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The present appearance of Jiaye Hall.
The spring breeze is gradually rising, and the Jiaye Hall and Xiaolianzhuang in Nanxun, Huzhou, are teeming with tourists. The Wupeng boat leans against the river, and the red lanterns set off the atmosphere of the Spring Festival in Jiangnan. On the first month of the Year of the Tiger, the Jiaye Hall reopened after an overhaul.
Jiaye Hall is the largest private library with the richest collection of books in modern China. It took Liu Chenggan, a collector, four years to complete (1920-1924). It was named after the Jiulong gold plaque “Qin Ruo Jiaye” bestowed by Emperor Xuantong. It is now part of the Zhejiang Library and serves the readers.
The owner of the Jiaye Hall, Liu Chenggan, is the son of a wealthy merchant family who is the head of the “Four Elephants” in Nanxun, and is also the most famous collector and engraver of books in the late Qing Dynasty.
According to Zheng Zongnan, Deputy Director of the Local Literature Department of Zhejiang Library, on November 23, 2019, the main building of the library began to be fully closed for renovation. It was originally scheduled to be completed and opened in December 2020. Due to the impact of the epidemic, the time was extended for more than a year. This overhaul involves 19 projects, including the overall renovation of the library roof, the repair and reinforcement of large wooden frames, the repair of external walls, the reinforcement of joists, the reinforcement of floor tiles, and the repair of Mingserting. The last time such a large-scale overall renovation was carried out was in 1984 – the 60th anniversary of the completion of the Jiaye Hall. This is the second major overhaul of the Centennial Jiaye Hall.
Zheng Zongnan said that this overhaul was very careful to “repair the old as before”. For example, tiles have not been damaged and continue to be used, nor have they been renewed, striving to retain the charm of a century old library.
Into it, the ancient charm is full of charm.
“Eternal transmission” of culture
Entering the library, there is a “Qin Ruo Jia Ye” Jiulong gold plaque hanging in the main hall, which is very simple and does not look like it has been repaired. Zheng Zongnan showed the appearance of the plaque before it was repaired. The four large black characters have been mottled and peeled off, and the thick black strokes have exposed the wood underneath. Now, the four large characters are all pure black.
This was added according to the original “sanding” process: the characters were pasted with emery sand, and sticky rice and alum were used as adhesives. The four characters regained their charm.
It is not easy to notice that around the plaque, there are nine golden dragons, and there are also places where the tail of the dragon breaks. The dragon tail carved from wood, not to mention the wings of a cicada, is also very delicate, with more or less damage over time. This time, a craftsman is also invited to pick and fill it with wood, and then add cinnabar and gold according to the original process.
In the northwest corner of the courtyard of the Jiaye Hall, there is a stone tablet embedded on the wall. It was carved by the Zhejiang Library in 2004, and the content is the “Records of the Jiaye Library” written by Liu Chenggan in that year.
“Where the land covers an area of 24 mu and the money is 130000 yuan, it has a strange history. It began in Gengshen (1920) and ended in Mengdong (1924), and ended in Jiazi (1924).” This sentence describes the construction cost, construction period, and annual operating expenses of the library.
Zhou Zimei, a philologist and professor at East China Normal University, served as the cataloging director of Jiaye Library for 8 years when he was young. He once calculated an account: it was recorded that the cost of CSCEC Building was 120000 yuan or a small sum, while the remaining 300000 yuan were purchased for books, 200000 yuan were engraved for books, and 100000 yuan were hired for copying, proofreading, editing, and appraisal, totaling 800000 yuan.
Xiang Wenhui, a historian and author of “The Biography of Liu Chenggan,” said that the money was more than enough to purchase 10 garden houses in Shanghai at that time.
Why did you spend so much money building this library? In “The Collection of Books in Jiaye”, he also replied, “Not only does he hide it, but he will also seek to perpetuate it, slightly imitating the intention of the Li family… or the intention of the Su family in Meishan to recommend benevolence.”
Su Shi wrote in “The Collection of Books in Li’s Mountain Room” that his friend Li Gongxuan studied in the monk’s room in Lushan Mountain when he was young, and later became famous for his studies in the mountain. After learning wisdom, the book remains there, allowing those behind to stay and study. This is the intention of “benevolent people”, and it is also Liu Chenggan’s expectation for Jiaye Hall – to be open to people for use, so that culture can be “passed on to others” and continue to be passed on.
However, at that time, it was already the period of the Republic of China, and public libraries sprang up like bamboo shoots in China, saving the nation from subjugation and striving for survival. They collected literature from disciplines such as industry, agriculture, physics, and chemistry. Liu Chenggan, a classical book collector, has opened up his reading of literary and historical ancient books. This simple emotion is not easy, but it has not kept pace with the development of the times.
“Silly Young Master” in Lu Xun’s Works
Liu Chenggan was born in 1881.
In his youth, Liu Chenggan faced the camera lens with a calm and relaxed expression. He wore a “six in one hat” and a pair of golden glasses, which were gentle and elegant. He was wearing a short jacket with a vertical collar and a slanted front, embroidered with flower patterns, and made of silk fabric that reflected light at the folds. The photo was taken about one winter, with thick fur on the collar of my jacket against my neck.
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Photos of Liu Chenggan during his youth
At the end of the 19th century, photography was a novelty, and the fruits of the industrial revolution entered China through several trading ports. At the same time, the famous Zhejiang “Jili Lake Silk” was sold overseas, and the Liu family in Nanxun, Huzhou, started out in this business.
Pushing forward for half a century, Liu Yong, the grandfather of Liu Chenggan, a clerk in a cloth shop in Nanxun Town, seized the air outlet of the silk export and sent Huzhou silk to Shanghai, aboard a ship, and sold abroad. “European countries opened commercial ports in Shanghai and purchased a large amount of Hu silk. They exported 80, 900, 000 bales of silk every year, and those who sold silk won too much.” This is a description in the epitaph of Liu Yong, the son of Liu Yong and a good friend of Liu Jinzao, the father of Liu Chenggan. The author is Zhang Jian.
The Liu family not only has money, but also has achieved fame.
Liu Jinzao was born as a scholar and has written literary and historical works. He completed the “General Examination of Qing Dynasty Documents”, dedicated it to the emperor, and was awarded a cabinet bachelor’s degree. In addition, he has also written “Records of Nanxun Preparation” and “Collection of Jianpao Nun”.
After the death of Liu Yong, Liu Chenggan, as the “third generation of wealth”, became the first heir to the Liu family’s property as his eldest grandson. He was more enthusiastic about culture than his father, Liu Jinzao.
After the Revolution of 1911, many people sold their property, and many ancient books of the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties flowed to the market. Liu Chenggan’s family has golden mountains and silver mountains, which are widely purchased. Many of them are collected by famous families, and even have the “Yongle Grand Ceremony” distributed by the imperial palace.
Liu Chenggan once recalled that at that time, the “old dressed people” came to Shanghai to escape the war, and a large number of precious documents were also brought to Shanghai. The Baojing Building of the Lu family in Ningbo, the Yingshan Thatched Cottage of the Mo family in Guizhou, the Jieyilu in Hangzhou, the Dongcang Library in Suzhou, the Zhijing Zhai in Guangdong, and the Yifeng Hall of Miao Quansun… Each of these collections is a collection of books that has been operated by a lifetime or even generations, and all have converged into Liu Chenggan’s hands.
Liu Chenggan spared no money and collected 500000 copies over the past decade. By 1920, he had set about building a Jiaye Library next to the family temple in Nanxun.
Starting in 1913, Liu Chenggan began to carve books with infinite enthusiasm, and has published hundreds of types. The people who helped Liu Chenggan carve books were scholars from universities such as Miao Quansun, Ye Changchi, Sun Deqian, and Yang Zhongxi. With the participation of knowledgeable scholars and skilled engravers, the Jiayetang engraving has a reputation of being “almost comparable to the ancient ones”. For classical calligraphers, juxtaposition with the Jigu Pavilion in Jiangsu is highly regarded.
Liu Chenggan’s carving of books had a great impact in the cultural circle at that time. Everyone admired Liu Chenggan’s enthusiasm and obsession. Zhang Yuanji, Luo Zhenyu, Ye Dehui, and others all presented their collections of rare books and asked him to publish them. A good copy can turn into thousands of copies, which are widely circulated.
Lu Xun is one of the many readers of the books carved by Jiayetang.
At the end of 1935, Lu Xun stated in his “Post Illness Essays” that the “An Long Yi Shi”, “Weng Shan Wen Wai”, and “Leisure Fishing Leisure Record” printed by the Liu’s Jiaye Hall were all prohibited books listed by the Qing government. “I am very grateful for such a calligrapher.”
Previously, Lu Xun and Yang Jiyun mentioned in their letters that “some books are not carved by fools who are so public.”
The Footprint of Liu’s Descendants
After the founding of New China, Liu Chenggan donated the remaining collection, engraving, and library buildings to the Zhejiang Library.
In 1963, Liu Chenggan died in Shanghai at the age of 82.
“My father… has never been an official or a businessman in his life. He only knows how to spend money, but he doesn’t know how to make money. He just trusts his ancestors to be prosperous and dignified, and he has never been prominent.” Liu Shixu, Liu Chenggan’s son, once said.
“Grandfather is like a bookworm,” Liu Baoqi, the eldest grandson of Liu Chenggan, told me that the grandfather he saw when he was a child, kept company with books every day and didn’t speak much. “He lives in his apartment on the other side of Beijing West Road, a three story small westernized house, and often wears long shirts – all dressed in Chinese style.”
Today, descendants of the Liu family have established the “Liu Huhan Education Foundation” and the “Liu Chenghuan Nanxun Charitable Education Foundation” in Nanxun. Liu Huhan is Liu Anpu, Liu Chenggan’s uncle; Liu Chenghuan is the son of Liu Huhan and the cousin of Liu Chenggan.
The “Liu Huhan Education Foundation” was established in 1983, and Liu Chenghuan returned from the United States. In 1948, he went to the United States to study and graduated from the Department of Chemistry at Purdue University. Returning to his hometown where he had been separated for more than 30 years, he hoped to make some contributions to the motherland when he was over half a century old.
He donated 1 million yuan in the name of his father to establish a foundation dedicated to domestic education. In 2019, he donated another 1 million yuan in his personal name to establish the Liu Chenghuan Nanxun Charitable Education Fund in Nanxun.
Liu Chenghuan, now in his 90s, lives in Shanghai, and his nephew Liu Baoqi is responsible for the foundation. As the Deputy Director of the Foundation’s Management Committee, Liu Baoqi returns to Nanxun every year to participate in the scholarship award ceremony.
Liu Baoqi told reporters that there are many descendants of the Liu family in Nanxun, scattered around the world, including aerospace experts, medical experts, chemists, artists, photographers, pilots
A hundred years later, the people of Sri Lanka went away, and the Jiaye Library was still there, and the carving boards of that time were still there. Through Jiayetang, Liu Chenggan, and their families, we can see the rise and fall of the last wealthy merchant family in the late Qing Dynasty.
(Original title: “Re-opening of Jiaye Hall after Overhaul”. Editor Zhang Hui)