In May, the 6th Fudan University World Alumni Association will be held in Xi 'an, the ancient city. The meeting will arrange a visit to Sanyuan Yu Youren Memorial Hall. Taking this opportunity, I remembered several things about Mr. Yu Youren and the forest of steles, and wrote down my nostalgia for a Fudan graduate who worked in the forest of steles.
Xi 'an Forest of Steles was founded in Yuan You, North Song Zhezong in the second year (A.D. 1087), which is one of the places with the largest collection of ancient forest of steles in China. As a great calligrapher and collector, Mr Yu Youren naturally has special feelings for the forest of steles. Therefore, in the history of the forest of steles, he also made great contributions. During the restoration of the forest of steles in the Republic of China, he donated 387 stones to the forest of steles, which was the largest increase in stone collection since the forest of steles was founded. These stone tablets were carefully collected for many years and existed in Peiping in the early years. Due to the tension between China and Japan, Ping Jin was threatened by the Japanese army, and Yang Hucheng, who was entrusted by Lao Sui to work in the northwest, tried to transport them back to Xi 'an for preservation. The only condition for donating public property is to "reserve the right to sell them, and fund Sanyuan Zhi Min Primary School". The patriotism and homesickness are beyond words. With the care and support of people like Lao, the forest of steles has developed to today's scale, covering an area of more than 30,000 square meters, and has collected more than 3,000 cultural relics such as inscriptions and epitaphs from the Han Dynasty to the present. It has gathered a large number of representative works of calligraphers in the history of calligraphy in China, and has become a treasure house of calligraphy art in China. In 196 1, it was announced by the State Council as the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units, and it is actively applying to become the world human cultural heritage.
It will be better to be in Fudan today and in the forest of steles tomorrow. I believe that Mr Yu Youren, who has been buried underground for 36 years, should also sleep with a smile.