Travels to the Southeast | Lian Jiang: Artist, Rich Businessman, Pirate

There are many brave people along the coast of eastern Fujian...

• artist

Fujianese people are capable of tossing in their bones. Including Liang Feng, who looked peaceful.

I met Liang Feng and Dong Qi in Beijing. They did an exhibition in Beijing called "The Painted Man Liang Feng's One-Sided Mandala". In the courtyard, the "Mandala Lost Dreams" series of Liang Feng's passionate works that became unstoppable after his trip to Dunhuang are displayed. The exhibition is beautiful and contains philosophical thoughts about time and lacquer art. There is also what his wife Dong Qi said with a smile - "mensao" - most of his lacquerware is pure color. On the surface, pure black, pure red, pure orange, pure green... However, in a At the corners, a thin line of texture is exposed, which is heavier than the collars of women in the Song and Ming dynasties, and has many colors. He spent three months or even two years like this, applying a layer of paint every day. Finally, he used his feelings and hands to polish a certain inch of painted skin... and then, the layer buried beneath the surface... A layer of secrets flashed vaguely, but the smile was shy. What's even more "boring" is a dignified, pure and elegant large lacquer Kang table. If no one tells you, you will never imagine what you will see if you turn the Kang table over. That is hidden under the table. Brilliant lacquer paintings, such as Flying Apsaras and Flowing Clouds in Dunhuang.

After settling in the city from Mawei, we went to their studio in Sanfangqixiang for tea. It was a two-story building with a small courtyard, away from the tourist areas. There is an ancient-looking banyan tree on the only road outside. Even in Fuzhou, which is known as the "Rong City", it must be an ancient tree. The parasitic vines hanging from the tree made Dong Qi feel that it looked like a tree at night. A Chinese Ghost Story. The door gods and couplets posted next to the iron gate of the courtyard are quite literary and artistic. The courtyard was not deliberately tidy, with some old furniture and stone statues scattered around. There are also a lot of old furniture they collected in the warehouse. Perhaps they will become the embryo of Liang Feng's lacquer art creation, which will be magnificent when completed. The first floor of the small building is a studio, and a master is carefully painting a row of armrests.

Fuzhou's hot and humid climate is suitable for painting, which is why Liang Feng still spends most of his time in Fuzhou. There are many works in progress in the studio on the first floor, such as armrests, tables, strange-shaped vases, etc. There is no need to rush, so we can only paint once a day and let time take shape naturally.

There is a tea room on the second floor, surrounded by some completed lacquerware works and antiques collected by the couple. Among them are two oil paintings painted by Liang Feng in his early years. Liang Feng learned lacquer art as an apprentice, and then went out to work for a few years, playing with oil painting and video, and then returned to lacquer painting. I can't say that he is playing cross-border. For him, this may be a destined reincarnation. So he named the exhibition in Beijing "The Painted Man Liang Feng's Mandala". A few years before "artist" became popular, he returned to his obscure handicrafts. Dong Qi said that this is a very hard job. If Liang Feng had not come to Beijing or other places, his hands would always be dirty when he was in the studio, and the work clothes he wore would be stained with paint everywhere, making it difficult to wash. clean. However, it was such hard work that produced the lacquerware that I saw in the exhibition or in the tea room on the second floor, which is full of the aesthetics of "quietness, purity, and state of mind." It was also his lacquerware that allowed me to see the contemporary lacquerware aesthetics that exist beyond the modern rigid or vulgar lacquerware.

• wealthy businessman

Liang Feng came out of his hometown in Huangqi Peninsula, Lianjiang County, when he was a teenager. That place is located at the mouth of the Minjiang River. From the map, it looks like a crest extending into the sea. When Liang Feng was a child, land transportation was blocked by mountains and rivers on the seaside, making travel difficult. To go to downtown Fuzhou, they prefer to take a boat up the Min River.

On our second day in Fuzhou, we went to Liang Feng’s hometown in Lianjiang. Although it is a county under the jurisdiction of Fuzhou and there are roads through mountains and rivers, it still took nearly two hours of driving to get there. There is a section of road between the river and the sea. There are many five- and six-story buildings on the roadside that are neither Chinese nor Western. Some even install sightseeing elevators in an exaggerated way. Dong Qi said that many of these were built by people who had gone abroad to work and make money, and could only live in them for a few days a year. Liangfeng deliberately drove through some village roads with densely populated houses so that we could "see and see" the local world. There are many small buildings in the village, but there are few people. There are small advertisements written in chalk at some intersections. If you want to immigrate, please find someone, and the words are very direct. It is said that these snakeheads in eastern Fujian are very powerful.

Last night, I had dinner with Mr. Liu and his friends from the "Big Red Robe" Shoushan Stone Collection Circle in Sanfang Qixiang. Five or six faceless uncles talked about the wealthy old overseas Chinese businessmen from Nanyang who lived in Fuzhou in seclusion. Let’s talk about some people who were born around Fuzhou, made their fortune overseas, and then returned to China to become powerful figures. For example, Mr. Huang Rulun, who was born in Lianjiang, is currently the chairman of the board of directors of Century Jinyuan Group, the richest man in Fujian, and is also a very low-key entrepreneur and philanthropic figure. Mr. Huang lived a difficult life in the small fishing village of Lianjiang in his early years. Later, he went to the Philippines alone to make a living. It was 1986 when he was 35 years old. He rarely talks to the media about what he did during his overseas years. It is said that he was once turned away by a hotel doorman because of his shabby clothes. But I also made some money in the past few years. I returned to China in 1991 and returned to Fuzhou. It seems that after coming back, I encountered the favorable policies for real estate development in Fujian and started a business in real estate. 8 A personal entrepreneurial team has worked hard for several years and gradually opened up in Fuzhou. At the end of the 1990s, he seized on the policy of developing the western region and entered Yunnan, Chongqing, Guizhou... and then advanced to the imperial capital Beijing... Until now, Mr. Huang has become an "overseas Chinese in the Philippines" entrepreneur with numerous titles and aura. . The above description is a brief description based on the description of a gentleman who was relatively familiar with him at the dinner that night, as well as the information that can be found on the Internet. Such a brief summary, like the resume template of all successful people, is unconvincing. Therefore, I asked, can I interview Mr. Huang after returning to Beijing? The gentleman thought for a while and said, "Let's see the opportunity." Because Mr. Huang is very low-key.

Now, let's pass by and take a look at the land where Mr. Huang worked hard but had no harvest before he was 35. And perhaps, it was the small advertisements at the corner of the intersection and the characters hidden behind them that gave Mr. Huang the help to find a way out. Even though these characters just want to make money.

• pirate

There are many brave men along the coast of eastern Fujian. Liang Feng said that many of the people in his village are KTV , Internet cafes, beauty salons, restaurants, he is not like the people in this village. We said that the typhoon was strong in this place, and he was blown here when he was supposed to be reincarnated in Taiwan. This is really a scholar falling into a pirate's den.

In the 1990s, "Huangqi pirates" were rampant. From Taizhou and Wenzhou to Guangdong, many fishing boats were robbed and killed. It was no exaggeration compared to the movie. They are also very good at escaping. It was not until last year that one of the leaders finally surrendered. Some of the members of this pirate gang came from Liang Feng's village.

The car finally arrived at Liang Feng's house near noon. This is also a small building with four or five floors and many rooms. Dong Qi said that Liang Feng cared about his parents and funded the construction of a house. But before building the house, the couple came back to have a "meeting" with their parents and suggested building one or two floors, which would be enough to live in and be comfortable. But after a long debate, my father finally insisted on building a "building" like many other houses in the village. The couple didn't want to say anything later. After all, they were caring for their parents, so why make them unhappy.

Before setting off, Dong Qi said: "Dad Liang is very handsome!" When they met, it was true that he was handsome, with a straight nose, but his eyes were a little melancholy that had gone through the vicissitudes of time. Surprisingly, there is a neat study room in the large room on the third floor, which belongs to Father Liang. There is calligraphy written by him on the desk in the study. Two framed pieces of calligraphy prose hang on the wall. Although the font does not look like that of a professional calligrapher, you can see the seriousness and persistence of the calligrapher in this hobby. I began to understand where Father Liang’s melancholy came from. If he is not a person with ideals and pursuits, a simple and tiring life will not make him depressed.

While drinking tea, Father Liang chatted with us for a while. His father had gone to Nanyang when he was young, but he came back at the age of thirty, got married and had children, and continued the poor life he had before going to Nanyang. Father Liang knew very little about his father's overseas years. He thought maybe he couldn't bear to look back, so his father didn't say a word. It was very difficult for those who traveled across the ocean in that era, even if they were not doing so as indentured laborers. It is the greatest comfort to go out and have some adventures, not to have any bad habits, and to be able to return to my hometown alive.

Father Liang also talked about his experience as a militia inspector in a village or town in the early years of liberation. There is a Matsu Township in Lianjiang County. It was divided into two parts during liberation. One half was returned to the jurisdiction of Fujian, and the other half became "Matsu County" of "Taiwan, Penghu, Jinma". This island, which is extremely close to the mainland, became a springboard for Taiwanese spies to enter Fujian in the early years of liberation, and was quite active in the eastern Fujian area. Therefore, Father Liang and some young adults in the village organized themselves to patrol and inspect, with high revolutionary enthusiasm. Later, I stopped doing this and started clearing land for farming. The coast of their village is extremely windy and unsuitable for fishing. But we can’t just watch the neighboring villages and towns build high-rise buildings, so we open up mountains to grow cash crops such as tomatoes. Nowadays, his children are successful and high-rise buildings have been built, but Father Liang still maintains the habit of going out to work at four o'clock in the morning. Yes, it's four o'clock. I asked Dong Qi: "Did you go in the dark?" She couldn't answer the question, so she just said: "You're used to it." Then she went home at seven o'clock to make breakfast, taking care of the family like many Fuzhou men. Read a book, take a nap, and write every day. Father Liang didn’t talk much, but when Teacher Liu recited poems and talked about the past and the present, Father Liang’s passion hidden in his heart was aroused. After two sips of wine, he also recited poems and discussed history aloud.

When saying goodbye, Teacher Liu said to Dad Liang: "I wish you health and longevity!"

Father Liang looked at his youngest son Liang Feng and said, "If he lives a long life, I will live a long life."