At about three o'clock in the afternoon, we arrived at Menghui Town. Further on Menghui East Street, we saw the big archway of "Wang Duo's hometown" and knew that Wang Duo's former residence was coming. Although the streets in the old city have been expanded and transformed, they still smell antique on the whole, but few people seem to come and go on the streets. Finally, on the wall of a tall building with blue bricks and gray tiles, I saw the words "Wang Duo's former residence". At the entrance of the former residence is a pair of tall stone lions, which shows the majesty of the former owner. In fact, the real former residence of Wang Duo was built in the Ming and Qing Dynasties more than 400 years ago. The former residence was destroyed by war, and 1998 was rebuilt by the government.
After entering from the front door of the former residence, we found that as a famous 3a tourist attraction, it was somehow left out in the cold, and there were really no tourists except the former residence management staff. So we leisurely walked in from door to door and looked around from door to door. Wang Duo's former residence is a large-scale courtyard with five entrances. Its architectural forms are mainly front room, living room, nave, back room and back room, with east-west wing and east-west embroidered building, forming an independent structure of each courtyard, with blue bricks and tiles, which shows the majestic and solemn characteristics of official residence buildings in Ming and Qing Dynasties as a whole. Walking here, there will be a sense of oppression. The last courtyard of the former residence is the back room, where family members live. In addition to the main room, there are two embroidered buildings on both sides, one is where the maids live, and the other is the ladies' boudoir. Even in the room where the lower maids live, the windows are bright and clean, and the beds are exquisite, not to mention how luxurious the ladies' bedrooms are. Unfortunately, ladies can't go downstairs easily. What they lost was the most precious freedom. At this moment, the whole yard has long been deserted, the trees are overcast and the birds are constantly singing. It suddenly occurred to me that the women in the hall were going crazy in a TV series "Orange is Red" I watched before.
Wang Duo was an official and calligrapher in Ming and Qing Dynasties, so his former residence mainly displayed his calligraphy handwriting, inscriptions, rubbings and architectural art in Ming and Qing Dynasties. It's a pity that we haven't studied calligraphy, so we can't appreciate and evaluate a large number of paintings and calligraphy works exhibited in our former residence. I only know that his Zhuan Shan Yuan Tie and Lang Hua Ting Tie are very famous, just like Dong Qichang, a calligrapher in the Ming Dynasty, and are called "the king of the south, east and north". Some Wang Duo's calligraphy stories and legends were also recorded on the wall in front of the former residence, but seeing Wang Duo's life profile, I questioned his identity.
Wang Duo (1592 ~ 1652) was born in Jinmeng, Henan. Qiao Song was a calligrapher in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. In the second year of tomorrow, he will be a scholar, and during the Chongzhen period, he will serve as assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites. After the Qing army entered Shanhaiguan, he served as a university student in Dongge of Hong Guang regime. In the first year of Shunzhi (1644), he was cleared with money, and later he was named Shangshu, Bachelor of Academy, and Prince of Shaobao. Shunzhi nine years (1652)6 1 years old died, Wen 'an, posthumous title.
It can be seen from his life that his life is tainted. Unfortunately, Wang Duo surrendered to the Qing Dynasty with money, but was included in the Biography of Two Ministers by Emperor Qianlong of Qing Dynasty. Let's talk about money first. Qian was a famous scholar and gifted scholar in Ming Dynasty. He was then the Minister of Justice of Hong Guang, and he was also the Principal Assistant Minister. He was also the leader of Lindong Party who flaunted incorruptibility and patriotism, but when the Qing army invaded Enemy at the Gates, he did not hesitate to lead officials to surrender. Here, I would also like to mention Liu, a famous prostitute in Qinhuai, who is famous for the biography of Liu Bie by Chen Yinque, a master of Chinese studies. Although Liu is a geisha, her moral character is noble and her reputation is far-reaching. She often wears Confucian costumes to associate with celebrities of her time, and later combined with talented people and money in the Ming Dynasty, which made a much-told story. It is said that when the Qing army was about to enter the city, Liu asked to drown with Qian, but when Qian tried the water, he said that the water was too cold to enter the city. Liu was disappointed and immediately jumped into the water (later rescued by his family). As a leader of a clean stream, the integrity of money is not as good as that of a prostitute! Of course, Qian Qing still felt guilty afterwards. Later, he secretly supported the anti-Qing activities of Zheng Chenggong and others. This shows that some scholars are weak-willed and duplicitous.
Although Wang Duo and Qian acted differently, as Qing officials, their feelings were similar. As a "second minister", he was doomed not to do much in the new dynasty, so he had to use calligraphy to vent his depressed spirit. So some people commented that Wang Duo's calligraphy became more mature but more severe after the Qing Dynasty. Throughout his life, although he has made great achievements in calligraphy art, he can't be compared with his early friends Ni and Huang Daozhou, nor with the famous anti-Qing scholar Shi Kefa. Therefore, he revealed the idea that "I have no hope, there will be several good books in Japanese history in the future", and even when I die, I have to explain to later generations: "Use cloth, you can't seal trees." A generation of famous ministers, how sad!
After seeing the former residence, I think it is no wonder that there are few people here. It is estimated that few people come here to visit and worship except professionals who like calligraphy (of course, it is another matter purely from the perspective of tourism or calligraphy appreciation). The so-called virtue and art, the letter of this view is also!