There is a Chinese brush painting of peaches at my home. It was painted by a colleague of my mother's father for his 40th birthday.
画有题诗：There was a poem inscribed on the painting:
Plump are the peaches of the Mount of Sui
That West Mother presented to Han Emperor’s birthday
The east wind comes every three thousand years
Filling to the core the same old ripeness
Gone are the Mother and Dongfang who loved the fruit
Now, who can pick them to accompany fine wine vessels?
Never mind, nay, never mind, for I have a pen enabling
That fills this painting with the breeze of spring
A branch, a leaf, and a stem of flesh
All colorful, all vivid and all fresh
You, my talented friend, are right in your prime years
Your grandeur stands you out among the multitudes
While I paint this I imagine you in my mind
My pen is full of vigor and my hear, of pride
In a moment I accomplished what I desire to do
Outside my window, spring is deep in her presence
1. My grandmother was born in 1886 and died in 1932. He worked in the legal profession in Wenzhou, Nanjing and Beijing and was the chief of the prison of local court. His wife was from Wenzhou and bore him a daughter who is my mother.
2. Mount Sui was located in southwest of the Omei County of Sichuan Province. The Story of Immortals records that "On the Mount of Sui, peach trees are abundant. The mountain was to the southwest of the Omei Mountain and was extremely high. There is a proverb saying if one obtains a peach of the Mount of Sui, he is close to being an immortal."
3. The story about West Mother giving peaches to the Han emperor for his birthday comes from Chinese mythology:"The West Mother gave the Emperor five peaches. The Emperor liked them a lot so he hid the core, intending to plant them.. The West Mother laughed and said that the peach tree bore fruits every 300 years and the soil of China was not fit for it. At that time, Dongfang Shuo was peeping at the West Mother from outside the window. The West Mother said the the Emperor:" This guy tried three times to steal my peaches". Hearing this, Dongfang was so scared that he knelt down to beg for pardon.
After some research I found that the painting was painted on May 7th, 1925. The painter, Qu Honghuo (1860--?) has no record online, but there is a famous Qu Hongji. Qu Hongji was born in 1850 an died in 1918. He served the imperial court with various high ranking titles, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
I found that Qu Hongji's styled name is Qu Zijiu. This reminds me that once upon a time, my grandma mentioned this name to me, saying he was her matchmaker. If this was true, then Qu Honghuo might be Qu Hongji's kin. There is an age difference of 10 years between the two, so they belonged to the same generation. According to the places mentioned in Qu Hongji's bio data, I assume that my grandma actually knew Qu Hongji, but not as an equal, but as a iliterate maid. During the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), my mother told me in a letter that my grandma suffered a lot in rich people's family and I should be obedient (I was raised by my Grandma away from my parents). I was a teen at that time and was rebellious. My grandma was very angry, saying when I learned about her history, I would be more contempt of her as a former maid. Later when I was old enough I asked her about her family background. She could not remember much. She just said when she was little, her family house was destroyed by a fire and she became a maid. Her master later found her a husband. It was in this occasion she mentioned the name Qu Hongji.
A little bit calculation founds that since my grandma was born in 1900 and my mother in 1927, my grandma might have married my grandpa at the age of 25-26. It they had been matched by Qu Hongji, then Qu should have been 75, but Qu passed away in 1918 and he could not have been the matchmaker. Besides, he retired to Shanghai after 1911 and had nothing to do with Beijing and Wenzhou. So it seems to me that I cannot possibly claim the statement said by Ah Q, that "my ancestor was once rich".
My grandma was born in 1886 and had a daughter at the age of 41, who was my mother. The painter Qu Honghuo definited knew my grandma. My grandma was from Wenzhou and when Qu was painting the picture, he was at Lu Town with my grandpa, which is the old name for Wenzhou. I assumed that the matchmaker might have been this Qu, not that Qu, but how could my grandma say the name of Qu Hongji, I cannot figure out.
My grandpa died at the age of 46, when my grandma was 32 and my mother 5. They were in Beijing at that time. Later, my grandma married another man and had a son with him. He should be my step-grandpa. He was still living when I was born, at least in 1957. The stuff left by my own grandpa was not much. When I was old enough to dig the poor old trucks of my grandma, I only discovered a coat of fine silk and embroidery of the late Qing dynasty, several brownish old photos, two scroll paintings, one of which is this peach one, and several pieces of stone rubbing of Confucius image, in the famous hands-before-chest salute posture.
I heard that step-grandpa did not like my mother very much. It was understandable at that time when boys were valued more than girls and when the father was a step one. My mother, however, did her duty towards his younger step-brother. In her old age, when my grandma broke her hip and my step-uncle was still working, my mother, who lived in another city, took over the care of my grandma till the latter died, outside. My grandma also valued boys more than she did girls and she would never have expected that it was her daughter and son-in-law who accompanied her till the last moment.
During the Cultural Revolution, my family background was determined as urban poor. Later I got a certificate from my parents' workplace, saying that because they worked in the postal service, they were defined as industrial workers and thus my family background should be defined as worker. It sounded better in that the word suggested the so called progressiveness of the proletariat, but in fact a worker is as poor as an urban poor. So I think I can still say the famous statement of Ah Q: my ancestor was once rich.作者: 冬雪儿 时间: 2013-3-22 04:48 一幅寿桃画，考据出的家史，好渊源啦。读来有趣极了！作者: xyy 时间: 2013-3-22 15:12 嗯，確實很有意思，考得也好。古人四十就做大壽，尊姥爺也真是做著了，沒有活過五十歲吧？不幸之中大幸也。“愻盫”或為執筆者（六十五叟）之名號自謂？至於說“阔”就不必了，可以說“咱祖上也曾书香门第”就相當不錯。
