Preface: Chairman of University of China, recently invited 82-year-old Feng Qiyong, a renowned scholar on the studies of A Dream of Red Mansions (Hong Lou Meng, also known as The Legend of Stone), one of the Four Famous Chinese Classics, to be principal of the university's Sinology College, which is also the first of its kind among domestic universities. Right after this announcement, Mr. Feng, who retired 10 years ago, became occupied with the future of the Sinology College, and his residence on the outskirts is no longer so quite!

"Fantastic speaking full of page, written with bitter tears, Everyone thinks the author mad, But who knows the spirit of it…"

A Dream of Red Mansions, an unmatched literary classic, since its inception has been attracting a great number of literature experts, many of whom have spent their whole life on researching the book. In this issue of "Culture People," we will talk about the great master and a renowned scholar on the study of A Dream of Red Mansion, one of the Four Famous Chinese Classics - Feng Qiyong.

Though Feng is well known as a master of A Dream of Red Mansion studies, it is hard to give him a proper title. Upon taking a close look at his life and experiences, one will find that he is also a poet, a painter, a calligrapher, an excellent photographer, an opera critic, and, even after the age of 60, an explorer. In short, he is a man of many talents who fits the ideal of a traditional Chinese man of literature.

Brief Introduction to Feng Qiyong

Feng Qiyong was born in Wuxi of East China's Jiangsu Province in 1924. When he was a fifth-grade primary student, the Anti-Japanese War broke out and his hometown fell into the hands of the enemies. Unable to attend school, Feng took up farming. Later he entered the middle school in the countryside, but was dropped out school again during the first year in senior middle school. After several years' of farming, he began to teach in a primary school. After the war, he began his studies in Sinology Institute in Wuxi and graduated in 1948. In April 1949, when Wuxi was liberated, he joined the army and became a teacher in Wuxi No.1 Middle School for Girls.

In August 1954, Feng was transferred to teach in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature of Renmin University of China , rising from a lecturer to a professor and adviser of masters.

Between 1975 and 1986, he was transferred by the Ministry of Culture to preside over the proofreading and annotation of A Dream of Red Mansions. During that period, he set up the A Dream of Red Mansions Research Institute and acted as the director.

In 1986, he was appointed vice chairman of Chinese Art Research Institute, and at the same time acted as professor of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature of Renmin University of China. Up to date, Feng has published over 30 academic works, with more than 29 million Chinese characters.

Feng's academic road is in fact a road of self-studies. His research has covered a range of topics. As a teacher of The History of Ancient Chinese Literature, he published a collection of dissertions, called Shichuan Ji. He also carried out researches on traditional Chinese operas, and published Fangcao Ji.

A Date with A Dream of Red Mansions

Accomplishing enormous achievement in the research on the novel, Feng has played an important part in pushing and promoting the development of studies on A Dream of Red Mansion. He once served as chairman of China Association of A Dream of Red Mansion

Feng's Painting of Tianshan Mountain in Xinjiang

Studies and his works on the famous classic have been received well by the novel's lovers both at home and abroad.

Apart from his research on the Chinese classic, Feng has also actively participated in cultural exchanges between China and other countries in the world, spreading the essence of Chinese culture all over the world.

He twice visited America and gave lectures at such prestigious universities as Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and so on, receiving an honorary academic certificate from the America Fulbright Foundation.

In 1984, Feng went to Leningrad (St. Petersburg of today's Russia) of the former Soviet Union to authenticate the hand-written manuscript of The Legend of Stone that is believed to have been done during reigns of Emperors Qianlong (1735-1795) and Jiaqing (1795-1820) during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), a move that led to the signing of an agreement on China and the Soviet Union's co-publication of the book.

In 1988, he headed a delegation to Singapore for the A Dream of red Mansions Culture and Arts Exhibition" and gave lectures at the National University of Singapore. In 1991, he attended the International Sinology Conference held in Singapore and acted as vice chairman.

"Knowledge Makes a Man Elegant and Venerable"

Feng Qiyong is not only cultivated in literature, arts and academic fields, but also highly accomplished in Chinese calligraphy and painting. In fact, besides his research of A Dream of Red Mansions, Feng has also been researching classic Chinese literature, Chinese opera, painting, and calligraphy for a long time. Actually, he once served as vice president of the Chinese Art Research Institute.

According to Feng, good calligraphic books are for scholars and poets, as well as the calligraphers. Good calligraphic works are done with much learning and cultural cultivation. The taste of an artwork depends on the artist's perception, and the latter is decided by the artist's cultural accomplishment. Well-informed of the rule, for several decades, Feng worked hard almost unceasingly at calligraphy and painting from since he was a little boy. However, he seldom showed his calligraphic works to others.

After Feng turned 70, he created a new calligraphic form by combining classicism and romanticism, thereby becoming an outstanding master in Chinese calligraphy and painting circles.

Feng once wrote a poem of Li Dongquan from South Korea, including a sentence "Knowledge makes a man elegant and venerable." The sentence not only expressed his expectation of the young learners, but also was a summary of his decades of calligraphic and painting practices.

Dreaming to Be Like Xu Xiake

Travel is another one of Feng's besides academic studies, calligraphy and. He has been to many places during the past decades, visiting Northwest China's Gansu Province and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region six and seven times respectively; he even reached the 4,000-5,000-meter Khunjerab Pass at the age of 75. The more rarely visited by human beings the place is, the more excited he gets.

He also wrote many poems on his trips, all of which enjoy good popularity. In one of his poems, Feng expressed his wish to be like Xu Xiake, a famous traveler in ancient China who left footsteps in numerous places throughout 16 provinces in East, North, Southeast, and Southwest China and who kept a travel log during his trips.

As Feng is also interested in many other things, his remarkable achievements in the studies of A Dream of Red Mansions must have been a result of his broad and profound knowledge.