"There has never been a more serious time than now
Sunset
On the beach
Not a single last word was left
A sunflower with the end of the world
Both died
A piece of wood
I found out after being washed to the shore by the tide."
- Love
Love's thousand-line poem "Driftwood" has shortened the distance between Hengnan County, Hunan Province and the world.
Love, a native of Hengnan County, Hengyang City, Hunan Province, is an internationally renowned poet who was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001 for his long poem "Driftwood". Because of the almost magical expression, he is known as the "poetry demon" in the international poetry circle.
On June 28, 2023, the Love Literature and Art Museum opened in Hengnan County, and poetry flowed in Hengnan.
Poetry Heights
"Why did the geese return to Hengyang, because of the wind"
The summer solstice sun stretches the length of the day to the extreme, and the plants and trees stretch their branches and leaves. Yunji Town, Hengnan County, under the shade of trees, is the Love Literature and Art Museum.
This is a poetic habitat, with 8 exhibition halls that concretize Love's poetic life.
Foyer of the Love Museum of Literature and Art Photo by Fangsen Lee
The "Ink Smile" calligraphy art hall exhibits more than 60 pieces of Love's calligraphy works;
The "Snow Falls Silently" manuscript museum, which displays more than 3,000 pages of Love's precious creative manuscripts, letters, certificates, etc.;
"Because of the Wind" Poetry Art Hall, with more than 600 photos, audio-visual materials and real objects, under the background of modern comprehensive exhibition technology such as sound and light, tells the story of Love's life of wandering in poetry, as well as the pure heart in the unchanged vernacular......
Tourists admiring Love's calligraphy in photography by Fangsen Lee
This poetry has also attracted many poets to come to Hengnan to "collect style".
On December 21, 2023, the Love Literature and Art Museum was awarded the first "Modern Poetry Hall of Fame" in China, and the famous poet Shu Ting and poet Chen Zhongyi were unveiled, and Yan Xi, deputy secretary general of the Chinese Poetry Society, and poets Hu Qiuling, Xiao Feng, Chen Qunzhou, and Lu Lu participated in the unveiling ceremony.
"The exhibition of the Love Literature and Art Museum is very modern, the collection is rich, the culture of Hengnan is rich, and a large number of poets have emerged, which is worthy of being the hometown of poetry." After visiting the Love Literature and Art Museum, Shu Ting said that before leaving, she deliberately wrote "Poetry and Friends" to express her deep longing for her old friend Love.
This poetic habitat has thus become a poetic highland.
A landmark of cultural tourism
"Outside the window is the mountains, it's the smoke and rain, it's April"
Walk through the door of the Love Literature and Art Museum, and poetry will come to you. The openwork design of the wall is filled with square wooden bricks, which are engraved with Love's poem "Driftwood".
"'Death in the Stone Chamber' and 'Driftwood' are Love's masterpieces, and the stone and the wooden brick are metaphors for these two poems." Luo Shibin, director of the Love Literature and Art Museum, introduced that the "ingenuity" of these exhibitions is full of poetry.
Leaving aside the visual search, a crisp wind chimes sent poetic bursts. The reason for the sound is "because of the wind".
The art museum has become a "check-in place" Photo by Li Fangsen
"China is a country of poetry, and poetry is forever young." In the year since the opening of the museum, Luo Shibin has watched the art museum become a "check-in place" for young people. "There are 'films' everywhere here." Changing the scene, the glass curtain wall on the side of the patio is engraved with Love's famous poems, and the poetry becomes the background of the photo when you sit on the chair next to it.
In addition to the static exhibition hall, the irregular lectures are more worthy of "punching in". In order to help young people better understand and read Love, and further improve their literary literacy, the exhibition hall invites Shu Ting and other famous artists to give lectures from time to time, and holds a "driftwood reading club".
Compared with lectures by famous artists, art museums have also become the best choice for exchanges among local poetry lovers.
"Today we gather together to watch the master's style and taste the poetic aesthetics." As the host words sounded in the museum, the Junya Reading Studio of Mingde Primary School in Hengnan County started a journey of "viewing the master's style and tasting poetic aesthetics" in the Love Culture and Art Museum.
Viewing the exhibition hall, listening to the stories of the masters, and reciting Love's poems, poetry lovers' understanding of Love and poetry is also deepening.
Poetry is hidden in various locations of the pavilion Photograph Li Fangsen
In order to continuously enhance the popularity and reputation of the Love Literature and Art Museum, Hengnan County took the opportunity of Hengyang hosting the 3rd Tourism Development Conference of Hunan Province to expand the influence of "Love Cultural IP", make "Love Cultural IP" "live" and "tide", promote the deep integration of culture and tourism, and help Hengnan cultural and tourism resources "break the circle".
In the past year, the Love Literature and Art Museum has received more than 100,000 guests from home and abroad, and has gradually become a new landmark of cultural tourism in Hengnan.
Eternal home
"This local sound is the birthmark I have guarded for a lifetime"
Love once said that he has always had two "incurable diseases": one is forgetfulness, and the other is something he can't forget - his nostalgia.
Throughout his life, Love has experienced many hardships and losses for the country, the nation and the individual, as well as the drift of losing his roots.
Luo Shibin has also directly felt Love's nostalgia.
Luo Shibin is looking at Love's poetry manuscript photographed by Li Fangsen
In 2006, a letter sent from Vancouver to Hengnan made Luo Shibin overjoyed, because the signature on the envelope was Love. Luo Shibin, who loves poetry, was founding a folk publication with a group of literature lovers at that time. With a passion for literature, they sent the publication to Love, who was far away from home.
"Hengnan is my birthplace, where I spent a wonderful childhood, and a white horse-like teenager. Hengnan is my eternal dream land, the original hometown of life; Although I have been adrift from the end of the earth to the cape for most of my life, there is an invisible umbilical cord, like the rope of a kite, that has been tightly tied to me and deeply entangled me. Unexpectedly, Love not only replied to the letter, but also retitled the publication "Lotus Wind" in the letter. Accompanying the letter was a front-line article he had written.
Hengnan is rich in lotus seeds, lotus ponds are everywhere, every midsummer, lotus fragrance overflows. For Love, "Lotus Wind" is the artistic conception of his hometown in his memory. To this day, the "Lotus Wind" still blows gently on Love's hometown.
The cultural and creative products in the museum are also loved by visitors photography Li Fangsen
This nostalgia also calls for the wanderer who left home to return home. On the day of the opening of the Love Literature and Art Museum, many Taiwan compatriots returned after hearing the news.
In the year since the museum opened, Zhang Jiawu, a Taiwanese compatriot in his 60s, has crossed the bay twice, and every time he comes, he will fill his backpack.
Love's poems, bearing the birthmark of nostalgia, connect the hearts of the two sides of the strait, and also become the link between China and the world.
On June 25, 2004, Canadian Foreign Minister Petar Havder visited the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing and presented Love's new poetry couplet on the spot.
Luo Shibin said that in the year since the opening of the museum, tourists from Australia, Canada, the United States, Japan and other countries and regions have crossed the ocean to visit the museum.
Poetic Hengnan, let the world listen. (Written by Li Fangsen)
Source: China Central Radio and Television International Online
Editor: She Yinghui
Editor-in-charge: Li Shenglan