Wen Yudong
There are too many prime ministers in the history of the Republic of China, and Liang Shiyi is probably the least known of them, and has almost been forgotten except for a few in the financial and financial circles.
Liang Shiyi (1869-1933), Zi Yifu, Yansun, Guangdong Sanshuiren, Guangxu Jinshi, Zhi Hanlin Academy Editor, Min Chu served as secretary general of the Presidential Office, premier of the Bank of Communications, vice minister of finance, and premier of the Beiyang government, and was known as the "god of living wealth" and "second president"; the US minister in China, Rui Enshi, who had dealt with him, compared it to "China's Morgan", which combined economists, bankers, and politicians.
On the political and commercial road of Liang Shiyi and officials and businessmen, the Bank of Communications is undoubtedly the most important station. In September 1906, the Ministry of Posts and Communications was established, and the railways were transferred to the jurisdiction of the Ministry; the Minister of Supervision was abolished, and Liang Shiyi became the Five-Way Investigation Office, presiding over five-sevenths of the country's railway business, and undoubtedly became a real power figure in the transportation department. In 1907 (the thirty-third year of Guangxu), he asked for the establishment of the "Bank of Communications". Because he saw that the railways run by the borrowers, according to the contract, the deposits had always been divided by foreign banks, and the remittances were also remitted by foreign banks, and the losses were too much, because he suggested that the Ministry of Posts and Communications "set up a bank". In fact, when the Bank of Communications was first set up, the premier was Li Jingchu, the assistant Zhou Kechang, and Liang Shiyi were just assistants. However, due to political relations, Liang Shiyi became the chairman of the Bank of Communications in June 1918, and wrote thousands of words of national instructions, printed 100,000 copies and distributed them to various places, please unanimously trust and love the two banks of China and communications to consolidate the financial institutions of the country. Especially in the great changes between the north and the south before and after the Northern Expedition, he was flexible and strategic, properly coped, and gradually became the "soul" figure of the Bank of Communications. From this point of view, he is undoubtedly a figure in the history of the Bank of Communications and even in the history of Chinese finance.
If it is said that Liang Shiyi's economic management ability and financial management level have been recognized by the world, and now they are also concerned and studied by the academic community, then the calligraphy as his personal education has been ignored by people, and few people have mentioned it so far. When it comes to the calligraphy of the Republic of China, its essence is the same as the political pattern, and it can also be said that "the princes compete for hegemony and the masses rise up". In that period when the imperial system was just lifted, the old and the new alternated, the West learned from the East, and culture and art were greatly freed and released. Calligraphy, painting, poetry, and articles have taken on a new look. Kang Youwei, Sun Yat-sen, Yu Youren, Zhang Daqian, Zhang Xiao, Yuan Kewen, Feng Chaoran, Lin Changmin, Cai Yuanpei, Wu Changshuo... They are either the former sages who have set off the great waves of historical reform, or the fighters who returned from overseas to save China, or the calligraphers and painters who use pen and ink to depict the inner world. In that special era, they used brushes and calligraphy, the most Chinese and traditional way to send hearts and pens, to send out the cry of the times. The demeanor, temperament, and knowledge of the gentlemen are also hidden in this ink.
Although Liang Shiyi's reputation in calligraphy is not as loud as the "Four Greats" of the Republic of China (Tan Yanmin, Hu Hanmin, Wu Zhihui, and Yu Youren), it is not inferior to the art of calligraphy, and even more than some famous masters. From the beginning of his childhood reading private school, he studied calligraphy under the strict guidance of his father Liang Zhijian and Shu Shishi, first learned Yan Zhenqing's "Duo Pagoda", passed yan's "Scramble for Seats", "Three Xie Ti" and the big character "Magu Xiantan", etc., and then Yizong Li Beihai, went all out to "Yunli General Li Sixun Monument", "Lushan Temple Stele", "Qinghua Temple Stele", etc., changed the habit of Yan Lugong, realized the Tang people's method of using pens, retraced the "Second King", and occasionally came to "Shimen Statue Record" and "Zhang Ronglong Monument", etc., and studied the famous stele Fa Post with each other, and gradually refined his calligraphy. Although Later Liang Shiyi entered the political arena, he had no intention of making a name for himself in Hanmo, and with the continuous improvement of his official position, the government affairs became increasingly busy, but he never stopped his preference and study of calligraphy. Fortunately, the purpose of calligraphy in the traditional sense is largely based on practicality, rather than pure artistic aesthetics. At that time, the handling of official documents was done with a brush, which just made him learn to write and official business. It is in this kind of daily writing that he translates the beneficial essence of the inscriptions of the past into his own pen and ink language, "will be at the time of the intention" (Ming Xiangmu), so as to achieve the effect of extensive exposition and refinement. Judging from his surviving works, he mainly focuses on letters, couplets, fans, horizontal batches, etc., and is known for his two practical books, namely the calligraphy and the xingshu. His book uses both square and round strokes, the lines are stretched and elegant, slender but not weak, beautiful and elastic; the strokes are either upward or downward, or light or heavy; the structure is rigorous, the side is beautiful and beautiful; the size of the glyphs is uneven, and the simplicity and complexity are interspersed, thus forming an artistic feature with bright rhythm, bone strength, muscle strength and strength, showing a rich Jin and Tang Dynasty atmosphere.
Because Liang Shiyi has been engaged in macroeconomic and financial management for a long time, his ability to predict and control the overall situation is better than ordinary people. This kind of professional sensitivity and habit will also be consciously or unconsciously reflected in its writing, that is, paying great attention to the division of space and the overall layout. In his view, writing is not difficult, the difficulty lies in the layout: words have size, complexity, length. Sometimes several words in a sentence overlap and connect, such as mountain after mountain, or line after line, knowing it is knowing, etc., if you do not type the "belly draft" before you put pen down, and then think about the changes on the way, it is difficult to achieve the magic of one breath, even if each word is written very wonderfully, it is not very impressive.
In particular, his large-character works, although there are not many surviving works, can only see "Humble Benefit", "Yanjing Old Rain", "The Third Sound of Yiyang Creek Road" and other frames, but the pieces are all fine products, showing its superb level in layout: the knot is clumsy, the danger is victorious, the ink color is rich, the thickness and light are appropriate, the density is appropriate, the virtual reality is appropriate, so although there is no vertical and horizontal tension, the sword is tense, but the words are always full of a different kind of ambition, calling the wind and rain. It can be said that this kind of pen and ink control ability is not all obtained from the inscriptions of the predecessors of the past, but more is his ups and downs of life experience, rich communication and long-term social interaction and long-term at the top of the social structure, as well as the reflection of multiple identities and education. And this special experience and situation was difficult for ordinary scholars and artists at that time to encounter and achieve. Therefore, the difficulty in learning calligraphy is not to use the pen and knot, the most difficult to grasp and imitate is the pattern and style, which is closely related to the scholar's education, experience and mind. Contemporary middle school Zhao Mengfu, "two kings" are not a minority, coupled with the rapid development of the printing industry, so that the famous inscriptions are not only within reach, and the quality is superior, delicate, but there are very few people who can really write the original style, far from the liang era as the masters gathered, famous people. First, there are subjective reasons. Contemporary people due to the lack of education, for the traditional understanding is not enough, some of the so-called "everyone" in the current book world, they basically have no "child skills", and the current cross-talk industry, mostly halfway out of the house, there is no solid foundation and foundation, resulting in their lack of understanding of traditional classics. Second, it is an objective reason. Most of today's people are in the prosperous world, living comfortably, experiencing a single experience, lacking the grinding of life, and facing various temptations, and the purpose of studying books is not pure. On the other hand, Liang Shiyi's generation of writing is mostly a practical need, not a conscious artistic creation, and he himself has never considered himself a calligrapher or an artist, let alone driven by interests. Just like Mr. Lu Weizhao, a contemporary stele schoolman and calligraphy educator, when he was most prestigious, he repeatedly commented on himself with regret: "I can't imagine that I ended up with the fate of a calligrapher and painter in the end." "This fully represents the overall values of their generation: when they are young, they should do more learning, and writing should be amateurish, but writing well is the most basic, and there is no conceit or show off." However, many calligraphers today write for the sake of writing, create for the sake of creation, and some colleges and universities are also professional and professional, for the discipline and discipline, but the calligraphy has lost the authenticity of "reaching its temperament and forming its mournful pleasure", and it has never been able to achieve the realm of "accidental desire to write" and "random writing" but "unintentional to be jia naijia".
Therefore, the inkblots of Liang Shiyi's generation cannot be appreciated and measured by the calligraphy evaluation standards of today's "exhibition hall era", even if the writing level of the writers is average, they can also engrave their own era memories and traces of handwriting through these engravings, so that future generations can glimpse the era of wind and thunder. What's more, there were not too many calligraphy masters like Liang Shiyi in that generation.
(The author is a member of the Chinese Calligraphers Association, a member of the China Literary and Art Critics Association, the deputy director of the Academic Committee of the China Financial Calligraphers Association, and the vice chairman of the Zhejiang Financial Calligraphers Association)
Edited by Sun Leyi