"If you compare life to a book, Chang Shana is a long legend."
Just a brief review of the life of this "daughter of Dunhuang" will know that this sentence is true:
She was born in France, and her father Chang Shuhong was a famous painter and later praised as the "guardian deity of Dunhuang";
At the age of 14, she braved the continuous gunfire to return to China and followed her father to copy the murals in Dunhuang;
At the age of 20, she met her mentor Lin Huiyin and established her lifelong ambition;
Later, she successively participated in the architectural decoration of the façade of the Great Hall of the People and the design of the emblem of the Chinese Communist Youth League, and many people must check in to Hong Kong, the large-scale sculpture "The Bauhinia Flower that Blooms Forever" presented to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region by the Central People's Government.
She is also an important art and design educator in China, and served as the president of the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts for 15 years...
Today, the legend of this novel continues.
"Night Reading" National Day column
The fourth issue of "I have a national soldier, the world is unparalleled"
In the name of Chang Shana, pay tribute to the people of Dunhuang
What are the exhibitions in Beijing that cannot be missed during the National Day?
Recently, if you search the Internet for this question,
The "Forbidden City Dunhuang Special Exhibition" that is being exhibited at the Noon Gate of the Forbidden City,
It should be one of many answers.
70 years ago, it was also here,
For the first time, Dunhuang unveiled the mystery in the form of an exhibition.
People know,
Behind this stunning oriental beauty,
It is a group of people who have been guarding and working hard for a lifetime.
The girl who assisted in the preparation of the first Dunhuang exhibition that year——
The protagonist of this article, Chang Shana,
He is now 90 years old.
After slowly ascending the long steps of the morning gate,
She put the word "70 years" on the poster in front of her eyes,
Stopped for a long time.
More than one nail time,
It turned out to be a glimpse of life.
Chang Shana: Six Words of Life
01
A long arrival
"I will never forget the first time I went to Dunhuang"
In 1931, Chang Shana was born in Lyon, France, and her parents named her "Shana" after the harmonic sound of "Senna". Shana Shana, "the graceful beauty of the desert", looks back and seems to be a name full of foreshadowing, indicating that the newborn is destined to form an indissoluble relationship with Dunhuang.
In the autumn of 1935, his father, Chang Shuhong, saw an atlas on the streets of Paris, the Dunhuang Catalogue compiled by Bo Xihe. The splendid splendor of ancient Chinese art greatly shocked him, and he made up his mind to leave Paris and return to his motherland and take root in Dunhuang. Soon, Chang Shana also followed in her father's footsteps.
"The patron saint of Dunhuang" Chang Shuhong
When she first arrived in Dunhuang, Chang Shana was only 14 years old, and she said that she "will never forget the picture of her first visit to Dunhuang":
"It took months to get there, it was late at night, everyone was hungry, but there was nothing to eat, and Dad brought three bowls to everyone, a bowl of salt, a bowl of vinegar, and a bowl of noodles."
Chang Shana (right) with her father (left) and brother in Dunhuang
Everyone later summed up their feelings at that time: "Out of Jiayuguan, two tears did not dry. Look ahead, Gobi Desert. Looking back, the ghost door is closed. ”
There is no boardwalk, you can't climb up, you can only set up a "centipede ladder" into the grotto; there is no electricity in the cave, everyone can only use a little paper reflection when the sun shines, to see the pattern.
The opposite of the poor material life is the richness of Dunhuang art, "so many paintings, I can't finish it." ”
In Chang Shana's memory, every summer, the adults were copying, and she also followed behind to draw, "My basic skills, tong zi gong, were formed in Dunhuang." ”
Dunhuang art gave Chang Shana another kind of riches and nourished her like a sweet spring, so that Dunhuang became her eternal spiritual hometown, "My father was in Dunhuang for 50 years, guarded Dunhuang for a lifetime, I did not have much time in Dunhuang, but Dunhuang became my hometown." ”
02
An important fate
"Mr. Lin Huiyin decided on my lifelong career"
Seventy years back in time.
In 1951, Premier Zhou proposed patriotic education, and found Chang Shana's father, Chang Shuhong, and asked them to display everything they had copied in Dunhuang on the upper floor of Beijing's Noon gate.
Her father was very excited, and asked Chang Shana, who had just returned to China, to help her, and gave her a particularly important task: to accompany Uncle Liang and Aunt Liang to visit the Noon Gate City Tower.
Liang Bobo Liang's aunt refers to Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin. Although the physical condition of the two was very unsatisfactory at that time, they still had great interest and enthusiasm for the Murals of the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang and insisted on seeing them.
Because of this exhibition, Chang Shana met a mentor who had a deep influence on herself- Lin Huiyin.
Perhaps it was the accompaniment that impressed Lin Huiyin, and a week later, Lin Huiyin said to Chang Shuhong: "You asked Shana to come to the Construction Department of Tsinghua University to assist me." She hopes that Chang Shana can combine the pattern of Dunhuang and make some new designs for cloisonné.
At that time, Lin Huiyin was already ill enough to work in bed, and her and Chang Shana's work mode was often one in bed, one at the bedside, and then took it to design. In this process, Chang Shana's artistic attainments have made great progress.
Although Lin Huiyin died a few years later, for Chang Shana, this was "an important fate" and also determined her lifelong ambitions, and since then, she has decided to "dedicate her life to the two majors of art design and teaching".
03
A philosophy that upholds a lifetime
"Design is not done by one person"
On the tenth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Chang Shana had the honor of participating in the design of the ten major buildings and was responsible for the design and decoration of the ceiling of the banquet hall of the Great Hall of the People.
Chang Shana, who is only in her twenties, did not feel pressure and ambitiously integrated her beloved Dunhuang motifs into the design. After the plan was presented, an engineer said to her: "Shana, your pattern is very beautiful, but the design should be combined with the function of the banquet hall, and the ventilation port and lighting should be combined, there is no lighting, no ventilation port, and your design is beautiful and useless." ”
Chang Shana humbly accepted the overnight revision and came up with a new design plan, finally solving the problem of lighting and ventilation, but also showing the beauty of Dunhuang art.
After the design work of the Great Hall of the People was completed, there was a banquet, responsible for design, responsible for production, and even the workers came, and after everyone sat down, Premier Zhou also came to congratulate and thank everyone. The moment the lights in the banquet hall turned on, everyone was moved to tears.
This experience gave Chang Shana an important enlightenment: the design is not done by one person, it is entirely the result of repeated research through joint efforts, and it must be carried out according to the needs of the function and in accordance with its meaning and purpose.
She has benefited from this for a lifetime and practiced it for a lifetime.
04
A unique aesthetic
"Our own things must have Chinese characteristics"
It can be said that Chang Shana has been engaged in work related to "beauty" all her life. Most people will feel that such an old man must be particularly exquisite. But in fact, she has not bought clothes for a long time, even if she is interviewed, she is wearing old clothes from more than ten years ago, "I don't make up this so-called fashion." ”
In fact, she is quite critical of the "fashion concept" of many young people now, and "complaining" is also quite straight:
"When it comes to 'Chinese elements', is it to draw a giant panda on clothes? We must have a basic aesthetic and cultural spirit! ”
"What is fashion?" Don't lose your Chinese heritage in pursuit of so-called fashion. ...... Our own things must have Chinese characteristics... We are characterised by five thousand years of history. ”
"Chinese culture must have roots and roots, and have a vein of blood!" Learning and learning, learning and asking, asking and learning, can not be random. ”
……
This "dissatisfaction" is even reflected in the interview process.
On the day of filming the program "My Family and My Country" of the main station, the host Wang Ning specially prepared a silk scarf with a Dunhuang flying pattern and wanted to give it to her. She waved her hands and said with some excitement, "No! No！ No！ The color of this scarf is also not correct, the proportion of the pattern does not exist, there is no study and no research, it is completely chaotic. ”
The photographer's brother wore a pair of ripped jeans, which she repeatedly criticized. The big logo on the choreographer's T-shirt also made her shake her head.
People present the "Dunhuang Impression" too casually, which makes her heartache; too sloppy pursuit of fashion, but also makes her feel helpless.
In her eyes, "beauty" is a complete system, a combination of size, proportion, tone, scale, function, and materials, and it is not possible to relax a little. Once she found something that was not beautiful, she had to say it, it was almost instinctive.
05
A phrase that has been repeatedly mentioned
"I have my program"
During the interview of the "My Family, My Country" program, Chang Shana mentioned this sentence several times: I have my program.
The first time was when the host Wang Ning picked up the old man downstairs and wanted to help her get her bag, she politely refused, explaining that after breast cancer surgery, this position was her habit and could maintain balance.
Another time was Wang Ning went to the old man's home for an interview, the old man was busy pouring tea for everyone in the kitchen, Wang Ning asked if she needed help, she said three "no" in a row, and then said the sentence again: "I have my program." ”
Her "procedures" also include: wiping the handrails with a paper towel; insisting on not cutting down the trees in the yard; insisting on living in the old teacher's building of the Academy of Arts and Crafts; 90 years old, still buying vegetables, cooking, doing housework, going up and down the stairs in a number of people; even if it is to eat with my son, I insist that you invite me once...
In the view of his son Cui Donghui, in addition to installing cameras at home, calling more and visiting more, there is no better way, because her mother has always had a set of her own ideas, she does not obey the old, feels that she can take care of herself, wants to take care of her own life, clean, tidy, regular, and has always insisted on this.
Perhaps, this kind of "procedure" and this persistence is the old man's unique way of getting along with the world, and it is also one of the wisdoms of her long life.
06
A powerful life
"This is life!"
When we say that a person's life is a long legend, we mean that in addition to those highlights, his life will also have essential lows.
In Chang Shana's life, of course, there are many such lows, in her own words, "I have experienced everything in my life." ”
The treasures of Dunhuang attracted Chang Shana and her father, but they were unable to keep her mother, who left them in 1945 because she could not stand the harsh conditions in Dunhuang. Teenage Shana takes care of both her father and her teenage brother, "both as a mother and a sister." ”
When her husband died, her son was only 13 years old, and Chang Shana raised her son alone, but she didn't seem to find it difficult, because "life is like this, you have to be mentally prepared, you have to struggle, you have to face reality."
In 2008, Chang Shana had breast cancer surgery and another half a year of chemotherapy. When talking about this matter, her tone was very flat, and she even felt "very good" and "what to do". She lived as usual, engaged in design, became a dean, did surgery, and listened to Kitaro's Silk Road.
During the ups and downs of life, Chang Shana always remembered her father's words: Life goes on and on. "Joy and sorrow, just go and experience it." "If you can do it, keep doing it, be happy, and you will be in a very happy mood."
What is a truly powerful life? It's "I've been through everything in my life, but I'm still optimistic."
Speaking of his sense of life, the ninety-year-old man said lightly in French: "C'est La vie – this is life." ”
When joy and sorrow are in the past, the vitality of life is still in the present. The beauty of such a life is refreshing.
Wen 丨 CCTV News "Night Reading"
The information refers to the "My Family and My Country" program of 丨 Main Station and the handwriting of the host Wang Ning
Humanistic Tsinghua Chang Shana speech, Harper's Bazaar, etc
Illustration | Synthesized from the "My Family, My Country" program, etc
Producer 丨 Wang Xingdong Editor-in-chief 丨 Wang Ruolu
Editor 丨 Yang Yuting Proofreader 丨 Gao Shaozhuo