Born in 1933, Li Hua is a Kunming native who is an enthusiast of painting and calligraphy. Since 1980s, Li has thrown himself into the job of protecting old buildings in Kunming. Recent years, he started going around to collect existed stone tablet rubbings of different ages to look for the lost old Kunming. He has spent hundred thousands of yuan on collecting, which earned him the title of "the first person of old Kunming".
Li Hua's interest in old buildings should thank to his experience of serving in the army in the Korean War. On his way from Kunming in southwest to Northeast China, he visited many old buildings in different areas, such as old houses, temples and academies. And he was attracted by those amazing old Chinese buildings.
"A city without old buildings has no cultural foundation", he believes. Therefore he returned to his hometown Kunming and started studying on old buildings.
During the past dozens of years, Li has visited every place where old buildings exist in order to learn more experience of protecting old buildings and introduce it to Kunming.
In 1990s, Kunming launched a large scaled demolition and many old blocks were torn down. Nanhua Street, Xiangyun Street, Baoshan Street and Shuncheng Street where remained large amount of old buildings of Qing Dynasty disappeared in this demolition.
To protect the existing old buildings from being demolished, Li kept submitting proposals to related departments. His suggestions on protecting old buildings are considered as professional standard by many experts in building field.
Now Li has lots of photos of old Kunming, which are his lifetime collections. He hopes that these collections can be useful if one day government pays more attention to old buildings' protection.
Recent years, Li devotes himself to collecting stone tablet rubbings. Aging at 79, he spends much time outside for search for stone tablets that scatter around the city.
In decades of years,Li has collected hundreds of rubbings, some of which can't even been found in Kunming's museums.
Li really paid a lot on his interests and he is very willing to pay. Where he lives is quite shabby, and every space is occupied by his collections. These are his most precious things. As the antique market is booming nowadays, values of his collections doubled. One thing that haunts him is the destiny of these collections. He is always thinking how to deal with them when the day comes: giving to his offspring or donating to the society.
Now he is observing his son and grandson and has decided that if his offspring can't keep these collections, he would rather donate all of them to Kunming Museum. "Anyway, these collections should be well protected. The culture of old Kunming cannot be abandoned." (Editors: Annie Kwok, Minnie Mao)
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