? Nostalgia is like an old friend. Old photos are the records of historical moments, the history of light and shadow solidified in the lens, and there are vivid stories hidden in old photos. History is not groundless, it is a living existence. In Suzhou, there is such an old photo collector who touches history in his own way and feels the texture of time. In the 1990s, we began to collect and study old photos and interpret them. Silent old photos are becoming more and more vivid. Approaching old photos will make people feel close to nature, truth, humanity and touch humanity. I like to use the word "close" to keep me humble, marginal and willing to study hard. He said that looking at old photos is looking at history. He is an old photo collector-Tan Jintu.

Nothing great can be done overnight. Tan Jintu, a native of Danyang, is a writer. Before he retired, he was a prosecutor. After work, I have collected and studied old photos, legal historical materials and Suzhou literature and history materials for many years. At the beginning of 2009, Tan Lao Photo Collection opened in Shantang Street, which became a cultural window for citizens and tourists to look back on Suzhou history. Teacher Tan really worked as a teacher. He graduated from Jiangsu Normal University (now the Chinese Department of Suzhou University) in his early years and stayed on as a teacher after graduation. "At that time, there were very few college students, and university teachers were scarce resources." From 65438 to 0979, Tan was transferred to Suzhou Procuratorate and became attached to the legal system. He worked all his life and was considered a "great scholar" at that time. After retirement, he was hired by Suzhou Park Procuratorate to preside over the "Procuratorial Culture Studio". Great achievements have been made in historical images, legal historical materials and Suzhou literature and history materials. The collection scope and quality of Mr. Tan's old photos are well-known in China. He has published 200,000-word legal prose "Fa Yan and Fa" and 300,000-word prose collections "Cao Mao", "Those" and "Looking for Qinghe" and other literary, historical and legal articles. Fa Yan and Fa won the Jinding Literature Award of the Supreme Procuratorate. Sina has a "Tan blog". Over the years, he has published more than 200 articles with nearly one million words in newspapers and magazines at home and in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Tan was awarded the title of outstanding collector in Suzhou, and became a special collector of archives and a member of the literature and history expert group of the literature and history Committee. His collection of old photos of Tan in Shantang Street and the exhibition room of Tan's legal historical materials in the park procuratorate attracted the attention of many people at home and abroad and came to visit and exchange.

The Gourmet written by Mr. Lu is world-famous. Lu's "Old Suzhou-Searching for Dreams in Water Lane" contains more than 50 old photos provided by Teacher Tan. In order to put the world-famous Suzhou gardens on the TV screen, Lu strongly recommended Liu Lang, a famous cultural person, to personally shoot Six Chapters of Suzhou Gardens. In order to take a good picture of the past lives in the garden, persistent Liu Lang searched everywhere for old images of Suzhou gardens, but unfortunately only found a few. However, he found detailed information in Suzhou Garden Archives. The old Suzhou gardens in 1930s were provided by Mr. Tan. Six Chapters of Suyuan successfully depicts Suyuan, which not only reproduces the garden landscape, but also shows the "garden landscape", showing the cultural implication and humanistic spirit for hundreds of years. The feature film Six Chapters of Su Yuan was a great success and won the Eighth National Five-One Project Award. Editor-in-chief Liu Lang will never forget his experience of looking for old photos of the garden. Liu Lang made a special trip to visit Tan. He was pleasantly surprised to find that "there are 150 old photos of Tiger Hill alone." Teacher Tan gently corrected that there should be 300 copies. Liu Lang said: "We don't need to know how many good things left by our ancestors were destroyed by later generations, including old photos. What I value is that a group of discerning people collect old photos after robbery as ashes in time. It can be said that this unique thing, compared with other cultural relics, has irreplaceable cognitive function and existence value, because the scenes and contents it contains are destroyed, one is missing, it cannot be copied and it is difficult to regenerate. Kangxi's plum vase can also be highly imitated. You can't recreate the characters in the old photos. Tan's long-term collection of old photos proves that this person who is good at writing has long had a unique vision of discovery. "

In the old photos, there is a pair of couplets "My brother has taste and my brother has a sense of filth". There is also the name of "Tan Old Photo Collection", which was written by Mo Yan himself. Mo Yan is the vice chairman of the Chinese Writers Association and the first China writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Mo Yan is called a writer of "root-seeking literature" because his series of local works are full of complex emotions of "homesickness" and "resentment". In Mo Yan's eyes, Tan is also a root seeker, seeking roots in another way. Mo Yan's book Sandalwood Punishment, he said with emotion, "I have seen my brother's masterpiece before, so Sandalwood Punishment will have another atmosphere." Fortunately, I basically rely on imagination to create details, which is partially confirmed in my brother's article. "He was surprised to find that some details described in the book were recorded in old photos. He was greatly surprised and sighed at Tan's careful study. After Mo Yan became famous, so many people asked him to write a preface, and he almost refused. However, Mo Yan volunteered to preface Tan's monograph, speaking frankly, first, because the article is good, and second, because people are simple and honest and shy. Teacher Tan's article is said to be well-versed in ancient and modern times, widely quoted at home and abroad, with outstanding opinions. Mo Yan came to the Soviet Union several times and met with Mr. Jin Tu. Every time, he gained a lot. Mr. Yang Zhenning's family also has Mo Yan's words.

The main purpose of the old photo series is to take care of the survival and development of human beings for more than 100 years. The biggest feature of photos is visualization. Even some photos taken to illustrate a concept often provide intuitive information beyond the concept itself. Historical photos seem to naturally have the function of helping us understand history from many angles. Memory is a unique strength of human beings. Memory is not only an emotional investment, but also a rational collection, which collects all the things that have fallen and rearranges them, thus producing thought-provoking results. Old Photos, edited by Feng Keli of Shandong Pictorial Publishing House, initiated the era of China's picture reading and became famous in the publishing industry. Over the years, Feng Keli has seen countless movies and people. His unique vision left a deep impression on Mr. Tan and forged a friendship. I have been in contact with Tan for nearly 20 years. They met at 1998. Lao Tan's first review, Who Lost in the Image, interpreted the photos of seven young people and sent it to Old Photos magazine. Feng Keli is a treasure, and the article was soon published with old photos. Tan began to collect old photos and write reading articles. From June 5, 2000 to 10, Mr. and Mrs. Feng Keli visited Mr. Tan in Suzhou. In August, 20001year, Lao tan was invited to attend the old photo pen meeting held in Qingdao. Lao Tan formed an indissoluble bond with the old photos, and also started correspondence with Feng Keli. Mr. Feng Keli prefaces Tan's prose collection Those. Later, Mr. and Mrs. Feng Keli went to Suzhou many times to watch and select films in the old photo collection of Shantang Street. Feng, the editor-in-chief, took the initiative to invite manuscripts. Interested in Shanghai Printing and Dyeing Factory, China Aluminum Factory, Huxiang Shen Shi Genealogy and Suzhou Water Town.

In Mr. Tan's eyes, those yellow old photos turned out in the old paper pile seem to tell one bumpy and touching story after another in light and shadow. At the edge of these photos, the memory will stretch out. Through those details, parts and fragments, you will feel the dispersion of life breath, and then form an almost complete artistic conception. Concern for the environment, respect for life, and pursuit of human nature flashed before our eyes, but left a deep imprint on our hearts. When I first went there, old photos were collected on the second floor of an old library with rich books. Walking up to the second floor, a strong sense of history and heaviness came from the pavement. The space is a little narrow and dark, and the room is full of all kinds of old photos, patchwork and dense. When I went there for the second time, the memorial hall had moved away. This time, I met Teacher Tan. He sat by the window, made a cup of tea and started a long talk. There is time and years in the photo, which makes people move. By reading photos, you can read stories about life events and time. Intimate photos of grandparents and grandchildren in the late Qing Dynasty, wedding photos of a couple in 1935, photos taken by Zhang Daqian at the age of 0/7 in Suzhou, the first photo taken by Mei Lanfang, photos taken by the wives and daughters of senior Kuomintang officials during the Republic of China, and families of two generations ... walking around in the collection, as if sitting on a time machine. With the rapid rotation of the brain, the historical knowledge usually obtained in textbooks seems to come alive at once, and the old photos collected after screening seem to be witnesses for a period of time, telling stories. These photos seem to capture the atmosphere at that time, making people full of warm feelings for secular life and ordinary people, which is touching. Tan Jintu clearly remembers the story behind each photo. He is like a memory master. He can talk all day just by taking a photo. In his view, these old photos are history, trivial joys and sorrows of ordinary people, and footnotes of an era. In the face of Tan's collection of old streets and alleys, riverside houses, suburban fields, Millennium scenic spots and various forests related to Suzhou, I feel the power of change and the ruthlessness of time in my three-point familiarity and seven-point strangeness. In particular, Tiger Hills in different eras are owned by bleak people, ruined people and quiet people. Reading and reading, they feel a desolate and cold beauty that they have never experienced before. People's cultural feelings are always attached to "things". When we interpret old photos, we convey not only the cultural changes of a city, but also the so-called news of the passing of history and the undercurrent of time. "The deceased is like this", only by sighing and touching time can we really touch life.

We have already entered the era of reading pictures, but most of our lives are full of "visual fast food", which is carefully collected by Teacher Tan, but it deserves your deep gaze. This kind of "reading pictures" enriches your knowledge and the way you feel the world. Today, when you are more and more numb and blind, these will attract your attention and enrich the meaning of your life. Based on personal experience and thinking, Tan echoed a historical philosophy and cultural trend of thought. In this impetuous and utilitarian era, it is almost archaic to devote nearly 20 years of energy to one thing, not to mention the inevitable result. Collecting not only requires you to suffer hardships, but also requires you to bear the unknown loneliness, obsession and selfless investment. And things in the world often need such a character to be done. After nearly 20 years of collection and thinking, Tan Dui has formed a unique understanding and interpretation object. The author's careless reading and shallow thinking can't compare with Tan's thinking in this long time, and his words are too heavy to be mentioned in the same breath. Teacher Tan has published "Law and Eyes" and "Those and Old Photos", published dozens and hundreds of articles, and became a special contributor to the magazine. I barely wrote it. As a literary and art worker, I feel obligated to express my feelings.

Teacher Tan is very modest. He said, I have entered a quiet and peaceful state of mind, a way of life. It is not painting, photography, writing or any major, but a high vision and a high state of mind.

There is a saying that masters are all contemporaries. Why do you say that this is the same mentality, and the acquisition of that mentality is the unexpected result of their lifelong tempering and purification of their own personality, temperament, knowledge and wisdom, and the result of their choice of a lifestyle that does not violate their nature and wishes.

Tan: Not all photos are worth collecting. I prefer to choose. Historical events, scenic spots, social customs and daily life need some insight. Of course, knowledge, learning and research skills are needed. These are all carefully selected. These old photos have important events, people's lives and social scenery. In my eyes, this is a vivid history. Every time I receive a valuable photo, I will be excited for many days, and then I will look for relevant information and write down the words, and I will never tire of it.

Chen: When did you start collecting old photos?

Tan: 1998. In the photo, there are seven young people in dark robes. On the left is a line of words "a group of people who sell their labor-us", which was signed in February 26. There are six names at the bottom with different handwriting. On the back is an inscription written by their friend four years later. It says that Japan occupied Shanghai and two younger brothers of seven people went to the front. My first feeling at that time was that this was the last photo of these seven people. The idea hit me at once, and I have been fascinated ever since. I now have more than 40,000 old photos and a lot of literature and history materials. From the beginning, I thought it was interesting to hide the old photos, explore the history and stories behind them, and observe the people and backgrounds. Later, I got out of hand and fell in love with old photos.

Chen: What kind of old photos do you like to collect best?

Tan: Suzhou, photos of old Suzhou. My hometown is Danyang. After so many years in Suzhou, I am full of curiosity about Suzhou's past.

Chen: What is the biggest gain from collecting old photos?

Tan: Reading stories is the greatest pleasure of collecting old photos. I may be older than old Suzhou. From the old photos of Suzhou, I read the faces of intellectuals before and after the Cultural Revolution, the specific treatment of foreign companies during the Republic of China, and a brief history of Suzhou people's lives. To be honest, I did earn some subsidies by looking at old photos over the years, but compared with the stories behind these photos, it is really insignificant.

Chen: Does your family support you?

Tan: I was accused. My wife said, "The person in the photo has nothing to do with you." But Tan seems to regard this as an obligation, and there are often regrets in the collection. "Not enough money." He kept thinking, "I don't know where they went." .

Chen: Do you already have a sense of mission? How much did you spend? Why do you still insist on collecting?

Tan: It cost hundreds of thousands. Not just a hobby. I'm preserving history. This is a photo of the victims in Xuan Tong in the second year of Qing Dynasty. At that time, there was a flood, and people in Anhui and Jiangsu were "dying". Later, the photos spread to Shanghai, which caused a fund-raiser. This is the first time that China aimed the camera at the poorest people. In the past, taking pictures was very expensive. "A photo 1923 costs 5 yuan", which was the living expenses of an ordinary family at that time.

Over the past 30 years, the collection of old photos has gradually warmed up and once became a "hot". Removing the role of the market is an awakening of consciousness. This awakening is a re-emphasis on the past years. Lao Tan's long-term collection of old photos is enough to prove that this person who is good at writing has long had a unique vision of discovery. The weight of old images, its scarcity and preciousness are amazing. Looking at old photos is also looking at history, perhaps looking at more real history. One hundred people tell the same thing, because of different ideas, different memories and different narrative methods, there are one hundred narratives and records, while an old photo has only one angle, one record and one expression. Therefore, it is more objective, more direct and more real than writing history. Of course, it is not easy to look at old historical photos, which requires knowledge, history, humanities, customs and geography. Every old photo is a book. If you regard every old photo as a knowledge point, you will read a thick book about history and life. "The history of the ups and downs of old photos is particularly instructive. One old photo after another, like an elderly person, neither speaks nor talks, but calmly warns the latecomers with deep eyes. " Tan said to him:

Goodwill and ingenuity are born slowly regardless of fame and fortune. I like the slow pace and warmth brought by this rhythm, and I like the slow taste and memories brought by this taste. People don't have to live in the same era as the masters they admire and yearn for, and they don't have to be the same or similar to their occupations, skills and styles. People only need to have roughly the same mentality as them, and the person you yearn for is fundamental.

I've seen old photos. I'm different.