文/本刊記者 楊一一

“I was astonished at my first sight of. I saw the fortresses, the gates,the ports and vessels, and merchants and porters.It feels just like a Chongqing version of. At that very moment, I made my mind to paint all the ancient gates of Chongqing.” Said Zhu Wenxin. City walls in ancient times served as defense mechanisms while gates were signatures of prosperity and openness.

“當(dāng)我看到《重慶府渝城圖》，那一刻內(nèi)心十分震撼，城廓樓門、碼頭船只，商幫挑夫，這就是重慶版的《清明上河圖》啊！也在那一刻，我萌生了要畫(huà)出老重慶的所有城門?！敝煳男抡f(shuō)，城墻在古代是城市防御的設(shè)施，城門則是盛世開(kāi)放的象征。

Zhu Wenxin, a painter of the Ba-Yu Painting School of the Chongqing Chinese Poetry, Calligraphy and Painting Research Association, and a member of the Chongqing Cartoon Society.朱文新，重慶中國(guó)詩(shī)書(shū)畫(huà)研究會(huì)巴渝畫(huà)派畫(huà)家，重慶漫畫(huà)學(xué)會(huì)會(huì)員。

Seventeen Gates of Chongqing Folding Fans and Scrolls Selected as “Chongqing Gifts for Foreign Affairs” in 2020 and 2021《重慶十七門》折扇、手卷入選2020、2021“重慶好禮·外事禮品”

Rooftop Red Chilies《紅運(yùn)頂照》

Huangge Sapling《黃葛苗》

, finished 150 years ago, the only copy is now exhibited in the French National Library. It vividly depicts the hustle and bustle of Chongqing people’s life and work including trade and exchanges in the late Qing Dynasty. In 2019, Zhu Xinwen fin shed, an ink and wash scroll 20 meters in length and 0.5 meters in width, presenting the functions of the seventeen gates of ancient Chongqing, including nine functioning and eight nonfunctioning gates, namely, Cuiweimen Gate,Dongshuimen Gate, Tai’anmen Gate, Taipingmen Gate, Renhemen Gate, Chuqimen Gate, Jinzimen Gate, Fenghuangmen Gate,Nanji Gate, Jintangmen Gate, Tongyuanmen Gate, Dingyuanmen Gate, Linjiangmen Gate, Hongyamen Gate, Qiansimen Gate, and Xishuimen Gate.

Zhu Wenxi, a Chongqing born-and-bred local, always speaks in a gentle manner. Thus, he calls himself “Ah Xin”.

In his childhood, Ah Xin lived in a stilted house nestled in the mountain at Heping Road in downtown Chongqing. The neighbors living upstairs would put some food in a pan and dry it outside the window on the roof of the neighbors downstairs. Kids were so energetic that they would run here and there to play with friends,and they would eat the dried sweet potatoes and candies given by the adults. Every day on the way to school via Tongyuan Gate, Ah Xin and his friends could always see Huangge Tree rooting in the cracks of the city wall and wonder where new twigs would be.

《重慶府渝城圖》繪制于150年前，是現(xiàn)在僅見(jiàn)于法國(guó)國(guó)家圖書(shū)館藏的孤本，渝城圖清晰地展示了清末時(shí)期重慶人生產(chǎn)生活、經(jīng)貿(mào)流通的繁盛場(chǎng)景。2019年，一幅20米長(zhǎng)、0.5米寬的《重慶十七門》中國(guó)畫(huà)長(zhǎng)卷在朱文新筆下完成，老重慶“九開(kāi)八閉”的十七座城門：朝天門、翠微門、東水門、太安門、太平門、人和門、儲(chǔ)奇門、金紫門、鳳凰門、南紀(jì)門、金湯門、通遠(yuǎn)門、定遠(yuǎn)門、臨江門、洪崖門、千廝門、西水門，與曾經(jīng)賦予它們的功能在畫(huà)景中一一呈現(xiàn)。

朱文新，土生土長(zhǎng)的重慶人，話語(yǔ)親切柔和，很自然地自稱“阿新”。

阿新小時(shí)家在市中心的和平路，住在依山而建的吊腳樓小院，樓上的鄰居會(huì)把自家的食物裝在簸箕里曬在窗外樓下鄰居家的屋頂上，小伙伴們爬坡上梯串門玩耍，會(huì)吃到大人順手給的薯干、糖果。阿新他們每天要經(jīng)過(guò)通遠(yuǎn)門去上學(xué)，順著城墻根，看著黃葛樹(shù)把根扎在墻縫里，想不出它又在哪里冒出新枝……

Scroll Seventeen Gates of Chongqing exhibited at the observation deck of the World Financial Center (WFC).《重慶十七門》長(zhǎng)卷在環(huán)球金融中心（WFC）觀景臺(tái)展出。

Series of paintings titled Stilted Buildings.《吊腳樓》系列作品。

Ah Xin had some “famous” neighbors: Mr. Gao Qian,living across the door from Ah Xin’s house; Mr. Ye Yuzhong and Mr. Wu Shixin living upstairs; and Mr. Jiang Youqiao who came to visit from time to time. They are all prestigious calligraphers and Chinese painters who often discuss art, drawing skills, and composition. Ah Xin,being curious and well-behaved, would receive some paper and a paintbrush from them to do his own painting. They sometimes gave him guidance and instructions on painting as well. They are for sure the very first teachers of Ah Xin in his drawing journey.

這小院還有幾位“大名鼎鼎”的鄰居，住阿新家對(duì)門的高騫先生，住樓上的葉毓中先生、武世信先生，還有來(lái)串門的江友樵先生，都是有名的書(shū)法家、國(guó)畫(huà)家。他們談天論畫(huà)，捉筆勾描，也給旁邊好奇的不搗亂的阿新紙和筆，讓他自己畫(huà)畫(huà)，不時(shí)提點(diǎn)。阿新的繪畫(huà)由此啟蒙。

Years later, Ah Xin, despite the frequent changes in jobs from a civil servant to a businessman, could not let go of his passion for drawing. Since 1986, therefore, he has published on newspapers numerous comics full of humor, sarcasm, and science fiction. He is now a member of the Chongqing Comic Committee. Deep in his heart, what he would never forget is a carefree childhood brimmed with stilted houses, tile roofs, Huangge Trees, and friendly neighbors. So, he began to use his paintbrush to depict the old Chongqing in his heart, the staggered, thein the small courtyard where he once lived, thereproducing the custom of drying chili peppers on the roof, the smoky and misty, and thein the stone crack ...... Among them, theseries was collected by international friends from the United States, Germany, France,Spain, Australia, Canada, Finland, Russia, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, etc.

In this way, Ah Xin tells the stories of Chongqing city and its people to the world. And the stories of old Chongqing started when he saw a map.

若干年后，阿新當(dāng)了公務(wù)員，后又離職經(jīng)商，但對(duì)畫(huà)畫(huà)一直掛懷于心。從1986年開(kāi)始，阿新的漫畫(huà)不斷在報(bào)紙上發(fā)表，多是幽默、諷刺、科幻等題材，他成為重慶漫畫(huà)學(xué)會(huì)的會(huì)員。但在阿新的心中，吊腳樓、瓦房頂、黃葛樹(shù)，無(wú)憂無(wú)慮的童年、溫情友愛(ài)的鄰里，才是他最懷念的。于是他開(kāi)始用畫(huà)筆描繪心中的老重慶，錯(cuò)落有致的《吊腳樓》，曾居住過(guò)的小院《搖籃》，瓦屋頂上曬辣椒的《紅運(yùn)頂照》，煙雨朦朧的《嘉陵江畔》，還有石縫里的《黃葛苗》……其中，《吊腳樓》系列作品被來(lái)自美國(guó)、德國(guó)、法國(guó)、西班牙、澳大利亞、加拿大、芬蘭、俄羅斯、韓國(guó)、日本、馬來(lái)西亞等國(guó)的國(guó)際友人收藏。

Foreign visitors enjoying Old Chongqing folding fan.外國(guó)客人喜歡《老重慶》。

In November 2015 when then French President Francois Hollande visited Chongqing, he was presented with a gift of a reproduction ofandduring the reign of the Guangxu Emperor in the Qing Dynasty. Shortly thereafter,the France National Library opened to Chinese readers the, a rare map in the earlier period. This Map,composed of a cavalier perspective of the traditional Chinese painting, depicts in greater detail that Chongqing then had already been a major cultural and commercial city.

“There are seventeen city gates in Chongqing! Many of them are unknown even to me, a Chongqing local, so foreigners will know even less about the gates and stories of Chongqing”, said Ah Xin. He decided to recreate all the gates of Chongqing with his paintbrush.It took him four years to create the long scrollafter his careful information collection,field visit, and imagination

阿新就這樣把重慶人的故事、重慶城的故事講給了世界聽(tīng)。而更老重慶的故事，則是在阿新目睹了一幅地圖開(kāi)始。

2015年11月，時(shí)任法國(guó)總統(tǒng)奧朗德訪問(wèn)重慶，獲贈(zèng)清代光緒年制地圖《重慶府治全圖》和《增廣重慶地輿全圖》的復(fù)刻版禮物。此后不久，法國(guó)國(guó)家圖書(shū)館就向中國(guó)讀者開(kāi)放了一幅罕見(jiàn)的更早時(shí)期地圖《重慶府渝城圖》，其采用傳統(tǒng)中國(guó)畫(huà)散點(diǎn)透視的構(gòu)圖法，更為詳盡地描繪了當(dāng)時(shí)的重慶城已然是一座文化、商業(yè)大城的模樣。

Ah Xin and his student Bo Zai doing on-site paintings in Tongyuanmen Gate.阿新與他的學(xué)員波仔在通遠(yuǎn)門實(shí)地創(chuàng)作。

In December 2019, the long scrollwas exhibited at the observation deck on the 73floor of Chongqing’s landmark World Financial Center (WFC), attracting visitors from home and abroad. Thescroll painting from “” series was collected by Ban Ki-moon, the eighth Secretary-General of the United Nations, and thefolding fan was collected by Esko Aho, former Prime Minister of Finland.Meng Fei, an anchor of Jiangsu TV, who is also a Chongqing native,collectedand said: “Looking at Ah Xin’s work evokes so many memories of my hometown!”

Tongyuanmen Gate, the gate to the faraway. Standing for more than 600 years, it has witnessed the historical development of Chongqing city from a military stronghold in ancient times, to a living passage for the locals, then to a place for foreign tourists to visit in Chongqing. In the summer of 2022, it gained attention once again—the Chinese paintingcreated by a 7-year-old Chongqing boy, Bo Zai,won wide popularity on media platforms such as Xinhua News Agency and People’s Daily, with millions of views and likes. City gates, stilted houses, Huangge trees, and the shadows of people on the ink painting are spreading the story of Chongqing far and wide!

And it was indeed Ah Xin, who was the Chinese painting instructor of Bo Zai!

“重慶有十七個(gè)城門！很多連我一個(gè)重慶人都不知道，那外地人就更不了解重慶的城門和故事了?！卑⑿聸Q定通過(guò)自己的畫(huà)筆再現(xiàn)重慶所有的城門。他查資料，走訪“實(shí)地”，想象構(gòu)思，歷時(shí)4年，《重慶十七門》長(zhǎng)卷創(chuàng)作完成。

2019年12月，《重慶十七門》長(zhǎng)卷在重慶地標(biāo)建筑環(huán)球金融中心（WFC）73樓的觀景臺(tái)展出，吸引了來(lái)自國(guó)內(nèi)外游客的目光?！吨貞c十七門》之《朝天門》長(zhǎng)卷被聯(lián)合國(guó)第八任秘書(shū)長(zhǎng)潘基文收藏，《朝天門》折扇被芬蘭前總理埃斯科·阿霍收藏。同是重慶人的江蘇電視臺(tái)主持人孟非收藏了《通遠(yuǎn)門》，他說(shuō)：“看了阿新的畫(huà)，勾起了我對(duì)故鄉(xiāng)好多的回憶！”

通遠(yuǎn)門，通向遠(yuǎn)方之門。矗立600多年，從古代重慶的軍事要塞，到后來(lái)原住民的生活通道，再到外地游客來(lái)渝的尋訪地，見(jiàn)證了重慶城歷史發(fā)展的軌跡。2022年夏天，它再次引人注目—7歲重慶男孩波仔創(chuàng)作的中國(guó)畫(huà)《通遠(yuǎn)門》，在新華社、人民網(wǎng)等媒體平臺(tái)推送，瀏覽量數(shù)百萬(wàn)及點(diǎn)贊。城門，吊腳樓，黃葛樹(shù)，人影綽綽，水墨丹青，重慶故事正傳向遠(yuǎn)方！

阿新，正是波仔的國(guó)畫(huà)指導(dǎo)老師！