He joined the Palace Museum at the age of 20 and has been engaged in cultural relics related work for more than 70 years, appraising and grading tens of thousands of paintings and calligraphy, and finding a large number of works with precious artistic value for the mainland.
Recently, the main station's "My Family, My Country" interviewed Yang Chenbin, a researcher at the Palace Museum in Beijing and a member of the National Cultural Relics Appraisal Committee, to listen to his story with ancient calligraphy and painting works.
"Someone needs to defend the country
Someone needs to guard the artifacts too."
In 1951, Yang Chenbin, who was dedicated to serving the country, joined the army and served as a cadet in the teaching regiment of Nanjing Military Academy. Who knows, he was transferred from the army in just one year. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the state attached great importance to the safety and security of the Forbidden City, and decided to transfer young people with high consciousness and strong discipline from the army to work in the Forbidden City, and Yang Chenbin was one of them.
Although he took off his military uniform, Yang Chenbin's love for the motherland has never changed. He said that whether he joined the army or was transferred to the Forbidden City, it was the same for himself, "someone needs to protect the family and defend the country, and someone needs to guard the cultural relics."
In this way, Yang Chenbin was assigned to the group labor department. At this time, the Forbidden City is about to hold a large-scale exhibition of cultural relics, and it is encountering a thorny problem: a lack of docents.
In a hurry, the Forbidden City selected Yang Chenbin and others from the staff to serve as docents. Yang Chenbin memorized the manuscript for a few days overnight, and then came to the Taihe Hall to take up his post. "The first time I explained to so many people, I was very nervous, and it was a day."
After more than two years of explanation, Yang Chenbin has a direct and systematic understanding of the excellent culture and art of the past dynasties, and gradually adapts to the work of the museum.
Yang Chenbin recalled that in 1958, he alone brought more than 2,000 pieces of cultural relics from the Forbidden City to Wuhan, Hubei Province for exhibitions. Along the way, for fear of the theft of the relics, he guarded the box alone and slept in the hall all night...... "I put a sword under my pillow, and if someone came to steal the relics, I would fight with him!" ”
Known as the "living map" of the Forbidden City Treasury
He turned over the national treasure from the "waste paper".
In 1959, the Forbidden City was adjusted, and Yang Chenbin was transferred to work in the warehouse, which was done for 20 years, but Yang Chenbin not only did not feel bored, but enjoyed himself.
At that time, the Forbidden City needed to classify ancient calligraphy and painting cultural relics and set up a special committee. Experts often argue about calligraphy and paintings, and Yang Chenbin uses a pen to record, study, digest, and carefully figure out.
After seeing and listening a lot, Yang Chenbin became familiar with the collections in the warehouse, including the styles of calligraphers and painters in various eras, and even the location where the paintings and calligraphy were stored. Once, the dean asked him to take out 10 designated cultural relics from the warehouse within 10 minutes, but Yang Chenbin found them all in only half the time. Colleagues around him praised him as a "living map" of the Forbidden City treasury.
In the days in the warehouse, Yang Chenbin followed Xu Bangda, a master of calligraphy and painting appraisal in the mainland, and learned a lot of experience in appraising calligraphy and painting. Yang Chenbin said that this kind of time-consuming and laborious basic research is something that many people disdain to do, but it is precisely the cornerstone of the identification and research of calligraphy and painting.
In 1979, Yang Chenbin officially apprenticed to Xu Bangda and became a disciple. Soon, Yang Chenbin left the warehouse and began to follow Xu Bangda out to investigate and appraise calligraphy and paintings. To the north to Harbin, Heilongjiang, to Kunming, Yunnan in the south, and traveled all over the world.
Yang Chenbin said that the deepest impression of those years was to find national treasures from piles of "waste paper".
In the Qingdao Museum in Shandong, there was still half a day left to spare, Xu Bangda took Yang Chenbin back to the calligraphy and painting collection library, and carefully looked through a mess of paintings and calligraphy.
At the Yunnan Provincial Museum, they used the same method to dig out two national treasures from a pile of "waste paper": paintings by Guo Xi and Huang Gongwang.
After eight years of traveling, Yang Chenbin has found countless calligraphy and painting cultural relics for the country.
Recognize the painting at a glance
"If there is a problem, I am willing to take full responsibility"
By chance, Xu Bangda went out and did not return, and Yang Chenbin was alone to appraise the paintings. After careful identification, Yang Chenbin determined that it was the authentic work of Wu Zhen in the Yuan Dynasty. Later, some people thought that the stamp of the scroll was wrong, and Vice President Yang Boda asked Yang Chenbin to check it.
Yang Chenbin, who was still a student at the time, firmly believed that his eyes would not be wrong, and he took out Wu Zhen's paintings in the warehouse one by one and checked them one by one, and was very sure that they were genuine. "If there is a problem, I am willing to take full responsibility."
Soon after, it was identified by Xu Bangda and confirmed to be genuine. "I've been waiting for you for ten years, and you've finally appeared, really, no problem!"
This sentence is an affirmation of Yang Chenbin's engagement in cultural relics work since he was 20 years old. Since then, Yang has started his own independent research and identification work.
"Be innocent
Innocent identification, innocent work"
Yang Chenbin devoted himself to the appraisal of ancient paintings and calligraphy, and his experience was very rich, and he was often invited to do the appraisal of ancient paintings and calligraphy.
A painting and calligraphy collector once brought a painting by Chen Hongshou and asked Yang Chenbin to have it appraised, and Yang Chenbin recognized it as a fake just by looking at the scroll. Who knows, this collector came to the door three times, in addition to bringing this doubtful painting, he also brought a genuine painting of Wu Hufan and 50,000 yuan, hoping that Yang Chenbin would make an inscription for this painting of Chen Hongshou, and in return, he would give this painting of Wu Hufan to Yang Chenbin.
Yang Chenbin did not hesitate at all, categorically rejected this request, and invited him back. "To be a man, you have to seek truth from facts, you can't do that."
Yang Chenbin gave his study a special name, called Qingjianzhai. He said that Qing Jianzhai means to be innocent, to be innocent, to be innocent, to do things innocently, not to seek fame, not to seek profit.
In 1956, Yang Chenbin and his colleagues from the calligraphy and painting research group passed by the Imperial Garden of the Forbidden City, saw an empty flower pond, and planted a red apricot sapling. After 68 years, this red apricot tree has gone through vicissitudes and is higher than the red palace wall. Every spring, it blooms and bears fruit, becoming a landscape.
Now, Yang Chenbin revisited his hometown, looking at the apricot trees that witnessed his years in the Forbidden City, and was full of emotion. "If you can choose one thing for the rest of your life, you have no regrets."
Choose one thing for the rest of your life
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