Shen Congwen and Research on Ancient Chinese Costumes

Invited by Jingzhou Museum， Shen Congwen went to appreciate the best silk unearthed from the Mashan No. 1 Chu Grave， which was discovered in Jiangling， Hubei in the early 1982. The old man knelt down in front of the priceless treasures of the Warring States Period after he arrived Jinzhou. The book Researches on Ancient Chinese Costumes， took Mr. Shen fifteen years to complete， and was published by the Commercial Press （Hong Kong）.

This book was revised and enlarged with a second edition by Wang Xu in 1992， four years after the death of Shen Congwen. The hard cover edition with a paper size of 16 mo was printed by Shanghai Bookstore Publishing House based on the 1992 revised edition， published by the Commercial Press （Hong Kong） in June 1997， and reflected a warm response. The paperback edition was issued by Shanghai Bookstore Publishing House in August， 2002. The book was included in the Century Humanities Series by Century Library of Century Publishing Group in 2005. It has been repeatedly reprinted and sold out since then. The third edition of the book was published by Shanghai Bookstore Publishing House in last August and reprinted 3000 volumes in April this year. Readers of Shen Congwen’s works have never faded away.

As for the job-transfer of Shen Congwen， a good explanation has given in the book Mystery of Shen Congwen’s Job Transfer by Wang Zengqi and in the book Shen Congwen Jingdu （Intensive Reading of Shen Congwen’s Works） Zhang Xinying. But I still want to take advantage of this occasion to write down my feelings and thoughts， and at the time preserve my real emotion which is slight and temporary. This is what Shen Congwen had been engaged in.

Shen Congwen was transferred to the Historical Museum from the Chinese Literature Department of Peking University in August， 1949， and since then had engaged in jobs such as labeling the exhibits， participating in exhibitions， collecting and purchasing relics for the museum for many years； but the most important job was “acting as an interpreter in the exhibition hall for ten years”， a sentence deleted from the 17-years of Intricacy in the postscript of this book. Prime Minister Zhou Enlai proposed to codify a book about the history of ancient Chinese costumes as a cultural gift used for visiting abroad between the spring and summer of 1964 （Shen Congwen has worked for fifteen years since he was transferred to the Historical Museum）. Shen Congwen was recommended by Qi Yanming， the current Vice Minister of Cultural Department to be in charge of it. Li Zhitan， Chen Dazhang and Fan Zeng were assigned to assist Shen Congwen from the Art Group. The working method is： illustrating the images and objects data provided by Sheng Congwen respectively according to the priority order of age， and writing several hundred or thousand words introducing each image in different ways and different styles while analyzing and certificating by appropriate reference of literature. “The writing progressed so rapidly that the specimen manuscripts， with some two hundred pictures， and nearly a hundred attached drawings， as well as 200 thousand illustrating words， were basically finished within eight months from the early summer of 1964.” （Postscript） The book was expected to be published in winter， but was delayed owing to indications of the appearance of political upheaval. The book was considered a Black Book and Poisonous Weeds preaching “emperors” and advocating “Chinese romances”. The leading officials involved suffered from it， and the publication was hopeless. Shen Congwen was dispatched to Hubei Province in 1969.

As mentioned above， the three persons assigned as assistants to Shen Congwen by Historical Museum were sent away working for other subject matters with various excuses after the “Cultural Revolution”. There were two major assistants aiding him with the completion of Research on Ancient Chinese Costumes. The first one was Wang Xu. Jin Jiefu introduced him as “Wang Xu， a soldier taking part in Korean War， remained after he joined Shen Congwen in 1953 and became permanent assistant of Mr. Shen.” （The Odyssey of Shen Congwen） Wang Xu often went to visit the old man during the years before Shen Congwen’s death， but he only stood by the door instead of entering the room， because Mr. Shen always wept when seeing him. The other one is Wang Yarong， who used to be a painter originally. Shen Congwen wanted to transfer her from another government agency to work for himself. With the permission of the Historical Museum， Wang Yarong was approved by her original organization， however， the heads of the Historical Museum required her to fabricate ancient paintings instead of allowing her to work for Mr. Shen. Wang Yarong rejected the directive for the sake of not disappointing the old man. Though her original organization preserved her position， and at the same time suspended her salary， the Historical Museum refused to accept her， for making a living Wang Yarong relied only on RMB 20 yuan every month given her by Mr. Shen personally for half a year.

Because of interfere from Hu Qiaomu， Shen Congwen was transferred to the Institute of History in Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in 1978. Regarding the work and living conditions， Mr. Shen only put forward two requirements： firstly， assign Wang Xu and Wang Yarong as his assistants； secondly， ask for a bigger working room to do the work. After a year’s efforts， the book Materials for Chinese Ancient Costumes was finished and its title was changed to Research on Chinese Ancient Costumes at the beginning of 1979. After the completion of the manuscript， the book was submitted to Beijing Light Industry Press， for publication which was to cooperate with the Japanese Kodansha， as a result Shen Congwen refused. Then the book was turned to the People’s Fine Arts Publishing House， which planned to cooperate with Japan as well， therefore Mr. Shen took his book again. Afterwards the book was recommended by the leaders of Academy of Social Sciences to the Commercial Press （Hong Kong）. The latter decided to publish it without delay. Then Shen Congwen went to Guangzhou to read the specimen copy after coming back from the United States in February， 1981. The book was published in Hong Kong in September of the same year. The piracy book was published in Taiwan at the end of the same year. Because Shen Congwen’s and Guo Moruo’s works were banned in Taiwan， as the authors’ name and the foreword written by Mr. Shen himself was deleted.

A passage I read two days ago can be applied as supplementary. An article of a letter from Shen Congwen to Huang Shang in April， 1983 and A Letter from Shen Congwen， provided by Huang Shang were published， in the newspaper of Xinmin Evening News on March 24， 1992 as follows：

The publication of the proof book was originally scheduled to be printed in 1964， unexpectedly， it was criticized as “poisonous weeds” suddenly after the “Cultural Revolution” occurred. Qi Yanming， vice Minister of Culture， who was supportive of the publication of this book， was tied up and persecuted by some people of the Historical Museum for a whole day. I myself was to accompany him on the occasion， but considering my heart disease， they are afraid that I might be not able to get through it， so I was sent to another compartment to listen to all kinds of hideous and fiendish abuses for seven hours. Actually few people understood the book， and even failed to read the draft before. The most interesting thing was that several senior officers （including one of the Deputy Ministers of Ministry of Culture） wrote down some comment in appreciation of the draft on another paper when they reviewed the draft. But the comment was removed before the persecution to avoid being incriminated， and this was rather clever. There was another person who concluded that the book was legal， and put it aside. When the book was submitted to publish， he became interested in the book suddenly and intended to substitute his name for mine. It made sense under the circumstances， ie the so-called “senior official thoughts”， that was very important. Then it was put aside due to disagreement from both Relics Publishing House and People’s Fine Arts Publishing House. However， he was unhappy about noting mentioned of his kindness of “enthusiastic support” when the book was printed. That was really funny. A clever man proposed to print the costumes only without the texts attached before long， but he was refused due to the differences of the publishing houses. Seventeen years had passed till the book got the opportunity to be printed.

The Wild Zebra is an unfinished work by Shen Congwen written in the spring of 1983. Shen Congwen summarized his personality in this article as： “Regarding my personality， it is inevitable that I always accept silently when dealing with any difficulties， neither get disheartened nor grumble and lament. Just because of this， I am still alive， which is really a miracle. Although I am pretty weak physically， but my individuality is amiable and stubborn， just like a extremely stubborn wild zebra.” In regard of articles memorizing Shen Congwen by his relatives and friends， most of them particularly stress on his gentleness and amiableness， whereas ignore the intensity or extremely stubbornness of his personality. I tend to agree on the comment by Zhang Xinying， who assessed the life stage of Shen Congwen after his job-transfer as “It is a practical stage for an intellectual： how to find his own position in an unrest age and find a refuge for living. … It is the pursuit of the significance and value of oneself in the course of mental sufferings. Misery is closely connected with positive pursuit of the whole creative career.” It emphasized the “positivity” rather than “passivity”， which is critical to understand the final phase of Shen Congwen’s life.

Zhang Xinying has compared Mr. Shen’s job-transfer to “phoenix nirvana”. It is true that Shen Congwen was “dead” once. According to The Brief Chronology of Shen Congwen by Shen Huchu， a number of slogans and posters denouncing him were posted in Peking University in early January， 1949， and quoting the whole text of Denounce the Reactionary Literary， written by Guo Moruo， and a threatening letter in the form of poster reached him before long. He foresaw that he would suffer from intolerable exposure and criticisms， even he stopped writing. He fell into an unprecedented sense of isolation under the intense stimulation， and became almost insane in the middle of January. “Shen Congwen attempted to kill himself by ‘cutting his carpal vascular of his neck with a razor blade， and drinking some kerosene’ in the morning of March 28， 1949 （a letter from Zhang Zhaohe to Tian Zhenyi and Shen Yuekun on April 2， 1949）， fortunately， he was found and saved by his family. He wrote a long diary in the mental hospital on April 6， putting that "The world or the society is bound to move forward and develop successively from a ‘regular’ condition. However， I am still dissociated with it. The extension of dissociation， of course， will lead to more restraints. But I never get to know the appropriate position for myself.”

In fact， Shen Congwen was gradually aware of the source of the differences between himself and the mainstream consciousness of the times prior to this. “It is the inevitable result for some of our generation that we will stop writing even if we are not forced to stop before long， because we are almost middle-aged， our emotion will freeze， or we will lack of social adaptability because of our introverted personality. It is not easy for us to reverse our writing style from starting and the way of ‘thinking’， which we have adopted for twenty or thirty years， to starting from the word ‘correct’ ” （a letter from Shen Congwen to Ji Liu on December 7， 1948）. According to the reminiscence of Ba Jin， Shen Congwen assessed Ba Jin as that his “faith is empty” （Li Hui： Talking about Shen Congwen with Ba Jin， the first issue in 1990 of Essay）. Shen Congwen said that he did not know politics， which might explain his blundering in the special conditions of times， but the fundamental reason for his total madness and spiritual destruction is： he is unable to believe in an “empty”. He was thrown into a panic for either being unable to find a place to survive in the waves of times or to get along with the waves. “Why a person， who loves life so much， is unable to make use of his life for the desire of being harmony with the world and live his own life， and to reasonably rearrange his life？” （Diary on April 6， 1949）

Shen Congwen was transferred to the Historical Museum in 1949. “In order to remedy， correct， or give up the literature， I will take advantage of the miscellaneous knowledge of history with enthusiasm and comprehension of arts and crafts in study of the history of ancient arts and crafts.” （a letter from Shen Congwen to Ding Ling on September 8， 1949） Although he was still confronted with hard conditions and turbulent environment， Shen Congwen finally found something to live his life. “It seems to be the first time for me to find myself again”. “I was like a person waking up suddenly when I reviewed my past of sixteen years， and self-destroying for half a year. All resulted from my insanity. It is just like attempting to turn around a big old ship， and I did it， just as I promised to you repeatedly.” （a letter to Zhang Zhaohe on September 20， 1949） “I love this country， I will make a good combination of my work with historical development.” （a letter to Zhang Zhaohe on November 19， 1951）

Thereafter， Shen Congwen adhered to his own career and ambition despite the constant interference from outside. He was informed by Shanghai Kaiming Bookstore that all the paper pattern of his works had been disposed， for his works were out of date in 1953. At the same time， Taiwan banned his works. Since then Shen Congwen's name faded away completely from the literature works of mainland. It lasted this way until the beginning of 1980s. The Historical Museum held an “Anti-waste Exhibition” internally in 1956， displaying some relics purchased cheap for the public by Shen Congwen， who was considered also useless. He had made “self-criticisms of various degree” more than 60 times during the 18 years working for the Historical Museum until he wrote Why I am Inseparable from the Historical Museum in 1958.

The quotation below is often used to illustrate Shen Congwen’s longing for plain life， but on the contrary， the text reveals the surging billows inside his heart. His perseverance and contribution for thirty years are particularly valuable in regard of the following：

I am “completely ended and broken down” considering from the current life. What can I say？ Without mention of my old friends， such as Ding Ling， they are all nothing less than heavenly men， even Mao Dun， Zheng Zhenduo， Ba Jin， Lao She were all enjoying great reputations， and were still active in the field. They always flew abroad， treated as celebrities. As for myself， I went to work before dawn， bought a sweet potato at Beixin Bridge to warm my hand， then went to Tian An Men by tramcar. Sitting down to watch the sky， stars and the moon， when I arrived at my working place before the door opened， I could enter the museum until eight o’clock. Sometimes it was rainy， I draped a ragged gunnysack on when I came home at night. Neither had I visited them， nor envied them nor felt grieved about myself….

According to Wang Xu， Sheng Congwen could face all these circumstances calmly， but the most he was frightened of was losing his job. Once when he was informed to finish the procedures for transferring from the Historical Museum to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences， he mistakenly thought it had something to do with emeritus retirement. While he entering the door of the office of relevant department， he was too nervous to know what to do， but muttered： “I can do something， please don’t let me retire.” （Ling Yu： prologue of The Odyssey of Shen Congwen） Wang Xu added that Mr. Shen was worrying stubbornly sometimes. When the Historical Museum decided to delete the texts and publish only drawings of costumes from his book， he was advised to turn to Jiang Qing and Yao Wenyuan for help， because Jiang Qing had claimed once to be a student of Shen Congwen， but he claimed that he would even have the publication of the book suspended rather than turn to them.

The language style of Research on Ancient Chinese Costumes， even in reading it today， is rarely infected with the color of the current age. I took it for granted before and a kind of some difficulties until I read the following passage. Shen Congwen altered his writing style of starting of “thinking” from his literary writing to the research of literary history ：

There is an isography of discovery map appended in compiling Catalog of Lacquered Objects of Chu Unearthed at Changsha recently. It makes sense that the preface in the 5th page is to account the image reflecting ladies’ customs at that time. But it is questionable to consider it “reflecting the dark side of aristocratic palace during the Warring States Period”， because “the waists of ladies are too slender， which exactly fits the cruel reality of palace as described in the old adage ‘A lot of ladies in the palace was starved to death because the King of Chu preferred slender waist’”. There were several figures in the image who seemed to be male other than female. Moreover， it lacks evidence to consider it illustrating the scene of abused dancers in teaching， because both hands of a woman were stretching out， and the woman looked angry and graphed a whip in hand. In fact， it is identified that the so-called whip is a rupture trace on the lacquer after analyzing the original picture carefully.

The book contains research on analysis of not only clothes， but also of all other aspect concerning clothes. It is not only a “Chinese clothing history” with integrated structure but of “notes” structure. The book is not compiled by setting a rigorous theoretical system and a fine outline first， and then collecting materials and arguments. Instead， it starts from a number of specific historical objectives， carrying out researches on individuals first， then on comparatives afterwards， and finally obtains some regular knowledge. Just as Huang Shang puts it “It may be the future work to form an integrated and rigorous system. But all the uncovered serried foundations are solid and the majority of them can withstand testing. Besides， the scale of magnificent building has been revealed preliminarily.” （Huang Shang： Sheng Congwen and His New Book – Reading Researches on Ancient Chinese Costumes， from Reading of 1982） Qian Zhongshu once put forward that a lot of theoretical buildings architected by philosophers have collapsed throughout the ages， and only those materials scattered in the debris remain available. Limited Views： Essays on Ideas and Letters is composed with fragmentary materials. “Notes” style， to a certain extent， is a “wild zebra” of literary form. Those works of “notes” style at that time can be regarded as a metaphor of certain ideology and spiritual principle.

The foreword for Research on Ancient Chinese Costumes written by Guo Moruo is available for me when I write hereto. Before finishing the manuscript of the book， Mr. Shen and Guo Moruo talked about his book， sitting next to each other in a banquet. Mr. Guo offered to “write a foreword for you！” and sent it to him soon. The foreword was finished before print of the manuscript and Guo did not read it yet， therefore， it was not proper for the book’s content.