China News Service, Taipei, March 5th: Title: An old friend recalls Huang Yongsong, the founder of "Hansheng": a rigorous and romantic person
China News Service reporter Yang Chengchen
Huang Yongsong, a well-known publisher in Taiwan and founder of "Hansheng" magazine, passed away on the 4th at the age of 81.
Hansheng Bookstore simply arranged a memorial hall on the 5th for readers to remember.
That morning, many old and new friends went to the bookstore to express their condolences, and the bookstore was rarely busy.
Lin Shuli, a veteran employee, invited everyone to sit down and served light tea, "This cup is for everyone, Mr. Huang."
Looking at the long table in front of him, reader Wu Jiaming told reporters that Huang Yongsong likes to exchange glasses of wine with old friends here.
On March 5, readers and old friends of "Hansheng" magazine went to Hansheng Bookstore to pay their respects to Huang Yongsong, the founder of the magazine, who passed away on the 4th.
Photo by China News Service reporter Yang Chengchen
Huang Yongsong was born in Taoyuan, Taiwan in 1943. In 1971, he founded the English version of the magazine "ECHO" (the Chinese name is translated as "Hansheng").
In 1978, the Chinese version of "Hansheng" was founded.
For more than half a century, Huang Yongsong and "Hansheng" have traveled across the Taiwan Strait, focusing on rescuing, excavating, and sorting out Chinese folk art and intangible cultural heritage. They have published publications including "Siheyuan in Old Beijing", "Women's Clothing in the Water Town of Southern Jiangsu" and "Northwestern China". Special topics such as "Flower Club on the Plateau" and "Fujian Earth Buildings".
After learning the news of Huang Yongsong's death on the 4th, Taiwanese writer Yang Du said that he was the inheritor of folk crafts, performing arts, folk culture, etc., and also the "patron saint."
Huang Yongsong once said that the original intention of creating the English version of the magazine was to introduce Chinese culture to foreigners.
In an interview with China News Service in 2016, he said that "Hansheng" attempts to build a network for the dissemination of Chinese national culture. The "longitude" and "latitude" are the English and Chinese versions respectively.
Hansheng Bookstore is located in Lane 16, Lane 72, Section 4, Bade Road, Songshan District, Taipei City. It is named "Hansheng Alley" because of the Hansheng Bookstore.
The entrance of the bookstore is in the shape of a gourd. Huang Yongsong explained that this is to allow people to enter the gourd and see “what medicines” the bookstore sells. “This medicine is the spirit of inheriting Chinese culture.”
Across the road and diagonally opposite the bookstore is Taipei's famous 24-hour bookstore, which is packed with people.
Hansheng Bookstore is in a different situation. There are not as many people as in the past who are willing to go into the "Calabash" to find out.
The entrance of Hansheng Bookstore is shaped like a gourd.
Photo by China News Service reporter Yang Chengchen
The bookstore is not big, but there is a lot of space inside.
Folk culture from all over the world is gathered here, and publications full of memories of the times are lined on the walls.
In February, a reporter from China News Service visited the bookstore. Lin Shuli said, "We hope that magazines focusing on traditional art and folk art will also have artistic value in themselves."
Luo Jingzhi, the art editor of "Hansheng" who joined "Hansheng" at the age of 18, pointed out that the aesthetic principle of the magazine is simplicity and no exaggeration, and each issue will design a layout based on different themes.
He specifically mentioned that children's books have always been Mr. Huang's favorite, and he wanted to make books for children. Some young people also grew up with these books.
Wu Jiaming is a documentary director.
In his eyes, Huang Yongsong is a rigorous writer who is passionate about traditional culture, "and also a romantic person."
"He loves to make friends and drink, especially Shaoxing wine. Like Han Sheng, the company is a combination of seriousness and casualness."
In 1987, when cross-strait visits were opened to relatives, Huang Yongsong first came to the mainland and published "Quanzhou people in Taiwan" in the 19th issue of "Hansheng". Later, he followed up with "Zhangzhou people in Taiwan" and "Hakka people in Taiwan", completing the island's "Roots" series for major groups.
After that, they continued to cooperate with the mainland publishing industry, and Hansheng’s office in Beijing is still in operation today.
This year is the 40th year that Wen Biguang, general manager of English Hansheng Publishing Co., Ltd., has worked here.
In the past two days, her mobile phone has been "full" of messages from readers and old friends on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. "Friends from the mainland have come to express their memory for my husband."
Three of the four founders of the magazine, Huang Yongsong, Wu Meiyun, Yao Mengjia and Xi Song, have left.
Wen Biguang recalled that at that time, the four people were like-minded and passionate about their work, and they did not even have plans to make money for the magazine.
In 2016, Huang Yongsong was interviewed by a reporter from China News Service.
(File photo) Photo by China News Service reporter Zhang Yifan
Wu Meiyun, the "eternal editor-in-chief" of "Hansheng", passed away in 2016. Hansheng published a booklet in her honor.
Lin Hwai-min, a Taiwanese dancer and founder of the "Cloud Gate Dance Theatre", wrote in it that in the 1970s and 1980s, "I almost carried the Cloud Gate alone, and my Chinese friends made me feel that I was not alone." "There are no Han people." The journey of Yunmen, who is 3 years old, is bound to be more difficult."
Attached to the article is a group photo of the four founders in the editorial office. Everyone’s face reveals the high-spirited attitude they had when the magazine was founded.
Lin Huaimin titled this article "Reviewing an Effortless Era".
Wen Biguang sighed: "It was an era full of vitality." (End)