Meet Jack Liu, Chairman of Changzhou Liu Guojun Cultural Center
I have a daughter who recently graduated with a master’s degree from a prestigious American university. A few months ago, she presented me with a plan to establish a virtual museum website in honor of my great-grandfather, Mr. Liu Guojun. The plan involved donating over 400 Chinese calligraphy and paintings to domestic museums, making them available online, and writing catalogs and other information about three generations of the Liu family. The goal was to share the spirit and aspirations of my great-grandfather with the public.
My daughter has always been impressed by her great-grandfather’s paintings and calligraphy collection, as well as his entrepreneurial journey, which she learned about through family stories. She applied what she learned to this project and decided to put her knowledge into practice.
Jack Liu with his grandparents, Liu Guojun and Chu Sue
I was filled with emotion, and after discussing it with my daughter, I decided that since I wanted to do it, I might as well put all the following items on the website:
- 500 calligraphy and paintings left by Liu Guojun
- Liu Guojun’s diaries (published)
- All archives of Dacheng Company, founded by Liu Guojun Institute, collected by Changzhou Archives. These archives consist of 555 volumes of documents and 1695 volumes of finance.
- Jiangsu Provincial Archives: A catalog of only 28 pages
I believe there are many books written about Liu Goujun in China, but none of them have been published after conducting a thorough study of all the diaries and archives of Liu Guojun. I am the only one in the second, third, and fourth generations of the Liu family who has read my grandfather’s four diaries and some files. With the creation of The Liu Guojun Virtual Museum, I aim to draw the attention of the academic community to publish articles about Mr. Liu Guojun’s patriotism, craftsmanship, spirit, and artistic spirit. Through these research results, I want to pass on the spirit of our old people to the fourth generation of the Liu family and social entrepreneurs.
认识常州刘国钧文化中心董事长刘学进
建網站緣起 豆蔻年華，家有小女去年美國名校碩士畢業。數月後，小女呈遞一份計畫書。展閱後，本人甚是欣慰。原來計畫書是想建立曾祖父劉國鈞先生的藝術網站，將他捐給國內博物館總共四百幅中國字畫，放上網並寫出圖錄和其它訊息，供劉氏家族三代人和社會人士所欣賞，傳承曾祖父的精神和志願。從小耳濡目染，小女從家人的言傳中對曾祖父的書畫收藏和創業歷程甚是感佩，而今學以致用，決定將所學聊以心願。
Jack Liu with his daughter, Janet Liu in front of Liu Guojun’s monument at the Liu Guojun Vocational School in Changzhou
A family portrait featuring Liu Guojun and his wife, Chu Sue, seated in the front. Behind them is their youngest son, Liu Hanliang, surrounded by his own family – his wife, Wang Tsuifeng, stands next to him, while his eldest son, Jack Liu, occupies the back right, his daughter, Nancy Liu, on the back left, and the youngest son, James Liu, in the front middle.
感慨之余，我同女兒商討後，既然做，不如將國老以下數項全部放上網站：1）國老留下的500幅字畫。2）國老日記（已出版的）。3）國老所創立大成公司所有擋案：由常州檔案館藏：文書555卷，財務1695卷。4）江蘇省檔案館：僅目錄28頁。本人覺得目前國內有關國老著作很多，但沒有真正研究過國老所有日記和檔案後出版的著作。劉氏家族第二代、第三代、第四代中，祇有我一人看過祖父四本日記和一些檔案，我希望通過囯老網站，更好引起學界關注，出文章宏揚劉國鈞先生愛國精神、工匠精神和藝術精神，從而我可以通過這些研究成果將國老精神傳承給劉氏第四代以及社會創業者。
