In his early years, Yang Renkai served as a history teacher at Chengdu Qunjue Girls' Middle School, and was responsible for proofreading and publishing at Chengdu Qiujing Printing Factory. During the Anti-Japanese War, Yang Renkai moved to Chongqing and had frequent contacts with Guo Moruo, Xu Beihong, Shen Yinmo, Xie Wuliang, Jin Yufu, Pan Tianshou, Zhang Daqian, Huang Binhong, Lu Fengzi, Fu Baoshi, Lao She and other celebrities in the cultural and artistic circles who were concentrated in Chongqing at that time, and benefited a lot from them. . He once served as associate director of Chongqing Deguangyin Book Company and partner, person in charge and consultant of "Shuowen Monthly" publishing house; teacher of Chongqing Private Jingye Senior College Business School and Yangtze River Music College; consultant of "Cultural Relics" magazine. After Japan surrendered in 1945, Yang Renkai moved to Peiping and served as the technical officer of the Peiping Municipal Government. He further interacted closely with celebrities in the world of culture and cultural relics. He shared the same interests with cultural celebrities such as Zhang Boju, Xu Shixue, Chen Banding, and Deng Tuo, who were connoisseurs of calligraphy and painting. He browsed and exchanged collections from past dynasties. Appraisal experience.
In 1950, Comrade Guo Moruo recommended him to the Cultural Relics Bureau of the Ministry of Culture, and he was transferred to the Northeastern Bureau as a researcher at the Ministry of Culture. He was first responsible for the compilation and compilation of Wensu Ge's "Sikuquanshu" and became the "Master of Wensu Ge" called. In 1952, he participated in and was responsible for the recovery and research of a large number of historical national treasures "Lost in the Forbidden City" that were lost during the puppet Manchurian period by the last emperor Puyi. Mr. Yang successively appraised and sorted out the famous calligraphy paintings stored in the Northeast Bank, and participated in the reception of the stolen national treasures seized by the Soviet Red Army in August 1945 from the puppet Emperor Puyi of Manchukuo and transferred them to the Northeast Museum; he conducted undercover investigations to track down the whereabouts of a large number of national treasures that had been lost among the people. , the collection, recovery, appraisal and research have rescued a large number of national treasures lost in history. At the same time, they have made every effort to trace and rescue a large number of national treasures lost overseas in the millennium of history. Through retrieval, donation, donation and repurchase, a large number of national treasures lost in history have been recovered. Returning to the embrace of the motherland one by one. At the same time, he also made outstanding contributions to the opening of the Painting Gallery of the Palace Museum.
In 1991, Mr. Yang Renkai inscribed an inscription on the September 18th commemoration: "At about 10 o'clock at night, the Japanese army blew up the Liutiaohu section of the South Manchuria Railway, falsely accused the Chinese army of doing it, and then captured Peking University Camp. Our Northeastern Army The soldiers reluctantly retreated under the order of non-resistance. When the national disaster struck, the people rose up to fight. "He warned the world to "never forget the national humiliation at any time."
In his later years, Yang Renkai was invited to visit more than a dozen countries in Asia, Europe, and the United States. and regions, spread the traditional culture of the Chinese nation, trace the lost national treasures that were lost overseas during the motherland’s troubled history, exchange and inspect the cultural, museum and art undertakings of various countries, and play an important role in promoting the exchange and development of cultural, museum and fine arts undertakings. During this period, Yang Renkai frequently visited various parts of the world and China. On the one hand, he obtained a large number of clues for the pursuit of national treasures from national museums, famous museums, art galleries, well-known universities and various institutions and documented them; on the other hand, Obtain clues from world-renowned auction institutions, Chinese institutions, various art institutions, private channels, and private collectors, and trace the history of national treasures spanning five thousand years. On the one hand, it facilitates many owners to understand the history and donate them back to China. At the same time, it repurchases and records the current status, preservation, history, context, experience and value of a large number of national treasures, and records them through appraisal. After Yang Renkai was transferred to the Northeastern Ministry of Culture, he first assisted the Northeastern Library in organizing and repairing the "Sikuquanshu". Five months later, he began to clean up a batch of cultural relics transferred from Northeast Bank.
Throughout the dynasties, the "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" has occupied a very high status and is known as the most sacred product in China. On this day, Yang Renkai took out a long scroll from the warehouse and slowly unfolded it. On the 5-meter-long silk scroll was a magnificent ancient genre painting. Yang Renkai's eyes were brightened, and he eagerly searched for the inscription and inscription. Unfortunately, this masterpiece titled "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" did not have the author's signature, but behind the painting there was only an inscription from the Jin Dynasty, clearly identifying the author as Zhang Zeduan.
"Along the River During the Qingming Festival" is an artistic monument in the history of Chinese painting. There have been many imitations in the past dynasties. Mr. Yang Renkai has seen more than a dozen of them. Could it be that the ones that have been deemed authentic by palace historians in the past are also fakes? ? Whether the original work has been submerged among fakes over hundreds of years. If it is authentic, then the Qingming River Scene captured by Puyi and captured by the Soviet Red Army was also mistakenly determined to be a fake, and no one has seen the original for hundreds of years. Before that, Yang Renkai appraised the "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" copied by the Ming Dynasty painter Qiu Ying. Later, Qiu Ying's "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" has been preserved in the Liaoning Provincial Museum and has become a treasure of the museum.
Yang Renkai gradually unfolded the picture based on the written descriptions in many historical documents in his memory. For example: the bridge in Kaifeng is a wooden bridge, not a stone bridge,...
The scrolls in front of him matched the impressions and records step by step. He couldn't believe that the original "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" by Zhang Zeduan was actually among these cultural relics. He immediately conducted a careful artistic appraisal of the painting and finally confirmed that the painting was an authentic work by Zhang Zeduan. He solemnly wrote the identification conclusion. Since then, the original "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" has regained its original appearance after being submerged for hundreds of years. This is the origin of the story of "a national treasure meets a national eye". After being assigned to work in the Northeastern Ministry of Culture, Yang Renkai often went to Beijing Sulfur Glass Factory due to work. Every time he came to Beijing, Rongbaozhai was his must-go place. One summer day in 1963, Yang Renkai was woken up from his nap. A young man from out of town brought some scraps of paper and traveled to many places, but no one could identify them and no one dared to buy them. He said it seemed to be a calligraphy and painting from the Qing Dynasty, and asked Mr. Yang to come and identify it.
As soon as Yang Renkai, who was taking a lunch break in Rongbaozhai, heard the word "calligraphy and painting", his sleepiness disappeared and he immediately came to the sales department of Rongbaozhai. This young man only had more than 1,000 yuan due to repeated obstacles. Yang Renkai looked through the scraps of paper and found that they were indeed national treasures. He felt that the matter was not that simple, but the young man seemed to have something to hide and could not speak out, so Yang Renkai asked the staff to pay him and leave his address for contact. The young man received the money and quickly disappeared. For a whole afternoon, Yang Renkai did not move anywhere and pieced together 37 pieces of calligraphy and painting, most of which were high-quality and unique copies. The most complete among them is Chen Yazhi's "Self-written Poetry Manuscript" of the Northern Song Dynasty. It has inscriptions and postscripts by Sima Guang, Su Shi and other people. It is a famous and unique copy handed down from generation to generation. What excited Yang Renkai the most was the discovery of the masterpiece "Tiaoxi Poems" by Mi Fu, one of the four great calligraphers of the Northern Song Dynasty. Afterwards, Yang Renkai asked someone to search for the young man according to his address, and found that the address was false. Rongbaozhai donated these national treasures to the Palace Museum.
A few years later, the young man brought another bag of scraps of paper to Rongbaozhai. By a fateful coincidence, Mr. Yang was a guest at Rongbaozhai again on this day, so he could take a break at noon. The staff invited Mr. Yang, who was taking a nap, to identify the authenticity of the fragments. Yang Renkai was surprised to find that these were national treasures, some fragments of lost paintings and calligraphy in the Forbidden City that he had been searching for for many years. Behind this, there are some unknown stories gradually revealed. Later it became a widely circulated legend. Mr. Yang Renkai and Deng Tuo had known each other for a long time and had a deep relationship. During the "Cultural Revolution", Yang Renkai, a connoisseur of cultural relics, was accused by the rebels of being a pawn of Deng Tuo. His home was ransacked three times, and he was criticized many times. He was slapped in the face until his retina detached, and he was not allowed to be hospitalized. Yang was blind in his right eye and blind in his left eye. The eyesight is only a few tenths.
The young man who slapped Mr. Yang blind in his right eye still worked under him after Mr. Yang returned to his post as deputy director of the museum. There was a salary increase, and this young man's name was included in the salary increase list. "Can Director Yang agree?" The office director hesitated for a long time before finding Yang Renkai with the list. Yang Renkai said without hesitation: "I agree, please report it." . As for the issue of the original manuscript of "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio", he insisted on the truth and obtained more references and material evidence, referring to Pu Songling's "Ancient Style Poems" handwriting to verify that the original manuscript of "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio" was authentic (National Excellent). Selected Compositions (Quality of Beautiful Essays) Issue 8)