Regardless of the origin, love beauty is not stingy, this is Zhang Boju, one of the "Four Sons". He is the dream lover of countless ladies in the ** period, but he regards the Qinglou woman snatched from the warlord as the love of his life; He scattered thousands of family wealth to collect ancient calligraphy and paintings, but after the establishment of New China, all of them were donated to the country free of charge, which can be said to have saved half of the top calligraphy and painting in the Forbidden City. However, Zhang Boju, who should have had no worries about food and clothing all his life, lived in poverty in his later years, and finally died of illness in a dilapidated ward because of his lack of rank.
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Zhang Boju was born in 1898 in Xiangcheng, Henan Province, a scholarly family, his father was Zhang Zhenfang, the last governor of the Qing Dynasty, and he founded the Salt Bank, one of the four major commercial banks. In fact, Zhang Zhenfang is not Zhang Boju's biological father, to be precise, Zhang Boju's biological father Zhang Jinfang passed him and his sister to Zhang Zhenfang, whose children died early, when he was very young, and Zhang Jinfang Although Zhang Jinfang is not as famous as Zhang Zhenfang, he is also a jinshi in the Guangxu period. It is also worth mentioning that Zhang Boju's cousin is Yuan Shikai, the first great emperor of China.
Zhang Boju, who was born in such a family, has been very talented in reading since he was a child, and is a famous local prodigy. Although he didn't study early, he officially entered a private school when he was 7 years old, but Zhang Boju was able to write poems by himself when he was 9 years old. Not only that, Zhang Boju also has the ability to remember. The private school teacher has a very large bookshelf, which is full of all kinds of books, and Zhang Boju, who likes to read, often reads books here, and after reading it, he not only remembers the content of the book, but also remembers the books he took down and was originally placed on the bookshelf in which row and column. In 1911, 13-year-old Zhang Boju followed his cousin Yuan Shikai's sons to leave his hometown to study at the Xinxue Academy in Tianjin. However, it didn't take long for his father Zhang Zhenfang to be appointed as the governor of Henan, and the family moved to Kaifeng, Henan, and Zhang Boju also transferred to Henan Army Primary School. In 1914, Zhang Boju followed his father Zhang Zhenfang's job change to Beijing, and has settled in Beijing since then. Because Zhang Zhenfang had already started to establish the Salt Industry Bank in Beijing with the support of Yuan Shikai at this time, which was the first commercial bank in the entire north.
Zhang Zhenfang hoped that Zhang Boju would take the road of military and politics, so Zhang Boju was sent by Zhang Zhenfang to the cavalry department of Yuan Shikai's mixed model regiment for further study, and after graduation, under the guidance of Zhang Zhenfang and Yuan Shikai, he successively served as a promotion senator in Cao Kun, Wu Peifu, and Zhang Zuolin's department. But Zhang Boju has a kind of literati loftiness, and he doesn't like the tendency of attachment and various restraints in officialdom the most. So in 1927, the 29-year-old Zhang Boju decided to quit the military and political circles, followed his father Zhang Zhenfang to engage in finance, and served as the audit and managing director of the General Management Office of the Salt Industry Bank, and thus began his own "loser" road.
Zhang Boju's "loser" is not eating, drinking, prostituting and gambling like ordinary rich children, but collecting all kinds of ancient calligraphy, calligraphy and paintings. Zhang Boju usually writes poems and paintings in his spare time, and has written "Cong Bi Ci", "No Name", "Hong Xian Chronicle Poetry Note" and "Cong Bi Calligraphy and Painting Record" in his life, so Zhang Boju is also very interested in collecting some ancient calligraphy and paintings, and his appreciation in this area is also very high. Once, Zhang Boju happened to pass by a shop selling antique calligraphy and paintings in Beijing Liulichang, and he saw at a glance that the calligraphy and painting hanging on the wall was not extraordinary, so he immediately bought it at a large price. Later, after the research of some relevant experts at that time, it was also proved that Zhang Boju's judgment was not wrong, because this calligraphy and painting was the "Congbi Mountain House" written by Emperor Kangxi, and it was a genuine work.
After taking this precious calligraphy and painting into his arms, Zhang Boju's interest in collecting was unprecedentedly high, so he went around looking for a Tang Dynasty calligraphy and painting he had always liked "Illuminating the Night White Picture", only to find that it had fallen into the hands of the British in the chaos of the war. This made Zhang Boju realize the importance of protecting these treasures of Chinese culture. So since then, Zhang Boju has gone farther and farther on the road of "loser", such as spending 200,000 oceans to collect the "Pingfu Post" of Lu Ji of the Western Jin Dynasty, which is known as "China's first post", and then collecting Li Bai's "Balcony Post", Fan Zhongyan's "Praise of Taoist Costumes" and other famous authentic works and some cultural relics rich in historical heritage. If Zhang Boju's previous collection of ancient calligraphy, calligraphy and paintings was the vassal elegance of the children of rich families, then it has become Zhang Boju's mission to keep these national treasures inherited from national culture from going overseas.
However, at this time, although Zhang Boju was a loser, he was still pressed by his father Zhang Zhenfang, so although Zhang Boju spent money like land to collect ancient calligraphy and paintings, he did not dare to devote the whole family to it. After the death of his father, Zhang Zhenfang, Zhang Boju moved the headquarters of Yanye Bank from Beijing to Shanghai according to his last wishes. Why? Because after the Northern Expedition, the ever-changing Shanghai gradually became the financial center at that time, and Zhang Boju also met the love of his life Pan Su here.
In fact, before meeting Pan Su, Zhang Boju had two wives. The first wife was when Zhang Boju was 15 years old, and he was ordered by his parents to marry the daughter of the Anhui Overseer family. Although the Li family is everyone's best girl, Zhang Boju is a new-style education received since childhood, and Li's lady, who has not been out of the door since childhood, is naturally not liked by Zhang Boju. Zhang Boju's second wife Deng Yunqi is a drama who sings Beijing rhyme drums, watching opera and singing is another hobby of Zhang Boju, and he married Deng Yunqi back home as soon as he came and went. But after marriage, Zhang Boju knew that Deng Yunqi loved to smoke a lot, because of the history of the Opium War, Zhang Boju hated smoking, so not long after marriage, Deng Yunqi fell out of favor.
And after meeting Pan Su, Zhang Boju felt like a boy who had just fallen in love, and felt that he had met his destined partner. At that time, Zhang Boju, as the manager of the Salt Industry Bank, often went in and out of some Fengyue places to socialize, and then fell in love with the famous Shanghai prostitute Pan Su at first sight, and made a poem for her on the spot to express his admiration for her. Although Pan Su is a Qinglou woman, but she was born into a famous family, is the descendant of the Qing Dynasty Prime Minister Pan Shien, piano, chess, calligraphy and painting can be said to be proficient in everything, so she is called "Concubine Pan" by the literati and elegant guests in Shanghai. Although the two fell in love at first sight, Pan Su had already fallen in love with the warlord lieutenant general Zang Zhuo at that time. After Zang Zhuo knew that the two of them had the intention of having a concubine, of course he would not ignore this green hat, and Zhang Boju, who was very powerful in the financial world, could not move, so he vented all his anger on Pan Su and put her under house arrest. Zhang Boju was very distressed because of such a catastrophe because of himself, and secretly rescued Pan Su with the help of his friends, and then the two eloped to Suzhou to become husband and wife. Not only that, Zhang Boju also chose to divorce his first two wives and favored Pan Su alone.
After marriage, Pan Su was very supportive of Zhang Boju's hobby of collecting, and sometimes when Zhang Boju's money was not enough, he would sell his jewelry to support, but even so, Zhang Boju's family property was hollowed out little by little. In 1946, when Zhang Boju learned from a friend that the "Spring Tour" painted by Zhan Ziqian of the Sui Dynasty was going to be sold overseas, he was very anxious and immediately contacted the Palace Museum, hoping that they would come forward to buy it. You must know that "You Chun Tu" has a history of more than 1,400 years, and it is the earliest existing landscape painting scroll in China, which is simply a national treasure among national treasures. But not long after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the civil war broke out again, and the Palace Museum, which was too busy to take care of itself, had no ability to acquire it. So, in the end, Zhang Boju decided to buy it by himself, and he didn't have so much savings, so he sold the house he lived in, and sold it for 220 taels, all of which were used to buy "You Chun Tu". The house where Zhang Boju lived was more than 1,000 square meters, and it was once the residence of Li Lianying, the eunuch of the second rank top Dai, who was most favored by the Empress Dowager Cixi.
After that, Zhang Boju really scattered all his family wealth, but no matter how hard life was, Zhang Boju never thought of touching those ancient calligraphy and paintings. Zhang Boju has a lot of collections, and he will always meet some people with ulterior motives who want to make up their minds. Once, Zhang Boju was kidnapped by a group of bandits when he went out to run errands, and the other party called Pan Su and asked her to ransom Zhang Boju with ancient calligraphy and paintings. But Zhang Boju resolutely said that he would rather die than allow Pan Su to touch his collection. In the end, Pan Su really had no choice, so he knelt and begged Zhang Boju's former friends to raise money to redeem him. But Zhang Boju's collection of such treasures, he donated all of them to the Palace Museum in 1956, a total of more than 1,000 pieces, it can be said that half of the Palace Museum's collection was contributed by Zhang Boju. At that time, the state originally offered 200,000 Zhang Boju as a reward, but he refused the bonus and only accepted a worthless certificate.
In his later years, Zhang Boju has been committed to the protection and restoration of cultural relics, and has also served as an advisor to the Ministry of Culture. However, during the special period, Zhang Boju was affected and was sent to the countryside for labor reform. After returning to Beijing, Zhang Boju's family had to squeeze into a small room of less than 10 square meters, and it was difficult to maintain a normal life. Once, when others invited guests to dinner, there were two pieces of bread, Zhang Boju ate one, and the other piece was carefully wrapped in a handkerchief and brought home to share this hard-won snack with Pan Su. If someone who doesn't know sees it, who would have thought that Zhang Boju was once a rich kid who spent a lot of money! But even so, Zhang Boju always educates his children seriously: only patriotism is a big thing in this life, and you must not be confused, and everything else can only be regarded as a small thing, and you don't need to worry too much.
In 1982, 84-year-old Zhang Boju was admitted to the hospital because of a sudden severe cold. At that time, he was living in a dilapidated group ward, and all kinds of people were noisy. Zhang Boju's children proposed to the hospital to change Zhang Boju to a better ward. But ironically, he had to get a reply that he was not high enough to change wards. Not long after, Zhang Boju ended his legendary life due to the aggravation of a common cold.
Although Zhang Boju's life is as indifferent as water, his enthusiasm for the inheritance of national culture is unprecedented and unprecedented. Therefore, compared with the cultural relics and national treasures protected by Zhang Boju, he is the real national treasure and the real immortal.