Mr. Xu Senyu is worthy of being a "national treasure". Mr. Xu is an outstanding cultural relic philologist in China. He is the same age as Mr. Lu Xun and was a colleague of Lu Xun when he worked in the Ministry of Education. He is well-informed and knowledgeable, and some of them are "juexue". But he was modest and low-key all his life and didn't like to write stories. Much of his knowledge has not been passed down through his works. So not many people know xu teacher's name and academic contribution. 17 August is the 30th anniversary of Mr. Xu's birth17, and this year is also the 40th anniversary of his death. We should remember him and carry forward his spirit.
Go to Shanghai to rescue ancient books and documents with injuries.
At the Third National People's Congress from 65438 to 0964, Premier Zhou Enlai cordially held Mr. Xu Senyu's hand and called him a "national treasure". It should be Mr. Zheng Zhenduo who first introduced and recommended "national treasure" Xu Senyu to Premier Zhou; The first person to respect Mr. Xu as a "national treasure" was Mr. Zheng. More than twenty years ago, I was entrusted by Mr. Tang Tao to sort out more than forty letters from Zheng Zhenduo to Tang Tao (later published in Historical Materials of New Literature). In the letter of June 195 1, Mr. Zheng said this:
Lawson is a national treasure today, so we should take good care of him. Other old people are only in name, but he is really an expert in identification. We must strive for him and love him. He is a "all-rounder", who keeps his word and makes a final decision. We should strive to be his apprentice, contact him more and consult him more. If he leaves Shanghai, the Cultural Management Committee will definitely not be able to buy anything.
It was the early days of the founding of the People's Republic, and it was in ruins. Mr. Zheng was then the director of the Cultural Relics Bureau of the Central Ministry of Culture, and was responsible for the work of cultural relics archaeology, libraries and museums in New China. At that time, he was the deputy director of the Cultural Relics Department of the East China Ministry of Culture, and Mr. Xu was the director of the Cultural Relics Department of the East China Ministry of Culture (later the curator of the Shanghai Museum). Mr. Zheng's remarks fully show great respect for him. When I first read these words, I was a little skeptical that Mr. Zheng's evaluation of him was exaggerated. With the deepening of research, I am more and more aware of Mr. Zheng's respect for xu teacher, not only because of his knowledge, but also because of his patriotism.
Mr. Zheng and Mr. Xu met at the latest in the early 1960s, but after Japan launched a full-scale war of aggression against China, they became familiar with each other and became friends. At the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War, Mr. Xu was responsible for the transportation and storage of cultural relics of the Forbidden City and rare books of Beitu in the mainland, and Mr. Zheng participated in leading the cultural salvation movement in Shanghai. The mountain roads in Sichuan and Guizhou are rugged. In order to protect the national treasure, Mr Xu even broke his leg. In the "isolated island" of Shanghai, Mr. Zheng not only openly carried out anti-Japanese activities, but also secretly initiated and organized a "document preservation comrades' meeting" to rescue and defend national culture with Zhang Shouyong (president of Guanghua University), He Bingsong (president of Jinan University) and (chairman of the Commercial Press). They received funding from the Board of Directors of the Sino-British Cultural and Educational Fund (formerly "the Board of Directors of the Sino-British Geng Fund") managed by the Chongqing government to preserve rare books for the country. Zheng Zhenduo and others used a part of "boxer indemnity" stained with the blood and tears of China people more than 30 years ago to secretly rescue China ancient books and documents plundered by imperialism again.
The "Gay Club" has been in full swing for nearly a year. Dispatched by Chongqing, Mr. Xu ventured to Shanghai to take part in this secret job despite his leg injury. 1940 12 18 Zheng Zhenduo's letter to Zhang Yongni (all the letters quoted by Zheng are now in the National Library of Beijing);
"Yesterday afternoon, someone came from Chongqing to contact us. This gentleman is a close friend, that is, Xu Senyu, whose real name is Hongbao (begging for secrets), and is currently the curator of antiquities in the Palace Museum; They invited him here again and again. There is a lot to talk about. " Since then, Mr Zheng has lived with Mr Xu almost day and night.
65438+February 2 1 noon, Xu Senyu, He Bingsong and Zhang Yongni were invited to have dinner with them and decided to box the books they bought at that time, which were signed and sealed by Mr. Zheng and Mr. Xu. On 23rd, Zheng Zhenduo, alias Xidi (from the pen name Xidi), Zhang Yongni, alias Zishang (from the word Ni) and He Bingsong, alias Rumao (from the word Song), jointly sent a telegram to the director of Chongqing Central Library, Jiang (who was not a formal director at that time). All the following messages and letters from Chongqing are now in the National Library of Taipei. Mr. Xu, who is over 60 years old, also went to Jiayetang and other places with Mr. Zheng to identify and select books.
194 1 On February 20th, 2000, He Bingsong wrote to Jiang Fuji, saying, "Actually, the most energetic runner here should be Tuixi's brother. ..... Since the forest worker came, I have been discussing new books with Xidige every day, checking old book collections, and stamping one book after another. My colleagues are very sad. " At that time, both Mr. Xu and Mr. He wrote to the Chongqing authorities, saying that Mr. Zheng was the hardest worker and should get some subsidies. Knowing this, Mr. Zheng wrote a long letter to Mr. Jiang on February 26, saying, "Mr. Sen has benefited a lot from everything here. I am very happy! We either get together every day or have a long talk. Appreciating wonderful books together, analyzing problems together, and telling stories together are more rewarding than reading books for ten years. However, a recent incident deeply disturbed my brother. From my standpoint, I must declare my ambition carefully. Gaiqing learned from his friend Xu that the forest worker had written to Zunchu, indicating that Mr. He intended to pay his brother a certain monthly salary. This is a terrible thing! My brother didn't know in advance ... "Mr. Zheng resolutely declined the kindness of Mr. Xu and others, and Mr. Xu was deeply moved.
By June, some rare books had been mailed to Hong Kong in batches, and Mr. Zheng's old friend Xu Dishan and others received them for temporary storage, and then managed to transport them to Chongqing. Mr. Zheng intends to go to Hong Kong to handle transshipment and other matters in person, and Mr. Xu also wants to go back to the mainland via Hong Kong. In June of 5438+02, Zheng Zhenduo wrote to Zhang Yongni: "I will leave at the end of this month. Forest workers are eager to return home and will walk with him. " Today, there is still a secret telegram drafted by Mr. Zheng of Taiwan Province Province on the 24th, which is sent to Chiang Kai-shek: "The public is the goods (according to the words of a poet in the Song Dynasty,' the public is the goods' alludes to Liu Huishan's book), and it has been shipped to Hong Kong and is eager to hand it over. It is planned to push the truth to South-South to deal with this matter ... Forest workers are also determined to be an insider and meet with the Commissioner of Zungui. The rest will be returned after the next shipment. "
Later, Mr. Xu left Shanghai for Hong Kong by boat on July 24th, and Mr. Zheng was really tied up with work. He later recalled in the Diary of Searching for Books: "The international situation is becoming increasingly tense. The situation in Shanghai is getting worse every day. We really can't guarantee that the books we receive can be safely stored. Moving to another place is a good plan. First of all, more than 80 kinds of the most precious ancient books that can be listed in the' Forest of National Treasures' were brought to Hong Kong by Mr. Xu Senyu and then transported to Chongqing by plane from Hong Kong. This incident exhausted Mr. Moriyu's heart and strength, and it was very easy to reach his destination safely. "
Mr. Xu fought side by side with Mr. Zheng in Shanghai for more than seven months. When he left, he resolutely undertook the arduous task of protecting and carrying two boxes of "the most precious ancient books that can be included in the forest of national treasures". On July 25, Mr. Zheng wrote a letter to Jiang, signed by Zheng, Zhang and He, in which he specifically mentioned:
Forest industry is the most modest and pragmatic, and he is willing to suffer for himself everywhere, instead of wasting a penny of public funds. He is a saint today! It is also a blessing to get together for a long time.
Mr. Zheng and others called Mr. Xu "the sage of today", which is a lofty evaluation. On September 1 1, Mr. Zheng wrote to Rulu under the pseudonyms Zheng, Zhang and He, and mentioned: "Forest Industry has won the honor of Hong Kong Shipping ... Now all the books are sent by Forest Industry alone. Writing Chinese and English bibliographies and paying airmail are all handled by forest workers themselves. When posting, the forest worker stood and waited for hours! Can admire and feel! The rest of the books were packed and shipped, and it was also presided over by the forest worker alone. The rhinoceros (publishing house, that is, Zheng Zhenduo) agreed to go south with the forest worker at the same time, so there were so many trivial matters ... I couldn't go with him, and I didn't get a little job, so I felt ashamed and uneasy. It is said that the packaging work has been going on for more than 20 days, and it is not finished yet. It is conceivable that the trouble is negligible, and people who are not hardworking and hardworking will never be able to do it. "
"Everything depends on the book."
As soon as Mr. Xu left, Mr. Zheng immediately faced a big battle to rescue a large number of extremely precious books purchased by zhangqin Bo of Nanxun in the Art Garden (also known as Art Garden). Today, Mr. Zheng wrote to Mr. Xu on August 26, saying, "If this matter is successful, the achievements of our generation will be insignificant ... For the sake of national culture, our generation will never give up their efforts and are not afraid of suffering." One of the ways for scholars to serve the country is ... recalling that Mr. Wang is here, everything can benefit. Share weal and woe, the aftertaste is still there. What can I get now? Sir, can you do it again? I sincerely hope that this day will come! " These books are very expensive, and the government must be persuaded to allocate a huge sum of money. However, not many people in Chongqing "know the goods", and Mr. Xu's return to the mainland just played an important role. On October 7th, 65438/KLOC-0, Zheng Zhenduo wrote to Zhang Yongni, saying, "Yesterday, forest workers came to a river from Chongqing (according to the reporter, that is, on the 3rd) and said,' All celery goods must be purchased, and all the money must be remitted'." This fact is very serious! Today, I saw a document from the Ministry of Education in Taiwan Province Province: "For the telegram from Chairman Feng, the museum (publishing house, that is, the central map) immediately appraised the acquisition of the Zhang Yiyuan Library in Nanxun", indicating that the acquisition of Yiyuan books has been passed on to Chiang Kai-shek.
Although the funding problem was finally solved, the negotiations between Zheng Zhenduo and Qianzhang were full of twists and turns and extremely difficult. Until 10 year122 October, Zheng Zhenduo wrote to Zhang Yongni, saying, "Wen has approached in a certain direction, saying that there are changes all the time ... If the Qin goods are really taken by a certain party, the relationship is not shallow!" "One side" of course refers to the enemy and puppet. The next day, Zheng, Zhang and He jointly wrote a letter to Jiang Fuyu in different names, and finally reported the success of this matter, and attached "Xigutang signed a contract with Zhang Qinbo to buy all the books in the park". Today, I saw this personal letter and contract from Zheng Zhenduo, Taiwan Province Province, and "Xigutang" is undoubtedly another name of "Gay Club". The letter said: "This contract can be signed this afternoon or tomorrow afternoon at the latest. After signing, you can put down a worry! After several months of hard work, I can comfort myself ... Once the contract is signed, I will immediately carry out pan goods (according to Bao Auditorium in Song and Yuan Dynasties) ... I heard that the Qu brothers said that the collection (according to Qin and bronze swords) should also be divided into three parts. After the split, I'm afraid I'll lose it. This must be managed! Please pay attention! " It can be seen how nervous they were when they fought without smoke.
On the night of 1 13 June 65438+ 10/3, Mr. Zheng wrote a long and affectionate letter to Mr. Xu with a very beautiful color printing paper: "... Qin's goods have been sold ... this is one of the last 20 years." Dedicated to the descendants of Huang Yanyan, who will live in the contemporary era forever, and express my most sincere thanks to Mr. Wang! Behave yourself, move and let go. If you drink, Tao Ran will get drunk. At that time, the voice was silent and the family members were sleepy. The moonlight outside the window is the best, glittering and translucent, adding a sense of tranquility. But what do the appreciators care about? Who is content to know each other and smile at each other? Mr. Wang goes west, (by, referring to the map of the north that came to Shanghai not long ago) goes north, and his loneliness is increasing day by day, especially at this time! Everyone knows the value of Huang Postscript, but how many people know its value? I have made several book appointments, but none of them seem to be very enthusiastic. I am deeply disappointed ... but the quantity of books is particularly tight and the payment is particularly troublesome. Deal with it alone, dig up the flesh to mend the sore, and Mr. Wang Can imagines its difficult situation! Oh! How easy is it to get a book? He Murphy won it with blood and sweat! Extremely angry, let go of every thought. However, I reluctantly support Mr. Wang's words "everything is subject to books" Moreover, learning from Chen is a great responsibility, so we must bear these difficulties alone ... "In this letter, Mr. Zheng regards Mr. Xu as a bosom friend to save literature. He was wronged, but as long as he thought of xu teacher's extremely simple "everything is subject to books", he persisted. He said with passion that all the descendants of Huangyan, who will live forever in the future, would like to extend their most sincere thanks to Mr. Xu!
Go to Shanghai secretly again to protect precious books.
Less than a month after Mr. Zheng finished writing, 194 165438 On February 8, Japan launched the Pacific War. On that day, Shanghai was completely occupied, and the rescue work of the "Gay Club" was forced to stop. From the spring of 1940, it took them less than two years to collect books for the country. Zheng Zhenduo's Diary of Searching for Books records: "The whole National Library was established. Although it can't be said to be all-encompassing, it is equally amazing in terms of quantity and quality. Even you can't believe that there will be such a bad result! " After Mr. Zheng and his wife Xu Guangping, a comrade-in-arms of Lu Xun, were arrested by the Japanese army, in June of 5438+07, Mr. Zheng discussed with a senior about changing his name and surname. From then on, he left his hometown and lived in secret until the victory of the Anti-Japanese War. On the same day, Mr. Xu in Chongqing wrote to Jiang, saying: "Now the whole Square Museum (according to the map of the north) has been accepted by the Puppet Manchuria organization, and it must be a book stored in Shanghai. In order to avoid this difficulty, we had to move more than 300 boxes to several private houses according to the method of sharing with Xidi brothers ... My brother plans to change his name and surname, cross the enemy-occupied area and secretly go to Shanghai and his party. Over 60 years old, embarrassing years are no longer precious. HanDong's Lang Shizhong said,' If you drag out an ignoble existence like God's will, you deeply doubt that the country's grace is not dead.' My brother tasted this sentence and felt deeply ashamed. If this activity is completed, then this question will be solved! Mr Xu has worked in Beijing Library since the early years of the Republic of China. At that time, many books of Beitu were smuggled to Shanghai. Mr. Xu is worried about this and is not afraid of sacrifice. He asked to sneak back to Shanghai to protect these books, which fully demonstrated his lofty patriotism. At this time, Mr. Zheng, whose pseudonym went underground, missed Mr. Xu very much. He has ventured many times to write letters to Xu and Jiang under his pseudonym. Today, I saw the obscure letter he sent to Jiang Fuju under the pseudonym "Rhino" on1October 26th, 1942: "I believe I have received the previous letter. Everything here is peaceful, and the size of the family is extremely healthy and auspicious, which can be explained as far away. Family expenses are huge because of rising living standards, but they can barely maintain the status quo. All I can think about now is the situation of my relatives and friends in Hong Kong. Gong is a family (publishing house, implying a good book shipped to Hong Kong), and whether it is safe or not is particularly worrying ... The family is separated here, it is difficult to survive, and there is no peace all night ... To the holy monk (press, referring to Xu Senyu), begging for it. " To my surprise, I also saw the obscure letter that Mr. Zheng sent to Sheng Weng from Mr. Jiang. The letter said, "Have you received the first two letters? When I heard that I came from the East, I was very anxious. It is not suitable for building mountains and repairing obstacles. It is worthwhile to trudge in the old age in severe winter. The relatives and friends here are as peaceful as ever, respect the size and are extremely safe. It is a comfort for us to come down from here and take refuge in Jian 'an. Shoujun's family (according to the press, Shoujun refers to Yuan Shouhe, the head of Beitu, and here refers to the Shanghai books stored in the museum) is also good, but when Shoujun is not at home, women and children are left unattended. Wen Beiyu has been taken care of by Qi Jun (according to, referring to Zhou Zuoren, also known as Qi Ming), and her eldest son has traveled far and wide, and the situation is still good (according to, implying that good books have been shipped to the United States). Mr. Wang and Shou have been old friends for 40 years (by the way, Xu Senyu and Beitu have deep feelings for 30 years), and I can't help but think of it, warm-hearted and sad! In this life, there are icing on the cake, but I don't want to smell the help in the snow. The friendship between my husband and my family is appreciated. However, after all, there are many obstacles in the journey. Please take care of yourself and don't rush here! Spring is not far away, come in April and May, if it is not winter snow. "
It turns out that Mr. Zheng also heard about Mr. Xu's plan to venture to Shanghai in Shanghai. Admiring it, he quickly wrote to dissuade him. Later, Mr. Xu secretly went to Shanghai in early March of 1942. Together with Mr. Zheng, Mr. Xu encouraged each other and adhered to the lofty national integrity under the eyes of the Japanese aggressors.
1970, Mr. Mou Runsun of Taiwan Province Province wrote "Preface to Mr. Xu Senyu's Ninetieth Birthday", mentioning Mr. Xu: "In wartime, antiquities must be transported by means of sustenance. As for building a car and folding its legs, after running through the customs, people with lofty ideals gathered books in the southeast and made outstanding achievements ... There is a good history in the world, so it is necessary to take the country to show their achievements." Today's literary and historical workers should also multiply their predecessors such as Xu Senyu and Zheng Zhenduo by their achievements.
Qian Zhongshu presented a hymn.
Xu Senyu's great wisdom and courage are admirable, so Mr. Qian Zhongshu wrote "Xu Senyu Zhang (Hong) Farewell to Shu" with deep affection:
Spring water is suitable for life, but the weather is also difficult.
Xijiang River looks at live catfish, while Donghai envies eels.
Send it away from the cliff and climb up the mountain to see it.
Siege lightly entrust life, turn to earn peace.
(Now income "Huai Jushi Cun" page 88)