Intoxicating beauty

Article | Clothes of the Wind

In the spring of 1919, it was drizzling. In the evening, in a quiet room in the courtyard of a large house in Nantong, Jiangsu, a woman was leaning on the bed, teaching Su embroidery techniques in a weak voice. An old man was sitting next to the desk next to the window, writing notes diligently according to the woman's instruction.

The woman's face is pale and tired, but her clothes are clean and fresh, and her eyes are clear. When he got tired, the old man stopped writing and brought the woman a cup of tea to soothe her throat. The woman looked at the old man gratefully, their eyes met. The woman smiled, and the old man smiled too, with doting and pity in her smile.

Looking at their ages, they seemed to be father and daughter; looking at the affection between their eyebrows, they looked like an ordinary loving couple.

However, in the era of the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, they were famous. The old man is Zhang Jian, a famous industrialist in the late Qing Dynasty, and the woman is Shen Shou, the internationally renowned empress of Suzhou embroidery.

How can two people with vastly different ages and completely different life paths come together to accomplish something?

Zhang Jian was erudite and talented, but his road to the imperial examination was bumpy. At that time, the Qing Dynasty was in turmoil due to internal and external troubles. In the court, there were the war faction headed by Guangxu and Weng Tonghe; there was also the peace faction headed by Cixi. Zhang Jian won the admiration of Weng Tonghe because he advocated a tough attitude towards Japan, which coveted the territory of the Qing Dynasty, and he deliberately cultivated him and brought him into his sect.

Under Weng's arrangement and instruction, Zhang Jian unexpectedly won the first prize. But unfortunately, Zhang Jian's father died of illness soon. According to the rules, Zhang Jian had to return to his hometown to observe mourning for three years. As a result, Zhang Jian missed politics.

Later, Zhang Jian was recruited into officialdom by the main war faction. The arrogance in the literati's bones made him unable to agree with many practices in the officialdom. Once, he and hundreds of civil and military officials welcomed Cixi back to the city from the Summer Palace. It was raining heavily, and all the ministers knelt on the ground to receive him. Among them were some elderly ministers with gray beards, all of them covered with mud and in a miserable state. However, the Empress Dowager Cixi, who was sitting on the dragon and phoenix sedan, didn't even say a greeting, or even raised her eyelids. The sedan passed by quickly, leaving all the ministers to look in the direction of the sedan for a long time in the rain.

This incident greatly stimulated Zhang Jian. He had always been a noble man with great ambitions, but he did not expect that the people in power in the Qing Dynasty regarded all the officials in the court as trivial. This is true for a minister, let alone the fate of ordinary people. A heavy rain soaked Zhang Jian's body and even his heart. After sighing, he decided to abandon his official position and return to his hometown in Nantong to engage in business.

Of course, this is just a small incident, but it reflects the corruption and indifference of the Qing Dynasty officialdom. At this time, China's national capitalism was beginning to develop in the late Qing Dynasty, and starting an industry was the life choice of many scholars at that time. Zhang Jian retired from official career and later founded Dasheng Cotton Mill.

The year Zhang Jian became the top scorer in high school was 1894. Twenty years ago, a baby girl named Xuezhi was born. Xuezhi learned embroidery when she was 17 years old. When she was 30 years old, she became the queen of embroidery in Beijing. That year, when the Empress Dowager Cixi celebrated her 70th birthday, Xuezhi embroidered eight paintings of "Eight Immortals Extending Their Longevity" and three paintings of "Infinite Life Buddha". Cixi was overjoyed when she saw it, and publicly praised it as a "unparalleled masterpiece" and wrote it in her own hand. The two words "Fu and Shou" were given to Yu Jue and Xuezhi. From then on, Yu Jue changed his name to Yu Fu and Xuezhi changed his name to Shen Shou.

Speaking of Xuezhi's marriage, Yu Jue, a scholar, fell in love with Xuezhi at first sight. It was the Qing Dynasty version of "meeting by chance was like meeting in thousands of dreams." At a glance”. When we met for the first time, we couldn't forget each other. In order to pursue Xuezhi, he studied hard and won the imperial examination. The Shen family agreed to Yu Jue's marriage proposal.

The couple plays the piano and the harp in harmony and have similar interests. Yu Jue often paints, embroiders with snow, and combines painting and embroidery. She is not only a golden boy and a beautiful girl, but also a talented man and a beautiful woman. For a time, both of them became famous in Jiangnan. Later, Cixi gave him the name.

With the royal approval, Shen Shou became more vigorous in the art of embroidery. In 1907, the Qing government established a women's embroidery department, with Shen Shou as the chief instructor. In 1911, when the World Expo was held in Turin, Italy, Shen Shou embroidered the "Portrait of Elena", the Italian Queen, as a national gift to the Italian royal family, which caused a sensation in the Italian government and the public. The queen was overjoyed and presented her with a diamond and gold watch with the royal emblem embedded in it. In 1915, Shen Shou took his embroidered "Jesus Head" to San Francisco and won the first prize at the Panama World Expo.

In 1910, by chance, Shen Shou met Zhang Jian, a noble man in art and life.

That year, Shen Shou was no longer young, but Shen Shou's intellectual bookish temperament and superb embroidery skills still deeply amazed Zhang Jian's eyes. Zhang Jian was a man who cherished talents, and he was deeply impressed by Shen Shou's talents. This also gave Zhang Jian the idea of ??inviting Shen Shoulai to serve as the director and embroidery teacher of the female workers' training center attached to Nantong Women's Normal College.

In October 1914, Shen Shou came to the Nantong Women's Normal College to serve as the director and director of the embroidery department of the female workers' training institute.

In 1915, when the 20th World Expo was held in San Francisco, Zhang Jian felt that this was the best opportunity for the world to learn about Nantong's agricultural, industrial and commercial products, and decided to include the embroidery from the Women's Training Institute as one of the exhibition items. Shen Shou fell ill and rushed to embroider the "Portrait of Jesus".

In the end, "Statue of Jesus" won the gold medal for its features of using more than a hundred thread colors and innovative simulated embroidery methods.

Shen Shou's talents are improving day by day, but his relationship is frozen. When rushing to make a birthday gift for Cixi, she suffered from overwork and suffered a miscarriage. She paid the heavy price of lifelong infertility, which also caused a rift in the relationship between Shen Shou and Yu Jue.

During Shen Shou's trip to San Francisco, Yu Jue married two concubines in succession. Shen Shou was sad and depressed, which made his body even weaker. At this time, Zhang Jian gave Shen Shou strong support and love. He provided a better place to rest, and to relieve Shen Shou's sorrow, he taught her poetry and songs. As time goes by, they have better mutual understanding and spiritual communication.

During this long period of getting along, Zhang Jian found that he had fallen in love with this woman irresistibly. He wrote a lot of poems to Shen Shou, including many words that symbolize beautiful love, such as "biwing bird" and "mandarin duck". Faced with this belated warm emotion, Shen Shou did not dare to accept it. Although she was grateful for Zhang Jian's kindness and moved by Zhang Jian's care for her, she still abided by the etiquette.

In his heart, while Shen Shou felt disappointed and sorry for Yu Jue, he also longed for a sincere relationship. However, Shen Shou was always reserved. She woven the gratitude and emotion in her heart into embroidery for Zhang Jian. She cut off her hair and used her frail body to embroider Zhang Jian's handwriting "Qian Ting" stitch by stitch. This work, which is full of Shen Shou's deep emotions, also made Zhang Jian even more moved.

As the relationship between the two continued to deepen, Shen Shou's condition became more and more serious. Her frail body was unable to cope with her career. In order to prevent Shen Shou's skills from being lost, and to fulfill Shen Shou's wish to write an embroidery manual, Zhang Jian helped Shen Shou complete the embroidery manual for three months.

At that time, Shen Shou had little strength, so Zhang Jian asked Shen Shou to dictate it and he completed it in writing, thus the scene at the beginning of the article appeared. This monograph records the experience and innovation accumulated by Shen Shou for more than 30 years. It can be said that this is a work that Zhang Jian and Shen Shou poured their efforts into.

This "Xuehuan Embroidery Manual" is printed and published by Hanmolin Bookstore. This is the first handed down work in my country that systematically introduces embroidery theory and techniques. It is also a special textbook for the embroidery department of the Female Workers' Training Institute. In 1920, Zhang Jian established the Nantong Embroidery and Weaving Bureau and entrusted Shen Shou as the director. He set up offices in Shanghai, New York, France, Switzerland, and Italy to sell embroidery handicrafts, most of which were the work of students from the female workers' training institute.

In the summer of 1921, the candlelight of Shen Shou's life became increasingly dim. Zhang Jian stayed with her in the last days of her life, and the time to say goodbye is coming. They have known each other for nine years and have supported and cherished each other along the way in the inheritance and promotion of art. Finally, the moment of separation came. Looking back on these years, I couldn’t help but feel sad.

On June 8, 48-year-old Shen Shou passed away with nostalgia for life and reluctance for the art of embroidery. Zhang Jian was still by her side. The 72-year-old Zhang Jian, regardless of his reputation, status, and the eyes of the world, grabbed Shen Shou's hand and burst into tears.

Before his death, Shen Shou once said that he would be buried in Nantong after his death and would not enter the Yu family. In that era, Shen Shou's expression was not only a disappointment to Yu Jue, but also a sign of trust in Zhang Jian.

After Shen Shou's death, Yu Jue wrote "The Painful History of Yu Jue and Shen Shou's Couple", describing the emotional entanglement between them. Yu Jue photocopied Zhang Jian's letters and poems to Shen Shou, accusing Zhang Jian of "entangling" his wife and occupying her embroidery.

If Shen Shouruo knows something under the spring, he will naturally discuss it with Yu Jue. The fact is that when Shen Shou was seriously ill, Yu Jue paid no attention to her. He even asked Shen Shou for his award-winning gold watch before he stayed at his bedside. Yu Jue twice wanted to sell Shen Shou's embroidery abroad. Zhang Jian called and informed him that he would only be allowed to exhibit it and not sell it no matter how high the price the other party offered. Zhang Jian handed over all the remaining embroidery works to the museum for preservation, leaving precious artistic wealth for the Chinese people.

Zhang Jian and Yu Jue’s attitudes toward Shen Shou’s feelings, money, and art are clearly evident.

Yu Jue's love at first sight for Shen Shou cannot be said to be love, and the two's flying together after marriage cannot be said to be love. But love needs to be long-lasting and fresh. Unfortunately, Yu Jue did not do it. Some of his actions deeply hurt Shen Shou's heart.

Zhang Jian's feelings for Shen Shou may not be tolerated by the world, but his support and compassion for her, and even his subsequent care at the sickbed, made this feeling equally noble. Love may not be right or wrong in itself, maybe it's just meeting the right person at the wrong time.

After that, Zhang Jian spent five years in reminiscence and followed Shen Shou. They knew each other in life and became neighbors after death. The Yangtze River rolls day and night, telling the story of their mutual support during life and their dependence after death. During their lifetime, their mutual support and mutual appreciation were incomprehensible to the world, and after their death, it is still difficult for the world to stop talking about them.

However, to them, these are no longer important. Knowing and understanding people is the basis for their friendship. For a long time, people have been talking about the "love affair" between Zhang Jian and Shen Shou. This love affair may or may not exist. Only some interactive poems serve as auxiliary materials, which become people's talk after dinner.

Today, in the museum, exquisite pieces of Su embroidery record the painstaking innovation and dedication of Su embroidery artists represented by Shen Shou for art.

Half sea water, half fire. This is a novel by Wang Shuo. The title itself has nothing to do with the novel. Let me boldly borrow it here. The relationship between Zhang Jian and Shen Shou may be as restrained and clear as sea water, but also as passionate and exciting as flames.

During his lifetime, Zhang Jian took meticulous care of him, and after his death, he cared for each other about what happened after his death. This is enough to show that the relationship between them transcends emotions and is a spiritual connection. Whether it is innocent or ambiguous, it really doesn't matter to them how future generations will evaluate it. It is enough to have a confidant in life! The rolling Yangtze River and towering green mountains will always remember their outstanding contributions to the country's embroidery industry.