Yan Fu, an influential Enlightenment thinker in the late Qing Dynasty, was from Fuzhou. His stone statue had been standing for more than 20 years in the lower courtyard of FOMA Road. Due to the subway construction, the statue began to be dismantled yesterday and will be moved to Mawei majiangdu square.
Yan Fu statue has been standing in the east gate of Fuzhou for more than 20 years.
The statue was carefully disassembled.
Stone Statue split relocation
Yan Fu’s stone statue stands in the middle of the turntable of Fuma Road in the lower courtyard, overlooking the ponytail with his back to Fuzhou. Once upon a time, when I entered Fuzhou from the east, I had to pass through Yan Fu statue. Yesterday, within the road enclosure, the scaffolding had been set up beside the statue of Yan Fu, and several workers operating the crane were dismantling the statue.
According to reports, the stone statue was carved in Huian at that time and was composed of more than ten giant granite pieces, weighing about 50 tons. When it was installed in those years, the Stones assembled into the statue were reinforced and some concrete was poured. It was difficult to completely remove them. Therefore, in order to migrate Yan Fu’s statue “completely undamaged” as much as possible, the workers who built the statue from the original class were specially recruited from Hui’an for disassembly.
Return to the former place and face the Majiang River
It is understood that the creator of this dignity restoration statue is Chen Junhua, vice chairman of Fuzhou Artists Association. At present, Wang Yunpeng, his student and secretary general of the sculpture committee of Fuzhou Artists Association, is responsible for the migration of the statue.
According to reports, this statue of dignity was completed around 1991, which not only witnessed the rapid changes of Fuzhou, but also became a part of the memory of Fuzhou people. Since the location of the statue requires the construction of subway, preparations for the relocation of the statue began one year ago. At present, majiangdu square next to dongjiangbin Avenue has been selected. After completion, the statue will face Majiang River.
“This is actually a return.” Wang Yunpeng said that when Yan Fu was 13 years old, he studied in school Mawei dockyard, and the ponytail was the place where his thoughts were enlightened. Therefore, it might be the best destination to migrate the statue back to the ponytail and overlook the magnificent Ma Jiang day and night.
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Yan Fu (1854-1921), a Houguan member of Fujian province, was a famous Enlightenment thinker, translator and educator in modern times. His translation of the theory of heaven and many subsequent translations introduced Western sociology, politics, political economics, philosophy and natural science to China, it is one of the “advanced Chinese” who seek truth from the West in the modern history of China, and is evaluated by Lu Xun as “a person who feels keen at the end of the 19th century in China”. (Reporter Chih-Hung Chang text/picture)