"Ugly Chinese" is a widely circulated book, its author Mr. Bai Yang died in 2008, and just recently, a statement from Bai Yang's wife, Zhang Xianghua, was circulated on the Internet: "Yi Bai Yang confessed before his death, and now he will stop publishing "Ugly Chinese forever." ”
On November 17, a Red Star News reporter contacted Ms. Zhang Xianghua. She confirmed that it was true, and that the statement was addressed to the publisher of The Ugly Chinese. Previously, she had repeatedly refused to select the excerpt from Bai Yang's book "The Ugly Chinese" into the (Taiwan) textbook, not only in accordance with Bai Yang's last wishes, but also because: "When Chinese civilization progresses, we should stop selling this book." Moreover, now that the DPP is doing everything to humiliate China, it should stop issuing it at this time so that it will not be used by the DPP to insult China by its title. ”
Bai Yang and his wife Zhang Xianghua
The royalties are quite substantial, but it is best to stop publishing immediately
In 1984, Bai Yang delivered a speech on "The Ugly Chinese" in the United States, and then collected the speeches into a book.
In an exclusive interview, Zhang Xianghua told reporters that When Bai Yang wrote the book with the attitude of "hating iron is not steel", he described the various drawbacks of traditional culture as "sauce tank culture", and strongly criticiz Chinese ed the "dirty, chaotic, noisy", "nest fighting" and "cannot be united" of Chinese Chinese.
After the book was published, it also became a controversial work of Bai Yang. The writer Feng Jicai believes that "this is a thought-provoking book" and compares Bai Yang with Lu Xun: Mr. Lu Xun's important achievement is to reveal the inferiority of the Chinese people; Mr. Bai Yang's fierce criticism of "The Ugly Chinese" is also the negative of Chinese national nature. He believes that a truly civilized nation must always be self-critical and self-improving, whether rich or poor. Rich and poor are not the standard of civilization. We hope that tomorrow's China can unashamedly become the backbone of future human civilization, so we must not forget to constantly cleanse the inertia left by history, from time to time stand in front of the mirror of self-examination to examine ourselves, tolerate and face all criticism, and soberly establish a real and solid self-confidence from it.
But another voice has also questioned the so-called ugly Chinese is just a stereotype.
But regardless of the controversy, the book has been a source of attention since its publication, and as of now, according to one statistic, "The Ugly Chinese" has sold at least more than 5 million copies, not counting the various pirated copies on the market. Zhang Xianghua said that since 2005, Bai Yang has cooperated with the People's Literature Publishing House to publish works including "Ugly Chinese" and "The Complete Works of Bai Yang"; in 2024, the contract for "Ugly Chinese" signed with the People's Literature Publishing House is about to expire. Even though the royalties of "The Ugly Chinese" are quite considerable now, she still hopes that the publishing house will no longer publish the book, and Bai Yang's works are authorized to be published by Yuanliu Publishing House in Taiwan, and the contract expires in 2024, "We even hope that all the publishing houses of this book will no longer publish and distribute this book from now on."
Resolutely oppose the selection of "Ugly Chinese" into textbooks in Taiwan
Since 2016, Zhang Xianghua has continuously received invitations to authorize Bai Yang's works to enter textbooks in Taiwan, but she has flatly refused. Not long ago, Yuanliu Publishing House received an invitation from a cultural institution to authorize the selection of the excerpt of "Ugly Chinese" into the textbook of the first grade of middle school in Taiwan, and Zhang Xianghua still held an opposing attitude. "Bo Yang's speech more than three decades ago was mainly aimed at adults, and for a student who has not yet built up national self-confidence, such content is not suitable."
Zhang Xianghua said that another major reason for not agreeing to authorize the excerpt of Bai Yang's "Ugly Chinese" in the current textbook (in Taiwan) is that she cannot agree with the current education in Taiwan and the new syllabus of "de-Sinicization" or even "anti-China", she pointed out: "In the case of knowing very little about Chinese culture, even if you read Bai Yang's articles, how can you understand the spirit of Bai Yang? ”
She said that today's "national language" and history textbooks in Taiwan, the deletion of literary texts, and the replacement of "Chinese history" with the perspective of "East Asian history" are basically the teaching strategies of the "de-Sinicization" of the rulers, and there is no Chinese cultural values and identity as a premise, and she believes that the inclusion of "Ugly Chinese" is negotiable.
"Bai Yang repeatedly explained before his death that when domestic civilization has progressed, it is necessary to abolish the release of "Ugly Chinese." This is a point that Zhang Xianghua has always emphasized during the interview.
So what are the hallmarks of the progress of civilization? How do I tell when to stop publishing? Zhang Xianghua believes that Chinese civilization today has made progress compared to thirty years ago... Therefore, the book should stop being distributed now, "other countries have not done a good job of poverty alleviation in China."
Zhang Xianghua is a poet from Fujian, born in Hong Kong in 1939, graduated from the department of Chinese, National Taiwan Normal University. Because Bai Yang is a native of Henan, when Henan was flooded this year, Zhang Xianghua also donated 20,000 yuan to the Henan Charity Federation through Mr. Zhou Ming, the former deputy director of the Museum of Modern Chinese Literature.
Will the publication of The Ugly Chinese be stopped immediately? The staff of the People's Literature Publishing House said that the situation was not clear
On the afternoon of the 17th, the reporter saw on several major e-commerce platforms that the book "Ugly Chinese" published by the People's Literature Publishing House was still sold on the shelf. Subsequently, the staff of the People's Literature Publishing House told reporters that the copyright of the book they consulted would not expire until around February 2023. The reporter asked whether it would immediately stop publishing, and the other party said that it was not clear about the situation.
Zhang Xianghua hopes that in the future, everyone's attention to Bai Yang's works can be transferred to his other works. Bai Yang has been practicing for half a century, leaving more than 100 works for readers, "The Ugly Chinese" is the most widely circulated in the contemporary Chinese world, and "Bai Yang's Version of Zizhi Tongjian" is hailed as the most valuable and best-selling book, and "Outline of the History of Chinese" is listed as a book with influence on society.
2020 is the centenary of Mr. Bai Yang's birth, and the People's Literature Publishing House has launched a 36-volume vernacular edition of "Bai Yang Edition of Zizhi Tongjian". In the same year, Guomai Culture specially produced the commemorative edition of the centenary of Bai Yang's birth, "Outline of the History of Chinese", and Zhang Xianghua, the wife of Bai Yang, also wrote a preface for the commemorative edition of the "Outline of the History of Chinese".
Since its publication, "Outline of the History of Chinese" has always been one of the first choice books for readers to understand the general history of China, and the achievements of the "Outline of the History of Chinese" represent a height for writers to write history, and Bai Yang has made outstanding achievements in writing history wonderfully and beautifully without lack of profound insight.
Zhang Xianghua wrote in the text: In order to punish the pride of mankind, God has confused the language of mankind, making it impossible for human beings to communicate and unite. Chinese culture, on the other hand, has one thing – it's in the same language. The fact that the fifty-six ethnic groups in China have a common language and script proves that we have overcome the ability to divide human beings, which is the characteristic of our culture. In this new crown pneumonia, China was able to devote all its strength to the lockdown to the lifting of the ban in more than two months, which made us have stronger confidence. From the "Outline of the History of Chinese", we can also see that the Chinese nation is a nation that can withstand setbacks and can be revived again and again.
Red Star News reporter Chen Mou photo courtesy of the interviewee
Edited by Li Xueli
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