In 1983, "Shanxi**" published a short article, the main content of which was: "The author of the font of the renminbi is Ji Chaoding. ”
Subsequently, "Xinmin Evening News" also reported, and the content was basically the same as that of "Shanxi**". Although the two articles are not large, they have attracted wide attention.
An old man in Shanxi said after reading it: "No, the words on the RMB are obviously written by me, why are they mistaken for Ji Chaoding by others?" ”
Under the principle of respecting history, the old man's daughter submitted two letters of clarification to the newspaper and sent them to the head office of the People's Bank of China and the newspaper office respectively. In the letter, the daughter made it clear that the words on the renminbi were written by her father, not Ji Chaoding, and asked the bank to find out the facts.
The head office of the People's Bank of China attached great importance to this and immediately organized a special group to conduct in-depth investigation and study. As the investigation deepens, the truth gradually emerges. So, who is the author of the RMB font?
What's the interesting story behind this? In fact, before receiving this clarification letter, there had been controversy about the identity of the author of the second set of RMB fonts.
1.Although there are two theories about the legendary calligraphy author of the renminbi governor, the reason behind it is that the People's Bank of China's renminbi fonting and printing are the responsibility of the relevant person in charge, which also makes these two theories have a basis.
2.There are two widely circulated claims about the calligraphy authors of the renminbi governor: Nan Hanchen and Chen Dabang. Nan Hanchen is responsible for the design of the RMB font, while Chen Dabang is in charge of printing at the head office and is the head of the General Section of the Printing Bureau.
This factual basis makes the popular argument plausible. 3.Despite the statements of the above two authors, Shanxi ** believes that the real author is Ji Chaoding.
It turns out that Ji Chaoding, an economist from Shanxi, has a deep knowledge of calligraphy, and he also served as the vice chairman of the People's Bank of China.
Therefore, Shanxi**'s claim that the author of the RMB font is Ji Chaoding in the article published at that time may lack sufficient basis and appear to be not rigorous enough. Unfortunately, the above people have all passed away, and the specific situation is impossible to verify, which also proves that it is indeed not easy to find out the identity of the author of the second set of RMB fonts.
Before talking about the author of the second set of RMB fonts, let's first learn about the author of the first set of RMB fonts - Dong Biwu. Dong Biwu, as a professional background, has a wealth of knowledge and extensive experience, and is also extremely proficient in calligraphy, and can write well.
In October 1947, under the leadership of Dong Biwu, the North China Financial and Economic Office of the Communist Party of China was established, with him as the director and Nan Hanchen as the vice chairman.
Dong Biwu proposed to *** to establish a ** bank, named the "People's Bank of China", and issue currency in a unified manner. The proposal was approved in November, and the preparatory work was entrusted to Nan Hanchen.
It was originally planned that the establishment of the People's Bank was supposed to be on New Year's Day 1949, but due to the effects of the war, it had to be brought forward. In addition, the design work on the yuan also encountered a hiccup.
The preparatory group originally planned to print the image of *** on the banknote and submit the vote plate to **, but *** immediately rejected the proposal: "The ticket is issued by **, not by the party, I am now the chairman of the party, not the chairman of **, how can I print my portrait?"
Let's wait for the establishment of the people's ** to consider this issue. ”
Dong Biwu once had an important instruction, that is, the face of the renminbi should show the prosperity of the construction of the liberated areas. Therefore, according to this instruction, the relevant staff successfully designed the first set of RMB.
Dong Biwu not only played a leading role in the design and issuance of the renminbi, but also wrote the "People's Bank of China" and most of the text on the renminbi himself.
His regular script font, the strokes are regular, sonorous and powerful, not only has a sense of strength and uprightness, but also has the beauty of delicate spirit, and the background of military and civilian production and labor in the liberated areas complements each other, forming a harmonious visual effect.
One day, an elderly man in Shanxi was reading a newspaper at home when he was suddenly attracted by an article that said, "The Chinese characters on the renminbi are written by Ji Chaoding." This caught his attention, as he found that his calligraphy was mistaken for that of Ji Chaoding, and his heart was full of doubts.
While others praised Ji Chaoding, he felt that his work had been wrongly attributed to someone else, and he couldn't let go. Although there is a lack of relevant evidence, it is not unreasonable for the folk to say that Nan Hanchen is the author of the second set of RMB fonts.
The old man whispered, but the daughter still caught the key information. "I wrote the words on the renminbi. With a smile on his face, the old man revealed a secret that had been hidden for decades.
This is different from the way the national flag and national emblem are solicited, and the typesetting and design work of the renminbi must be kept strictly confidential. However, out of respect for history and correcting Shanxi's mistakes, the old man decided to share this story.
Hearing this, the daughter was very surprised, and kept asking, and finally learned this story that had been buried for many years.
The old man's words made the daughter deeply admired, and she said excitedly: "We must write a letter to the bank and the newspaper to clarify the facts!" However, the old man's thoughts are not meant to prove anything, nor are they meant to argue with others.
In the beginning, he just wanted to be a person who "had no quarrel with the world". With the encouragement of his daughter, he agreed to write a letter and have her ghostwrite his heartfelt voice. Finally, the letter was sent to the head office of the People's Bank of China, and the old man signed his name at the end of the letter, Ma Wenwei, and his daughter was called Ma Mei.
When Lu Peijian (then the governor of the People's Bank of China) saw the name "Ma Wenwei", his brows furrowed slightly, and he thought suspiciously: "This name seems to have never been heard of." ”
Will this "little-known" Ma Wenwei really be the creator of the RMB font? Lu Peijian was deeply skeptical about this. However, every word of the letter is full of sincerity and does not look like a prank.
Regarding the identity of the font creator, Lu Peijian is not 100% sure. Therefore, he decided to investigate this matter thoroughly, not only to give an explanation to the real author, but also to give an explanation to the truth.
Adhering to the principle of rigor and truth-seeking, the head office specially appointed Chen Rong of the Financial Research Institute of the People's Bank of China to carry out this investigation. So, what is the first step in this investigative effort?
The answer is obvious, starting with that manuscript archive. To achieve this goal, the first step is to compare Ma Wenwei's signature in the "clarification letter" with the handwriting of the manuscript.
The top-secret archives of the head office contain the original manuscript of the author of the renminbi font, including the words "中, 国, 人, 民, silver, 行" and so on, but unfortunately the author's signature has not been found in this file.
In this case, Lu Peijian filed an application to open the top-secret file again. After receiving the notice, Chen Rong was invited to the president's office. After carefully studying the signatures, he turned his gaze to the manuscript and, through repeated comparisons, came to a convincing conclusion: "The similarity between the two is extremely high." ”
Hearing this, Lu Peijian's heart trembled, which indicated that the author of the RMB font was most likely Ma Wenwei. Then, the head office conducted a background check on Ma Wenwei and had a preliminary understanding of his personal history.
The results of the investigation were unexpected, Ma Wenwei is very familiar with the financial industry, in the early days of the establishment of the head office, he worked as a counselor and financial researcher, and also had in-depth research on calligraphy, calligraphy and painting.
According to the available information, Ma Wenwei may be the author of the RMB font. In order to confirm this fact, the head office sent senior arts and crafts artist Zhang Zuodong, arts and crafts artist Chen Mingguang and others to Shanxi to investigate.
Together with local bank staff in Shanxi, they walked to Ma Wenwei's home in a small village. Although the road was difficult, they finally managed to find Ma Wenwei's residence.
It turns out that although Ma Wenwei's home looks slightly dilapidated from the outside, the environment inside the house is unique. After the staff knocked on the door, it was Ma Wenwei who opened the door, although he had gray hair and looked old, but his literati temperament was so strong.
Ma Wenwei was dressed plainly, looking thin on the surface, but her aura was very powerful. After the staff expressed their intentions, Ma Wenwei warmly invited everyone into the house. There are a large number of books and calligraphy and paintings neatly placed in the room, and the good words hanging on the wall make the staff exclaim.