In the industry, books written or printed before 1912 in the form of Chinese classics are called ancient books. The restoration and mounting of ancient books, calligraphy and painting, and tablet inscriptions have been a manual skill since ancient times.
Italian restoration master Brandi once said: "The so-called restoration is to maintain and protect the cultural value of an item, and to ensure the preservation and protection of its cultural value.
In ancient China, the restoration of ancient books was passed down from generation to generation in the form of teachers and apprentices; today, the restoration of ancient books is known as "the person who sews the old times" and "the person who talks to the time".
Zhao Jiafu, the first batch of ancient book restoration talents trained by New China, entered the Shanghai Library in 1961, engaged in the restoration and mounting of ancient books, calligraphy and painting, and inscriptions for 60 years, presided over major document restoration and rubbing production projects, and successively restored a large number of national first and second grade ancient books Literature; After retirement, he served as a tutor for ancient books restoration training at the National Ancient Books Protection Center, a special-appointed professor at the Chinese Ancient Books Protection Research Institute of Fudan University, and a tutor at the Chongqing Library and Liaoning Provincial Library Research Institute.
Zhao Jiafu is the leader of the two northern and southern factions. He is famous for his “Bo Ya” and is a generation of “national players”. "Bo" refers to his comprehensive technology: restoration of ancient books, mounting of paintings and calligraphy, engraving of engraved stones, extension of tablet inscriptions, mounting of tablet inscriptions, and pentathlon. "Elegant" means that he is technically handsome and elegant, both in art and scholarship. However, for the reputation of the outside world, he said humbly: "What matter, you insist on pondering for decades, and will naturally get results."
"Good seedlings" cultivated by Jiangnan silk and bamboo music
"Ding Dong, Ding Dong, Ding Dong..." The crunchy sound of metal collision, sounded into the ears.
During the interview, Zhao Jiafu, who was nearly eighty years old, demonstrated the stone carving "Fudan Spirit-Yu Youren" while explaining, "The private seal is very elegant, and the fonts and strokes on the seal vary from person to person: some people are not familiar with the seal. It’s best to be well-formed and complete; some people know how to do it, and the engraved seal can be based on the personality of the owner. You see, the seal of'Yu Youren', although the word'Yu' is missing half of the word, the word'Ren' is very good Quite a predecessor, with a modest atmosphere and informality."
The little stone carvings, with only a few characters and a single seal, actually hide a lot of knowledge. If this knowledge was placed sixty or seventy years ago, it seems to Ba Jiazi, who likes Jiangnan Silk Bamboo, that he can't beat it.
In 1944, Zhao Jiafu was born on Xujiahui Old Street in Shanghai, and later moved to Maoming Road along Huaihai Road. When he was young, he didn't know what was the prosperity of Shiliyangchang in Shanghai, but he had seen foreigners in front of the Cathay Cinema, pianos in Jinjiang Hotel's large garden, reading salons in Huaihai Park... and got used to it. When naughty, he also spoke English with the hotel's Indian porter. However, in contrast, he prefers traditional culture, listening to stories in the neighborhood, telling Pudong stories, and "Spring River Flower Moon Night" sounded at Nongtangkou.
Because he likes music, after studying, Zhao Jiafu joined the student band as an erhu; when he was in junior high school, he was catching up with the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and the Shanghai National Orchestra to pick "good seedlings" at the school. Both schools met him. However, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music is enrolling students and has to pay tuition fees. The school also recommended that he switch to violin; the Shanghai National Orchestra recruits two-year students without tuition fees and provides free meals. subsidy.
There are 7 brothers and sisters in the family, and the sensible Zhao Jiafu will naturally not give up such a good opportunity. He will immediately join the Shanghai National Orchestra and continue to pull Erhu. Unfortunately, the good times are not long. Soon after, the Shanghai National Orchestra compressed the compilation. Zhao Jiafu thought about it. If he was transferred to another academy and went to the acrobatic troupe as an accompaniment, the erhu hand had little effect, so he decided to change his career. There are two options for rerouting. “One is to go to the Shanghai Museum as an instructor, but I don’t speak Mandarin well; the other is to go to the Shanghai Library and help others borrow and return books to manage books. There should be no problem.”
In 1961, Zhao Jiafu entered the Shanghai Library, and the curator was Gu Tinglong, a library scientist and bibliographer of ancient books.
"Gu Lao is a Suzhou native who speaks softly, elegantly and honestly, and has a good self-cultivation. At that time, there was no fan in the picture above, but no matter how hot it is in summer, Gu Lao does not wear a singlet." Pay attention to the restoration of ancient books, encounter rare rare books, and often ask questions in person. "Gu Lao said, since we have to learn the restoration of ancient books, we have to make up for the cultural class first. How to make it up? After get off work, I will go to night school in my spare time. Now, my high school diploma is still in storage!"
At the same time, Gu Tinglong invited the bibliophile and version appraiser Pan Jingzheng, the bibliophile and the classic bibliographer Qu Fengqi, to take turns teaching young people and speak ancient Chinese for half a day every week.
From "Ancient Classical View" and "Chinese Loose-leaf Selected Works" to Zhuge Liang's "Before the Teacher", "Behind the Teacher", Tao Yuanming's "Peach Blossom", Fan Zhongyan's "Yueyang Tower" and so on I don’t understand why I need to learn ancient Chinese and memorize classical Chinese. “Interestingly, Mr. Pan reads ancient Chinese, they are as good as singing, and they have a tone. We learn and are very interested.”
In addition, Gu Lao arranged for young people to practice writing. How to practice? One hour before work every day, practice in the unit.
"So what body should I practice?" Zhao Jiafu asked.
Gu Lao replied that there is no hard and fast rule, and choose whatever you like.
Zhao Jiafu practiced Chu Suiliang's regular script for a while, and also practiced Liu Gongquan's Liu body, but he did not persevere. "Calligraphy is a gradual process, you practice it yourself, the progress is very small, and it is not obvious enough."
Gu Lao saw that Zhao Jiafu didn’t bother to write, and he talked with him in earnest: “I let you teach you ancient Chinese, I hope you learn to understand sentences and understand classical Chinese. I want you to learn to write, not to be a calligrapher, but to see The trend of the strokes between the lines in the words. Whether it is block letters, cursive script, script script, or Xiaozhuan, if you practice more, you will know what kind of force it uses in where, how to start and close the pen, which is of great benefit to the inscriptions and inscriptions. In this way, at most he is a craftsman, but he can’t understand the art of calligraphy.
The words of Gu Lao to Zhao Jiafu are like initiation. Today, he does not go out at home. Zhao Jiafu still insists on practicing Chinese characters for decades.
Pay attention to the right medicine and see the doctor
Working in the ancient book restoration team, Zhao Jiafu was most exposed to carved stone, tombstone, and mounted master Huang Huaijue. "I learned from Mr. Huang. It is the traditional model of the master taking the apprentice. In the past, the master did not talk much about the stele. One is the habit of the old society. The master is afraid of the apprentice stealing technology and grabbing a job. The second is that the master himself came here. Mr. Huang said before that he was an apprentice in Suzhou. At first, he didn’t let him do work, but started from doing chores and doing housework. When he got to the point of learning, it was all up to him to observe, meditate, and practice. You ask, why? The master will say, why?! That’s how..."
In the picture above, Master Huang and his apprentice first gave two carving knives, and Zhao Jiafu had to learn to sharpen knives. At the beginning, the master did not grind well, and the master didn't say it. He threw it aside and needed to grind it again; if the grinder is good, the master used it, then he can go to the next step. Looking at the master's lettering, Zhao Jiafu laid his hands and handed the tools next to the station, and then practiced by himself, repeatedly imitating and figuring out the master's technique, the rhythm of engraving the monument, and even the sound. "In the end, the door was closed, I carved a monument inside, and the outsiders listened to the sound and the rhythm was the same as the master. This is fine."
In 1964, the Central Tubo Cultural Relics Bureau opened a training class for ancient book restoration talents. Zhao Jiafu studied for two years with Mr. Zhang Shida, an ancient book restoration expert from the Beijing Library.
Mr. Zhang is known as "a generation of national hands, ancient book Langzhong". His personal experience is similar to that of Huang Huaijue. He first worked as an apprentice at the Liuyachang Xunyatang Ancient Bookstore in Beijing, and then became an independent portal. "Mr. Zhang and Zhao Wanli, director of the Rare Books Department of the Beijing Library, are old friends. He usually walks through the streets to collect ancient objects. He receives good things for Zhao Wanli. If something is damaged, he repairs it himself and sells it in the store. 1956 In a public-private partnership, Zhao Wanli invited Zhang Shida to work in the Beijing Library. The best books in the Beijing Library were all repaired by Mr. Zhang." Zhao Jiafu said.
The ancient book restorer, in the final analysis, is a "book doctor", "the doctor pays attention to the right medicine, and the book is the same." Old books have been polished over the years and have burrs, but they do not need to be neatly trimmed; ancient paintings and calligraphy often have yellow spots, which may be caused by oxidation and improper preservation. The traditional method uses water or alkali, or oxalic acid can be used It can be washed and even bleached as new, but this will inevitably cause damage to the paper, especially alkali and oxalic acid, so is it necessary to make it so beautiful? "I personally think that repairing a book is as old as it is old. If you can't touch it, you don't touch it. Instead of using a new book, it's better to make the old paper, and make up the damaged parts of the inner pages, so that the ancient book becomes complete and is not subject to secondary infringement."
It is important to use stone for carving. In terms of effect, bluestone is the best; in terms of difficulty, granite is the most difficult. The traditional inscriptions are mostly made from local materials, mainly sedimentary rocks. This kind of stone is relatively low in hardness and easy to chisel. The carved calligraphy has a good effect, but it is easy to weather. "The carving knife pays attention to the 45-degree angle, but the specific tilt is also different from person to person, depending on the individual technique."
After Huang Huaiyuan retired, Zhao Jiafu, who had learned something, was on his own. He not only participated in the rescue of the "Shanxi Zhaocheng Tibetan Classics" restoration, mounted a large number of Sheng Xuanhuai rulers, but also carved many inscriptions and celebrity ink for the cultural relics protection units in Shanghai, including "Xu Guangqi Zhuan", "Shanghai Yuyuan", Gu Yanlong's book "West Garden" ", Pudong's "Century Boulevard" inscription, Shanghai Longhua Martyrs Cemetery "Dan Xinbi blood for the people" monument, Longhua Temple Zhao Puchu's book "Rebuilding Longhua Temple Stele" and so on.
"The education we have received in this generation is'did a line, loved a line'." Zhao Jiafu said with emotion, "You ask me if you have any special hobbies, it seems that there is no. Work is interest, interest is work, in the early years, I thought about it myself There are a lot of things. For example, when I am studying, I also like to read books. The most impressive thing is "The Story of the West Chamber". Zhang Sheng jumped the wall and it was very fun. The storyline is still remembered; in order to learn seal cutting, I do not only practice calligraphy, but also read A large number of stamps and rubbings were learned from copying manuscripts; I also learned to paint by myself in order to repair the painting. You see, the painting on the right of the wall was painted by myself..." After that, he pointed his finger to the living room The koi lotus picture on the east wall is concise and generous.
"Leader" for students "performing magic"
The data shows that there are 200,000 varieties, about 500,000 versions, and more than 30 million copies of ancient Chinese books in China (more than 50 million copies if included in the Republic of China), and more than 500,000 ancient books in minority languages in more than 20 languages Volume. Damaged ancient books account for about 1/3 of all, and the task of repair is extremely arduous.
In November 2014, Fudan University Chinese Ancient Books Protection Research Institute was established, and a national ancient books protection talent training base was established, and an ancient book restoration team led by Mr. Zhao Jiafu was formed. Every Thursday afternoon, he will attend classes at Fudan Guanghua Building. Before class, he will arrive at the school one or two hours in advance, waiting to "open the stove" for the students.
"In the final analysis, the restoration of ancient books, the mounting of paintings and calligraphy, and the spreading of inscriptions are relatively boring, and it takes a long time to sit down, but as long as the students are willing to learn, I still like to talk about it and let the children keep a fresh sense of these traditional skills." Zhao Jiafu felt that he himself It’s a bit like a “magician”, and it’s a bit like a “Santa Claus” that satisfies the wishes of children. “The students said, Mr. Zhao, if you write a few words for us, then I’ll write for them; someone wants to see the carved seal, I Just give them a stamp... try to meet their requirements and stimulate their interest, and hope that more people will join this line in the future."
Of course, as a "national player" who has been in business for 60 years, Zhao Jiafu has also seen some problems in the cultivation of ancient book restorers. For example, how to correctly view the value of repairing books. "It can't be said that repairing the Qing version of the book is certainly much worse than repairing the book of the Republic of China, because the repair of the book looks at the damage of the book itself, not the time of production. This is like going to the hospital to see a doctor, looking at a disease, and Age is not the only criterion."
Secondly, the restoration of ancient books is also a comprehensive knowledge. "Fudan now not only has library and museum majors come to study ancient book restoration, but also majors in ancient Chinese and foreign languages, and even majors in chemistry and biology. This is a good change. After all, we advocate the use of modern Technology to repair ancient books." Zhao Jiafu explained that in the past, looking at the paper and appraising the version was based on the naked eye and the feel; now, with various instruments, not to mention the paper age, even the chemical composition can be analyzed. "However, we also hope that the division of majors should not be too detailed. If you are studying the restoration of ancient books, you should also know what is the cataloging of ancient books. It is better to understand the skills of stone carvings, inscriptions and calligraphy. Don’t just be a professional, Become a generalist!"
The restoration of ancient books pays attention to the weather, proportion, and feel. It is difficult to express these tactile experiences clearly in theoretical statements, which can only rely on a lot of practice. "Now, the starting point for enrollment is undergraduates, but students with high scores may not have strong hands-on ability; those with strong hands-on ability may not necessarily have high scores. After studying the restoration of ancient books for several years, some students may have good hands-on ability , But you said, looking back to let him find a professional counterpart, it seems that our income is not so high." Zhao Jiafu said with regret.
Also, from a professional point of view, people's ideas about the restoration of ancient books are constantly evolving. "In China, the Tang Dynasty's paintings and calligraphy are rich in colors; since Song Dynasty, the Chinese people have turned to appreciate the purity and elegance. In addition to the different regional conditions in the north and south, the restoration methods of ancient books are becoming more mature and different from each other." Zhao Jiafu said, for example, Shanghai has a high humidity The rice paper used is very thin, and after the painting and calligraphy are repaired, the paper will be allowed to dry slowly; unlike in Beijing, it is dry and dry, and the rice paper that is too thin is prone to brittleness and bursting. Therefore, thick rice paper is used in the north to repair books. Beat the paste harder, otherwise it won't stick. For the South, the materials are too thick, the creases are too heavy, it is not beautiful enough, and there is no Jiangnan charm. "It is the so-called water and soil to support one person. Therefore, at the Liaoning Research Center and the Chongqing Research Center, I will also give different repair suggestions according to different local conditions."
In January of this year, the outbreak of the New Coronary Pneumonia attacked Zhao Jiafu for a long time. Lectured outside, he occasionally publicly demonstrates the skills of inscription transfer. "If it's broken, just waste a piece of rice paper, but if I repair important ancient books and mount important paintings and paintings on the spot, I generally don't do it. Why? Because there are many steps to restore ancient books, the time is very high, and we can't afford to delay or explain. If it fails, it will cause irreversible damage, and it must be operated in a relatively quiet environment." Zhao Jiafu often warns students that ancient books must be restored with 100% certainty before they can be used, especially in case of "acceptance".
Receiving pen refers to the writing method where the strokes meet, the so-called "seam of bamboo shoots". As a comprehensive skill, calligraphy, painting, even dyeing paper, and adjusting ink are very demanding. "'Take the pen' must be passed on! For example, a picture of a lady of the Tang Dynasty, duck egg face, meaty hand, you saw a line on her face because of the erosion of the years, do you want to take the pen? It’s hard to read if you don’t pick it up, but if you make a simple one, you have to pick it up. If you don’t have enough technology? Then you don’t have to fix it for the time being, save it first, and then move on when you are sure.”
In 2019, Zhao Jiafu lectured on the restoration of ancient books; this year, the courses he taught were related to inscriptions. "Before the official start of the school, I used to do online lessons and record videos at home. I used a mobile phone to shoot, a little shaking, but no, I bought it a few days ago. A small tripod, much more stable than his wife's hand, he can shoot forever, and send it to the assistant after shooting, he will get it." Zhao Jiafu talked about his daily life, he carved a dozen clay teapots, and also learned to make his own inkstone. People have loved to learn new things since they were young, and live to old age and learn to old age! Now, the biggest wish is to let students learn more, not only the restoration of ancient books, painting and calligraphy mounting, engraving of stone engraving, but also the study of tablet extension and mounting , Skill is not crushing!"
The reporter asked for advice and learned so much, what's the trick? Zhao Jiafu said frankly: "Being a man in advance, especially in this business, has to be quiet and low-key, and have no dispute with the world."
Looking around the Zhao family's living room, the bookcase beside the sofa was filled with stone carvings and zisha pots. The dining table was mostly occupied by various books and paper rolls. The worktable next to the dining table was small and chic, with a simple desk lamp. Lying on the workbench, Zhao Jiafu wore a pilling flannel plaid shirt, sitting on a wooden bench with a 20 cm square, and the surrounding "dingle" crisp sound made people feel like they were in Anning Ancient Temple. …Perhaps it was this kind of “no desire and no desire” for external material life that made Zhao Jiafu’s liberal attitude today.
Our reporter Fu Xinxin