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Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

Many of the wealthy families in Shanghai are also collectors. The family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of Sichuan in the late Qing Dynasty, was one of them. Liu Bingzhang has a collection of books in Yuanbi Building, which was valued by Mr. Zheng Zhenduo back then; His eldest son, Liu Tiqian, collected bronzes and ancient jade, and his reputation was not below Zhou Xiangyun; His third son, Liu Tixin, collected ancient books of Chu Ci and was praised by Guo Moruo as the first in China; His fourth son, Liu Huizhi, collected a wide range of oracle bones, accounting for one-third of the country's total. Now his grandson Liu Yunling has sprung up again, collecting Buddha statues and ancient chess sets, which has made the collecting world shine...... This family has gone through many years of hardships, and in terms of temperament, it is still so indomitable!

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

The only photo of Liu Bingzhang before his death

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

The Empress Dowager Cixi gave Liu Bingzhang the word of blessing and longevity

The small school on Xinzha Road

Shanghai Xinzha Road near the intersection of Shaanxi North Road, there is a very secluded courtyard, the courtyard is divided into two insides and outside, there are four tall magnolia trees at the gate, the magnolia trees grow thick branches and leaves, verdant and dripping, covering half of the light and shadow in the courtyard. In the summer, the shade jumps over the wall and into the street, and it is very magnificent when viewed from afar.

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

Qing Limited to 180 Liu Tizhi Edited School Jingge Jinshi Text

The old Shanghainese who knew the roots said that it was transplanted from the garden of Li Hongzhang's eldest son, Li Jingfang. At that time, Li Jingfang moved from Anqing Road to Huxi, and the trees and rockeries in the garden were gone, so they were given to the owner here. Decades later, the rockery was moved to Jing'an Park for landscaping, leaving four magnolia trees standing tall to this day.

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

Liu Huizhi's residence

Through the trees and lawns in the front yard to the east of the courtyard, you can see a flower wall embedded with leaky windows, glazed eaves, antique. In the middle of the flower wall, there is a small moon cave door, and there is a completely different style building at the north and south ends of the door.

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

Liu Huizhi's residence

The square building on the north side is a square, Western-style, three-bay, four-story reinforced concrete behemoth. The one on the south side is a quasi-Chinese-style octagonal building. Although the auspicious animal decorations and glazed tiles on the cornices no longer exist, the fences and stone steps around the building are still intact. Regardless of the fact that they have now been squeezed by the surrounding high-rise buildings, and more than 20 tenants are squeezed into them, but before the fifties of the last century, it was a great treasure place, and people do not know how many treasures were moved out of it: there are 500 boxes of ancient books and thread-bound books, 28,000 oracle bone turtle pieces, tens of thousands of ingots of ancient ink, 130 ancient weapons, two Tang Dynasty musical instruments, and hundreds of bronzes......

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

Liu Huizhi

The owner of the garden was Liu Huizhi (1879-1962), the brother-in-law of Li Hongzhang's eldest son, Li Jingfang, whose father was Liu Bingzhang, the governor of Sichuan in the late Qing Dynasty.

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

Yu Youren wrote a couplet for Liu Huizhi

As early as when he fought the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Liu Bingzhang was a good general under Li Hongzhang and Zeng Guofan. As the son of a good general, Liu Huizhi was the fourth oldest in the family, did not fight, and did not have any fame in the imperial examination, but he seized a good opportunity to do business and became a famous banker and collector. The octagonal building on the south side of the garden is the treasure treasure of the ——— Xiaoxiao Jing Pavilion, which has an important position in the history of modern collection in the mainland.

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

The small school Jingge Jinshi text

Li Hongzhang's confidant general and in-laws

The Liu family and the Li family are fellow villagers in Anhui and are from Lujiang. Liu Huizhi's father Liu Bingzhang was a jinshi in the tenth year of Xianfeng (1860), originally an idle official in the capital, in the first year of Tongzhi (1862) when Li Hongzhang beat the Taiping army and led the Huai army to Shanghai, a letter was folded to the imperial court, naming Liu Bingzhang to transfer to Shanghai and help him lead the Huai army (Li Hongzhang and Liu Bingzhang are the only two jinshi in the Huai army). As a civilian official, Liu Bingzhang was also proficient in the art of war, formed the Zhong Army, led seven battalions, and won successive victories in coordinated battles with Gordon's victorious army, becoming Li Hongzhang's confidant general.

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

Plaque on the door of Liu Bingzhang's former residence

In the old days, big families paid attention to the marriage of wealthy families, and the Liu family was no exception. Liu Tiqian, the eldest son of the Liu family, married Li Hongzhang's niece (Li Zhaoqing's youngest daughter); the second Liu Tiren married the daughter of Zhang Jingda, the governor of Huguang; The third Liu Tixin first married the daughter of Wu Changqing, a famous general of the Huai Army, and the second room was the daughter of Zhou Fu, the governor of Liangjiang; The fourth Liu Huizhi (physical intelligence) married the daughter of Emperor Guangxu Sun Jianai, and the fifth Liu Yuanzhi married the daughter of Bian Baodi, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, and Li Hongzhang's youngest son Li Jingmai is a brother-in-law. In addition, Liu Bingzhang also has several daughters, the eldest daughter and the second daughter are married to Li Hongzhang's eldest son Li Jingfang; Li Jingfang's daughter, Li Guohua, later married Liu Jisheng, a son of the Liu family's second room...... And so on, after calculation, the Liu family and the Li family have a total of seven marriages

There are so many doors.

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

Continue to revise the preface of the Luzhou Prefecture Chronicle

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

Continuation of the Luzhou Prefecture Chronicle Preface Part 1

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

Continuation of the Luzhou Prefecture Chronicle Part 2

Liu Bingzhang's five sons were all in the limelight later. The boss Liu Tiqian, when Yuan Shikai was in power, was the governor of Sichuan Province (Sichuan Xuanzhi envoy), the so-called two generations successively supervised Shu, and it was passed on as a beautiful talk for a while; The second Liu Tiren is a lifter, who was originally an official in the capital, but abandoned the official and went home because he was unwilling to cooperate with Yuan Shikai; The third child, Liu Tixin (Shengmu), is a famous scholar and bibliophile, and his collection of books on Chu Ci is called the first in China by Guo Moruo. The most famous of the five brothers is the fourth, Liu Huizhi, who became the general manager of the Industrial Bank of China, and his bank building is now the behemoth at the intersection of Huqiu Road on East Beijing Road.

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

The former site of the Industrial Bank of China

Hide in a small building and become a unity

Liu Huizhi is the kind of character who does something or doesn't do it, and if you want to do it, you must make a name for yourself. He worked in the bank and engaged in prize savings, which caused a national sensation and almost left the Bank of Communications behind, causing panic in the domestic banking circles, and even the France Universal Savings Association was affected. After 1935, he specialized in collecting after leaving the bank, and it was a vigorous and vigorous work, which was praised by famous scholars and experts such as Guo Moruo, Xu Senyu, Rong Geng, Chen Mengjia, Zheng Zhenduo, Hu Houxuan, and Gu Tinglong.

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

Bronze mirror of the small school scripture pavilion

He has a rich collection of books, and is determined to collect all the uncollected books of the "Siku Quanshu", and to find the original books deleted by the Siku librarians, and strive to restore their original appearance; As a result, among the more than 90,000 oracle bones unearthed in the country, his collection accounted for nearly one-third (28,000 pieces), becoming the champion of the national private collection of oracle bone and turtle pieces; He collected four or five thousand bronzes (including ancient coins), which are the contents of the Shanzhai Jijinlu; He collects ancient seals, ancient inks and ancient musical instruments, and he also wants the best things. Except for his collection of paintings and ancient inks, the rest can be glimpsed from his hand-compiled catalogue and research texts.

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

"Shanzhai Jijinlu"

When Guo Moruo fled to Japan in 1936, life was very embarrassing, and sometimes he could not even afford a brush. Liu Hanzhi knew that he was erudite and talented, so he asked someone to expand the oracle bone turtle pieces he had collected over the years, collected them into the "Book Deed Series", divided them into 20 volumes, and asked Jin Zutong of the Chinese bookstore to bring them to Japan and personally handed them to Guo Moruo for his research and writing. Guo Moruo was amazed when he saw this, selected 1595 pieces from them, studied them in advance, and based on them, he wrote a huge work of great significance in oracle bone science, "Yin Qi Cui", which was published in Japan. Guo Moruo repeatedly sighed in the preface of the book: "There are so many oracle bones in Liu's body and wisdom that they have not been seen, and they are the crown at home and abroad." It has been extended to its text, set as the "Book Deed Series", the book is twenty, in the summer of last year, Mengtuo Jinzu and Jun from afar to see, but also allowed its selection of a few, the first scene, so high friendship, the world is rare. Yu was deeply moved, and he did not speculate about the ugliness, and took 1595 pieces of it to become a compilation, although the original works were only slightly one-tenth, but its essence has been extracted. …… However, this is all thanks to the power of Liu's collection of vertebrae and survived. The rest only sit back and enjoy the success, and there is nothing to be discussed. (Guo Moruo's "Yin Qicui Compilation · Preface") is full of gratitude.

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

Elementary School Scripture Pavilion Gold Stone Rubbing Atlas

After the liberation, the state wanted to build a history museum, and Liu Huizhi sold all his oracle bones and received them by the Cultural Relics Bureau of the Central Ministry of Culture.

The dream of the eighth "Siku Quanshu".

The School Pavilion is the only existing private library building in Shanghai, with 100,000 books stored in that year.

There is a tradition of collecting books on the ancestors of the Liu family, and there is a Yuanbi Building in his hometown in Anhui, with 4 or 50,000 volumes of books, and 10 volumes of "Yuanbi Lou Bibliography", which is Liu Bingzhang's old collection. Mr. Zheng Zhenduo has done research and believes that although there are not too many good things, there are indeed some books that are not seen by the outside world.

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

Yuanbilou Liu's manuscript of the four libraries of the "General Essentials of Beriberi Treatment"

Liu Huizhi inherited the Liu family's book collection tradition, his bibliography reached 32 volumes, and more than 2,400 ancient books were recorded, with Ming editions as the majority, and there were more than a dozen rare books of the Song and Yuan dynasties. At the time of liberation, there were still 9 Song edition books, more than 1,000 local chronicles, and 1,928 rare books, all of which were donated to the Shanghai Municipal Cultural Management Committee at the beginning of liberation, which was transferred to the Shanghai Library.

Liu Huizhi once had an astonishingly huge plan, he wanted to create China's eighth "Siku Quanshu" with his own strength!

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

The Four Libraries

At that time, the Qianlong Emperor ordered the compilation of the "Siku Quanshu", which was known for its large scale and exquisite copying, but many of them were "inventory" books without original books. Even the books received, many of them have been deleted and altered by the four library ministers to make them more in line with the intentions of the imperial court. Liu Huizhi, on the other hand, is determined to collect all the books in the "Siku Quanshu" according to the eye, and change all the parts that have been tampered with according to the original book, so as to restore its true historical appearance.

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

The Four Libraries

This plan, whether in terms of scale or quality requirements, will far exceed that of Emperor Qianlong, which can very well illustrate Liu Huizhi's courage and courage. Therefore, in his small school cabinet, more than a dozen talents have been employed for many years, copying books and school books all day long, and they are busy non-stop. This somewhat whimsical plan was carried out for several years, but unfortunately after the liberation, for various reasons, this ambition was only less than half fulfilled. Because the house of the small school is about to be requisitioned by the state, and the money in his hand is getting less and less, and the conditions for compiling the book do not exist, then the plan can only be stopped, and he feels deeply sorry for this. When the proofread and copied manuscript was transported to the Shanghai Library, the famous scholar Mr. Gu Tinglong was greatly surprised——— there are such courageous people in this world! This is what Mr. Gu told the author before his death.

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

Liu Bingzhang's "Jingxuan Notes" is a large book

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

Manuscript of "Wenzhuang Gongwen Collection".

The Liu family also has a person who is famous for collecting books, which is Liu Tixin, the third brother of Liu Huizhi. Liu Tixin's library is called "Chang Chu Zhai", the collection of books is mainly based on the works of the Qing people, and there are more than 7,690 kinds successively, a total of more than 130,000 volumes, and the bibliography is 22 volumes of "Chang Chu Zhai Bibliography". Its characteristics are that there are a large number of local chronicles, and second, there are many books about Chu Ci. Liu Tixin has little interest in officialdom and business circles all his life, but he only sits in the book city and admires the collection of mountains and seas as the joy of life. Relying on a rich collection of books, his writings can be "a word and a book", and "there is a basis for everything, less than one book, more than dozens", so his book "Tongcheng Literary Origin Examination", Yangyang 13 volumes, compiled more than 640 characters, cited more than 1,000 kinds of books, which shows the depth of his hard work, but also shows the richness of his collection. His notebook work "Essays on Chang Chuzhai" is also a brilliant masterpiece with dozens of volumes, recording many official and private affairs in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China, as well as his experience in studying the hundred schools of thought, Tang and Song Dynasty literature and history.

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

"Tongcheng Literary Origin Examination Addendum"

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

The Republic of China line outfit Zhijietang Cong engraved a volume of "Chang Chuzhai Essays", volumes 1 to 5

Tang Palace musical instruments re-enter the imperial palace

The Palace Museum in Beijing has two musical instruments of the Tang Dynasty - two large and small thunderbolts, which were made in 781 A.D. and have documents to study the old objects in the Tang Dynasty palace. They have been in exile since the end of the Tang Dynasty when the world was in turmoil, and they were scattered in the north and south of the river, but after wandering for more than a thousand years, they miraculously both stayed in the Forbidden City intact. Their last owner in the people, that is, the one who donated them to the Forbidden City, was also Mr. Liu Huizhi. Thunderbolt is a two-stringed lute, but these two thunderbolts have a very interesting background. During the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, Kong Shangren of Qufu accidentally found one of them in the bazaar in Beijing, and it was seen at a glance that it was a small thunderbolt, the so-called "dragon's head and phoenix face, covering the abdomen with skin, double strings on the column, swallowing into the dragon's mouth, and dividing a pearl." There is a small thunder seal book under the chin......"

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

Big thunder

According to the research of the well-known writer Mr. Qu Yuyuan in the thirties, this little thunder did not stay long in the Confucian family before it was transferred to a Manchu, and later transferred to the Huayang Zhuo family. According to the analysis of later generations, this little Hulei also stayed in the palace of Prince Cheng during the Yongqian period. In the last years of Guangxu, Liu Shiheng, a large collector of Guichi in Anhui, received it from Zhuo's hands.

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

Little Thunder

Liu Shiheng's father, Liu Ruifen, was a famous diplomat in the late Qing Dynasty, and he was a diplomatic envoy to Britain, France and other countries, and his family was very rich. After he received the small thunder, he had the idea of acquiring the big thunder. Regarding the big thunder, the Yuan Dynasty poet Yang Weizhen once sang in the poem, which shows that the big thunder is also a rare thing. When Liu Shiheng was looking for the big thunder, one day he chatted with a pianist and talked about the thunder in the Tang Dynasty palace, and the pianist actually said that he had bought an ancient musical instrument in the Shanghai market 30 years ago, and the word "big thunder" was engraved on the item! Liu took a look at it, and it was really "chiseled the head of the dragon, and the belly of the praying mantis, and the shape was the same as that of Xiaohu." So the big and small thunderbolts were put together, and there was a link of "ancient and modern double jade seas, large and small thunders" on the doorpost.

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

Western Zhou Dynasty Elementary School Pavilion Old Collection Relics

After another few decades, the Liu family in Guichi fell into the middle of the road and resold this antiquity to Liu Huizhi. Liu Huizhi treasured it in the glass cabinet downstairs, and once said to his grandson Liu Yongling: "This is an old thing used by Chen Yuanyuan." In 1953, Mr. Liu Huizhi donated this peerless treasure to the Palace Museum.

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

"Nine Heavens Ring Pei" Qin Xi style Liu Hui's old collection

And the music in the music hall

The collection of the ancestors of the Liu family has a very far-reaching impact on future generations.

Mr. Liu Lingling is the grandson of Liu Huizhi and the great-grandson of Liu Bingzhang, who studied science in college, but under the influence of his family, he is still passionate about traditional Chinese culture and antiquities collection. He was a professor at Shanghai University of Technology, and after retiring, he couldn't resist the temptation and started collecting. His collection, while not comparable to that of his grandfather, is unique in the contemporary world of collecting, and he has taken a unique path.

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

Mr. Liu Gengling donated the Zunding incense burner to the school

Height 1.63 meters "Qing Qianlong year"

The collection of Buddha statues is unimaginable to ordinary people, and his collection of Buddha statues of the past dynasties has become a system, which makes the older generation of Buddha research experts in Shanghai secretly surprised. When asked about the origin of his collection of "cells", it turns out that he grew up in the small school hall, and his grandfather's influence on him goes without saying, in addition to the influence of his maternal grandfather's family.

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

Liu Yunling collects cloisonné

Liu Yingling's maternal grandfather Zhou Zishan (the eldest grandson of the famous Jiangnan industrialist Zhou Fujiu in the late Qing Dynasty), his maternal grandmother Mei Yihui, and his uncle Mei Guangxi, etc., are all well-known philanthropists and Buddhist scholars in Shanghai. His mother, Zhou Shiru, was a disciple of Venerable Yuan Ying, and his relative, Huang Nianzu, was also a well-known contemporary Buddhist. They have donated large sums of money to the Jade Buddha Temple, Longhua Temple, and Jing'an Temple, and they still maintain regular contact today. Liu Yunling lived in such a family with both collecting and Buddhist traditions, which laid an innate foundation for his collection of Buddha statues.

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

Liu Lingling collection cloisonné

Now, his collection of Buddha statues has been extended from the Northern Wei Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty, sitting Buddha, reclining Buddha, standing Buddha, large and small, up to more than 100 pieces, the relevant experts have given a high evaluation.

He also deliberately collected ancient chess, Go and bird food bowls of the past dynasties, which were not very noticeable, but deeply rare and delightful gadgets, and I don't know how much effort he had to make. The collection of ancient Chinese chess sets has always been a big unpopularity. As one of the four traditional arts in the mainland, chess has a long history, a long history, ever-changing, and fascinating, but there are very few people engaged in the collection of ancient chess equipment. Liu Danling liked to play chess since he was a child, and in the past, his grandfather Liu Huizhi had a pair of ivory chess pieces from the Qing Dynasty in his living room, and he and his brothers often played against each other, and he felt that he was deeply happy. By chance, Liu Yunling discovered that the collection of chess sets is a university question, involving the origin and development process of chess, and it is a collection field to be developed and researched. So he got energetic, and he couldn't take it away.

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

Liu Yunling collects cloisonné

Now Liu Yunling has found more than 30 sets of various chess sets in the Song Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty, Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty, and there are more than 10 chess boards in the Ming and Qing dynasties, in addition to more than 10 pairs of various types of Go in the past dynasties (mainly in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and one in the Tang Dynasty); There are also more than 10 sets of various Go boxes and Go boards. People collect ancient chess, and it is already very remarkable to be able to get a pair of Yuan Dynasty chess, and he Liu Gengling actually has a complete set of Song Dynasty chess in his hand! This has to be impressive. So much so that some experts do not believe that this is his own collection and conclude that it was left by his grandfather.

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

Liu Lingling, Appreciation of cloisonné collections

Liu Lingling's collection of bird food jars of the past dynasties is also amazing, there are more than 800 in the Ming and Qing dynasties (290 sets), and pastel, blue and white, one-color glaze are available, the shapes are varied, all are things that can be met but not sought.

Song Luxia: The collecting tradition of the family of Liu Bingzhang, the governor of the late Qing Dynasty

Appreciation of cloisonne in Hele Hall

He often walked around the antique markets and made friends with both large and small antique dealers. As soon as you hear something he's interested in, go and see what he's talking about. He heard that the chess pieces of the Song Dynasty were unearthed at the site of the Hutian kiln in Jingdezhen, and immediately rushed to visit, but the result was that the scattered chess pieces dug up from the ruins were pieced together, and only half of them were put together. And his collection is all funerary goods unearthed from ancient tombs, so they are all complete and precious.

Source: Labor Daily of Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions

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