The life of Mao Guangsheng

Mao Guangsheng (1873-1959), also known as Heting, also known as Gunzhai and Dui, was born in Rugao, Jiangsu Province. When mentioning the Mao family in Rugao, one has to think of Mao Pijiang, a famous figure in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.

Chairman Mao Zedong once said: "Among the four young masters in the late Ming Dynasty, the one who truly possessed national integrity was Mao Bijiang. After the Qing troops entered the customs, he lived in seclusion in the mountains and forests, and did not participate in the Qing Dynasty. The whole festival ended." After entering the Qing Dynasty, he refused to serve as an official and lived in seclusion in his hometown. He built a garden called Shuihui Garden. The garden is extremely ingenious. It was built near the water without walls. It is still a famous garden in Rugao. Mao Bijiang wrote the book "Yingmei'an Yiyu", which is a famous notebook style work. The love story between Mao Pijiang and his concubine Dong Xiaowan involved the Emperor Shunzhi, and created a very sad historical story. It is still the subject of research among scholars.

The surname Mao is a common surname in Rugao. The Mao family has a long scholarly family background, and Mao Guangsheng is a descendant of Mao Bijiang.

In 1873 (the 12th year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty), on the 15th day of the third lunar month, Mao Guangsheng was born in Guangzhou. Mao Guang was extremely intelligent when he was a child and was known as a child prodigy. When he was 11 years old, he went with his mother to visit his seventh grandfather, Zhou Xingyu. The seventh grandfather was the elder brother of Mao Guangsheng’s maternal grandfather, Zhou Xingyi. He was the seventh eldest son. He was the salt transport envoy to Guangdong and Guangxi and lived in Guangzhou. The seventh grandfather was good at poetry and wrote a book called "Don't Ou Thatched Cottage Ci", which Mao Guangsheng often read. Some of the words were catchy and soul-stirring, which left a deep impression on him. At this time, opera troupes often came to perform at home. The lyrics in opera had a great influence on him and cultivated his interest in lyrics and music. Therefore, he often tries to fill in some lyrics and music.

Time flies, and a few years have passed. In 1890, when he was 17 years old, he returned to his hometown of Rugao to take the county examination and got the first place. Then he took the state examination, got the first place again, and was selected as a scholar. The next year, he returned to Guangzhou and formally studied poetry with Ye Yanlan, a famous scholar in Panyu, Guangdong. Ye Yanlan is the grandfather of the modern scholar Ye Gongchuo. He was a Jinshi in the sixth year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty. He served as an officer in the army and taught poetry at Yuehua Academy in Guangzhou in his later years. On Mao Guangsheng's 20th birthday in 1893, he wrote a poem to express his feelings. The name of the poem is "Niannujiao": Unless the moon shines brightly, who can prove it? After twenty years of being relegated to the world of mortals, I have gained every trace of sorrow. Drunk hats are looking for flowers, dancing at wild feasts, thoughts are written in empty words. The water in the basin is flowing, and the spring rain came in last night. I remember the silver candles and Xiang curtains, the drunken halberds and the water-painted pots and wine glasses. Two hundred years have been like a dream, don't ask the leader of the Taoist altar. The clothes of celebrities, the skirts and shoes of beauties, and the eyes are all different. The deserted garden is lonely, and I don’t know where my sorrow lies.

The words seem to contain the melancholy of a young man who has failed to achieve his goals, as well as the sorrow that his past legacy and fame are no longer there, but there is always a sense of youthful maturity that "explains sorrow for the sake of writing new words". The next year, he returned to his hometown to take the scientific examination. He once again ranked first in the examination, won the imperial examination, and became famous for a while. At this time, even if he does have sorrow in his heart, it will subside a little. In 1896, Mao Guangsheng left Guangzhou and went north, first to Shanghai, where he met Liang Qichao. Liang Qichao met Mao Guangsheng for the first time and admired him for his heroic appearance and refreshing spirit, just like his ancestor Mao Pijiang.

Soon Mao Guangsheng left Shanghai and came to the picturesque Suzhou to live with his grandfather Zhou Xingyi. This change of residence had a significant impact on his lifelong devotion to learning and his special attention to Chinese culture. It turns out that my grandfather Zhou Xingyi was a famous bibliophile and bibliographer in the Qing Dynasty. He once served as the prefect of Jianning, Fujian Province. He had many contacts with calligraphers and painters such as Wu Changshuo, and they often gathered together to sing and talk about art. Mao Guangsheng came to such a family atmosphere where literati gathered, and received excellent cultural influence. My grandfather’s study was called Rui Guatang, which contained tens of thousands of volumes of ancient books, inscriptions, calligraphy and paintings. Visiting Guangsheng was like entering a treasure mountain. In this unique library, I studied a large number of rare ancient books and learned the art of collation from my grandfather.

At this time, Mao Guangsheng had learned to write lyrics and compiled a volume. Once, Tan Xian, who was the leader in the poetry circle in the late Qing Dynasty, borrowed a collection of Mao Guangsheng's poems from a friend. As he read it, he felt that there was a "sound of deep reminiscence, resentment, and sorrow" in the poems. He liked it very much and planned to evaluate it. Unexpectedly, his friend wrote to ask for it. I had no choice but to return the collection of poems, feeling very regretful.

Later, Mao Guangsheng compiled an episode of "Xiao Sanwu Pavilion Ci", and Tan Xian still commented, saying "Heting Ci style is very successful." In addition, Wang Pengyun, the leader of the Lingui School in the world of poetry at that time, also commented, saying that his poems are "coquettish and romantic, and can be compared to a country and a dynasty. They should occupy a place between bamboo trees and water clouds." Zhu Yizun, a famous poet, and Shuiyun refer to Jiang Chunlin, a famous poet in the Qing Dynasty. Wang compares Mao Ci with the works of these two poets. Although it is suspected of being overly praised, it can also be seen that Mao Ci had a strong influence on the minds of the great poets at that time. position in.

In 1898, Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao launched the Reform Movement of 1898, and Mao Guangsheng went to Beijing to participate in the "Bus Letter" activity, and was listed in the Baoguo Congress. Mao Guangsheng had a close friendship with Lin Xu, one of the "Six Gentlemen of 1898". On the eve of Lin Xu's arrest, Mao Guangsheng did not avoid the danger of death and stayed with Lin Xu all night to express his comradeship. After the failure of the Reform Movement of 1898, Mao Guangsheng stayed in Beijing. At that time, he was recommended to take the special economic examination, but he was unexpectedly expelled because he mentioned a foreigner's name - Rousseau - in the examination paper. The grading minister at that time was Zhang Zhidong. He was very sorry that Mao Guangsheng could not be hired because of his outstanding talent. He wrote on the test paper: "What can I do if I quote Rousseau for his argument?" In the next two years, Mao Guangsheng came and went. In Suzhou, Yangzhou, Guangzhou and other places, I sometimes helped read the examination papers of children. Once when marking papers in Yangzhou, he selected the first candidate, Liu Shipei, who later became a famous scholar.

In 1900, Mao Guangsheng finally took up a small position as a doctor in the Ministry of Punishment. It happened that Sai Jinhua, a well-known figure in Kyoto at that time, was imprisoned in the Ministry of Punishment prison for the death of a maid in Beijing. The criminal law of the Qing Dynasty stipulated that a master who tortured a maid to death did not have to pay for his life. The most severe crime was only exile. So Sai Jinhua was sentenced to a garrison of three thousand miles. Mao Guangsheng expressed deep sympathy for Sai Jinhua. It turned out that he had been friends with Sai Jinhua: Once Sai Jinhua asked him to meet at Taoranting, and he rushed to the pavilion to wait for a long time, but did not see Sai Jinhua. Hua Jian made an appointment to come, and afterwards Sai Jinhua teased him by calling Tao Ran Ting the "Crane Fang Pavilion". This time Sai Jinhua violated the criminal law. Mao Guangsheng, looking at the friendship with old friends, discussed with his colleagues and changed the situation of sending the army to the northeast or northwest a thousand miles, such as Heilongjiang, Ili and other places, to a thousand miles south, from Counting from the place of origin in Huizhou, one can be exiled to Shanghai. In this way, Sai Jinhua came to Shanghai. Later, Sai Jinhua became very famous in the Shanghai Concession, and it was all thanks to the help of the Mao family. This is a story later. Two years later, Mao Guangsheng also served as a history and geography teacher at Beijing Wucheng School. At the Wucheng School, he worked with Lin Qinnan, and also worshiped Wu Rulun as his teacher. For a time, the three of them were in the same capital, and they were famous for their articles, and they were called "the three ancient writers in the country". At that time, Mrs. Wu was over 60 years old, Mrs. Lin was about 50 years old, and Mr. Mao was only 29 years old. They could be said to be close friends of Wen Zhang, who were both famous in Kyoto. Also in this year, Mao Guangsheng was admitted to the Economic Special Course and was transferred from the Ministry of Punishment to the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce, where he was still a doctor. After serving as an official, Mao Guangsheng did not abandon his study of Ci and Zhang, and began to write Ci and Hua. In 1908, he published 5 volumes of "Xiao San Wu Ting Ci Hua" in the journal "Guoxue Cui Bian". Why is it called "Xiao Sanwu Pavilion"? It turns out that there is a landscape in the water painting garden built by Mao Bijiang, the ancestor of the Mao family, called "Xiao Sanwu". It was named after the three landscapes of the Tang Dynasty poet Yuan Jie, namely Wuxi, Taiwan and Pavilion. , Mao Guangsheng took this scene as the title of his book. It can be said that it is not only a nostalgia for his ancestors, but also a way of showing off that Mao's scholarly origins are deeply rooted. "Xiaosanwuting Ci Hua" focuses on poets from the late Qing Dynasty, and collects and comments on the works of poets with whom he has had a lot of contact. It also retains some rare works of late Qing poets, their whereabouts, and Ci poetry ideas.

At the beginning of 1911, Mao Guangsheng came to Tianjin to assist Liang Qichao in running a newspaper. After the Revolution of 1911, Mao Guangsheng left Tianjin and went to Beijing to seek a position in the Beiyang government. In 1913, he first went to Wenzhou to serve as a customs supervisor and diplomatic negotiator. During his tenure, Mao Guangsheng was very concerned about local culture. He renovated the local scenic spots Wang Xie Temple and Poetry Pavilion. He also collected Wenzhou documents and compiled hundreds of volumes of "Yongjia Poetry", which included the poems of more than 2,000 poets since the Tang Dynasty. More than 20,000 songs. Mao also used his expertise in version research to engrave the "Yongjia Poets' Ancestral Hall Collection" and "Yongjia Eminent Monk Stele Collection", preserving a large number of ancient poems and local documents.

In 1917, Mao Guangsheng wrote another article "Operation Yan", which briefly sorted out and researched the development of ancient opera, and gave a brief introduction to the roles, instrumental music, and drama props in opera, especially in connection with Wenzhou local opera. Conduct research and evaluation to make the article an important document with the nature of local opera research. This year, he was employed as a consultant to the Ministry of Finance. Because he had served as a doctor in the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce in the Qing Dynasty, the Beiyang government appointed him as the chairman of the National Economic Survey Committee of the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce. So he left his beloved Wenzhou and began to investigate the country's economic resources. A few years later, Mao Guangsheng was appointed as the supervisor of Zhenjiang Customs. He was still very interested in local culture. During his tenure, he also used his own money and worked with local people to raise 600 silver dollars to reprint the famous "Zhishun Zhenjiang Chronicles", which preserved the social, economic, cultural and other historical materials of the Yuan Dynasty in the book. The book was once praised by Ruan Yuan, a great scholar of the Qing Dynasty, as "recording stories, detailing the ups and downs, products and local tributes, and listing famous records... It has never been recorded since the Ming Dynasty, and it is a secret book that is rarely coveted." Mao's withdrawal organization republished it and made a useful contribution to the prosperity of local culture. Soon he was transferred to Huai'an. After only one year here, he published the "Chuzhou Series". Chuzhou was the name of Huai'an during the Tang and Song Dynasties. The series includes 23 poems, essays, stele interpretations, painting reviews, calligraphy, monographs, and local chronicles from the Han Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty. Among them, "Mr. Sheyang's Manuscripts" by Wu Cheng'en, the author of "Journey to the West", is extremely precious. It was the most complete collection before the original "Mr. Sheyang's Manuscripts" was later discovered in the Forbidden City.

After the victory of the Northern Expedition in 1928, Mao Guangsheng came to Nanjing. At that time, Dai Jitao was the director of the Examination Yuan and was recruiting talents. Mao Guangsheng accepted the position of examination committee member (see "Archives and History" 2001 The second issue contains Gu Yinhai's "Maohe Pavilion and its Collection").

During the Anti-Japanese War, Mao Guangsheng came to Shanghai and devoted himself to writing. He has done in-depth research and writing on the classics and history subsets of ancient Chinese classics, such as "Jingshi Yi San San", "Dadailiji Yi Zheng", "Najia Shuo" and "Nayin Shuo" in the field of classics; in the field of history, there are "Tang Shu Tubo Genealogy Table" and "Mongol Origin Chronology"; in terms of various scholars, there is an unfinished version of "Guanzi Collection of Shi Changbian", and in terms of collation and interpretation, there are "Huainanzi", "Yanzi Chunqiu", "Wenzi" and "Liezi" , "Spring and Autumn Fan Lu", etc.; in terms of lyrics and music, there are "Four Sounds of Hooks", "Qingbeikao", "Song Songs and Verses", "Xin Yun Yao Collection and Miscellaneous Songs", "Gunzhai Ci Theory", etc., these are all Academic monographs and papers of considerable skill. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Mao Guangsheng was employed as editor of the National History Museum and drafted many biographies. In Nanjing, he had many contacts with celebrities at that time, such as Liu Yizheng, Wang Pijiang, Yin Yanwu, Yu Youren, Cheng Qian, etc.

From the late 1930s to the early 1940s, Zeng Pu's novel "The Flower of Evil" became popular in Shanghai. In the winter of 1943, Mao Guangsheng also read this book. It suddenly evoked his memories and decided to write some anecdotes about the characters and deeds in "Nie Hai Hua" that he knew. The text focused on the hidden names of the people in the book, and sometimes Attached were miscellaneous anecdotes, detailing each person's place of origin, major, and occupation. Later, these manuscripts were collected in the "Flowers of Nie Hai" materials compiled by Mr. Wei Shaochang, and were called "Issues about Flowers of Nie Hai".

One day, Mao Guangsheng’s son brought someone to visit his husband. After talking with him, he found out that the visitor was Qian Zhongshu who had returned from studying in Europe. During the conversation, Qian Zhongshu saw Mao's "Notes and Supplementary Notes on Houshan Poetry by Ren Yuan" and admired it very much. Later, Qian Zhongshu recorded this meeting in his "Tan Yi Lu", and commented on Mao's "Supplementary Notes": "His book collects anecdotes and collects literary references. If Liu Yanhe's so-called 'Breaking muscles and analyzing principles', Yan Yiqing's so-called 'taking the heart and analyzing the bones', is unthinkable."

In 1949, when the People's Republic of China was just founded, Shanghai was in dire straits, and Mao Guangsheng was an old-time literary and historical staff member. , although he was knowledgeable, the government had no time to take care of resettlement, and Mao's life was temporarily in trouble after losing his job.

Soon, Chen Yi, then the mayor of Shanghai, learned of the incident. In July 1950, he came to Mao Lao's residence, an old house in the Model Village on Yan'an Road, Shanghai. When they met, Chen Yi was The elder said: "I have admired him for a long time, I have admired him for a long time!" He also asked with concern about Mao Lao's daily life and writings. The guests and the host laughed and discussed poetry together.

The Prime Minister asked: "Who is Mr. Erhuang referring to?" Mao Lao said: "Huang Shaoji, a famous Ruian scholar in the late Qing Dynasty, was named Zhongtao, He Shaodi, and Shusong was Kunzhong." Mr. Shusong is my father-in-law and the grandfather of Zong Jiang and Zong Ying. "The Prime Minister said: "It turns out that the two Maohuang families are still close relatives. "The Prime Minister took the old folding fan on the coffee table, admired Zhang Daqian's paintings, and seemed to be murmuring to himself: "Zhang Daqian's paintings are indeed very skillful. Then he pointed to the poem on the fan and asked: "Mr. Ma Xulun seems to have said that the ancestors of the Mao family are Mongolian Semu people." Is this surname related to the Xiongnu chanyu Maodun?" When it comes to the origin of the clan, Mao Guangsheng said that according to family tree records, the ancestors are descendants of Zhennan Wang Xihuan, the ninth son of Kublai Khan, the founder of the Yuan Dynasty, and have nothing to do with Maodun. "Then you are a 'yellow belt'. "The Prime Minister said wittily. During the conversation, time flew by unknowingly. The Prime Minister stood up to leave and said to Mao Lao: "Today is so rare. I have such a two-hour rest. I am even more happy to see Mr. He. Chairman Mao entrusted me with a message. He saw your article in the People's Daily and wanted to meet and talk. He hoped that Mr. He would stay a few more days. "Mao Lao wanted to get up to see him off, but the Prime Minister firmly prevented him from going downstairs. Mao Lao had to stand at the top of the stairs and waved goodbye to the Prime Minister (see "Recalling Premier Zhou's Homely Words Again" by Shu Tan in "Dadi", Issue 6, 1998).

Sure enough, one night a few days later, Chairman Mao sent two cars to pick up Mao Lao and drove him to Zhongnanhai. After the car slowly drove into Zhongnanhai, Chairman Mao was already waiting in front of the door when he saw the car coming. , hurriedly stepped forward to greet him, shook hands with Mao Lao and said hello. After letting him into the study, the two talked for a long time. When the topic turned to the current situation, Chairman Mao said: "You advocated innovation in the past, and we later called for revolution. We are all for it. Saving China is for those who are on the same path. "Mao Lao felt like a spring breeze for a while. Later, we talked about poetry. At this time, Mao Lao Jiang brought his four major works: "Guilin Zhai Ci Theory", "Song Songs and Sentences", "Four Sounds of Hooks" and "Qingbei Examination" The book was given to Chairman Mao, who was very happy to receive it.

Before leaving, Chairman Mao asked Mr. Mao: "Mr. Mao, do you have any words for me when you come today?" ”

Mao Lao said frankly: “The party is undergoing rectification. I am a person who has experienced several dynasties. The Communist Party can make China so powerful. It is like a lion. A few lice. The ancients said: Although the lice are small, they can cause great harm. But beware! After hearing this, the chairman said repeatedly: "Well said, well said, I will definitely remember it in my heart!" ”

Mao Lao stood up to say goodbye. The chairman personally escorted Mao Lao to the car, and even covered the upper edge of the car door with his hand, fearing that Mao Lao would touch his head. The respect was such that Mao Lao would never forget it.

Mao Guangsheng returned to Shanghai, and his health was gradually declining. Chen Yi invited him to Beijing several times to attend the CPPCC, but he was unable to make the trip due to illness.

On August 10, 1959, Mao Guangsheng was unable to make the trip. Mr. Guangsheng died of illness in Shanghai, and his body was buried in Wulong Cemetery in Lingyanshan, Suzhou.

Mao Guangsheng’s tomb was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. After the Cultural Revolution, his descendants built it in Cherry Valley in the Beijing Botanical Garden. A tomb was built, and Mr. Zhao Puchu wrote an inscription for it; in 1997, the Beijing Cultural Relics Bureau approved Mr. Mao Guangsheng’s tomb as a cultural relic protection unit in Haidian District.