Shi Ruolin (1917——?) was born in Yin County, Zhejiang Province (now Ningbo). Also known as Shi Fangmu, he used the pen names Peichang, Qiuchang, Bai Qiushui and Yuntian. He was an important veteran in the press and publishing industry and a well-known calligrapher during the Republic of China.
(1) Newspaper seniors
Mr. Shi Ruolin was the assistant of Hu Shanyuan, a famous newspaperman during the Republic of China. In the 1930s, Hu Shanyuan was very busy working at World Bookstore and needed an assistant, so he posted an applicant in the recruitment column of the newspaper. Shi Ruolin, who was studying at Kaiming Middle School, was one of the applicants. Hu Shanyuan saw that he had good writing skills and was sincere, so he gave him the job of assistant. By the winter of 1938, Hu Shanyuan was the editor-in-chief of Shenbao, and he brought Shi Ruolin, who had always assisted him in his work, into Shenbao as his deputy. Later, Hu Shanyuan left Shenbao due to personnel issues, and Shi Ruolin took over as the editor-in-chief of Shenbao's supplement.
In addition to editing, Shi Ruolin often writes manuscripts. He once wrote a serialized novel "Breakout" in "Black Tea" edited by Hu Shanyuan. He is best known for compiling a ten-volume "Collection of Eighty Masters of Works" under the pseudonym Shi Fangmu, which includes Ba Jin's "General", Shen Qiyu's "Refugee Ship", Zhang Tianyi's "Rebirth", Xia Yan's "Investment", Ding Ling's "Reunion", Bi Ye's "Night Battle on the Hutuo River", Xiao Hong's "The Bullock Cart", Guo Moruo's "The Suicide of the Overlord of Chu", Yao Xueyin's "Half a Cart of Wheat Straw" and Yang Shuo's "Fire Merge" and other editors were included in the volume. These ten volumes are all in 32 format, each about 100 pages, and contain 100 short stories from 80 publishers. They were published in November 1945.
(2) Old students in the calligraphy circle
It is said that Shi Lao is a calligrapher, which has its origin.
The Shi family is from Yinxian County, Zhejiang Province (now Ningbo). Mr. Shi’s father was an old friend of Gao Zhenxiao, a famous calligrapher in the Imperial Academy of the late Qing Dynasty. When Shi Ruolin was young, he once studied poetry and calligraphy under Gao Zhenxiao. He and Gao Zhenxiao's son, Mr. Gao Shixiong (a famous calligrapher, epigraphy and seal carver, and honorary vice president of Xiling Seal Society) were the same child. Shi Ruolin was four years older than Gao Shixiong, and they were considered brothers. Later, Shi Ruolin and Gao Shixiong worked and lived in Shanghai for a long time, and their relationship remained until their later years.
For decades, Mr. Shi Ruolin has always taken it as his mission to explore the language of calligraphy and expand the artistic conception. He has never shown off his calligraphy skills, let alone robbed him of his reputation as a calligrapher. Studying calligraphy in the pond is only a kind of cultivation for cultivating one's character and cultivating one's writing skills. My husband is particularly disdainful of the so-called calligraphers who "learn to write in the morning and praise their words in the evening." Therefore, I do not easily write for others. Occasionally, someone asks for words, and it is a matter of convenience. The spirit and mood of this "accidental book" are always beyond ordinary people's, and its freshness and otherworldly interest often make people laugh. People have endless aftertaste.
(3) Obsessed medical enthusiast
Shi Ruolin was in poor health when he was young and suffered from severe lung disease. Later, he became very fond of reading medical books and studying ancient doctors. He even wrote "The Story of Li Shizhen" (published in 1956) and "Ancient Chinese Medical Physicians" (published in 1958). He has his own understanding of medicine and is familiar with traditional Chinese medicine's health care methods, so he died at the age of nearly ninety.
In early 2015, I was lucky enough to buy a couplet written by Mr. Shi Ruolin in the 1940s and 1950s on Artron Art Forum. (Size) The calligraphy style is regular. This book was praised by Gao Zhenxiao. From the formal sense to the expression of writing meaning, it is completely the style of old-style literati calligraphy. In the use of pointillism, I not only strengthened the skills of pen and ink, but also the aesthetic interest in calligraphy that "is the same as nature and cannot be achieved without force" is unforgettable to me.
"A book is like a book." Mr. Shi Ruolin's books are the externalization and epitome of his personality, aspirations and attitude towards life. Mr. Shi is such an important veteran in the press and publishing industry. His superb calligraphy art influence is currently limited to the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions. He is little known outside of this area and is far from receiving the evaluation and status he deserves. I hope that through this humble article, I can inspire more scholars to conduct in-depth research, so that more people can truly understand Mr. Shi Ruolin and his calligraphy art.