Riding the wind of rebirth

"For example, 'Have you not seen the white hair in the mirror in the hall?', the Dunhuang version is 'Have you not seen the white hair in the mirror at the head of the bed?'"

"'I was born with talent and it will be useful', the Dunhuang version is 'I was born with talent';"

"But the phrase 'Let's drink, don't stop' is not in the Dunhuang version at all;"

"The next part is 'I will sing a song with you, please sing for me'"

"Bells, drums, delicacies and jade are not expensive enough. Dunhuang originally meant 'bells, drums, delicacies and jade are not expensive enough'."

"All saints and wise men in ancient times were lonely. Dunhuang originally meant 'All saints and wise men in ancient times are dead'."

"The A version says 'King Chen once held a banquet in Pingle', while the B and C versions say 'King Qin built a city and held a banquet in Pingluo'."

"In the A version, it says 'Call the boy to go out and exchange for good wine', while in the B and C versions, it says 'Bull will go out and exchange for good wine'."

"It's quite interesting, isn't it?" Host Wang had never heard of the Dunhuang version of "Song of the Wine": "For Tang Dynasty poetry and literature, this is a great discovery, right?"

"It's a very good discovery." Zhou Zhi said with a smile, "At the same time, we can also find some ancient phonology in it."

"Just from this poem?" Host Wang did not notice the difference between the two versions of "Song of the Wine", so how could he tell the content of phonology.

Zhou Zhi continued to explain: "For example, in the A version, 'King Chen held a banquet at Pingle' and in the B and C versions, 'King Qin built a city and held a banquet at Pingluo', 'Chen' and 'Qin', 'le' and 'luo' are very different in modern pronunciation, but in Tang rhyme, they are the same sound. To this day, in Cantonese and southern Sichuan dialects, 'le' is still pronounced as 'luo'."

"As for why 'xishi' was mistaken for 'zhucheng', it is because the pronunciation of 'cheng' in Tangyun is close to 'shiyin', and the pronunciation of 'shi' is close to 'shiyi', and the pronunciation of the two words is very similar. 'xishi' may have been misread as 'zheshi', and 'zhe' and 'zhu' have the same pronunciation in Tangyun, so it makes sense that 'xishi' was mistakenly written as 'zhucheng'."

"Great..." Host Wang also has a preference for language. After listening to Zhou Zhi's explanation, he felt that his mind was suddenly enlightened. He clapped his thigh and cheered: "It must be so... It can only be so!"

They were chatting happily like this, and the director of the program recording was a little overwhelmed: "Uh... Teacher Wang, Mr. Wang, and this classmate Zhou..., why don't we get back to the topic?"

"Oh. Sorry, sorry." Zhou Zhi quickly left the photography area: "You guys continue, you guys continue."

"At that time, I particularly liked pigeons and insects. I often brought my own pigeons to Mr. Qingzhang's house to play. In autumn and winter, I would carry a cricket jar. Mr. Qingzhang also liked me. Every time I went there, he would put down the stove and play with pigeons and insects with me." Recalling the past, Mr. Wang also sighed: "Madam Zhuang Daiyun also liked me very much. I followed them to learn for more than 30 years. I was influenced by them and learned some of the true teachings of Mr. Qingzhang in selecting, appreciating, maintaining and collecting stoves. I am very familiar with every type of copper stove collected by Mr. Qingzhang."

"Mr. Qingzhang passed away in 1952 and left a will to entrust the furnaces to me. Those hundreds of furnaces later became important learning materials for my research and book publishing."

"In addition to Mr. Li Qingzhang, there is another person who has had a profound influence on me, Mr. Zhao Ruzhen." "Zhao Ruzhen was the Shaoqing of the Supreme Court in the late Qing Dynasty. After the Republic of China, he served as the principal of Peiyu Middle School in Xicheng District, Beijing. He is an antique collector and scholar in Beijing. Mr. Ruzhen's learning, character, and realm are a model for traditional literati. His study is elegant and full of exquisite objects, which makes everyone who sees it amazed. And his deep research on Xuan furnace is the best of his time."

"Mr. Ruzhen's collection of copper furnaces can be roughly divided into two categories. One is the simple and elegant stationery, with red and chestnut skin color, and the copper color without any dust." Mr. Wang said: "The other is the gorgeous furnace with gold gilding. In his book "Guide to Antiques", his appreciation of copper furnaces is very profound and unique."

"In 1951, Mr. Ruzhen saw that I loved the copper furnace very much, so he gave me his treasured 'Three-legged Furnace with Pierced Ears and Gold Sheets'." Mr. Wang said, "Of course I was very happy. I was so happy that I spent the whole night watching it and even skipped sleep. The next day I brought him a pair of short-billed spotted gray pigeons as a gift."

"Is this the copper stove?" Host Wang pointed to the small copper stove on the table.

"Yes, that's it." Old Master Wang said, "I am too old now, so I followed the example of Mr. Qingzhang and Mr. Ruzhen and passed the copper furnace to someone I can trust completely. But we are not willing to give away this small copper furnace and my wife's thunder harp. We will give it to him after we pass away."

After that, he encouraged the host Wang: "You don't have to be afraid to play with bronze and lacquerware. You can play with them directly without wearing gloves. You can hold them and have a look."

Host Wang was flattered and carefully picked up the copper stove to admire it.

The stove is very beautiful, with a thick patina all over like a chestnut shell. Even the fibrous texture of varying depths inside the chestnut shell is very similar.

The key is that there are still many pieces of gold on this road, and this part still retains its golden color, just like the ginkgo leaves falling on the soil in autumn, colorful and dazzling, and can be called the best in the furnace.

When the furnace was turned over, host Wang discovered that there were two lines of inscriptions on the bottom: "Qing Lai supervised the manufacture in the winter month of the year Renwu in Chongzhen… Eh? Isn't this a Xuande furnace?"

"The Xuande incense burner is a treasure among Ming Dynasty handicrafts. The successful casting of the Xuande incense burner also set a precedent for later copper incense burners. At that time, based on the "Xuanhe Bogutu" and some bronzes collected by the court, as well as some Song Dynasty porcelains, a furnace of extremely high-quality incense burners was fired."

"In the hundreds of years since the third year of Xuande, due to widespread imitation by the public and the continuous improvement of craftsmanship, today, the authentic Xuande incense burners originally stored in the palace and the public are mixed with folk imitations, making it difficult to distinguish the real from the fake." Mr. Wang said, "So now there is a joke in the collection circle that bronze wares from the Shang and Zhou dynasties thousands of years ago can be seen everywhere, but the authentic Xuande incense burners from 500 years ago can't be found. What everyone calls Xuande incense burners now is actually a synonym for high-quality ancient bronze incense burners from the Ming and Qing dynasties that were made according to the shape of the Xuande incense burners at that time."

"Therefore, when we look at a furnace, we generally look at several key points. The first is the year, which becomes an important basis for identifying a copper furnace. At the same time, the simplicity and elegance of the shape are also important bases for judgment."

"In addition, the ratio of copper and various auxiliary metals is also an important basis for judging the quality of Xuande furnace. A lot of copper is used in the production of furnaces, and copper was a relatively expensive metal at the time. Therefore, if the materials are more ruthless and gold and silver are added, such as this tripod furnace with pierced ears and gold sheets, the design is very luxurious.

"In addition, the skin is also an important basis for judging the quality of copper furnaces. The copper furnace has been preserved to this day, and its appearance will be oxidized. There are pear skin color, ink ancient color, also known as black lacquer ancient, chestnut shell, jujube skin red, orange skin red and many other skin patinas. In the process of appreciation, there will be a thousand-fold feeling, which is also our traditional Chinese aesthetic taste."

"Finally, the style is important. The style of Xuande furnace is also an important basis for judgment. The most common style is the reign title style, which is the so-called "Made in the Xuande Period of the Ming Dynasty". The literati style or private style is very rare in furnaces, and is actually more precious than the imitation style of "Made in the Xuande Period of the Ming Dynasty." (End of this chapter)