The four sisters of the Zhang family are Yuanhe (front right), Yunhe (front left), (back right) and Chonghe (back left).
Zhang Chonghe, a lady of the Republic of China, "the last talented woman of the Republic of China" and the fourth sister of the four concubines, died at the age of 102 in the early morning of June, Beijing time.
Zhang Chonghe, a native of Hefei, 19 14 was born in Shanghai. She is the fourth daughter of Suzhou educator Zhang Wuling, and her grandfather is Zhang Shusheng, commander-in-chief of Huai Army and governor of Guangdong and Guangxi Zhili. The Zhang family in Hefei is an old-fashioned noble family with a good reputation. The heyday can be compared with the Li Hongzhang family rooted in Hefei.
From 65438 to 0949, Zhang Chonghe went to the United States with her husband, German-American sinologist Hans Hermannt Frankel. For more than 50 years, she has taught calligraphy and Kunqu opera in more than 20 universities, including Harvard and Yale.
Because Zhang Ailing and Bing Xin died one after another, and Song Meiling died with them, the title most often crowned on her head is "The Last Talented Woman of the Republic of China". "It's very cold and confidante, and a song is slightly embarrassing." She was low-key, modest and indifferent to fame and fortune all her life.
Zhang Chonghe is proficient in poetry, calligraphy, painting and Kunqu opera.
China's culture is profound, and he is proficient in poetry, painting and Kunqu Opera.
The Zhang family is a big family with four sisters and six brothers. My father, Zhang Wuling, is an enlightened educator. Following Cai Yuanpei's advice, he started school in Shanghai first, and then moved to Suzhou to establish Linping Middle School and Le Yi Girls' Middle School, advocating new education. The four sisters of the Zhang family, the eldest sister, the second sister, the third sister and the fourth sister, were all beautiful and talented, and were called sluts at that time. Ye Shengtao once said: "The four talented women in Jiuru Lane are happy all their lives."
Zhang Chonghe was born in 1 1 month, and was adopted as a granddaughter by his second wife's grandmother, who set an example and loved him infinitely. Influenced by excellent Chinese studies since childhood, Zhu, an archaeologist and Wu Changshuo's teacher, is her teacher. Later, Zhang Chonghe was admitted to Peking University with excellent Chinese scores, which was precisely because of his enlightenment from childhood that he laid a solid Chinese and historical foundation.
After her adoptive mother died, Zhang Chonghe, aged 65,438+06, returned to her father and lived with her sisters. The four sisters all like to write poems and set up a literary society "Water Society".
1933, Zhang Chonghe went to Beijing to attend the wedding of his third sister Zhang Zhaohe and Shen Congwen, and then stayed in Beijing to take the entrance examination of Peking University. Her math score was zero, but she got full marks in Chinese. She was admitted to Peking University for her excellent literary talent. At that time, Peking University taught Hu Shi and Qian Mu the history of thoughts, Feng Youlan taught philosophy, Wen Yiduo taught ancient literature, and Liu Wendian taught poems of the Six Dynasties and the Tang and Song Dynasties. Zhang Chonghe loves Kunqu Opera and often secretly goes to Tsinghua University to listen to Kunqu Opera lessons.
Because her father, Zhang Wuling, is a fan of Kunqu Opera, she often invites composers to tutor her daughters to make music, and the four sisters also set up the Man Ting Music Society. Among the four sisters, the elder sister Zhang Yuan and the fourth sister Zhang Chonghe have the deepest feelings for Kunqu Opera. Zhang Yuanhe married Gu Chuanjun, a famous Kunqu opera star. Zhang Chonghe often entertains himself by singing on the stage. After her husband Hans Hermannt Frankel went to the United States, Zhang Chonghe spared no effort to promote Kunqu opera in the United States all his life.
Zhang Chonghe and her husband Hans Hermannt Frankel.
The poet Bian pursued enthusiastically and finally married a German sinologist.
The four sisters of the Zhang family came from superior backgrounds and took marriage as a beautiful talk. Zhang Yuanhe, the eldest sister, married Gu Chuanjun, a famous Kunqu opera star, which caused a sensation. Zhang Yun, the second sister, is poetic and picturesque, and married Zhou Youguang, a famous linguist. Zhang Zhaohe's affair with his third sister, Shen Congwen, is well known, and Hu Shi finally arranged the marriage.
Zhang Chonghe has many talented and handsome suitors. Bian, a poet, is the most knowledgeable and profound emotionally. According to legend, the famous song "You stand on the bridge and watch the scenery, and the people watching the scenery are watching you upstairs." . The bright moon decorated your window, and you decorated other people's dreams ",which was written by the poet to Zhang Chonghe.
Bian is a close friend of Shen Congwen. At that time, Zhang Chonghe lived in his brother-in-law's house, and they got to know each other. Bian He Shen Congwen pursued the same thing, wrote many letters to him and copied his own poem "Decorative Collection" as a gift. Bian, lover and love became almost an open secret in the literary world at that time. It's a pity that Zhang Chonghe left angrily because of his affectionate but heartless troubles. He kept writing to her, and even after she got married, he went to America, and he still kept working. He painstakingly collected her words and sent them to Hong Kong for publication without her knowledge. He pursued her for ten years until he was 45 years old, and his love for her lasted for most of his life.
In my impression, Bian is very unhappy, even withdrawn, and his personality is more convergent and sensitive, belonging to the type of "can't be provoked, once provoked, it will be terrible". So she has been afraid to "provoke". She never dared to go out with him alone, or even go to the theater. Bian Zhilin is not her type. She likes cheerful and simple people. Later, Hans Hermannt Frankel was chosen as this type.
During the period of 1947, Zhang Chonghe met Hans Hermannt Frankel, a sinologist and a foreign professor in the department of western languages in Peking University, at Shen Congwen's home. Hans Hermannt Frankel was born in a German academic family and is proficient in German, French, English and Italian. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, and then went to China to study Chinese and literature history. This foreign love is somewhat mysterious. It is said that the original name was "Fu Hans", which was named by Chen. Zhang Chonghe felt bad, so he changed it to "Han in Han, thinking in thinking". Soon after he met Hans Hermannt Frankel, he became friends with Qin Jin. 1949, Zhang Chonghe went to the United States with her husband, Hans Hermannt Frankel taught China's poems at Yale University, and Zhang Chonghe also taught Kunqu Opera and calligraphy at Harvard and Yale.
It is quite puzzling that a young lady who was deeply influenced by traditional culture finally chose to wander in a foreign land. During the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression period, with Shen Congwen and his wife taking refuge in Chongqing, Zhang Zeng wrote a poem comparing her to a talented woman at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty: "Who lived in Wenxi?" Eighteen beards only pity themselves. Many years later, Zhang Chonghe recalled this poem and said with some self-deprecation: "He was right, I married a semi-final of the conference." . "
Zhang Chonghe is versatile, but her life is low-key, modest and indifferent to fame and fortune.
Indifferent to fame and fortune, self-deprecating "this life is to play"
Zhang Chonghe was low-key, modest and indifferent to fame and fortune all his life. Out of respect, everyone called Zhang Chonghe "Mr. Zhang". Because Zhang Ailing and Bing Xin died one after another, and Song Meiling died with them, the title most often crowned on her head is "The Last Talented Woman of the Republic of China".
She has been obsessed with art all her life, but she has always maintained the attitude of an old-school scholar. Calligraphy and poetry were written as soon as they were written, and she never thought about publishing them, let alone grabbing a place in the history of art.
Regarding Zhang Chonghe's talent, Liang Shiqiu said that she was "versatile"; Shen said that her calligraphy is "Ming people learn gold characters"; Professor Bai of Boston University said: "Her calligraphy is as light and elegant as her personality and cultivation. Ouyang Zhongshi, former chairman of China Calligraphy Association, said: "She is not a calligrapher in the general sense, but a scholar. Books, paintings, poems and Kunqu Opera are all excellent and rare. She has always maintained her original style and high style. Like Kunqu Opera, what she sings is true and unchanging. Running script and Cao Zhang's calligraphy are very accurate. "
However, people who are familiar with Zhang Chonghe know that she has a very good attitude and everything is bearish. She often says, "I've played all my life." Whether it's poetry, calligraphy, painting or Kunqu Opera, she said that as long as she is happy, she will live through the storm, and after that, she will live through it. She doesn't want anything to be passed down from generation to generation.
She started writing a long time ago and lost it when she wrote it. She has never published any books on her own initiative in her life. However, Bian, a poet who secretly loves her, is infatuated with it. She privately collected her own works published in newspapers and took them to Hong Kong for printing. When she was teaching at Yale University, a foreign student printed a book of poems for her at her own expense. The name is beautiful, it's called Peach Blossom Fish, and the binding is also beautiful. Income is only a dozen poems. When she was 100 years old, Guangxi Normal University Press published a series of works by Zhang Chonghe, namely, Tianya Evening Flute, Clawing Claws, and Ancient Golden Fragrance, all of which were collected.
Zhang Chonghe doesn't mean that her works will be handed down from generation to generation. Everything she does is a whim. She once said, "I write, draw, sing Kunqu opera, write poems and plant flowers and grass for fun, and I never want to show them to others." Su Wei, an American writer and professor at Yale University, recalled that when he and foreign students learned calligraphy from Zhang Chonghe, Zhang Chonghe often wrote on paper with clear water to teach them.
The epitaph of the English poet Keats reads: Here lies a man whose name is written on the water. Zhang Chonghe is also such a person who "writes his name on the water". The process of writing is the process of disappearing, like birds flying by, but there is no trace in the sky. Zhang Chonghe's poems have a similar meaning, which is enough to sum up his life: he is cold, keeping his friends, and a song lingers in this life.
In 2003, Zhang Chonghe's third sister Zhang Zhaohe passed away, followed by her second sister Zhang Yun and her husband Hans Hermannt Frankel. Finally, her sister Zhang Yuanhe passed away, leaving Zhang Chonghe with four people. Now, with her death, "Zhang's Four Sisters" has also become a masterpiece.
Comments from all walks of life:
Her practical experience is a vivid literary history and life history of the Republic of China.
Su Wei, a writer living in the United States and a professor at Yale University, recorded Zhang Chonghe's oral story in his later years and became a book, Tianya Night Flute. After learning the news of Zhang Chonghe's death, he expressed "surprise and sadness". He said: "Her world experience is a vivid literary history and life history of the Republic of China, and her knowledge and talent are the portrayal and epitome of a generation of intellectuals in the Republic of China. The death of Mr. Zhang Chonghe left people with a deep sense of cultural melancholy besides grief. It is a little comfort to know that she left in a quiet sleep. "
Su Wei recalled to the reporter: "Mr. Zhang Chonghe's husband teaches in the East Asian Department of Yale University, and Zhang Chonghe has been teaching China calligraphy and Kunqu Opera part-time. Both of them have always enjoyed high praise in the department. After retirement, Mr. Zhang Chonghe and her husband still do some work for the department, and the East Asia Museum of Yale University has been their hard work. Professor Zhang Chonghe's calligraphy is liked by many international students in Yale, and Kunqu opera can be understood less. "
Su Wei said, "Lao Zhang Man Chonghe died in his sleep. It can be said that he died of natural causes and walked peacefully without any pain. " He revealed that in the past two years, Zhang Chonghe's health has been not very good, his consciousness is not very clear, and he doesn't know many people. "I had a phone call with my good friend Sun Kangyi. I was lucky enough to publish her book, which recorded the past events of some old people in those years when they were more conscious."
Sun Kangyi, a former friend of Zhang Chonghe and a professor at Yale University, recalled to reporters that they first met at the beginning of 198 1 1. At that time, the novelist Shen Congwen and his wife Zhang Zhaohe happened to visit from Beijing, and Zhang Chonghe and Hans Hermannt Frankel always accompanied each other. One day, Sun Kangyi and Andrew H. Plaks, a professor at Puda University, proposed to Zhang Chonghe to sing "Jin Ping Mei" at the dinner table and found that she had no objection. A few months later, Zhang Chonghe sang Jin Ping Mei in Xuan Ming, including Double Jiang Ling and Two Waters and Yuan Chaoling. From June 5th, 2008 to October, 2008, Zhang Chonghe was diagnosed with cancer. On the day of the doctor's notice, Sun Kangyi happened to visit Zhang Chonghe. "She is indifferent to life and death, and she is also very brave. On the one hand, she told me the bad news, on the other hand, she comforted me:' There must be something wrong with a person leaving this world. It's either this disease or that disease.