Chapter 118 Cultural Relics · Old Books · Brushes

Cultural Relics · Old Books · Brushes In the past few months, besides news about wars, homicides, education crisis, etc., the crisis of used books has also been a lively news topic in the newspapers in Peking.In addition, the cultural relics in Peiping, mainly ancient buildings, have always been valued by people. The government has set up a Beiping Cultural Relics Consolidation Committee, and has allocated a considerable amount of money to repair these cultural relics several times.At the beginning of February, this committee also held a meeting, and decided that in order to adapt to the century-old plan of Beiping, the capital, it requested the government to "approve and issue funds for the first half of this year" and "strengthen the management and use of cultural relics to protect historical sites."As for writing brushes, many years ago the Ministry of Education stipulated that students must use writing brushes when writing Chinese and answering examination questions in Chinese.But in fact, students rarely use brushes, especially in big cities.This question seems to be still pending.In the author's opinion, cultural relics, old books, and brushes are exactly the same set, all of which are heritage, history, and old culture.Those who advocate the preservation of these things inevitably have some "nostalgia for the past", and on the one hand, they inevitably have the meaning of "preserving the quintessence of the country". "Preserving the quintessence of the country" seems to have become a bad word now, which is tantamount to "holding on to the remnants", "respecting the ancients", "obsessing over the bones", and "letting the dead hold the living".The author also knows that most of the people who advocate preserving these old things today are people from the May 4th era, so they will not have such stubborn thoughts, and the author himself has their emotions to some extent, and I am not so stubborn when I ask myself. That's the point.However, a careful analysis of the reasons for this assertion reveals that apart from "nostalgic nostalgia", it seems that it can only be said to be "preserving the quintessence of the country"; because these things are the excellent achievements of our ancestors, they are worth preserving, and they will also arouse our interest. missing.What makes us different from the elders is that preservation is just preservation, so that these things are like fossils, and we no longer dream of resurrecting them.What should pass will always pass, we understand this truth.

Regarding the allocation of huge sums of money to repair and paint the ancient buildings in Peking, there was a criticism in a newspaper, as if to say that in this era of war and hunger, one should not be busy doing these things to whitewash the peace.Originally, if it was really peaceful, this decoration might be able to attract some foreign tourists and get some foreign exchange to use.In these years, the glorious scene is just a strong contrast to the reality of war and hunger. The strong irony is indeed shocking.This is naturally a utilitarian view, but there are too many people without food and clothing these days, and a utilitarian view is also natural.But having said that, there is no overall plan for the public to use money now. This money is not used here, and probably will not be used on those who have no food or clothing, and may be used for some irrelevant things go up.Then, it's not too bad to use it to preserve ancient objects.If it is really possible to make a comprehensive plan and differentiate the severity, this kind of matter should probably be postponed.Although the author is in favor of preserving ancient relics, he has no intention of rescuing them.According to the logic, it is not too late to preserve ancient relics if you have enough food and clothing; if it is too late, you have to regret it, food and clothing are always essential.The author disagrees with over-emphasizing the preservation of ancient relics and over-emphasizing the cultural city of Beiping, but it is right to "strengthen management and use of cultural relics and buildings to maintain historical sites" without spending more money.

The crisis of used books refers to woodblock books, especially tomes.Over the past year, the second-hand book industry has suffered a severe recession.Some shops sell bulky woodblock books by the pound to make resurrection paper.This is of course a pity, and a bit miserable.So some scholars came out and called for rescue.Now the Ministry of Education has allocated one billion yuan to buy this kind of old books, and the rescue has already started, which is naturally very good.But the author wants to point out that the crisis of old books has been lurking for a long time, and it did not come out of nowhere.At the end of the Qing Dynasty, ancient books in lithographs were popular, easy to carry, and the price was fair.This is really the beginning of the crisis of used books.But at that time the lithographs were unrefined; it is said that there were many typos, of course, the main thing was the lack of antique flavor.Therefore, the adults disdain to take care of them.But after all, it is fair, convenient, and does not occupy the position of the bookshelf. Most scholars, especially young people, are willing to buy it.Since the Republic of China, there have been photocopies, such as the "Sibu Series", the originals are almost all rare books, and the photocopies will not have typos, and there is no lack of antique flavor.This affects the sale of used books even more.Later, there was a miniature version of the "Sibu Series", which was less old-fashioned but more convenient.There are also typesetting ancient books, such as "Si Bu Bei Yao", "Wan You Wen Ku", etc., which are also convenient and reasonable.Another example is the "Basic Series of Chinese Studies", according to some lithographed methods, it is more convenient to click sentences in the book.Before the Anti-Japanese War, there was the so-called "10% off 80% off books". There were not many typographical errors, they were extremely cheap, and circulated in large quantities, and many young students took care of them.Compared with the local paper books during the Anti-Japanese War, this kind of 10% discount book has now become a good edition.Today's young students often prefer this kind of typography to woodcuts; they want convenience and don't care about the antique.Since people who buy bulky books can buy photocopies or typographical copies, those who buy single books are more willing to buy typographical or lithographed copies. The innovation of technology has doomed the fate of old books!In the future, microfilm-based books will prosper, but the current photocopies and typesetting books will probably also decline?

As for the brush, the fate seems to be worse.Compared with the "water pen", its inconvenience is more obvious.To use a brush, you have to use an inkstone and ink, or at least an ink cartridge or an ink boat (there is such a thing in Shanghai, shaped like a boat, I don’t know what its name is, it uses ink paste, packed in a toothpaste-like tube, squeezed out when used), it is not as good as The fountain pen is convenient, but the pen cannot be hung on the lapel or inserted in the pocket.More importantly, writing with a brush is much slower than with a water pen, which is the fatal flaw of the brush.When it comes to the price, the writing brush is not necessarily much cheaper than the fountain pen including the accessories and the short period of use.Good imported fountain pens are naturally expensive, but good writing brushes are not cheap. Recently, someone saw a pen priced at more than 10 million yuan in Dai Yuexuan in Beiping.Naturally, fountain pens need foreign exchange, even if they are made in China, the materials have to be bought from foreign countries, but brushes are made in China; but we have to work hard to make fountain pens domestically produced.As for the Ministry of Education's regulations on students using brushes in the past, it seems that they only focused on "preserving the quintessence of the country" or "standard culture";Modern life needs fountain pens, and it is inevitable. It is reasonable, and the empty name of "standard culture" cannot resist it.Brushes should be preserved, and it is enough for a small number of calligraphers and painters to preserve them. It is not feasible to force everyone to use them.As for the poor handwriting of the students now, it is because of lack of serious training, and it has nothing to do with not using a brush.The student's handwriting should be clear and neat, and it is the same with water pens and brushes.

Students don't like to pay attention to writing, and they don't like to read ancient books. Although there are some people who buy typesetting ancient books, there are not many of them.They have a lot of homework and are busy with things, so they cannot appreciate the art of calligraphy, and even ignore the function of writing.Ancient texts and ancient books are difficult to understand because of their difficult characters, and they also feel that it is not worth the effort to read them.Fundamentally, it is because they no longer pay attention to history and old culture.This is also a necessary process, we need not marvel.However, we have to let young people write clearly and neatly to meet the basic function of writing. On the one hand, we have to work hard to compile some ancient books with detailed annotations in Chinese and text for young people to read.We should critically accept history and old culture as part of the material for creating a new culture, and it is wrong to erase it all at once.In fact, young people don’t really wipe out ancient Chinese and ancient books. They only see that there are already eight kinds of bilingual versions of Chinese and Chinese, and there are already three kinds of "Three Hundred Poems of Tang Dynasty" (although it is better to only have one of each). The demand for books is still great—and the buyers are probably still mostly young people.So we should know the direction of our efforts.As for the art of calligraphy and the special study of ancient texts and ancient books, it is better to leave it to a few people who are interested. Such people should be cultivated in universities or independent colleges.

Even thinking of the improvement of traditional Chinese painting and peace drama, there are people working hard on these two kinds of work.A young colleague talked to me about these two issues a few days ago. He felt that both traditional Chinese painting and peace drama have been fully developed and have become stereotyped. There is no need to improve, and there is no way to improve; Things that are neither old nor new may not end well.He feels that folk art is immature and has not been developed, but we may be able to promote their development; like traditional Chinese painting and peace drama, which has reached its peak, it is time to decline, and it is time to pass, and it may be thankless to hold them. .According to the author's opinion, in the creation of our new culture and art, we must critically adopt the old culture and old art. Both scholar-bureaucrats and folk, as well as foreign ones, can be used, but this era and this country should be the main focus.I am afraid that the improvement will inevitably be dragged by the old era, and it will not go far, or it may not go at all.It's better to start a new stove, but you can choose to use the old materials.

What should pass will always pass. Made on March 12 and 13, 1948. (Originally published in Ta Kung Pao on March 31, 1948)