Beijing, May 5 (Zhongxin Net) -- Yang Zaichun likes bamboo, especially the sound of bamboo.

In the corner of the living room, which faces south and west and enjoys plenty of light, there are several bamboo trees growing next to a Chinese chair, and when you sit here, you can see the sun-plated bamboo leaves.

"When you listen carefully when you are quiet, you can hear the movement of bamboo 'clattering'." The 80-year-old calligrapher loves the vitality of this joint.

In the living room of flowers, wood, bamboo and stone, Chinese-style wooden furniture and porcelain calligraphy and paintings are placed properly. In the corner of the wall is a gray supermarket trolley.

On days when it is inconvenient to go out, it is an aid for Yang Zaichun to walk and exercise, and he refuses to use crutches, so he borrows strength from the trolley: "Using crutches feels that people are not old."

The daughter said of him: "Be the best among your peers." "When you are an athlete, you have to jump farther and run faster; As a calligrapher, be the one who helps more people pick up brushes; At the age of 80, I want to be the old gentleman with the straightest back and understanding AI.

Just like every word he writes, one by one, it is for the bones.

79 years old, once again pushed on the "tide head"

"Netizen Zhang Guoshun, I received the homework you sent..." In the video, an old gentleman wearing glasses and a black T-shirt is sideways to the camera, commenting on the calligraphy homework sent to him by netizens behind him from the structure to the brushwork.

At the age of 79, calligrapher Yang Zaichun, who has devoted his life to calligraphy and has been silently grading homework for netizens, was once again pushed into the spotlight.

From how to cut paper, bubble brush head to correct calligraphy homework sent by netizens, video number, Douyin, Kuaishou, B station, public account, Weibo... The calligraphy teaching video quickly attracted more than one million fans, and the topic of "Yang Zaichun" on a single platform reached 4 million hits.

In the discussion of #79-year-old uncle marking netizens' calligraphy homework #hot search topic, some netizens recognized him: "Not an ordinary 79-year-old uncle, this is the famous calligrapher Yang Zaichun!" ”

That's right, the last time he was pushed to the "head of the tide" and caused national discussion was in the eighties and nineties of the last century, when television was just popularized in China, and CCTV only had two channels.

The picture shows the TV picture of the "Chinese Traditional Calligraphy Lecture Series". Photo courtesy of interviewee

At that time, the leaders of CCTV approached Yang Zaichun, one of the founders of the Chinese Calligraphers Association at that time, to discuss, hoping to open a calligraphy lecture program on CCTV, so there was a "Chinese Traditional Calligraphy Lecture Series".

The central set is 3:10 noon every day, the central 23 is <>:<> every night, and the lecture is <> years. "Later, once Jiang Kun saw me and said that I was a big star, and they stepped down after <> minutes of talking, and I had to talk for <> and a half minutes every day during prime time." Yang Zaichun recalled with a smile.

Yang Zaichun, who was still vice president of Beijing Sport University Press at the time, was known as "a calligrapher with tens of millions of students", received about 100,000 letters from the audience, and was often recognized as he walked on the road.

More than three decades later, similar situations continue to occur in the era of Internet short videos. The calligraphy homework of netizens from all over the country floated to him like snowflakes, and seventy or eighty homework assignments thick in the dictionary were stacked on the desk every week.

Yang Zaichun will select representative homework to project on the TV, show the details that need to be explained clearly, and then go to the desk to demonstrate; For assignments that are not filmed into videos, they will be answered by fans in the form of voice and graphics, and strive to reply to every netizen who asks for advice.

"For netizens who send homework, this is a rare one-on-one, and I cherish this trust and communication." All the assignments handed in are numbered and sorted and packed into large envelopes. For two years, these thick envelopes occupied a compartment of his bookcase.

Even if he goes to the hospital for an examination, Yang Zaichun will be recognized: "Huh, isn't this the uncle who corrects homework online?" They may not know that the works of the "uncle" in front of them have been given to foreign heads of state many times as national gifts.

"I'm a teacher, teaching all my life, teaching all my life." Yang Zaichun feels that he is very content to let more people understand calligraphy and fall in love with calligraphy.

The picture shows calligrapher Yang Zaichun. Photo courtesy of interviewee

When sweat condenses into ink

In fact, for Yang Zaichun, who was an athlete, teaching calligraphy was only a part-time job at first.

In the eighties of last century, in order to save money to buy more than 4000,2 yuan of Xinghai brand pianos for his daughter, he rode his bicycle to several urban areas of Beijing to give calligraphy classes, "small bamboo rake slowly scratching", a lesson of 2 hours, lesson time fee of 5~<> yuan, saved for several years.

His original work unit is Beijing Sport University Press, from editor to president and editor-in-chief, he has worked as a publisher all his life; He is also a track and field athlete, professional long jump, high jump, can run 100.10 seconds in the 8 meters, and can also do a front flip at the age of 60.

Therefore, since he was a child, he preferred to "drop his head and hit the handle", and the reason why he was able to sink his heart into copying Yan Zhenqing's "Multi-treasure Pagoda Stele" at the age of 6 was also requested by his father, and he didn't like it much, but he was used to moving the brush every day and writing something.

The first time I experienced the positive feedback brought by calligraphy was when I wrote spring couplings to the class in the sixth grade of primary school. Only he in the class can write brush characters, and he writes very well, and the teacher's praise and the envious eyes of his classmates make a teenager experience the confidence brought by writing. Since then, practicing calligraphy is not just a habit, but a passion, an important part of life.

After being admitted to the preparatory department of Beijing Institute of Physical Education, four or five hours of daily training and other theoretical courses took up most of the time, and sometimes I was too tired to climb into the upper bunk bed, and saving time to practice calligraphy became an extremely luxurious thing.

In the early years, he took a group photo with Mr. Wu Shouren, the coach of Beijing Sport University. Photo courtesy

He took every opportunity to write, philosophy, Marxism-Leninism, anatomy, sports medicine ... Lessons that require note-taking are written with a brush. In his rare spare time, he also practiced writing on the table with a pen dipped in water in the dormitory, erasing the table while writing, and after a long time, the table was written off with paint, and the class leader criticized him for destroying public property.

On weekends, he would bring paper, pen, ink and dry food to the Forbidden City, where authentic calligraphy works of the Ming and Qing dynasties were exhibited, and he met his first official calligraphy teacher, Huang Gaohan.

In the years that followed, Yang Zaichun successively studied under Zheng Yuxian and Qigong. Memorize and post, study word by word, "When I write, I will speak the words, read out the strokes, and say where they are, so that it can be good." ”

Mr. Qi Gong advised him, "We should publish more calligraphy publications that are understandable to the common people and popularized." Encouraging him to do more in the popularization of calligraphy education also laid the groundwork for his later teaching of calligraphy.

Let text grow bones

Many people have asked him the same question: "You are an athlete and worked at the University of Physical Education until your retirement, how can you write so well and become famous throughout the country?" ”

Yang Zaichun believes that people who ask such questions may not understand sports workers. He has taught many world champions, including Lang Ping, Deng Yaping, and Zhang Xiangxiang, to practice autographing, "Excellent athletes are extremely smart. They are all very opinionated and thoughtful. ”

The hardships of an athlete's life make him can't help but taste the bitter taste even at the age of 80. He remembers that every Saturday for restorative training, he had to run from Beijing Sport University to Xiangshan "ghostly" incense burner peak, nearly 30 kilometers round trip without rest, and after the end, the whole portrait was immersed in water, "so our athletes are not afraid of hardship, but also very competitive." ”

In the early years, he took a photo at the training ground of Beijing Sport University. Photo courtesy of interviewee

But there is a prejudice against sports survival: thinking with muscles and bones, there is no culture. Breaking this prejudice has become another driving force to support Yang Zaichun's desire to practice calligraphy: "I have a simple concept, change the image of sports students, and let others respect us." ”

There are too many moments of disrespect, like the fine gravel on the track and field, the reverse wind when running, and the deepest pain point memory comes from the experience of riding the train during the summer vacation in college.

A whole carriage of college students, seeing Yang Zaichun, who was tall and thin and wearing the emblem of the Beijing Institute of Physical Education, whispered: "Oh, sports student." ”

"I want them to know that I am not only good at sports, but also very beautiful in writing and very good in brains, so I have to fight for this breath."

The personality endurance honed by sports and the love immersed in pen and ink supported him through the trough of life in the sixties and seventies of the last century; He supported him to fight cancer twice in his later years and not be defeated.

There is a saying in "Lü's Spring and Autumn": "Stones can be broken, but they cannot be taken away; Dan can grind also, but not take red", Yang Zaichun liked this sentence very much.

The picture shows Mr. Yang Zaichun's photo-book collection. Photo courtesy of interviewee

Chase, against the wind, towards the light

At the age of eighteen, he chased shorter and longer distances on the track; By the age of eighty, he chased the expression and innovation of a younger generation.

"I want to learn if I don't understand, I want to chase modern young people, what they think and say." I urge myself not to rely on the old and sell the old, but to learn more from the young and catch up with the changes of the times. ”

In the calligraphy section cooperated with Chinanews.com, the two sides collaborated on using calligraphy to write popular buzzwords, tradition and popular collision, and he wanted to take this opportunity to make friends with young people.

The picture shows the calligraphy column cooperated by Mr. Yang Zaichun and Chinanews.com.

In the face of those unfamiliar words, Mr. Yang will ask his daughter to help find out what it means and how to use it. "Refuse to fall in love with the brain", "Eat two bites less", "Miaoah", "Don't take ice cream you don't know"... He was confused about these new concepts at first, but the more he wrote about them, the more interesting they became. For a while, he learned about the "666" gesture and often gestured "666" to encourage others.

In order to flexibly cooperate with the shooting of short videos, he also taught himself P-pictures, recordings, and social software skills. Just like when the high jump was about to change from leapfrogging to back-to-back style, when others were somewhat resistant, he had already thrown himself on a thin and hard brown mat over and over again to adapt to the change of rules.

He hopes that his later life will be pursued, whether it is interests or habits.

Mr. Yang Zaichun loves calligraphy and explores and practices the art form of "combining film and book". Photo courtesy of interviewee

"I've been chasing it all my life." Behind this lifelong chase, he said, is also a "fight" against prejudice, time and self.

Spring does not wait for people, everything has been revived, and he wants to go out and take pictures of the scenery.

He remembered the sea-like sunflowers he saw when he was collecting wind in Inner Mongolia. He was not very comfortable that day, but in order to retain the beautiful scenery in the lens, he stood on the roof of the car with the support of others and personally took charge of the camera.

The setting sun splashed gold, and the sunflowers dyed him with brilliance. (End)