Riding the wind of rebirth

Yan Gusheng himself was a master of phonology. In 1936, he presided over the printing of the "Phonology Series". This book covered the achievements of phonology in the Tang and Song Dynasties. It was well-made and meticulously proofread. It was an important specialized classic that brought together the best of phonology at that time.

In 1937, Zhang Daqian and his entourage of more than forty people arrived in Chengdu. Upon hearing the news, Yan Gusheng vacated more than twenty rooms overnight to receive them, and even arranged the small living room where he used to read to serve as Zhang Daqian's studio.

In late 1943, Zhang Daqian returned from Dunhuang, and Benyuan became his base for organizing and processing his sketches and materials. The following year, the "Zhang Daqian's Exhibition of Dunhuang Murals," sponsored by Yan Gusheng, became a sensation in the cultural world.

To repay the kindness shown to him, Zhang Daqian created many works for Yan Gusheng, including meticulous figure paintings, flower paintings, and large-scale ink landscape paintings such as "Elegant Gathering at the West Garden" and "Lotus Flower Panoramic View". After watching the famous Sichuan opera clown Zhou Qihe perform "Seeking a Doctor", he also spontaneously created four sketches for Yan Gusheng, who made a guest appearance on stage, and named them "Yan Gusheng's Humorous Sketches".

On the eve of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Yan family's book collection attracted attention from all sides. Booksellers from home and abroad offered high prices to buy his collection. Harvard University offered $500,000 for his local gazetteer, but he politely declined. Sun Ke also tried to persuade him to bring his books to Taiwan, offering him the position of deputy director of the National History Museum, but Yan Gusheng remained unmoved.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Yan Gusheng donated all of his 300,000-volume collection of books and more than 30,000 woodblock printing plates from his Benyuan collection to the Sichuan Provincial Library.

Amazingly, none of the more than 50,000 rare books selected by Meng Wentong, Yang Xiaogu, and Yan Gusheng had water stains or insect damage when they were handed over.

This collection of books donated by the "Benyuan Library" directly laid the foundation for the ancient book collection of the Sichuan Provincial Library.

The "Benyuan Library" building has also become a cultural relic protection unit of Chengdu City.

With the spirit of perseverance, the Yan family created a cultural miracle in the heart of Southwest China that amazed the world. Wang Kaiyun recalled in his "Xiangqilou Diary": "In a narrow sense, the Benyuan Library was privately owned; but in a broader sense, it nurtured a large number of scholars in Sichuan and provided a warm haven for traditional Chinese culture."

However, Zhou Zhi and the descendants of the Yan family did not have any direct contact. The reason he knew about the Benyuan Library and Yan Gusheng was mainly because his major was phonetics.

For those who study phonology, especially those from Sichuan, it is impossible to do without the "Phonology Series" compiled and published by Yan Gusheng.

This series of books was compiled and printed from 23 to 36, and was jointly planned by Yan Gusheng and his friends Lin Sijin, Xiang Chu, and Gong Xiangnong. It was based on the classics collected in the Benyuan Library and was collated and reprinted.

These individuals were all prominent figures in Sichuan's academic circles at the time. Together, they discussed the outline and format, and agreed on the selection of books and editions.

The climate collation was mostly done by Gong and Xiang, while the final review, overall verification, and engraving were all handled by Yan Gusheng.

At that time, Yan Gusheng inherited his father's wish to "exchange property to acquire books, engrave books, and organize ancient books to benefit future scholars." He opened the "Weinan Yan Family Bookshop," hiring master engravers, and the books he engraved were all known for their exquisite quality. Among them, the most famous set took more than ten years to complete. This series of books was well-selected, meticulously collated, and provided great convenience for researchers.

The Phonology Series compiles and gathers core phonology literature from the Song to the Qing dynasties, comprising twenty titles in one hundred and twenty-three volumes.

This series primarily comprises works on ancient phonology, including those by Wu Yu, Chen Di, Gu Yanwu, Jiang Yong, Dai Zhen, Duan Yucai, Wang Niansun, Kong Guangsen, Qian Dian, Jiang Yougao, Xia Xin, and Yan Kejun. It also includes five works on rhyme schemes, including *Qieyun Zhizhangtu*, *Gujin Yunkao*, *Yinxue Bianwei*, *Sisheng Qieyun Biao*, and *Qieyun Kao*. This is because elucidating rhyme schemes, exploring phonetic principles, tracing changes, and analyzing Tang dynasty rhymes are not only indispensable methods for studying ancient phonology but also essential components of phonology itself. Including these works ensures that this series is not merely a "Collection of Ancient Phonology" but a true "Collection of Phonology."

In fact, the study of "elementary learning" from Gu Yanwu to Jiang Yougao was not a process of moving from delusion to truth, but rather an extension of a lineage of scholarship that progressed from superficiality to refinement, possessing a strong sense of integrity and systematicity. Their works are both independent and interconnected, complementing each other without being superfluous. The later, more specialized works cannot overshadow the earlier, less refined ones; each work is indispensable and irreplaceable, to the point that one cannot truly understand a book without reading the others. However, before Yan Yougao, this series of works on ancient phonology was mostly published individually or compiled into the authors' individual collections, making comprehensive study extremely inconvenient.

For example, the great scholar Zhang Taiyan once lamented that "scholars are unable to prepare adequately," believing that this problem was a major obstacle to the development of phonetics research.

If these works were compiled and edited together, it would undoubtedly provide great convenience for researchers, and Yan's series of books has undertaken this task.

Yan's compilation is not a simple collection of engravings, but a selection with a theme and a comprehensive approach. It integrates typical works of the mainstream academic lineage of ancient phonology research into a series. Its purpose is not only to preserve documents, but also to provide convenience for researchers.

In a sense, Yan Gusheng's compilation and interpretation of phonological works from various dynasties into a single book during that era is quite similar to Zhouzhi's current collection of pronunciations of all Chinese dialects in a database.

This approach clearly exhibits characteristics of modern scientific research.

In addition, to clarify the issues, this series also includes some necessary related data. For example, Jiang Yong's "Standard of Ancient Rhymes" is accompanied by Zhang Taiyan's "Preface", Wang Niansun's "Ancient Rhyme Manual" is accompanied by "Letter to Li Fangbo", and Dai Zhen's "Study of Phonology" and "Table of Phonology" are each accompanied by Duan Yucai's "Preface".

Some editions changed the format, such as Qian Dian's "Poetic Pronunciation Table" which used the Yongwantang edition as its base text, stating that "the original format of the page center was too small, so this table is divided into two columns for easier viewing." Others added their own collation notes, such as Yan's collation notes for "Qieyun Zhizhangtu". Through these processing methods, the editions became more complete and easier to read, and therefore have been highly valued and welcomed by scholars at home and abroad since their publication.

However, because it was printed so early and the content was so technical, very few copies were made, and over the years, very few copies of this set of books have survived to this day.

Besides the first edition preserved in the Shuda University Library, the Gu family also had a set that Zhou Zhi studied, but it was a version reprinted by the Bashu People's Publishing House in 1957 after the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Even this set of "57-year reprint" is now a rare and precious item in academic circles.

"Now the National Library Press is preparing to retrieve this set of books from the collection of Shuda Library and reprint it," said Mr. Gu. "We found the descendants of the Yan family to discuss the copyright issue. The descendants of the Yan family agreed to print it and will not charge a penny of copyright fees, but they put forward three requirements."

"Coincidentally, all three of these requests are related to you."

"Huh? Although I have great respect for the Yan family father and son, I don't know any of their descendants at all!" Zhou Zhi was dumbfounded. "They couldn't possibly know me, could they? Hmm, could it be that some of their descendants are still studying phonetics?"

"Hehehe, are you so famous in phonology research?" Old Gu was speechless at Zhou Zhi's shamelessness: "You only have a Chinese dialect specimen bank that you can barely show off?"

"How did they know me?" (End of Chapter)