Our country is an ancient civilization with a long history of 5,000 years. In order to collect and display long history and culture, a large number of museums have been established in various places. There are both comprehensive and specialized, both national and private. Among these museums, one is very special. It is the Liuyue Museum located in Lili Ancient Town, Suzhou.

This museum was opened by a foreigner. The owner was an American named Du Weiming who was in his sixties. He came to China in the 1980s and worked as a lawyer. In his spare time, he traveled almost all over the country and collected more than 100,000 old folk objects. It is really embarrassing to say. Such an incident should have been done by Chinese people, but I didn't expect a foreigner to collect so many cultural relics.

According to staff of Liuyue Museum, after the reform and opening up, the Chinese people have become more and more prosperous, and people have slowly begun to collect precious mahogany products such as huanghuali, red sandalwood, and rosewood. However, few people pay attention to old objects made of ordinary wood. Most of them are not well preserved, and some are even discarded or burned as firewood when they are demolished and moved to a new home.

By chance, Mr. Du Weiming saw these demolished old objects and felt that they were very exquisite and couldn't put them down. So he started his collection business. In addition to running around himself, he also mobilized his friends to help him pay attention to the demolition. He rushed over as soon as possible, and often at relatively low prices he could find some old objects that ordinary people no longer want when moving to a new home. Some were door panels, some were bird replacements, and some were boxes. There was a sculpture... He collected everything he found interesting, and later collected more and more, and the number exceeded 100,000.

Some objects do not necessarily come from demolition. Some people heard that there was an old object in someone's home, so they went to lobby and told them that I would build a museum and prepare to put this old object from your home in it for exhibition. Many people thought about it and thought it would be good, so they sold it to him. Different from traditional collection standards, he doesn't value the material or the year. There is only one criterion for judging-"I just think it's beautiful, it doesn't make sense, just buy it if you like it."

The Liuyue Museum in Lili Ancient Town in Suzhou is the first museum built by Mr. Du Weiming. It displays nearly 40,000 cultural relics of various types, and many more are placed in its warehouse in Shanghai. In order to facilitate everyone's visit, Liuyue Museum divides these cultural relics into many exhibition halls with different themes, such as: God sedan chair hall, sedan chair hall, shrine hall, lacquer painting hall, red theme hall, washbasin rack hall, sparrow table hall, statue hall, dowry gift box hall, plaque hall, bamboo silk basket hall, window lattice hall, inserting screen hall, bed noodle hall, lacquer painting box hall, Buddha niche hall, medicine cabinet hall, altar hall, chair hall, ancient stage hall, pawnshop, screen door hall, door hall, stone carving hall, boutique Buddha statue hall, etc. Yu Fan introduced the Shenjiao Hall to everyone in yesterday's article, and today he continues to introduce the Shenjiao Hall inside.

The door god, that is, the god of door guards, is a kind of painting posted on doors during the Lunar New Year. As a folk god guarding the door, people stick its statue on the door to ward off evil spirits, protect the house, ensure peace, help utility, and bring good fortune. It is a popular patron saint among Chinese people. In some places, door gods are bought and posted on the doors, but in the past, large households painted door gods on the doors. These door gods collected by Mr. Du Weiming are all of this category.

According to historical records, the activity of "worshiping men" had already occurred in the Zhou Dynasty, and it was an extremely important ceremony. From the emperor to the common people, everyone must respect the door god. Among the legends of door gods, the legends of Shentu and Yulei have long been circulated among the people. There are records in books such as "The Book of Mountains and Seas","Customs Tongyi","Collection of Rebuilding Weishu", and "Collection of the Origin and Origin of the Three Religions". There are many kinds of door gods in Liuyue Museum, some looking fierce, some looking very powerful. They don't look cute and cute like the picture above. Does this remind us of door gods?

Such a door god is not an isolated example. Is the picture above similar to the one before? The earliest door gods were Shentu and Yulei, but later, the meaning, form and content of the door god underwent a series of changes with the continuation of history. In the later period, the newly added door gods mainly included "praying for blessings","Daojie category","civil officials category","military generals category" and "other miscellaneous categories". Praying for blessings is like blessing Tianguan, Taoist circles are like Zhong Kui and Wang Lingguan, civil officials are like Wei Zheng, Bao Gong and Wen Tianxiang, and generals are like Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong.

After the Yuan Dynasty, the door gods posted by the people evolved again, and the above-mentioned types of door gods gradually faded away. The newly added Qin Shubao and Yuchi Gong were the most widely popular as martial door gods. The "transformation" of Qin Shubao and Yuchi Gong into door gods originated from the two novels "Journey to the West" and "The Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties". The story in "The Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties":"Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, killed countless people during his achievements as the emperor. After his position, he was in extremely poor health. He could not sleep peacefully at night and had many nightmares. Li Shimin was afraid of this and could not bear the torture. He called all generals and ministers to discuss and let Marshal Qin Qiong and General Yuchi Gong guard the gate on both sides of the palace gate every night with armor and arms. However, over time, Taizong remembered Qin Qiong and the two generals Yuchi Gong worked day and night, so he asked palace painters to draw military uniforms of the two generals. They glared and displayed their anger, holding whips and maces and hanging them on both sides of the palace gate. After that, all evil spirits disappeared."

There are thousands of door gods here, and it is inevitable that there are similar ones. They are all estimated to be collected from the same area, and may even be the work of a skilled craftsman (as shown in the picture above). In order to allow everyone to visit, the museum puts together each pair of door panels (the door gods are divided into left and right), and then adds a frame on the outside, which looks like a painting. Some put together multiple pairs of door gods for display.

Because these door gods come from all over the country and due to their cultural differences, not only do the door gods have a variety of styles, but the making processes of these door gods are also rich and colorful. Some are painted with paint, some are added with metal, plated with gold, or inlaid with silver, or some brighter shells are pasted on them.

Being in the door god hall, looking at these old door panels that look a little old, some have even changed color and incomplete, I really sigh in my heart, because each pair of door gods has its own story behind it, witnessing the development of a family. Fortunately, this old man collected them. What can be displayed is extremely rare. I believe that more old objects among the people have disappeared into the dust of history.

After seeing these door gods, are you very moved?