The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

In the next few days, Xia Nai was busy inspecting the overall conditions of each cave, while Platoon Leader Ma followed Zhang Daqian step by step. The platoon leader wished that Zhang Daqian would destroy the mural as soon as possible so that he could go to Zhou Hexuan to ask for the reward. Ten gold bars per wall. If he destroyed a few more walls, he would not have to worry about it in his life.

Wanrong, Wu Zuoren and Lin Fengmian stand in front of the mural every day and cannot move their legs. To the painter, the freshly peeled murals were so beautiful that the beauty of the lines and colors was beyond words.

Zhou Hexuan is now considered a qualified collector of paintings and calligraphy. From a purely appreciation point of view, he can't wait to move these murals back home.

It is difficult for future generations to understand this feeling when they visit the Mogao Grottoes to admire the murals, because they cannot see the original colors. Just like the terracotta warriors and horses, the newly unearthed terracotta warriors and horses are brightly colored and look like real people, but they quickly fade in a few tens of seconds and lose all their color after three days.

It is estimated that most Chinese people think that the Terracotta Warriors and Horses are just dusty and cannot imagine how stunning they were when they were first unearthed.

Zhou Hexuan stood behind Wanrong. Seeing that she had just finished copying a partial picture, he smiled and said, "Why, you can't bear to leave?"

Wanrong joked: "I want to live here for the rest of my life."

Wu Zuoren heard their conversation and suddenly turned around and said, "Mr. Zhou, I have a heartfelt request."

"You tell me." Zhou Hexuan said.

Wu Zuoren said embarrassedly: "I want to stay and study Dunhuang murals, but I don't have enough financial resources to support it. If Mr. Zhou can lend me five thousand yuan, then I will stay in Mogao Grottoes and supervise Mr. Daqian all the time. I will definitely be better than that man." Platoon leader Ma is more professional. Of course, these 5,000 are now in the ocean, and I will definitely repay them slowly through work in the future."

"No problem," Zhou Hexuan smiled, then turned to ask Lin Fengmian, "Does Mr. Lin also want to stay?"

Lin Fengmian shook his head and said: "No matter how beautiful the murals are, they are still dead things. I will stay here for two or three months at most, and then I will go to Chongqing and the front line to publicize the Anti-Japanese War. When the Japanese invaders are driven out of China, I think I will come back. Came here.”

Lin Fengmian was a design committee member of the Political Department of the National Government. He was responsible for the Anti-Japanese War propaganda mission and went to the front lines many times to conduct inspections and creations.

Of course, it cannot be said that Wu Zuoren is not patriotic.

Wu Zuoren organized a battlefield sketching group three years ago and went to the front lines to collect materials. Later, he served as a director of the National Anti-Enemy Association of Art Circles and created dozens of works reflecting the Anti-Japanese War and the people's suffering. He is a patriotic painter like Lin Fengmian, but his choice is different at this time.

Lin Guoda suddenly raised his hand and said, "Teacher, I want to stay."

Zhou Hexuan asked with a smile: "You don't know how to paint, what are you doing here?"

Lin Guoda said: "I have read more than half of the "Twenty-Four Histories", and the one I am most interested in is the Han and Tang Dynasties. Dr. Xia said that after inspecting the Dunhuang murals, he will do field research in various places in the northwest. I want to follow him Visiting the frontier fortresses of the Han and Tang Dynasties.”

Zhou Hexuan smiled and encouraged: "It is a good thing to have academic pursuits. I will be responsible for all the expenses. You can learn more with Dr. Xia. By the way, I brought two cameras this time, and one of them will be given to you. .”

"Thank you, teacher." Lin Guoda was overjoyed.

Zhou Hexuan walked leisurely to the cave where Zhang Daqian was, and saw the old gentleman standing blankly in front of the Ming Dynasty mural.

Zhang Daqian turned around and smiled bitterly: "I really want to peel it off. There are at least three or even four layers inside. Compared with the murals from the Ming Dynasty on the outer layer and the murals from the Jin and Tang Dynasties inside, it's like fireflies comparing the brightness of the sun and the moon. Mingcheng, you Do you know how uncomfortable this is for a painter?”

Zhou Hexuan pointed in the direction behind him and said, "There are dozens of caves over there that have been drilled. Do you know who did it?"

"I don't know." Zhang Daqian shook his head.

Zhou Hexuan said: "Wang Yuanlu, a Taoist priest in the late Qing Dynasty."

"I've heard a little bit about it." Zhang Daqian immediately had an impression.

Zhou Hexuan asked: "How do you evaluate Taoist Wang's behavior of opening the cave?"

Zhang Daqian said angrily: "Destroying art, he ruined all the murals near the passages of the dozens of caves."

Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "Your evaluation of Taoist Wang is the same as Dr. Xia's evaluation of you."

Zhang Daqian was dissatisfied and said: "How can it be the same? I do it for art, and Taoist Wang did it all out of selfishness."

"Taoist Wang himself didn't think so," Zhou Hexuan said. "Although Taoist Wang believed in Taoism, when he saw the Buddhist antiquities in Mogao Grottoes, he immediately stayed and protected them. He cleaned the sand and gravel, offered incense, and relied on the sermon curtain to He came to raise money to protect the Mogao Grottoes. Sometimes when the money was not enough, Taoist Wang would help people copy scriptures. For him, opening dozens of caves meant running out of money, but he still did it, just for It is convenient for believers and pilgrims to worship Buddha. You do it for art, Taoist Wang does it for worshiping Buddha, and Dr. Xia does it for archaeology. Subjectively speaking, who is wrong? It seems that they are both right. You have reason to criticize Taoist Wang, and Dr. Xia also has Reason to criticize you.”

Zhang Daqian remained silent, unable to refute.

Zhou Hexuan continued: "You destroyed the murals of the Song and Ming Dynasties in order to copy the murals of the Jin and Tang Dynasties, while Taoist Wang sold dozens of boxes of ancient books and thousands of scriptures from the Mogao Grottoes for a few hundred taels of silver to raise money. Is there any difference between this? "

Zhang Daqian argued: "Of course there is a difference, I..."

Zhou Hexuan interrupted and said: "The painting layer you peeled off is inside the cave, and the Taiqing Palace built by Taoist Wang is outside the cave. When future generations see the murals inside the cave and the Taiqing Palace outside the cave, they will think of everything you have done. Do you think this is glorious? To put it bluntly, if Taoist Wang had not discovered the cave's multiple chambers, the thousands of scriptures in the Mogao Grottoes would still be intact today. If you had not discovered the multiple layers of murals, those decades The murals from the later Jin and Tang dynasties can also remain intact.”

"You...that's all, I won't peel off the paintings anymore!" Zhang Daqian was so angry that he almost spit out blood.

Zhou Hexuan indeed went too far. Zhang Daqian should not be compared with Taoist Wang. Although Zhang Daqian did some damage to Dunhuang murals, he made great contributions to the research and development of Dunhuang studies in history. It is difficult to say clearly whether he is a merit or a fault.

The biggest difficulty is that the country is too backward.

If the Qing government had been prosperous and powerful, the Dunhuang Scriptures would not have been lost overseas. When Taoist Wang discovered the complex of the Mogao Grottoes, the thousands of scriptures and dozens of boxes of ancient books inside were originally intended to be transported to the provincial government for safekeeping. However, the decision was abandoned because the local government could not afford the freight of six to seven thousand taels, resulting in a large number of The cultural relics were bought by foreigners for more than a thousand taels of silver.

If the Republic of China were prosperous and powerful, it would not be the painter Zhang Daqian's turn to spend thousands of taels of gold to study the murals. Instead, the state would organize a professional archaeological team to excavate them.

As Chinese people, we can only look forward to the coming of a prosperous age.

By then, we will not only be able to protect our domestic cultural relics, but also slowly recover cultural relics lost overseas.