Kao Wen obviously didn't expect Lu Shi to be so young, so he mistook Gu Hongming as the real owner at first.
Fortunately, he was cautious enough and asked the doorman first.
Lu Shi stretched out his hand,
"Hello, I am Lu Shi from London Political Science and Economics."
Kao Wen introduced: "Because the library is sorting the final books and manuscripts, the staff are very busy, so I, the manager of the Printmaking and Painting Department, will lead the way. I hope Professor Lu will bear with me." .”
After saying that, he looked at Gu Hongming and Natsume Soseki again.
Lu Shigang was ready to introduce him.
Unexpectedly, Kao Wen smiled and shook his head,
"It's okay, Professor Lu. It's not important."
He turned and walked towards the museum.
Being told "it's not important" in person, Gu Hongming was a little bit dumbfounded. He didn't know whether the other party had a good attitude or was too arrogant.
The three of them followed Kao Wen.
The British Museum covers a vast area and has a large collection. This is evident from the fact that only one percent of the collection is on display.
Kao Wen introduced the book as he walked, and at the same time told Lu Shi to pay attention to protecting the book when borrowing it, even if it was just a rubbing or copy, he should be as careful as possible.
Several people arrived at the reading room.
The materials Lu Shi wanted to read belonged to the history of the Ming Dynasty. There were no originals in the library, only copies.
After Kao Wen asked the staff, he felt relieved after confirming that the manuscript did not need to be touched. He even thoughtfully told Lu Shi which book boxes and bookshelves to look for.
After that, he found a corner to stay and stopped disturbing.
Lu Shi took notes carefully.
Gu Hongming looked curiously from the side,
He whispered: "After reading these historical materials, I realized the novelty of your "Fifteen Years of Wanli"."
Gu Hongming was good at literature and Confucian classics, but relatively weak at history.
If he is also proficient in history, he will find that the research method of "The Fifteen Years of Wanli" is interdisciplinary, similar to "Guns, Germs and Steel".
Lu Shi was still reading without raising his head.
"Well, I write this way to observe the pulse of history from the perspective of long-term social development and pay attention to the interaction between characters and current situations. This is different from the traditional way of writing historical monographs."
Gu Hongming chewed this sentence carefully.
After a moment, he said: "I don't quite understand."
Lu Shi asked: "Mr. Gu, have you read "Dayi Jue Mi Lu"? How did Emperor Yongzheng evaluate himself?"
Gu Hongming replied: "I may not be able to recite it all. Let me think about it... um... 'I work hard day and night to govern diligently. Although I dare not compare with the ancient sages and wise empresses, my love for the people is always there. In sleep, there is nothing that cannot be done without exhausting its thoroughness.'"
This is enough to memorize.
Lu Shi said: "Stay up late and work hard at night. What's the effect?"
Gu Hongming immediately said: "In the prosperous period of Kangxi and Qianlong, Emperor Yongzheng connected the previous and the following, and the effect was excellent. Of course, it is undeniable that the later years will be corroded very quickly..."
The old gentleman has indeed changed,
When discussing the Qing Dynasty, be as objective as possible.
Lu Shi nodded,
"The same was true during the Wanli period. Excellent officials worked hard to govern, and they had to personally handle even trivial affairs in townships and counties in order to reverse the decline. But what was the final outcome? It was still corrupt."
It's a bit predestined to say this.
Gu Hongming suddenly realized it and said: "I thought your book was a little different. It turns out that it is like this."
He had read "The Fifteen Years of Wanli" before and thought the historical story was wonderful.
But looking back now, I find that there is an argument in it, and this argument transcends specific historical figures and historical details. It is an analysis of the general trend of history.
As Lu Shi said just now:
"Pay attention to the interaction between characters and current situations."
Gu Hongming sighed,
"Evil door."
Lu Shi was puzzled.
"Evil sect? What evil sect are you talking about?"
Gu Hongming raised his chin and replied: "Your book is evil. I thought about it carefully and felt that I was full of powerlessness when I read your book. Whether it is Wanli as the emperor or Zhang Juzheng who holds the power of the empire, None of them seemed successful.”
This is the great view of history in "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli".
System problems cannot be repaired locally. Answers can only be found from the economic foundation, social structure and cultural soil.
Lu Shi said: "After watching "Guns, Germs and Steel", it should not be difficult to understand "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli"."
Both are considered interdisciplinary works;
There are many similarities in research methods.
Gu Hongming said: "Can it be the same?"
This book uses foreign examples as an example, starting from Spain’s conquest of the Inca Empire. Reading it will make Chinese readers feel like they are watching the fire from the other side;
This book talks about Chinese history and makes you feel the same way.
Gu Hongming was very depressed,
"No more chatting! No more talking! The more we talk, the more upset we get. It was like this last time, and it made you faint."
Lu Shi was embarrassed,
"cough……"
Gu Hongming walked aside,
"I'd better look through the books myself. It's a rare visit to the library of the British Museum, and I can't waste such a good opportunity."
Lu Shi also enjoyed the peace and quiet,
It is not difficult to copy books, but it is difficult to copy historical works.
Especially books like "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli" were popular in the 1980s and 1990s.
And he came from the 2020s of the 21st century. After three or forty years of development, the big historical view has also kept pace with the times. Many views have been revised a lot based on Huang Renyu.
He needs to concentrate on improving the "Fifteen Years of Wanli" by combining historical materials and updated historical perspectives.
On the other side, Gu Hongming studied hard.
At this time, Natsume Soseki approached him and whispered: "Mr. Gu, come and take a look."
Gu Hongming was puzzled.
"What's wrong?"
Natsume Soseki swallowed, lowered his voice and said, "I seem to have seen the Yongle Grand Ceremony."
Gu Hongming didn't think much about it.
"normal."
He traced the spine of the book he was reading with his finger and said: "Here are not only the manuscripts of the Twenty-Four Histories, but also a large number of manuscripts of unofficial histories. For a comprehensive book like "Yongle Dadian", what's new about including the manuscripts here?" ?”
Natsume Soseki nodded, then shook his head.
"However, the manuscripts of "Yongle Dadian" collected here are not uniform."
Gu Hongming chuckled,
"You probably don't know how many volumes there are in the "Yongle Dadian"? The catalog alone has sixty volumes, 370 million words, and a total of more than ten thousand volumes. How can we collect them all?"
He put down the history book in his hand,
"Where is it? Take me to see it."
Natsume Soseki immediately took Gu Hongming to a book box.
Gu Hongming leaned over,
Soon, he showed a somewhat puzzled expression and whispered: "Why does this look like a copy..."
Natsume Soseki felt relieved after hearing this.
"Just now, I saw that there were two volumes of "Yongle Dadian" here. Thinking that they were so rare, I thought they were genuine, but they turned out to be copies... That's good, that's good!"
Gu Hongming raised his eyebrows,
"Who says a copy isn't authentic?"
Natsume Soseki was stunned.
"ah?"
Gu Hongming said: "As I just said, the "Yongle Dadian" has tens of thousands of volumes. It was compiled starting from the first year of Yongle and was finalized in the fifth year of Yongle. It took another whole year to copy and complete. The whole book includes classics, history, Zi, Ji, also involves astronomy and geography, yin and yang medicine, divination, Tibetan Taoist scriptures, drama, crafts, agriculture... How can such an important book only have the original and no copy?"
Natsume Soseki understood,
There is indeed a difference between the original and the copy of "Yongle Dadian".
But from the perspective of cultural relics, both are real and original.
He asked: "Where is the original?"
Gu Hongming muttered: "It is speculated that it is in Yongling."
Natsume Soseki nodded,
"Yongle Mausoleum... Emperor Yongle was buried with the "Yongle Ceremony". Even if he has selfish motives, it is not incomprehensible."
Gu Hongming was slightly embarrassed, lowered his head and coughed a few times.
"Cough cough cough..."
In fact, the Yongling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty is the joint burial mausoleum of the eleventh emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Shizong Zhu Houcong (reign of Jiajing), and the three queens Chen, Fang, and Du. ,
The so-called "copy" was also copied during the Jiajing period in order to be buried with the original. There was no distinction between the original and the copy when the book was written.
It is not easy to explain this kind of thing to Natsume Soseki, a Japanese.
Gu Hongming walked to Lu Shi and whispered.
Lu Shi's recording hand paused slightly,
"real?"
After all, Gu Hongming is not an archeologist, and he is not sure. He can only say: "It looks like it."
Lu Shi lowered his head and thought.
At this moment, Kao Wen's voice came from behind: "Professor Lu, what happened?"
He never left, always paying attention to the three of them.
Lu Shi nodded to Gu Hongming.
Gu Hongming told Kao Wen his point of view, and then asked with some concern: "Mr. Kao Wen, you should be able to understand that both the original and the copy are treasures, right?"
Kao Wen chuckled,
"Of course, how could I not know? I know this kind of thing better than you."
Gu Hongming frowned,
Apparently he felt that the other party was too arrogant.
Kao Wen also felt that what he said was too much, and quickly explained: "Old gentleman, I don't mean to be sarcastic. You know, I am the manager of the Printmaking and Painting Department, and I still have some ideas about this kind of thing. .”
He thought for a while and gave an example:
"For example, the painting by Li Sixun of the Tang Dynasty is called "Green Landscape" in your country. There are copies in the Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty. But even the copies are considered cultural relics. As far as I know, the copy of the Northern Song Dynasty has Ni Zan of the Yuan Dynasty. , postscript by Zhang Tianjun of the Ming Dynasty."
I didn’t expect that foreign monks could actually chant sutras.
Since you know how to identify treasures, it's easy to say.
Gu Hongming said: "Then please hurry up and ask your staff to keep these two volumes of "Yongle Dadian" well and don't destroy them."
Kao Wen nodded and left quickly.
Seeing his back disappear, Lu Shi couldn't help but sigh,
When you come to the British Museum to read historical materials, you will inevitably encounter such problems, but if you do encounter them, you will still be depressed.
well……
Wanqing...
After a while, Kao Wen came back,
He saluted Lu Shi,
"Professor Lu, thank you for your help. I have asked my colleagues in the library just now. They actually know that the two volumes of "Yongle Dadian" are authentic, but they are too busy to deal with them for the time being."
Lu Shi:? ? ?
Gu Hongming:? ? ?
Natsume Soseki:? ? ?
The three of them were a little confused.
I thought the British were ignorant.
Unexpectedly, people know the goods, but they don’t have enough time.
Gu Hongming's face darkened.
"not enough time?"
This sounds like an excuse no matter what.
As a result, Cowen said: "It's true, my colleagues are worrying about Egyptian papyri."
Anyone could hear the pride in his words.
Gu Hongming lowered his voice and asked: "Lu Shi, this papyrus is..."
It was in Chinese and Kao Wen couldn't understand it.
Lu Shi then also answered in Chinese: "I think they are ancient Egyptian documents or paintings. From a historical perspective, those papyri have existed much longer than the "Yongle Dadian". He is blocking our mouths."
"Asshole!"
Gu Hongming was so angry that he cursed.
Kao Wen saw that the two of them were chattering but couldn't understand, so he interjected: "Don't worry, you two, your country does not have the ability to protect cultural relics. We at the British Museum will do our best."
Lu Shi snorted coldly,
"Collecting cultural relics plundered from different countries and claiming that it is the protection of cultural relics... We usually call this phenomenon 'shameless'."
This was said without mercy.
Kao Wen's face turned red and white for a while.
He said: "Professor Lu's words are a bit paranoid and extreme. Have you ever heard of the Parthenon?"
Lu Shi had already guessed what the other party wanted to say, but did not stop him.
He replied: "Yes, in Greece."
Kao Wen nodded,
"Since Professor Lu has heard about it, he should also know that the marbles of the famous Parthenon were bought by the Earl of Elgin from the Sultan of Ottoman Turkey for 36,500 pounds. Otherwise, they would have been ground into stone. Brick."
Lu Shi quietly watched the other party pretending to be X.
Cowan felt uncomfortable being stared at and continued: "So, is there anything wrong with what I said? For countries that do not have the ability to protect cultural relics, the British Museum has undoubtedly done the right thing."
Lu Shi said: "Then, one day in the future, when Greece has the ability to protect cultural relics, will the British Museum return them?"
Kao Wen was stunned by one sentence.
"this……"
In modern times, the Greek government has repeatedly asked Britain to return cultural relics.
They even built a museum around the Parthenon site, but it was empty, to express their demand for the return of cultural relics.
Of course, the result will definitely be useless.
Lu Shi said: "It is undeniable that the British Museum has organized, researched and restored these cultural relics, which has objectively promoted the spread and exchange of culture. It can be regarded as a kind of 'protection'."
After hearing this, Kao Wen's face became better.
But Lu Shi didn't finish speaking.
He added: "But what is the original intention of this kind of 'protection'?"
Kao Wen did not give an answer;
It’s not that it’s impossible to answer, it’s that the answer is self-evident.
This kind of "protection" "protects" the plundered spoils, so its purpose is still to maintain the cultural order under the world colonial system.
What's more, this kind of "protection" is not necessarily very professional:
The use of Japanese painting restoration techniques to repair the Chinese painting "The Picture of the Lady's Admonition" resulted in the "Picture of the Lady's Proverb" being repaired and causing problems such as scum falling off;
The yellowed shell of the Elgin stone was polished off to cater to the pre-World War I social concept of "whiteness being noble";
Papyrus gets wet, cracks, and is cut at the waist;
…
After so many mistakes, the British Museum had to invite cultural relics and archaeological experts from all over the country to repair it.
The China Pavilion has a large number of people from China.
Lu Shi said: "The British Museum robs, steals, buys and sells by force, so don't pretend to be innocent. Why not admit your face honestly?"
(End of chapter)
