Along the River During the Qingming Festival
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"Along the River During the Qingming Festival" is a painting by the Northern Song Dynasty painter Zhang Zeduan The only remaining masterpiece in the world is now in the Palace Museum in Beijing.
Zhang Zeduan, courtesy name Zhengdao, was born in Dongwu (now Zhucheng, Shandong). He studied in Bianjing in his early years, and later studied painting. During the reign of Song Huizong Zhao Ji (reigned 1101-1124), he worked at the Hanlin Painting Academy. He specializes in the techniques of using boundary pens and rulers to draw lines in Chinese paintings, which are used to express palaces, buildings, buildings and other themes. He is especially good at painting boats and carriages, shops, bridges, streets and city walls. His paintings are unique and unique. Most of Zhang Zeduan's paintings have been lost, and only the "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" volume has been preserved intact. The painting is 25 and a half centimeters high and 525 centimeters long. This painting depicts the prosperity of Bianjing during the Qingming Festival. It is a witness to the prosperity of Bianjing that year and a portrayal of the city's economic situation in the Northern Song Dynasty. Through this painting, we understand the urban appearance of the Northern Song Dynasty and the lives of people of all walks of life at that time. In short, "Along the River During Qingming Festival" has extremely high historical value.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, Bianjing was at its peak, with four rivers running through the city and four land routes extending throughout the city. It was the national water and land transportation center, and its commercial development ranked first in the country. At that time, the population reached more than 1 million. There are many lively markets in Bianjing City, with various shops and even night markets. During the New Year and festivals, the capital is even more lively. In order to express the prosperity of the capital, Zhang Zeduan chose the scene of Qingming, an important festival, to express59. "Along the River During Qingming Festival" focuses on depicting the land and water transportation and busy market scenes of the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty.
The center of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" is composed of a rainbow-shaped bridge and the street surface of Qiaotou Street. At first glance, it appears that the place is crowded and disorganized; upon closer inspection, it appears that these people are from different walks of life and are engaged in various activities. There are some vendors and many tourists on the west side of the bridge. There are knives, scissors, and groceries on the stalls. There are tea sellers and fortune tellers. Many tourists relied on the railings on the side of the bridge to point and watch the boats passing by in the river. On the sidewalk in the middle of the bridge, there is a bustling flow of people; there are people sitting in sedan chairs, riding horses, carrying burdens, driving donkeys to transport goods, and pushing wheelbarrows... The south side of the bridge is connected to the main street. On both sides of the street are teahouses, taverns, pawn shops and workshops. There are many small vendors with big umbrellas in the open spaces on both sides of the street. The street extends to the east and west, all the way to the quieter suburbs outside the city. However, there are still people on the street: some are carrying burdens, some are driving ox carts to deliver goods, some are driving donkeys to pull trucks, and some are stopping to watch the Bianhe River. The view.
There are many ships coming and going on the Bianhe River. It can be said that thousands of sails are racing and hundreds of boats are competing for the current. Some are anchored near the pier, and some are traveling in the river. Some large ships were overloaded, so the owners hired many trackers to pull the ships along. A large ship carrying cargo has sailed under the bridge and will soon pass through the bridge opening. At this time, the boatman on the big boat seemed very busy. Some stood on the top of the boat canopy and lowered the sail; some used poles on the side of the boat; some used long poles to hold up the roof of the bridge to allow the boat to pass safely along the current. This tense scene attracted the attention of tourists on the bridge and nearby boatmen, who stood aside and cheered. "Along the River During Qingming Festival" vividly depicts the busy and tense transportation scenes on the Bian River, adding to the life atmosphere of the painting.
Zhang Zeduan has a high degree of artistic generalization, which makes "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" reach a high artistic level. "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" is unprecedented in its rich content, numerous characters, and grand scale. The paintings in "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" are dense and orderly, from the quiet suburbs to the bustling inner-city markets, and are fascinating everywhere.
Before the Northern Song Dynasty, my country's figure paintings mainly focused on religion and aristocratic life. Although Zhang Zeduan worked at the Hanlin Academy of Painting and the works he created were called "academy paintings" or "academy paintings", he extended his painting brush to the lives of people from all walks of life and created paintings depicting urban and rural life. Social genre painting. "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" depicts a large number of various characters. Moreover, Zhang Zeduan depicts the movements and expressions of each character very realistically and vividly.
This fully shows that Zhang Zeduan has accumulated a lot of life and is very skilled in creation.
A detailed introduction to "Along the River During the Qingming Festival"
"Along the River During the Qingming Festival" scroll is a genre painting of the Northern Song Dynasty. A masterpiece handed down from generation to generation and a first-class national treasure. "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" is one of the most famous works in the history of Chinese painting. It is not only of high artistic level, but also has many interesting stories surrounding it.
"Along the River During the Qingming Festival" records the architecture and people's livelihood on both sides of the Bianhe River in the suburbs and the city of Bianjing (now Kaifeng), the capital of the Huizong era, in the late Northern Song Dynasty and in the Huizong era. This picture depicts the bustling scene and natural scenery of Bianliang, the capital city of the Northern Song Dynasty, and both sides of the Bianhe River during the Qingming Festival. The work is in the form of a long scroll and adopts the composition method of scattered perspective to integrate complex scenery into a unified and varied picture. There are more than 500 characters in the painting, with different clothes and expressions. Various activities are interspersed with them, focusing on drama and composition. It is dense and dense, pays attention to the changes in rhythm and rhyme, and the writing and ink composition are very clever. The whole picture is divided into three paragraphs.
The first paragraph, the spring scenery in the countryside of Bianjing:
In the mist of the sparse forest, several huts, grass bridges, flowing water, old trees, and small boats are hidden. Two porters drove five donkeys carrying charcoal towards the city. In a willow forest, the branches have just turned green, making people feel that although the spring is cold and harsh, spring has returned to the earth. There was a sedan on the road, with a woman sitting in it. The top of the sedan chair was decorated with willows and miscellaneous flowers. Behind the sedan chair were horsemen and load bearers, returning from an outing in the suburbs of Beijing to visit tombs. The description of the environment and characters highlights the specific time and customs of the Qingming Festival, which is the prelude to the whole painting.
Middle section, the busy Bianhe River Terminal:
The Bianhe River is the national water transport hub in the Northern Song Dynasty and an important commercial transportation thoroughfare. From the picture, you can see that there are densely populated areas, grain ships gathered, and people have Some were resting in the teahouse, some were reading fortune-telling, and some were dining in the restaurant. There is also the "Wang's Paper Horse Shop", where people sweep tombs and sell sacrifices. Boats come and go in the river, connected end to end, either pulled by trackers or rowed by boatmen. Some are loaded with goods and sail upstream, and some are anchored on the shore. Nervously unloading. Across the Bianhe River is a large-scale wooden arch bridge with exquisite structure and graceful form. It looks like a flying rainbow, hence the name Hongqiao. There is a large ship waiting to cross the bridge. The boatmen used bamboo poles to support them; some used long poles to hook the bridge; some used hemp ropes to hold the boat; and a few people were busy lowering the mast to allow the boat to pass. The people on the neighboring boats were also pointing and shouting something. Everyone inside and outside the boat was busy with the boat crossing the bridge. People on the bridge also stretched their heads and sweated at the tense scene of crossing the ship. This is the famous Hongqiao Wharf area, bustling with traffic and hustle and bustle. It is truly a meeting point for land and water transportation.
The back section, the lively urban streets:
With the tall tower as the center, there are rows of houses on both sides, including tea houses, wine shops, foot shops, butcher shops, temples, and public houses. Wait. The shop specializes in silk and satin, jewelry and spices, incense, paper horses, etc. In addition, there are medical clinics, cart repairs, fortune telling, face shaping and cosmetic surgery. "Louhuanmen" hangs market banners to solicit business. People in the market are crowded and there is a constant flow. There are merchants doing business, gentry watching the street scene, officials riding horses, hawkers, and family members riding in sedan chairs. There are walking monks carrying baskets on their backs, tourists from other places asking for directions, children on the streets listening and reading, children from rich families drinking heavily in restaurants, disabled old people begging on the edge of the city, men, women, old and young, scholars, farmers, industry and commerce, all three religions and nine streams, all Unprepared. Transportation means: sedans, camels, oxen and horse-drawn carriages, rickshaws, peace cars, flat-head cars, all kinds of things are available. Paintings and shapes are displayed in front of people's eyes.
In total, in the five-meter-long scroll, *** painted more than 550 people of various colors, 50 to 60 cattle, horses, mules, donkeys and other livestock, as well as two carts and bridges. More than ten vehicles and more than twenty ships of various sizes. Houses, bridges, towers, etc. also have their own characteristics, reflecting the characteristics of Song Dynasty architecture. Zhang Zeduan's "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" is a realistic genre painting depicting a corner of Bianjing City in the Northern Song Dynasty. It has high historical value and artistic level.
There are many paintings named "Along the River During Qingming Festival" in the history of painting, but after all, there is only one authentic copy.
After many scholars and experts have researched this topic, everyone basically agrees that the painting now in the Palace Museum in Beijing is the original work of Zhang Zeduan of the Northern Song Dynasty. Other paintings with the same name are all later copies or fabrications made by Zhang Zeduan.
The scroll now in the collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing does not have the artist’s seal. The author is confirmed to be Zhang Zeduan based on an inscription written by Zhang in the Jin Dynasty in the postscript at the back of the scroll. There are only a few words in Zhang's inscription: "Hanlin Zhang Zeduan, courtesy name Zhengdao, was born in Dongwu (now Zhucheng, Shandong). He studied in the capital when he was young, and later learned painting. He specializes in boundary painting, and is especially fond of boats, cars, and bridges. Guo Jing, there are several families. "However, Zhang Zeduan's name does not appear in the "Xuanhe Painting Book" written in the late Northern Song Dynasty. Some people speculate that maybe he entered the painting academy late and the editor did not have time to include him in the book.
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The "General History of China (Color Illustration)" written by Bai Shouyi as a consultant commented on "Along the River During the Qingming Festival". The whole volume depicts more than 500 people, more than 50 livestock, and more than 20 various vehicles and boats. There are many vehicles and ships, numerous houses, countless props, huge scenes, clear paragraphs, tight structure and orderly structure. The technique is skillful, the brushwork is meticulous, the lines are strong, dignified and sophisticated. It reflects the highly pure painting skills and outstanding artistic achievements. At the same time, because what is depicted in the painting is a real record of society at that time, it provides important historical data for later generations to understand and study urban social life in the Song Dynasty.
The "Concise Encyclopedia Britannica" evaluates "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" in the article "Zhang Zeduan" as a long custom scroll with important historical value. The painter successfully depicted the life scenes of all classes of society in Bianjing city and its suburbs during the Qingming Festival. The main manifestations are workers and small citizens. The handling of the interrelationships between characters, buildings, vehicles, trees, and water flows is very ingenious, has a strong sense of integrity, and has great historical value. All the urban genre paintings drawn in subsequent dynasties were influenced by it.
The immortal masterpiece "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" painted by the famous Northern Song Dynasty painter Zhang Zeduan is a priceless treasure in the history of Chinese painting. It is a long scroll of genre painting created with realism techniques. It vividly reproduces the prosperity of Bianjing in the Northern Song Dynasty through its detailed depiction of city life.
Zhang Zeduan, also known as Zhengdao, was a painter at the turn of the Southern and Northern Song Dynasties and a native of Dongwu (now Zhucheng, Shandong). "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" was painted by Zhang Zeduan when he was in the Hanlin Academy of Painting during the Huizong Dynasty of the Song Dynasty. This long scroll is made of silk and is lightly colored. It is 24.8 cm high and 528.7 cm long.
After Zhang Zeduan completed this long scroll praising the peaceful and prosperous times, he first presented it to Song Huizong. Song Huizong therefore became the first collector of this painting. Huizong of the Song Dynasty, who was a master of calligraphy and painting in Chinese history, loved this painting so much that he inscribed the five words "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" on the picture with his famous "thin gold" calligraphy, and stamped it with the double dragon seal (now lost).
This masterpiece, which has been handed down from generation to generation and is well-known at home and abroad, has been played and appreciated by countless collectors and connoisseurs for more than 800 years since its creation. It was the target of plunder by later emperors and dignitaries. It has been tossed around, gone through several wars, and experienced many disasters... It has entered the palace five times and been stolen out of the palace four times. It has gone through disasters and performed many legendary stories.
In the third year of the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty (1524), "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" was transferred to the hands of Lu Wan, a native of Changzhou (Lu Wan, courtesy name Quanqing, was a Jinshi in the Chenghua period, and became the crown prince Shaobao, Minister of the Ministry of War, with a great reputation for a while). Li Rihua's "Diary of Weishui Xuan" in the Ming Dynasty records: After Lu Wan died, his wife sewed "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" into her pillow and never left her body. She regarded it as her property and life, and was not even allowed to see her biological son. Mrs. Lu has a natal nephew named Wang, who is well-spoken and very good at pleasing Mrs. Lu. Wang is good at painting and prefers celebrity calligraphy and painting, so he begged his wife to borrow "Along the River During the Qingming Festival". After repeated requests, the lady reluctantly agreed, but he was not allowed to bring a pen and inkstone. He was only allowed to admire it in her attic, and he was not allowed to tell others about it. Wang happily obeyed the order, and after visiting for two or three months, after viewing it more than ten times, he actually copied a painting that was somewhat like it.
At that time, the domineering and treacherous official Yan Song was searching everywhere for "Along the River During the Qingming Festival". After Wang Yan, the censor of the capital, learned about it, he spent 800 taels of silver to buy a fake from Wang and dedicated it to Yan Song. Tang Chen, a framer in Yan Song's house, recognized that the painting was a fake, so he blackmailed Wang Yan and ordered him to bribe him with 40 taels of silver, but Wang Yan ignored him. Tang Chen became so angry that when Yan Song held a banquet to celebrate, he washed away the old colors in the painting with water. Yan Song was greatly embarrassed in front of everyone, and then he looked for an opportunity to kill Wang Yan. Wang who was touching the painting was also implicated. He was captured and starved to death in prison.
In fact, after Lu Wan's death, his son was eager for money, so he sold "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" to Gu Dingchen's house in Kunshan, but was later forcibly taken away by Yan Song and his son. Yan Song had indeed asked Wang Yan to buy "famous paintings" before this, and Wang Yan had indeed bought a copy of Wang Biao from Suzhou as a gift to Yan Song, but this was later discovered.
During the Longqing period, Yan Song and his son were impeached by the imperial censor Zou Yinglong. Finally, the officialdom lost power, Yan Shifan was beheaded, and Yan's mansion was copied. "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" was once again included in the palace.
"Along the River During Qingming Festival" was first collected by Lu Feiqi (a native of Xiangxiang, Anhui) after the Qing Dynasty. Lu Feiqi was a Jinshi during the Qianlong period. After he obtained the picture, he also sealed and inscribed it. Later it was purchased by Bi Yuan. Bi Yuan (1730-1797), a native of Zhenyang (now Taicang, Jiangsu Province), was a Jinshi in the 25th year of Qianlong's reign (1760). Bi Yuan loved epigraphy, calligraphy and painting throughout his life, and had a rich collection at home. After he acquired "Along the River During the Qingming Festival", he admired it with his younger brother Bi Long (a collector and connoisseur in the Qing Dynasty). Today, the painting bears the marks of both of them.
When Bi Yuan was serving in Guanzhong, he devoted himself to repairing and protecting local cultural relics, but unexpectedly these became his "crime". Shortly after Bi Yuan's death, the people of Huguang rebelled against the Qing Dynasty. The Qing court believed that during Bi Yuan's tenure as governor of Huguang, "the religious bandits made mistakes and misused military expenditures". He was also confiscated and taken into the palace.
After the Qing government took "Along the River During Qingming Festival" into the palace, they kept it in the Yingchun Pavilion in the Forbidden City. Emperor Jiaqing cherished it very much and ordered it to be included in the book "Shiqu Baoji Sanbian". Since then, "Along the River During Qingming Festival" has been kept in the collection of the Qing Palace. Although the British and French Allied Forces invaded Beijing twice in 1860 and the Eight-Power Allied Forces in 1900 and ransacked the palace, it actually escaped the disaster and was not damaged.
After 1911, "Along the River During the Qingming Festival", together with other precious paintings and calligraphy, was stolen out of the palace by Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, in the name of appreciating Pujie, and was first stored in Zhang Yuan in the Tianjin Concession. In 1932, Puyi established the Puppet Manchukuo with the support of the Japanese, so this famous painting was brought to Changchun and stored in the library in the east courtyard of the Puppet Imperial Palace.
In August 1945, the Second World War was coming to an end, and the end of the Japanese invaders had also come. When Puyi and his Japanese master saw that something was going wrong, they fled to Dalizigou by plane. The Manchukuo Imperial Palace was in a mess due to a fire. During the chaos, many people took the opportunity to enter the palace to "grab foreign goods." A large number of precious items from the pseudo-imperial palace were scattered among the people during this turmoil, including "Along the River During the Qingming Festival".
In 1946, the Chinese People's Liberation Army liberated Changchun. Zhang Kewei, a cadre of the People's Liberation Army, collected through local cadres more than ten volumes of precious calligraphy and paintings scattered from the Imperial Palace of the Puppet Manchukuo, including "Along the River During the Qingming Festival". In 1947, Comrade Zhang Kewei was transferred to work in the Northeast Administrative Committee. Before leaving, he handed these more than ten scrolls to Comrade Lin Feng, one of the main persons in charge of opening up the Northeast revolutionary base area at that time.
"Along the River During the Qingming Festival" was handed over to the Northeastern Museum by Lin Feng, and was later transferred to the Palace Museum in Beijing for preservation.
However, during the Cultural Revolution, Li Zuopeng, one of Lin Biao's four top cadres, used his power to forcibly "borrow" "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" from the Palace Museum and keep it as his own. He also teamed up with Qiu Huizuo, Wu Faxian and others to occupy a large number of other precious cultural relics. After Lin Biao's fall, "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" came to light again, and it is still treasured in the Palace Museum.
What exactly is depicted in "Along the River During the Qingming Festival"? Why has its charm remained so for thousands of years?
According to statistics from "Zhuotang Wenhua Volume 8" written by Ken Saito, "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" has 1,643 people of various colors and 208 animals (only), which is more than the classical novel "Along the River During the Qingming Festival". "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" (1,191 people), "A Dream of Red Mansions" (975 people), and "Water Margin" (787 people) all depict more characters.
The whole picture of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" can be divided into three paragraphs. When you expand the picture, the first thing you see is the scenery on the outskirts of Bianjing. The middle section mainly depicts the busy scene of Shangtu Bridge and both sides of the Dabian River. The latter section depicts the street scene in Bianjing city. The figures are less than 3 centimeters in size and as small as beans. If you look closely, you will see that each figure is complete in form and spirit, showing every detail, and is full of interest.
"Along the River During the Qingming Festival" includes everything from fields, vast rivers, and shopping malls to as small as people on boats and carts, stalls, furnishings, and market signs. They are all grouped together. They are real and natural, making people feel like they are there. feel. The whole work is long but not redundant, complex but not chaotic, tight and compact, as if it were completed in one go. It fully demonstrates the extraordinary brushwork of the painter Zhang Zeduan, and is worthy of being a rare treasure in the treasure house of Chinese art.
According to the inscriptions and postscripts of Li Dongyang, a man from the Ming Dynasty who came after the picture, there should be a section in front of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" depicting suburban landscapes, with an inscription signed by Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty in thin gold script and a small double-dragon seal for his collection. , these are now missing from the paintings. There are two reasons. One possibility is that this picture has been circulated for too long and has been played and appreciated by countless people. The beginning of the picture is broken, so later generations cut it off when framing it; the other possibility is that Huizong of the Song Dynasty The inscription and the double dragon seal were valuable, but later generations deliberately cut them off, made another painting and sold it.
Many experts also speculate that a large part of the second half of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" has been lost, because the painting should not have stopped abruptly as soon as it entered Kaifeng City, but should have ended at Jinming Pond.
"Along the River During the Qingming Festival"
In addition to the author's inscriptions and seals, ancient Chinese paintings and calligraphy often also include the collector's inscriptions and seals. There is such a famous painting in our country, which has many inscriptions and postscripts signed by many people, and is stamped with dense collection seals. It can be seen that it passed through the hands of many official and private collectors. This is the famous "Along the River During the Qingming Festival". It has gone through eight or nine hundred years of vicissitudes and disasters, and some collectors have suffered misfortune because of it, but the work finally survived and was preserved.
The author of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" is the Song Dynasty painter Zhang Zeduan. Zhang Zeduan was from Shandong. He studied painting in Bianjing (now Kaifeng, Henan) in his early years, and later became a painter at the Northern Song Dynasty Painting Academy. Although there are few records about him, this remarkable work has made future generations remember him forever. "Along the River During Qingming Festival" is a long scroll with colors on silk, 248 cm high and 528 cm long. The picture depicts the bustling scene of Bianjing, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, during the Qingming Festival. Going up the river during the Qingming Festival was a folk custom at that time, just like today's festival gatherings, where people used it to participate in business activities. The whole picture is large in scale and rigorous in structure, and is roughly divided into three sections: the first section is the suburban scene, the second section is the Bianhe River, and the third section is the city streets.
First is the scene on the outskirts of Bianjing. Farmers are working in the fields, and rich people are returning from visiting graves. On the road, pack teams, porters, and people on horseback and sedan chairs were rushing into the city. Next is the most exciting part - Bianhe River. The arch bridge on the Bianhe River is like a rainbow. Pedestrians on the bridge are like waves, bustling, rubbing shoulders and heels, and boats are competing with each other under the bridge. Many small plots are very interesting. For example, a frightened horse at the bridge leads to a dangerous situation, a donkey is frightened, and curious people are watching. Then he described the streets of Bianjing. Bianjing was the center of politics, economy and culture at that time. There were government offices, residential houses, workshops and shops, teahouses and restaurants all over the city. The streets were bustling with traffic, and there were all three religions. All industries were prosperous and bustling. The picture unfolds into a calm scene, with relaxation and relaxation, forming an interesting contrast and rhythm. The painter reproduced the prosperity and development of the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty through the depiction of the architecture, commerce, traffic, and transportation in Bianjing City.
There are more than 550 people, more than 60 various livestock, more than 20 wooden boats, more than 30 houses and pavilions, and 20 carts and sedan chairs in "Along the River During the Qingming Festival". Multiple pieces.
Such rich and colorful content is rarely seen in ancient paintings of all ages. What is valuable is that every character, scene, and detail in the painting is arranged in a reasonable manner, and the relationship between density, complexity, movement, stillness, gathering and dispersion, etc., is handled just right, so that it is complex but not complicated, and numerous but not chaotic. It fully demonstrates the painter's profound insight into social life and his high artistic accomplishment and expressive ability. "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" is not only a great realist painting art treasure, but also provides us with a wealth of image data on the commerce, handicrafts, folk customs, architecture, transportation, etc. of the metropolises of the Northern Song Dynasty. Therefore, it also has historical documents. value.
In the history of Chinese art, "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" can be said to be the most legendary work and the most copied work in all dynasties. From ancient times to the present, there have been many legends and unsolved mysteries regarding the textual research and disputes over the authenticity of the "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" version; for thousands of years, royal nobles and literati of all dynasties have plundered the "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" And collecting never stops. How did the original painting of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" come to the world? What kind of person is its author Zhang Zeduan
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The authentic painting of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" is shockingly revealed in the world
On February 12, 1912 AD, the last emperor in China's feudal history, Aisin Giorro Puyi, passed away. The throne of the emperor, which declared the dream of rule of China's feudal dynasty for more than two thousand years, fell apart in an instant. According to the "Preferential Treatment Regulations", Puyi still lived in the Forbidden City of the Imperial Palace. Puyi was different from any other feudal emperor in China. When he was young, he received education from the British teacher Johnston and was influenced by Western cultural ideas since childhood. Therefore, he always had the dream of studying abroad. In order to have enough funds to realize his wish after leaving the palace, he thought of the large number of treasures, calligraphy and paintings collected in the palace. From this, "Along the River During the Qingming Festival", which has gone through the four dynasties of the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, was taken into the palace four times and mysteriously disappeared again and again. This time it began its mysterious and long journey.
Puyi, who left the throne of the emperor, used his imperial power to "reward" his younger brother Aisin Gioro during the 73 days from November 16, 1922 to January 28, 1923. ·In Pu Jie's name, 1,285 calligraphy and painting scrolls and 68 albums were moved out of the palace. Each of these precious calligraphy and painting masterpieces from past Chinese dynasties is priceless. Among them, "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" has four volumes, including "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" painted by the Northern Song Dynasty painter Zhang Zeduan; "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" imitated by the Ming Dynasty painter Qiu Ying; and other imitation paintings by other Ming Dynasty painters with Suzhou as the background. "Suzhou Films", "Along the River During Qingming Festival", etc. In particular, "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" painted by the Northern Song Dynasty painter Zhang Zeduan can be regarded as a rare masterpiece in the history of Chinese art. It is a treasure that the royal nobles of all dynasties have been eager to collect.
On February 24, 1925, the second day of the second lunar month, commonly known as the day when the dragon raises its head, Puyi dressed as a businessman and came to Zhangyuan in the French Concession of Tianjin under the supervision of the Japanese. A large number of treasures, calligraphy and paintings that he moved out of the Forbidden City in the name of "rewarding" his younger brother Pujie were also secretly transferred to Tianjin. "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" accompanied Puyi for more than seven years in Tianjin.
On March 8, 1932, under the control of the Japanese invaders, Puyi moved from Tianjin to Changchun with his family and a large number of treasures, calligraphy and paintings, and became the puppet emperor of Manchukuo. "Along the River During Qingming Festival" accompanied Puyi for 13 years and 4 months in Changchun. The "Jixi Tower" of the Puppet Imperial Palace in Changchun witnessed the time Puyi and his family spent in Changchun. The name "Jixi" was given by Puyi himself. The word "Jixi" comes from "The Book of Songs·Daya·King Wen": "King Mu Mu and Wen stopped in Jixi." However, Puyi believed that the "Xi" in "Jixi" The word "Xi" is the same as the word "Xi" for Emperor Kangxi. Puyi admired Emperor Kangxi's talent and state-governing strategy very much. Therefore, the meaning of the word "Jixi" is self-evident. Puyi wanted to inherit the ambition of his ancestor Emperor Kangxi to restore Manchuria. Qing Dynasty. For this reason, it is not difficult for people to guess why Puyi loved "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" so much; the purpose of royal nobles in the past dynasties competing to collect "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" was because they were attracted by the dreamlike, prosperous and auspicious atmosphere in "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" Bewitched.
In 1945, the Japanese Kwantung Army Commander Yamada Otsuzo notified Puyi to move the capital to Tonghua. Puyi understood that the so-called capital move was actually an escape. Puyi asked Yamada Otsuzo to give him three days to pack his bags. In fact, what Puyi was most worried about were the treasures, calligraphy and paintings brought out from the Forbidden City in Beijing. For 13 years, "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" and a large number of treasures, calligraphy and paintings have been sealed in the painting and calligraphy building behind the Puppet Palace in Changchun. Only Puyi and a few personal followers knew the secrets sealed in the painting and calligraphy building. Puyi and his personal entourage hurriedly entered this mysterious "little white building". He selected some treasures from a large number of treasures, calligraphy and paintings and fled to Tonghua. The remaining treasures, calligraphy and paintings were robbed by some guards. Among them, which of the four different versions of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" was carried by Pu Yi? Which volume was lost to the public? People don't know...
Puyi hurriedly fled to Dalizigou, a small mountain village at the foot of Changbai Mountain in Tonghua, with some treasures, calligraphy and paintings, and family members. Puyi only lived in Dalizigou for three days, and then hurried to Shenyang, preparing to escape from Shenyang to Japan. Puyi once again selected the treasures, calligraphy and paintings brought from the Changchun Puppet Palace, and only selected a small number of treasures, calligraphy and paintings, and fled to Shenyang with his younger brother Pujie, two brothers-in-law, three nephews, a doctor, and an attendant. , and left most of the family members and some treasures, calligraphy and paintings in Dalizigou. Some of these treasures, calligraphy and paintings abandoned in Dalizigou were divided up, some were burned, and were finally confiscated by the People's Liberation Army.
On August 19, 1945, Puyi took a plane at Shenyang Airport to escape to Japan. The plane was forced to land by the Soviet Red Army after taking off. Puyi and his entourage, as well as the treasures, calligraphy and paintings they carried with them, were captured by the Soviet Red Army After being intercepted, Puyi was deported by the Soviet Red Army to Chita, Soviet Union, and then to Khabarovsk. Five years later, Puyi was deported back to China, and the whereabouts of four different versions of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" are unknown.
In the winter of 1950, the Culture Department of the Northeast Bureau began to organize the cultural heritage left after the Liberation War. Mr. Yang Renkai, a calligraphy and painting appraisal expert, was responsible for sorting and appraising a large number of calligraphy and paintings confiscated from all parties. Some calligraphy and painting works remained In good condition; some paintings and calligraphy works are damaged. When Mr. Yang Renkai opened a broken scroll, he was immediately shocked. The long scroll was in an antique light brown color. The method of depicting characters and street scenes in the painting reflected the unique and ancient painting method. Mr. Yang Renkai then reviewed the scroll. After careful research and careful textual research, this long scroll is magnificent, with delicate brushwork and lifelike characters and scenery. Although there is no signature of the author or the title of the painting on this painting, there are rich and detailed inscriptions and postscripts by famous people in the past dynasties. There are many and complicated seals, and there are as many as three seals of the last emperor Puyi. Especially after the scroll, it is clearly recorded in the inscriptions and postscripts written by Zhang in the Jin Dynasty: "Zhang Zeduan, a Hanlin scholar with the courtesy name Zhengdao, was born in Dongwu. He studied at a young age and traveled to the capital to study. Later he learned painting. He specializes in 'boundary painting' and is especially fond of Zhouche Market. According to Xiang's "Commentary on Pictures" in Qiaoguo Path, "The Picture of the West Lake" and "The Picture of Along the River during the Qingming Festival" are selected as sacred items and should be treasured by collectors on the day after the Qingming Festival. "Could this be the rare masterpiece - "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" by Zhang Zeduan of the Northern Song Dynasty that has been collected by royal palaces and nobles of all dynasties?
Mr. Yang Renkai published the photo of this scroll in the "Records of the Sins and Flotations of National Treasures" compiled by the Northeast Museum, which immediately attracted great attention from experts and scholars at home and abroad. Mr. Zheng Zhenduo, then director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, This scroll was transferred to Beijing, and after further research and appraisal by experts and scholars, it was confirmed that this long painting scroll is the "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" and "The Third Edition of Shiqu Baoji" that has been famous for thousands of years. A rare national treasure that has been lost for many years is finally in the Palace Museum in Beijing.
The "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" "The Third Edition of the Shiqu Baoji" hidden in the Palace Museum in Beijing is a long scroll with a length of 24.8 cm and a width of 528 cm. According to expert statistics, the only paintings in the "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" include figures. 684 people, 96 livestock, 122 houses, 174 trees, 25 boats, 15 cars, and 8 sedan chairs. Such a vast painting has a rigorous and orderly structure, and the various activities of the characters are depicted in a very detailed and vivid manner, echoing back and forth in one go. The "boundary painting" painting method is skillful and natural.
"Along the River During the Qingming Festival" contains 14 postscripts and 96 seals written by 13 collectors from past dynasties. There are three seals from the last emperor Puyi alone, which is enough to prove Puyi's favor for "Along the River During the Qingming Festival"; only such a magnificent masterpiece as "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" can accommodate the eternal dreams of the next generation of emperors.
There are many more mysteries to be revealed.
The long scroll genre painting "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" painted by the Northern Song Dynasty painter Zhang Zeduan is an art treasure well-known at home and abroad. Like the "Five Cows" created by Han Yu of the Tang Dynasty, it is known as the "national treasure" of the painting garden. Its earliest collector was Song Huizong (Zhao Ji). The original "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" written by him in thin gold script and the double dragon seal (the emperor's leisure seal of the Song Dynasty, used for appreciating or collecting art works) can prove that the painting was completed. It was originally collected in the imperial palace. After the fall of Bianjing in 1126 AD, all the valuable cultural relics in the palace, including this famous painting, were looted by the Jin people. The Jin people did not realize the value of this painting at first. Another 59 years later, that is, the 26th year of Dading of Emperor Shizong of the Jin Dynasty (1186), Jin Dynasty Zhang Zhu was the first to write a postscript on "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" and quoted from "Xiang Shi's Commentary on Pictures", confirming that Zhang Zeduan of the Song Dynasty had a "Along the River During the Qingming Festival". ” and “West Lake Competition Picture”, so the name of “Along the River During Qingming Festival” was finally decided.
Historically, there has been some controversy over the age when Zhang Zeduan created "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" and the symbol "Along the River". There seems to be no objection that the painting depicts the Qingming Festival since the Jin Dynasty. It is recorded in the "Weishuixuan Diary" of the Ming Dynasty that this painting not only has the thin gold inscription and double dragon seal of Song Huizong, but also a poem written by Song Huizong; the poem contains the sentence "The water is springing on the river". In this way, there is no doubt that this scroll depicts a spring scene. Modern and contemporary art historians such as Zheng Zhenduo, Xu Bangda, and Zhang Anzhi all advocate the theory of "spring scene". However, some people dispute this.
The first person to doubt the Chunjing theory was Mr. Kong Xianyi, a teacher in Kaifeng City. In the second issue of "Art" magazine in 1981, he published an article "Questions on the "Qingming Festival" of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival". He listed eight reasons and concluded that the painting on the "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" was an autumn scene.
1. On the right side of the scroll is a donkey carrying 10 baskets of charcoal. Meng Yuanlao of the Northern Song Dynasty records in "Tokyo Menghua Lu": Every October in the lunar calendar, Bianjing begins to "warm the stove with charcoal, and wine is placed in front of the curtains for a warm party." If it is said that the stove charcoal is heated before and after the Qingming Festival, it goes against the living customs of the Song Dynasty people. Meng Yuanlao and Zhang Zeduan lived in the same era. "Tokyo Menghua Lu" is an important material for studying the customs and customs of Bianliang in the Northern Song Dynasty. The historical events described must be credible.
2. There is a farmhouse inside a short fence