang to make a paper on "Chinese Painting Textbook" and asked him to be a tutor. So Wang Shixiang became the mentor of the beautiful and talented little girl, and later, in order to make the little girl pass the thesis, he not only directed, but also replaced. A few years later, the teacher became a husband, and the young tutor married the talented female student.
In 1945, the two were happily married, and it is said that after getting married, Wang Shixiang found that his wife was really wonderful, except for piano, chess, calligraphy and painting. As far as cooking is concerned, peeling garlic can be, peeling onions is not OK, an onion is peeled off layer by layer by her, and finally there is nothing in her hand, in turn, she blames Wang Shixiang, saying that he will not buy onions, why there is nothing in the onions. It is estimated that it is because of such a wife that Wang Shixiang, a gourmet who is proficient in cooking, has become a gourmet.
But it is such a woman who does not eat human fireworks, and has made great contributions to Wang Lao's "Ming-style Furniture Research". The book is nearly 300,000 words, and there are more than 700 figures. In these 700 drawings, a large part of the line drawings were made by Mrs. Yuan Quanyou, who had studied Chinese painting but "nothing else", made accurate measurements of the combination of Ming-style furniture and mortise and tenons, and drew exquisite drawings!
Wang Shixiang donated 79 pieces of Ming-style furniture that he had spent decades collecting to the Shanghai Museum with only a symbolic amount of money. And "from the heart very proud, very relaxed, very honorable." "Thousands of gold can be scattered, but there is only one thing that Wang Shixiang never gives up, and that is the basket that he and his wife have used for many years to buy vegetables and run errands." When mourning his wife, Elder Wang had anticipated that after his own journey in the future, he would ask someone to place this basket between the two tombs, "life and death will always match".
Human-pigeon love
Trying to save pigeon culture
According to Wang Shixiang's wife Yuan Quanyou, among Wang Shixiang's many hobbies, his favorite is pigeons, and living in the courtyard can not raise pigeons is his biggest regret.
Once, Wang Shixiang went to Zhengzhou to attend the work conference of the National Museum of Culture and History. When he wandered around Jimbo Grand Place, he found that a pigeon watching contest was being held in the area, and he walked into the pigeon flock with great interest. Here, he discovered many long-lost species. Although the owners of the pigeons did not know his identity, they soon discovered that there was a natural affinity between the old man and the pigeons.
A young man pointed to a pair of black and purple pigeons and asked Wang Shixiang, "Do you know them?" "Iron Bull!" Wang Shixiang blurted out. The young man was so excited that he insisted on giving him the nearly extinct pair.
Later, Wang Shixiang, who could not raise pigeons, changed the way of loving pigeons, that is, to study pigeons and produce pigeon books. In recent years, he has taken his camera all over the pigeon market in Beijing, and when he went to meetings in other places, he did not forget to visit the pigeon market fanciers, and also read the pigeon notations drawn by the court painters sleeping in the Palace Museum's calligraphy and painting library, and compiled the pigeon book.
Wang Shixiang's biggest dream is to live a few more years to see Beijing release Chinese ornamental pigeons at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games. Elder Wang said, "The ornamental pigeons are not like the carrier pigeons, which run away all at once, but circle around the nest in groups. After raising it, you can have a plate of white, a plate of gray, and a plate of purple. The sound of joy and peace will surely add the brightest and most vivid stroke to the 'Humanistic Olympics'. ”
As early as 2003, Wang Lao proposed to release Chinese pigeons at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, which has been difficult to operate because of accidents such as SARS and bird flu. But in the end, the release of pigeons at the Olympic Games is not his ultimate goal, he hopes to take this opportunity to save China's ornamental pigeons and pigeon culture.
Scatter as the true collector
All the gold is gone, and the empty pigeon whistles
A true collector,
Treat cultural relics are scattered sometimes,
Wang Shixiang finally chose to "scatter".
It is precisely because of his open-mindedness,
Let these collections also have it
More past lives and more lives!
After the reform and opening up, Wang Shixiang's 300,000-word monograph "Ming Dynasty Furniture Research" caused strong repercussions at home and abroad, and it had been 40 years since he began to collect documents and material materials of ancient furniture. However, he donated 79 pieces of Ming-style furniture that he had spent decades collecting to the Shanghai Museum with only a symbolic amount of money.
Rosewood fan shaped Nanguan hat chair into the hall
Huanghuali through-carved unicorn pattern cross chair
At that time, Shi Xiang's expression when talking about this matter was as if he had married a pro-girlfriend, and it was a 'dowry' rich and expensive, and he was very proud, very relaxed, and very proud from his heart.
Someone once asked Wang Shixiang, is it really willing to spend his life's efforts? But he confessed: "I have an attitude of 'by me, sent by me' to anything outside of my body, and as long as I have gained the pleasure of knowledge and appreciation from it, I am very satisfied." Returning to the place of things and having a clear conscience is a happy ending. ”
Huanghuali four-headed official hat chair
Huanghuali through carved unicorn pattern circle chair pair
In June 2009, the Ministry of Culture and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage awarded Mr. Wang Shixiang the honorary title of "Outstanding Figure in Chinese Cultural Relics and Museum Undertakings", and at this time, Mr. Wang was lying in a hospital bed and could not accept any honors.
"No matter what kind of impact I suffer, even out of nothing, I insist that I be strong, strong, and strong, as long as I live long, I will be able to laugh to the end." 」
"I'm strong, I can't steam, I can't cook, I am what I am." I have certain rules, one is not to seek short-sightedness, the other is not to take risks, to do my best to write and say, and to do work that is beneficial to the culture of the motherland. I follow my path, ten, twenty, thirty years should be fairly understood, I can do it, this is my victory. ”
——Wang Shixiang
Sir's words echoed in the hearts of everyone who loved him.
On November 28, 2009, this self-taught cultural and educational person who was expelled from the Forbidden City, an old man who had spent his whole life playing attentively, obsessively, and forgetfully, left with pleasure. Dong Qiao, a Hong Kong writer who heard the bad news, shook his head repeatedly, "Such an old man, there will be no future, no."
After Wang Shixiang's death, in addition to furniture, there were whole boxes of pigeon whistles in the home, arranged from largest to smallest. Pigeon whistle is not the only representative of the old Beijing, its disappearance makes Wang Shixiang sad, and the departure of the old man Wang Shixiang undoubtedly takes away another bright color of the old Beijing, and takes away a flowing and elegant life full of cultural interest. Many of Wang Shixiang's old friends sighed, "Wang Shixiang, the first player in Beijing, drove the crane to the west, and the empty pigeon whistle in Beijing was whistling." ”
Less is good, old is useful, and use is successful.
Some people say that Wang Shixiang "played" out
There is no ancient theory,
The "century of learning" that no one can inherit.
Mr. Wang Shixiang's homemade mailbox
Entering the WTO as a "playful state",
Governing learning with "playing with children's hearts",
Play is to learn, learn to play,
<h1>This is Wang Shixiang's realm! </h1>