Remembering Huang Yongyu: Life is like a painting, a hundred years old | Huang Yongyu | Life
Mr. Huang Yongyu, an artist with significant influence in the contemporary Chinese cultural community, passed away on June 13, 2023 due to illness.
Chaohua Weekly published an essay titled "Life is Like a Picture" on February 21, 2021, which tells the story of Mr. Huang Yongyu. This article is launched today to commemorate Mr. Huang Yongyu.
The most capable right for the elderly to exercise is the right to recall past events. Huang Yongyu is almost a hundred years old. One day, he remembered drawing an oil painting of fermented soybeans in Hong Kong more than seventy years ago.
He arrived in Hong Kong at the age of 24 and lived on Kowloon Road in the New Territories. That is a bay. Jiuhua Path is a catchy name that originated later, originally called Dog Climbing Path. There is a small path that is winding and rugged, and people walk in like dogs crawling. However, later on, this place was very honored. Guo Moruo, Mao Dun, and a large number of exciting people have all lived here. Later, it was also here that everyone took a boat to Beijing.
That day, Huang Yongyu invited Cha Liangyong and Liang Yusheng to a small restaurant called America in Wan Chai for dinner. They are three colleagues from Ta Kung Pao. Cha is a telecommunications translator, Liang is a supplement editor, and Huang is in the art department. Working in the same room, the three of them became friends. During his lifetime, Cha Liangyong often said that there were only two or three people who called him Xiaocha until old age, and Huang Yongyu was one. This kind of friendship is naturally suitable for scheduling meals.
Later Huang Yongyu would also think of Cha Liangyong, who later became Jin Yong. He said that all the martial arts novels written by Jin Yong have been given to him. He didn't like it, didn't watch it, and forwarded it to someone else. He said that with such a good mind, Jin Yong could do more interesting things. It's a pity to write martial arts novels. His words are always as beautiful as his paintings, indescribable.
Huang Yongyu's work "Spring River Flower Moonlit Night"
The three of them arrived in America. Unexpectedly, on this day, I almost ate a king's meal.
The American cuisine is very good, and Huang Yongyu always remembers that the child chicken is cooked well. After the meal, check out. Unexpectedly, all three of them felt embarrassed and had no money to pay the bill. In a moment of urgency, I thought of Ye Lingfeng. Ye works at the nearby Sing Tao Daily, and upon receiving the news, he naturally intervened and rushed over. While waiting for Ye Lingfeng to arrive, Huang Yongyu saw a beautiful tropical fish in one of the water tanks and started drawing. It was an A4 sized ruler with just a few strokes, and he also colored it with the soy sauce, chili oil, and soy sauce at hand. After Ye Lingfeng buried the order, he gave the unfinished painting with soy sauce to Ye and asked her to publish it in the Sing Tao Daily. Just jokingly, can the money spent on paying bills be considered as advance payment for manuscripts? In this way, in the past few days, Hong Kong literary stars with large particles have eaten child chickens and even painted tropical fish away.
These tropical fish remain in the soy sauce oil painting, or rather their later lives are also depicted in this painting.
Huang Yongyu's pen has always been carried with him. More than twenty years ago, he came to Shanghai and was at a restaurant called Mingdu. He had someone notify me to go. This is the second time we have met. The previous time was when I interviewed him with a group of journalists. He and I are seated at the round table, three or four seats apart. Just as he was seated, he sketched my face on a napkin. He asked his neighbor to pass it to me, and I was surprised and happy. The first thing that came to my mind was that life could be like painting.
Huang Yongyu saw this soy sauce oil painting again almost forty years later. He held an art exhibition in Hong Kong, and someone brought this painting for him to write calligraphy. Originally, after this painting was published in the Sing Tao Daily, Ye Lingfeng gave the original manuscript to painter Huang Mengtian. Several years later, Huang Mengtian gifted it to Luo Lang, the president of the Lufeng Yaji. When it came to Luo Lang's hands, there was an additional note from Huang Yongyu added to the painting: "This work was created at an American restaurant in Wan Chai, Hong Kong. One day, we ate there with friends, and everyone felt empty. In a moment of urgency, Ye Lingfeng from Dianxing Island rescued us. The reddish brown color was soy sauce. It has been almost forty years since then. Huang Yongyu, in the spring of 1986.". Later on, when I saw the text about this painting, it was said that Luo Lang had hung it at home. Later on, as Luo Lang grew older, he gradually became isolated from the outside world. Later on, the outside world became unclear about this painting.
I think Huang Yongyu may not think about it anymore after memorizing this painting. Where was the original draft of the monkey ticket he drew later? Someone has asked him. He said he handed it over to the editor at the time. He also said that staying in the hands of the person he likes is great.
In that era, Huang Yongyu and his family lived in a corner of a courtyard in Beijing, in a small house like a sealed jar. He drew a big window, which was sunny and brightly colored in spring, and hung it on the wall. Life may have hardships, but sunshine and spring are always there. In the year of Gengzi, an elderly person who was nearly a hundred years old painted a masterpiece like "Chinese People Live with Mighty Lives". The big Red Cross, with its magnificent and decisive victory gesture, poured out his inner pain and unwillingness to give up. His paintings depict real life.
On October 27, 2013, a reading session for Huang Yongyu's works was held in Shanghai
I would like to add a few more sentences. Forty years ago, I applied for my last interview. The examiner asked me, what do you think of the movie "Bitter Love"? I said, I haven't watched this movie, but I don't believe that readers don't love their homeland. Afterwards, I passed the exam smoothly. Afterwards, I met Huang Yongyu and one day I suddenly found out that the prototype of the protagonist in the film "Bitter Love" was Huang Yongyu. I think there is a fate between me and him. That Spring Festival, I accompanied him to pay respects to Mr. Shen Congwen's tomb by the Tuojiang River. I saw a monument written by Huang Yongyu standing next to the stone steps leading to Shen Congwen's cemetery. On the monument is a sentence: "If a soldier dies on the battlefield, he will return to his hometown." Shen Congwen's tombstone is a huge stone. Huang Yongyu was over seventy years old at that time. He caressed the boulder for a long time, tears streaming down his face. After returning home, he talked to me about Shen Congwen. Speaking of the filming of the movie "Border Town". He said that shooting with the bow of the boat against the water would create a beautiful scene.
I also want to say that I have never painted soy oil paintings, and I have actually written soy oil characters. That is a fan that my friend's daughter got married, and my friend was filled with joy. He never left his hand and didn't know what to write. I haven't figured it out yet at the wedding banquet. I think there should always be some color left on the fan. Just rub a napkin into strips, dip them in soy sauce, and write, oh no, it should be said that they drew two auspicious wishes. This has been going on for over a decade, hasn't it?
One year, I held a poetry and book exhibition in the picture above. Huang Yongyu happened to be in Shanghai, and he came. He said to the reporter, "The picture is very beautiful.". He saw through me. I really can't count as writing, I just want to draw what I think in my heart. Life feels like a painting.
Huang Yongyu is painting at home
