Mei Hesun has a romantic charm.

Mei Hesun took a photo with his mother.

Book shadow of Xiao Ji

■ Dai Qiu

First, a collection leads to celebrity romance.

In the autumn of 2016, I bought a handwritten note by Cai Juchuan, a famous epigraphy artist in Yangzhou, from the Border Town Bookstore. The payee was Mei Hesun. The content of this handwritten note is about Cai’s management of printing for a generation of famous actress Mei Lanfang. My interest in it is mainly to write anecdotes about the interaction between Cai and Mei. But because of the high price, I can’t help but pay attention to Mei Hesun.

Mei Hesun is a native of Jiangdu, Yangzhou. He is good at both poetry and calligraphy, and often sings with peers and celebrities. I always thought that he was a poet of Yechun Houshe, and later asked Mr. Gu Yiping, an expert on Yechun Houshe, but the answer was not. However, Gu Lao recalled to me a story related to Mei Hesun, which was quite interesting.

In the 1990s, in order to collect information about Yangzhou literature and history, Gu Lao visited Mr. Chen Xiaozhi who lived in the east of Wenjing Lane in Dongguan Street by bike many times. In the early days of liberation, Chen Xiaozhi served as the deputy director of the Literature and History Committee of Yangzhou Municipal Political Consultative Conference. His father, Chen Chenshuo, was a poet, good at calligraphy and painting, and an important member of Yechun Houshe.

Gu Lao remembers that every time he visited Chen Xiaozhi, he was in the bedroom of Chen Zhai West Room. At that time, a vertical shaft about 120 cm high and 60 cm wide hung on the wall, which caught his attention. Once, he couldn’t help but be curious. When he took a closer look, it turned out to be a rubbings of "Song Su A Cui Xiao Xiang Yan" with inscriptions, inscriptions, poems and inscriptions by nearly 20 famous artists. Seven of them are important members of Yangzhou Yechun Houshe Society, namely Qin Gengnian, Xuan Guyu, Guan Lishing, He Jinyi, Chen Yaoxian, Yao Yinda and Wang Jingqi, which aroused great interest from Gu Lao. This is not only an important material for poets in the post-Yechun society, but also an excellent rural literature.

When Gu Lao asked about the history of this rubbing, Mr. Chen Xiaozhi said, "I have to ask my brother-in-law, Mei Yingchao." And told the detailed address of Mei Yingchao. So, on June 6th, 2001, Gu Lao wrote to Professor Mei Yingchao in north china university of technology, Beijing, asking him to tell the story of this rubbing vertical axis. Soon, on June 18th of that year, Mei Yingchao wrote back. In his letter, he described the ins and outs of this vertical shaft in detail: "The letter talked about the vertical shaft of the rubbings of’ Song Su A Cui Shi Yan’ mounted by my father, and A Cui Yan was spread to Ma Xianglan, a famous prostitute in Qinhuai in the late Ming Dynasty, and she felt sorry for herself. This rubbing was probably picked up by my father when he bought old books in Xiuzhou Bookstore in Shanghai during the Anti-Japanese War, and he was very happy. After mounting it, he invited celebrities to write poems, including those who took refuge in Yangzhou and came to Shanghai at that time. It is also a good thing for literati to say that it is a good thing. Back in those days, my father and I talked, and his understanding of this inkstone and Ma Xianglan was based on an article. This article is the preface of the famous book Shu Xue written by Mr. Wang Zhong (Rong Fu), a great writer in Yangzhou during the Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty. There are a few words in the preface:’ I am a solitary man, living in an inch of land, unable to cure my life, and my old and weak life hangs on my fingers … I am interested in different things, and I am sad and happy by people … What is the difference between me and Sri Lankan people?’ I want to ask my brother to read this article in his spare time, and I can understand it with deep feelings. A deeper understanding of my father’s state of mind at that time is not simply a matter of’ literati’s good deeds’. "

This letter is deeply emotional and concise. The past of the Sri Lankan people is emotional. Mei Yingchao’s father is Mei Hesun, a "good scholar".

Coincidentally, at the age of 2020, I saw another frame of Mei Hesun’s calligraphy fan in the workshop. The small letters were accurate and aboveboard. The content is to copy his own poems as a gift to Wei Yuzhi, a poet of the post-Spring Society, and the literati atmosphere is really unforgettable. At first, the painter was reluctant to sell, and then he was waiting for the price. After many twists and turns, fortunately, I started. I think this is a kind of fate.

Second, learning is taught by the mother, and the old house of Qing Dynasty grows up.

Mei Hesun, whose name is Han, whose name is Hesun, whose name is Yuan, and whose name is Xing. Born in 1894, that is, Jiawu in the 20th year of Guangxu reign in Qing Dynasty, The Fairy Temple (now Jiangdu County) in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province. Mei Yaochen, a poet of the Northern Song Dynasty, is the most famous descendant of Mei family who came from Xuancheng, Anhui. Mei Hesun’s grandfather’s name is Plum Crane, which has a sound village; Father Mei Zhaoluan, a scholar, died young at the age of 29.

Mei Hesun lost his father at the age of six, and he relied on his mother, Mrs. Liu, a loving mother and a strict teacher.

Speaking of Mei Hesun’s mother, she can be called a strange girl. She is the great granddaughter of Liu Wenqi, a great scholar of Yizheng Confucian classics, and the first cousin of Liu Shipei, a master of modern Chinese studies. Liu is a well-known academic family in China. Since Jia Dao, Liu in Yizheng has been comparable to Huishi in sinology. From Liu Wenqi’s time to Liu Shipei, he passed on the scriptures in one generation and four generations, and became a great success by carefully "Zuo’s family", which was known as "Liu’s family in Qingzhao Old House".

In the 1930s, Mei Hesun hung a pair of couplets in the living room of Shanghai Yuzhong, and wrote a sentence and a book for Qin Gengnian, a epigraph scientist in Yangzhou: "Old houses are green, and poems from other families are passed on; Mountain house cypress, read Mei’s old book. " What I said is the truth of Mei Hesun’s family background.

Mei Mu’s famous teacher, Shuo, was influenced by his family. He was proficient in classics and history since childhood, devoted to poetry, loved calligraphy and studied Wei Bei.

Mr. Zhu Huang (Zi Juping), a close friend of Liu Shipei and a well-known resident in Jiangdu, once wrote a biography of Mei Jie’s mother, praising Mei Mu: "Less family education, more good at Mao Shi and Li Ji, and always follow the etiquette." However, Meimei is still a good wife and mother in the end: "In nineteen years, she belongs to literature (referring to marrying the Mei family), and she is as good as ordinary people. I have never seen what I have learned, and I am close to my husband, and my family is silent. "

In this biography, Zhu Juping also tells a story about the virtuous mother Mei. In September, 1911, there was Sun Tiansheng’s rebellion in Yangzhou, and traitors and bandits took the opportunity to make trouble. At that time, Mei lived in the east of the city, and the situation was critical. Mrs. Liu wanted to take her family away from home to avoid accidents, but the old woman resolutely refused and vowed to die. At that time, Mr. Zhu happened to pass by Mei’s house. In a hurry, Mei’s mother entrusted her young crane grandson to him, saying mournfully, "I’m tired of this son, and I’m just waiting for Gudumen."

At that time, Sun Shang, the crane, was in her prime, and her mother was a poor aunt and a weak child. But she was a pillar in the meantime, and she died to save the portal, which is hard to know. Therefore, Zhu Juping wrote a biography for her, calling it "Jiemu", which was emotional.

Mei Hesun was taught by his mother when he was a child. After more than ten years, Mei Hesun was able to write and write, which was praised by the village. Mei Hesun later recalled his son Mei Yingchao: He entered the school as a teacher and presented Er Ya to his husband first. Please teach him to read it first. Mr. Wang doesn’t understand. At that time, it generally started from the "Four Books", "University" and "The Doctrine of the Mean". Liu is an academic family, and children’s reading is also different from the general. Therefore, to be more precise, Mei Hesun’s growth was cultivated by his family’s old house.

Mei Hesun has read through the history of classics since he was a weak champion, and he has taught himself to attack hardships. Later, he asked Mr. Zhu Juping, a great scholar who studied in the countryside, to learn all kinds of arts, to concentrate on learning, and finally to achieve something.

In 1921, Mei Hesun was twenty-eight years old and went out to make a living. Worked in Jiangdu County. In 1924, he served as a clerk and auditor of Bank of Communications in Nanjing. In 1930, he served as secretary of the board of directors of Guohua Bank in Shanghai; Clerical officer, Central Banking Bureau; Secretary, Commissioner, assistant manager of the Central Trust Bureau for more than 30 years. In 1957, he was hired by the Shanghai Municipal People’s Committee as a member of the Shanghai Literature and History Museum. He died in Shanghai in September 1964.

Third, poetry and calligraphy paint things, making them famous at sea.

Mei Hesun has been traveling in Shanghai for 30 years, and has been working in a bank to make a living, but his good nature still lies in literature and art. In 1944, Mei Hesun wrote nine chapters of Shu Huai, and now I record one of them to get a glimpse of his mind:

"Lease the beach, snap your fingers for two generations, hold the slips and become public, and send them to the spring house. Among them, there are many monsters, and they are more than baht, and the colonization is the camp. My heart is indifferent and indomitable, and my son is lofty. In the Sun, the Moon, eight years of chaos, cloud Hu Bugui, thousands of miles with joy. South Gangbei Luo, the countryside is full of fish and smoke, and I am cherished and cherished, and I am waiting for you. "

Mei Hesun is first and foremost a poet. In 1957, in the column of "Works" in the personnel file of the Shanghai Museum of Literature and History, Mei Hesun noted that there were three volumes of poems and one volume of words in the Jade Kuilong Museum (to be published). According to the memory of his son, Professor Mei Yingchao of north china university of technology, his father likes to write lyrics after 60 years, and about 100 poems are kept in the Shanghai residence. Unfortunately, these poems were all destroyed by fire in September 1966.

Judging from the surviving works, Mei Hesun’s ancient poems pursue Mu Han and Wei, while his modern poems live in the Song Dynasty. Mei Yingchao remembers that his father once showed him the fan of his recent work "Watching the Moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival in Kuanglu" inscribed by his poet friend Chen Sanli: "The cage lake shakes the autumn moon in the sea and moves to the place where Kuangjun lies." Praise, Chen Sanli’s poetics is patriarchal Song people.

Mei Hesun is also a calligrapher. Mei Hesun’s mother is good at calligraphy. He heard from her uncle Liu Shipei that before her mother became a monk, Zeng Shu wrote the banner "Willow Yiyi" with a diameter of eight inches, which hung in Liu Shipei’s room for decades, and Liu Shipei deeply liked it. Liu Shipei said to Mei Hesun, "This is a good sentence in the Book of Songs. You can always think about the artistic conception of these four words when you learn to write poetry, and you should make progress."

Grandmother Mei He’s parents always pay attention to calligraphy. When he was a child, he went back to his old house with his mother, and he often came into contact with many famous works such as Bao Shichen and Wu Rangzhi. The Huashan Monument, collected by Liu’s family, is a treasure of the world, and all the uncles take calligraphy as their ability. Mei Hesun is deeply impressed, and his diligent study, writing practice and extensive reading of posts go hand in hand at the same time. Around the age of 30, people from all sides have been asking for books in an endless stream.

According to Mei Yingchao’s recollection article, when my father was in Shanghai, he talked about art papers, painted poems and books, and friends gathered at regular intervals, which was called "Songbin Tea Collection". I remember an elegant collection in the spring of Xinsinian (1941), and my father happened to talk about "a poem entitled" Wu Rangzhi Peach Blossom Willow Fan Fu "in the collection of Ji ‘an by Mr. Mei Zhi, an ancestor of our family during Daoguang years":

"My friend, I can paint with powder, poplar is green, and peach is red. Don’t close the night and get exposed, fake spring and shake the wind, show off your beauty and be tolerant. Hu Wei Xia Jie, focusing on Qian Mian; Algae think like yee, jasper becomes smoke. Cherish the fleeting moment, linger on the emotions as soon as possible, and believe in the wonderful traces of spirituality, which will be beautiful in Xiquan. "

On the spot, the painter Pan Junnuo dyed Han and painted it as a fan of peach blossoms and willows, while Mei Hesun gave it all to his left in small letters. Calligraphy and painting are both beautiful, which is really elegant and elegant.

Mei Hesun’s calligraphy can be used as a cursive couplet, and he can learn from Wei and Jin dynasties in a real way, and he can get its likeness in Cao Ebei and Thirteen Lines in Jade Edition. In the 1970s, Yangzhou Calligraphy Association edited and published "Preliminary Collection of Ancient and Modern Calligraphy and Printing Works in Yangzhou", which included Mei Hesun’s running script.

Due to his persistent pursuit of literature and art, he was good at exposition. During his stay in Shanghai, Mei Hesun was also a connoisseur of literature and art, and he learned a lot about epigraphy, calligraphy and painting, and edition. Among them, friends and painters who are especially discerning about the authenticity of ancient and modern paintings and calligraphy often come to ask for advice. Individuals occasionally hoard, mostly rare sketches. Apart from the rubbings of the "Southern Song Dynasty Su ‘a Cui Small Elephant Ink Stone" collected by Qing Shen Shiyou mentioned above, there is another collection that is quite talked about:

On one occasion, Mei Hesun accidentally visited Yangzhou, and bought a piece of calligraphy in a cold stall. It was old and cracked, and it had been a long time. The word "square domain" was unknown to people and regarded as dirt. Mei Hesun inferred from the charm of calligraphy, the content of the poem, the age of the paper, the color of the seal, and the location of discovery, and thought that the author of this word was actually "Hou Fangyu". One of the four famous sons of the late Ming Dynasty, the author of Collected Works of Zhuang Regret Hall, and the master of the legendary Peach Blossom Fan. Show friends, all amazing.

Fourth, writing in his later years, personally testifying Liu’s historical materials.

In the summer of 1957, Mei Hesun, aged 64, was introduced by the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Culture and the New City Political Consultative Conference and was hired as a librarian of the Shanghai Literature and History Museum. One of his important jobs in his later years was to write the historical materials of "three relatives", mainly about the memories of Liu’s family in Yizheng, the old house of Qing Qing.

Yizheng Liu is a famous academic family, who lives in the old house of Qing Qing in Dongquanmen, Yangzhou. From the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty to the Jiaqing period, generations of famous experts in Confucian classics and masters of Chinese studies appeared in the Liu family. They made great contributions to the academic history of Yangzhou.

The so-called study of Confucian classics is a science that specializes in the interpretation of Confucian classics in the Spring and Autumn Period. The Liu family was famous in the academic circles of Daoguang, Xianfeng, Tongzhi and Guangxu Dynasties in Qing Dynasty. They studied and interpreted Zuo’s Biography in the Spring and Autumn Period, and wrote many handed down works such as Textual Research on Zuo’s Biography. Their names appeared in Biography of the Scholars, which is unique in the history of the Qing Dynasty.

The so-called "three generations once", that is, Liu Wenqi, Liu Yusong and Liu Shou’s great-grandfather Sun San, are the representatives of Yangzhou School. When Mei Hesun was a child, he often went home with his mother. He is well-read and memorized, and he knows a lot about Liu’s family life and anecdotes for generations. I have heard a lot about it, and many anecdotes are often talked with my children at ordinary times.

Mei Hesun’s memoir titled "Notes on Liu V in Qingzhong Old House" is a portrayal of life since Meng Zhan’s Mr. Liu Wenqi descended to V, especially the legendary experience of Naijiu and Liu Shipei, a master of modern Chinese studies. Liu Shipei, as an important figure in the academic and ideological circles in the late Qing Dynasty, had a great influence on the transformation of China’s modern ideology and culture. However, his life was mixed with politics, with mixed praise and praise. Mei Hesun did not shy away from his relatives, but wrote a straight book about what he saw and heard, which has extremely high historical value.

Mei Hesun spent a lot of energy in writing "Notes on Liu V in Qingzhao Old House Yizheng". It took four years before and after, and the first draft was compiled into two volumes. After the draft was completed, it was distributed to relevant people for review, and it was paid in early autumn of 1962 and mimeographed into a book.

After the first edition of Xiao Ji, in addition to sending it to major libraries in China, it was also distributed to relevant experts and scholars for comments, which received widespread attention and praise from domestic academic circles. For example, Mr. Chen Naigan wrote: "If you read the final book, if you meet with the former sages, you will be one of the fastest in the dust. Narrative Xu Wei Qu, especially admired, is also a new force in Part B. " Mr. Zhou Zuoren said: "Although Zun Zhu was written in imitation of the biographies of other scholars in Hongbei River, it was stronger in expression, and it really won. Its miscellaneous notes are especially rare. I have counted it and I am very impressed. "

Originally, Mei Hesun wanted to synthesize the opinions of all parties and further improve the book in order to revise and reprint it. However, his body is already a lingering sickbed, and he is getting tired. More than two years later, on September 18, 1964, Mei Hesun died with regret. Soon, after ten years of turmoil, Mei Hesun’s books disappeared, and his manuscripts were also lost.

It was not until 18 years later that, with the efforts of many parties, in July 2004, the "Notes on Liu V in Qingzhao Old House Yizheng", which condensed Mei Hesun’s life feelings and painstaking efforts, was finally officially published by Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House. The new edition of Xiao Ji was revised and arranged by his son Mei Yingchao, including Liu Shipei’s posthumous works outside the collection, and also printed the handwritten letters written by experts and scholars to Mei Hesun, which finally comforted Mei Hesun’s spirit in heaven.

I quote Yongmei’s poems about He Sun from Yangzhou Art Circles by Liu Jiechun, a poet of the post-Spring Society, as a conclusion:

Find a sentence and spend a moment, and send it back to the public.

Than to smell crazy, and sing bamboo branches to Chunming.

Editor in charge: