Cheng Enyuan (19 17- 1989) is a native of Wenshui County, Shanxi Province. 1938 Cheng Enyuan was admitted to yenching university, Beiping, where he studied archaeology under Pei Wenzhong, the discoverer of Peking man's skull. When the Pacific War broke out, yenching university was forced to close, and Cheng Enyuan dropped out of school. 1942, yenching university resumed school in Chengdu, and Cheng Enyuan enrolled again. 1943 after graduating from yenching university, cheng enyuan was admitted to the department of archaeology of yanjing research institute as a graduate student, and studied under the famous archaeologist Zheng dekun. 1947, Cheng Enyuan was transferred to the Sheikh Museum in West China as an assistant researcher. In the same year, many carved Buddha statues in the Tang Dynasty were washed away by floods in Qionglai, Sichuan, and Cheng Enyuan was sent to dig them. After many collections and excavations, Cheng Enyuan obtained a nearly 2-meter-high brokeback Buddha statue, which was praised as "Venus of China" by the archaeological community. 1952, Cheng Enyuan was transferred to Sichuan University with Huada Museum, and served as the acting curator of the museum in 1945. Later, he served as a lecturer, associate professor, professor and museum consultant in the history department of Sichuan University. 1989165438+1died of a sudden cerebral hemorrhage on October 4th at the age of 72.
Cheng Enyuan is a famous archaeologist, a famous cultural relic collector, a numismatist and a stamp collector. Born in Nanguan Village, Chengguan Town, Wenshui County. He used to be a historian professor of Sichuan University, vice-president of Sichuan Qianzhong Society and consultant of Sichuan University Museum.
Chinese name: Cheng Enyuan.
Nationality: China.
Birthplace: Nanguan Village, Chengguan Town, Wenshui County
Date of birth: 19 17
Date of death: 1989
Occupation: archaeologist, collector, numismatist
Graduate School: yenching university History Department, Beiping.
Major achievements: It was praised as "Venus of China" by the archaeological community.
He has written and translated a large number of papers and monographs.
Representative works: Dunhuang manuscripts and classics.
life experience
Cheng Enyuan studied under Pei Wenzhong. 19 17 was born in Wenshui county, Shanxi province. His father died when he was four years old, and his mother supported a poor family and raised him. With the support of relatives and friends, Cheng Enyuan, who was smart and studious since childhood, finished primary school and junior high school and was admitted to Mingxian Middle School in Shanxi with 1934. When he was a sophomore, his paper "Examination of Kang Yong Literary Prison in Qing Dynasty" published in the magazine "Famous Xian" fully showed his literary and historical skills.
1938, Cheng Enyuan was admitted to the journalism department of yenching university and transferred to the history department the following year. 1In the autumn of 940, Pei Wenzhong, the authority of archaeology in China and the discoverer of Peking man's skull in Zhoukoudian, returned from studying in France and taught in yenching university, offering a course in prehistoric archaeology. In the first class, the classroom was crowded with teachers and students who came to attend the class. Although many of them don't study history, they all want to see the elegance of the discoverers from Beijing. Since then, the number of teachers and students attending classes has decreased rapidly, leaving only two students, Cheng Enyuan and Jia Lanpo. Only Cheng Enyuan was a formal elective student of Yanda University, and Jia Lanpo was an observer at that time. The two students were so absorbed that they persisted in finishing Pei Wenzhong's class.
When Pei Wenzhong arrived at Yanda University, he set out to build the earliest professional museum in China-yenching university Prehistoric Exhibition Hall. After more than a month of school, Cheng Enyuan, as an assistant, followed Pei Wenzhong to make specific preparations for the prehistoric exhibition hall. At that time, there were only three employees in the museum: curator Pei Wenzhong, secretary Cheng Enyuan and worker Lao Wang. Cheng Enyuan was still a student at that time. Being a secretary is a special part-time job, and 40 yuan's salary every month is of great help to a poor student's life. After nearly two months of preparation, the prehistoric exhibition hall officially opened on February 4, 1940. Due to the shortage of manpower, Cheng Enyuan began to work as a part-time commentator from the opening day. However, the good times did not last long. 194 1 In February, the Pacific War broke out and the Japanese army occupied and closed Yanda University. Cheng Enyuan left school, then resumed his studies in Chengdu, separated from Pei Wenzhong. But his wish to be a graduate student of Mr. Pei failed to come true.
Achievement "Venus of China"
1945 At the beginning of the year, Cheng Enyuan learned that his mother and brother living in their hometown in occupied Shanxi Province were in desperate circumstances and died of illness and hunger eight days later. The family is ruined, and he is the only one left! Cheng Enyuan was heartbroken and wrote: "Revenge must be avenged, for the family, for the country and for the nation!" He resolutely gave up two years of graduate studies, joined the army, joined the anti-Japanese youth expeditionary force, and was determined to go to the battlefield to destroy the Japanese aggressors. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Cheng Enyuan retired and once again engaged in his favorite archaeology.
65438-0947, Zheng Dekun, director of the History Museum of West China United University, was invited to give a lecture at the Royal Museum. He specially invited Cheng Enyuan to preside over archaeological work in China Grand Museum, so as to maintain the professional level and development of the museum. In June of the same year, the flood of Xihe River in Qionglai, Sichuan Province soared, and the soil layer along the river bank collapsed due to the impact of the flood, and many Buddhist stone carvings were washed away. Soon, some unearthed Buddhist rubbings and stone carvings spread to Chengdu, which attracted the attention of Huada Museum. DavidCrockettGraham, then curator of the museum, sent Cheng Enyuan to explore them. At that time, the so-called First Museum of Ancient Western China had only seven or eight people, and the museum was understaffed. Considering that Cheng Enyuan is an archaeological major, he is only allowed to try to dig and collect in Qionglai alone.
Cheng Enyuan made a professional excavation in the area along the Xihe River in Qionglai. To his surprise, there are many stone fragments scattered along the river and riverbed. He tied each unearthed stone carving with a straw rope, and then hired a rickshaw to transport it back to the museum. Stone carvings, Buddha statues and other cultural relics washed away by floods are numerous and heavy, so they need to be transported back to the museum in time every time they are excavated and cleaned. By February of the following year, he went there four times. In order to explore the cultural relics of the Xihe River in Qionglai, Cheng Enyuan did not go home on New Year's Eve that year. Later, when he came back, all he brought home was a bundle of firewood, but he brought 170 stone tablets, buildings, Buddha statues and stone carvings back to the museum.
The stone Buddha statues unearthed and collected in Cheng Enyuan are exquisitely carved, especially the broken-arm Guanyin Buddha statue with a height of 1.98 meters, which was found to be broken into three pieces and scattered on the riverbed a mile away. Guanyin Bodhisattva stood up again after repairing it, but her arm was gone. The beauty of this rediscovered stone carving Guanyin Buddha statue is comparable to Venus, which makes everyone who sees it full of praise. 1954, when President Guo Moruo visited the museum, he was called "Venus of China"! Because of its incomparable arms, it is called "Venus with Broken Arms". This Buddha statue is slightly taller than ordinary people, with dignified face, gorgeous costumes, full figure, exquisite crown, bun, wreaths and leather carvings, and strong texture. It deserves to be called "Venus of China". This is also the "treasure of the town hall" of Sichuan University Museum today.
Cheng Enyuan, who has always been rigorous in academic research, did not give up the textual research on the names of temples. 1948 to 10, the fifth excavation in Qionglai. Many things happen. He finally found a small Buddhist stone on the spot that can prove the name of the temple, and it was clearly engraved with "longxing temple". At that time, Cheng Enyuan was too happy to speak for a long time. He kept looking at the fragments of Buddhist scriptures in his hand. At this point, these unearthed cultural relics were officially named longxing temple Stone Carvings of the Tang Dynasty in Qionglai, Sichuan, which laid the foundation for future excavation.
A much-told story in the collectors' circle
Cheng Enyuan, who studies history, likes collecting very much. He likes to collect, not for profit, but mainly for collecting history, leaving information for future generations to witness history. While studying at Huaxi Dam, Cheng Enyuan met Xia Xianglie, a graduate of Huaxi Sheikh University who likes to collect coins and tickets. Xia Xianglie's great-grandfather bought 20 shares of Chuanhan Railway in the late Qing Dynasty 1907, and these shares were distributed only once in a hundred years. Subsequently, the traitorous behavior of the Qing government triggered the famous movement to protect the road, which became the fuse of the Revolution of 1911 that overthrew the Qing rule. By the time of the Republic of China, the shares of Chuanhan Railway had become waste paper, but these shares were the witness of the railway protection movement. Cheng Enyuan was very interested in these stocks of Sichuan-Han Railway in Qing Dynasty, so Xia Xianglie gave them to his friend Cheng Enyuan. However, what everyone didn't expect was that after the "Cultural Revolution", Xia Xianglie's 20 shares of Chuanhan Railway had only one orphan ticket left. This orphan ticket is the one that Xia Xianglie gave to Cheng Enyuan. It turned out that during the Cultural Revolution, Xia Xianglie's family was copied, and 19 shares were doomed. Cheng Enyuan is also the property of the rebel army, and many of his collections have also been robbed. Cheng Enyuan took great risks to hide his stocks in old books and newspapers just to get away with it. To the delight of collectors, before 1989' s death, Cheng Enyuan asked his family to return the stock that he had taken risks to Zhao as a souvenir.
After the founding of New China, Cheng Enyuan stayed in West China Museum, engaged in archaeology and teaching. 1952 transferred to Sichuan University with Huada Museum. 1954 When Cheng Enyuan served as the acting curator of Sichuan University Museum, the Sichuan University Museum was about to be closed, and all its collections were in danger of being transferred by many institutions and academic research institutions. Cheng Enyuan proposed at the meeting that in order to preserve the Sichuan University Museum and its collections, and make the Museum of West China Sheikh University established in 19 14 continue. Today, Sichuan University Museum ranks first among all university museums in China and enjoys a high reputation at home and abroad, thanks to Cheng Enyuan.
Self-encouragement poems
Say goodbye to Beijing for forty years, and dream about Yan Garden.
The unnamed lake comments on the stubborn stone, and the ancient hill says Baoshan in front of the mountain.
Twice the fairy fate went with the fog, and a river of spring water flowed eastward.
If not, you will worry about the moon in the cowshed.
Other related
Cheng Enyuan, a native of Wenshui, Shanxi, has taught at West China Union Medical College and the History Department of Sichuan University. 1937 was admitted to the history department of yenching university, where he studied under Mr. Pei Wenzhong, specializing in archaeology. 194 1 year 12 When the Pacific War broke out, the Japanese invaders closed yenching university. Cheng Enyuan crossed the blockade and went south. He resumed his studies in yenching university and was admitted to yenching university Research Institute. 1944165438+10, the Japanese invaders captured Dushan in Guizhou, and the rear area shook. My mother and brother, who lived in Wenshui's hometown in the Japanese war zone, were desperate and starved to death in eight days. Cheng Enyuan was heartbroken and wrote: "Revenge means revenge, for the family, for the country and for the nation!" It also says: "19451month 2 1 day, I received the news of my mother's brother's death and signed up for the army yesterday morning", and "I swear not to pay my blood debt, and I will take paper to comfort the deceased on the day of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War!" So he put on a black veil, abandoned his pen to join the army and joined the "army of 100 thousand young people" to avenge the enemy's war of resistance against Japan. Later, he was stationed in Lu Xian County, Sichuan Province.
From 65438 to 0947, he worked in the museum of Sheikh University in West China. 1954 is the acting curator of the museum.
1955 Up to now, he has served as a lecturer, associate professor, professor, museum consultant and vice president of Sichuan Coin Society. In addition to teaching Paleolithic and Archaeology in Han and Tang Dynasties, he has made in-depth research on rock tombs, grottoes, ceramics, ancient coins, calligraphy and painting, chess, etc., and has written and translated a large number of papers and monographs, including the Report on the Excavation of Buddhist Stone Carvings in longxing temple, Qionglai (English version), Fifty Years of Qiong Yao, and Liulichang Kiln Site (translation).
Since 1947 entered the West China Concord Museum, Mr. Cheng Enyuan has formed a lifelong bond with the museum. Over the past 42 years, he has devoted himself to the museum cause of Sichuan University and made outstanding contributions in museum construction, collection, appraisal, research, exhibition and collection publicity. Collect, select and identify tens of thousands of paintings, rubbings, stone carvings, coins, seals, arts and crafts and national cultural relics. From 65438 to 0948, he presided over the excavation and collection of more than 200 stone carvings in longxing temple in the Tang Dynasty, and opened a stone carving showroom. Participated in the design and layout of the museum's early general history, stone carvings, calligraphy and painting, revolutionary cultural relics and national cultural relics; 1952, 6 mummies of Ming and Qing dynasties were excavated and collected. I hope to establish a "China Mummy Exhibition Laboratory" to study the ancient mummies in China first, but it was later destroyed by the political movement.
For decades, Mr. Cheng Enyuan has received a large number of Chinese and foreign guests, scholars and politicians, including Guo Moruo and Li Zhengdao. His extensive knowledge, profound insights and skillful explanations and answers in Chinese and English have won a high reputation for the museum. In particular, when Sichuan University Museum faced the crisis of being completely decomposed by five units and museums in 1954, Mr. Cheng advocated its preservation at many meetings. Today, Sichuan University Museum ranks first among all university museums in China, enjoying a good reputation at home and abroad, and its contribution to Mr. Cheng Hehe will go down in history forever.