Recently, Zhang Xianghua, the widow of the late Taiwanese well-known writer Bai Yang, issued a statement that he would forever stop publishing Bai Yang's book "The Ugly Chinese" and refused to select the excerpts of "The Ugly Chinese" as a first-grade Chinese textbook for middle schools in the Taiwan region, which aroused widespread concern in public opinion on both sides of the strait.
On the 23rd, Zhang Xianghua said in an exclusive interview with this reporter that the reason why she made this decision was, on the one hand, because Bai Yang confessed before his death, "When China progresses, then you can not read this book"; more importantly, "to prevent the DPP from using its book title to insult China."
Bai Yang and Zhang Xianghua
The 82-year-old Zhang Xianghua, who once worked as a middle school teacher, was particularly distressed by the Taiwan authorities' teaching strategy of "de-sinicization": "If Bai Yang were alive, he would be very angry when he saw that young people in Taiwan were gradually being brainwashed by 'de-sinicization' and resisting cross-strait reunification!" ”
China's poverty alleviation and epidemic prevention work have proved the progress of civilization
Reporter: According to the existing agreement, what is the final release time of "Ugly Chinese" on both sides of the strait?
Zhang Xianghua: The book is currently in Yuanliu Publishing House in Taiwan and People's Literature Publishing House in mainland China, and both sets of books expire in 2024. The specific time to stop the distribution depends on the willingness of the publisher, what I can do at present is to shout morally in the media, hoping that the publishing house will not publish this book from now on, but I cannot decide when to terminate.
Reporter: Why did you ask to stop the release of "Ugly Chinese"? Why did you choose to issue this statement now?
Zhang Xianghua: The creation of a book has a specific background of the times. For the current continental development, "The Ugly Chinese" is no longer applicable.
Bai Yang wrote "The Ugly Chinese", the spearhead directly refers to the official field of the Taiwan Kuomintang authorities at that time, reading this book, can not be separated from the background of the times at that time, must have a corresponding reserve of historical knowledge.
"The Ugly Chinese" should now be "retired from success", and Bai Yang repeatedly explained before his death that when Chinese civilization has progressed, it will be abolished. This means that when Chinese no longer indulge in the closed, conservative, and unrealistic problems of the past, we will have new goals to pursue, and this book should be scrapped.
The more important reason is that the DPP now does everything to humiliate China in all ways. At this time, it is even more necessary to stop issuing it so that the DPP will not use its title to humiliate China. The "de-Sinicization" promoted by the DPP authorities in the syllabus is destroying our nation.
Reporter: Do you think it is time for "Chinese civilization to progress"?
Zhang Xianghua: Yes. "Ugly Chinese" was published in Taiwan in 1985, more than thirty years ago, the current Chinese civilization has made progress compared with thirty years ago, for example, other countries have not done so well in China's poverty alleviation work, and since the epidemic, China's prevention and control efforts and the degree of cooperation of the Chinese people, I am very moved... So, the book should stop being published now.
Saddened by the "de-Sinicization" of Education in Taiwan
Reporter: What was Bai Yang's original intention in writing "The Ugly Chinese"?
Zhang Xianghua: The publication of "The Ugly Chinese" has always been controversial. At that time, Bai Yang wrote the book with the attitude of "hating iron and not making steel", strongly criticizing the inferior roots represented by the "dirty, chaotic, noisy" and "nest fighting" of the Chinese of the last century, and referring to the various drawbacks of traditional culture as "sauce tank culture". Bai Yang wrote this book in the hope that Chinese know their shortcomings, change them, reflect on themselves, and let Chinese live with dignity. That's his real intention in writing.
Reporter: Since 2016, you have continuously received invitations to authorize Bai Yang's works to enter textbooks in Taiwan, but you have refused. Why are you worried that today's young people will misread this book?
Zhang Xianghua: As a teacher, I really can't agree with the current Taiwan education and the new curriculum syllabus of "de-Sinicization" or even "anti-China", and I am particularly saddened by the current "National Language" and history textbooks, the deletion of literary texts, and the replacement of "Chinese history" with the viewpoint of "East Asian History" are fundamentally the "de-Sinicization" teaching strategies of the Taiwan authorities. Bai Yang has said to me more than once: "The time of Taiwan independence is the time of reunification." In such an educational context, when young people in Taiwan know very little about Chinese culture, even if they read Bai Yang's articles, how can they understand the spirit of Bai Yang? It is bound to misread this book.
Reporter: Did Bai Yang have any instructions or explanations for his other works before his death?
Zhang Xianghua: Other works are not controversial, there is no special explanation.
Bai Yang paid the most for the "Zizhi Tongjian" series
Reporter: The hardcover edition of the "Bai Yang Edition of the Chronicle of tongjian" has just been published, which is the first time in the publishing history of Bai Yang's works that a hardcover collector's edition has been launched, why does Bai Yang attach so much importance to the "Zizhi Tongjian"?
Zhang Xianghua: People have the emotion of finding belonging, and history can provide us with this kind of belonging. Every Chinese should have roots. Without roots, without a sense of belonging, the light will doubt the meaning of life, and the heavy will be brainwashed by the "de-Sinicization" rhetoric, bringing greater troubles. The Zizhi Tongjian is the greatest chronicle of China, so that the historical sites of ancient China in 1362 are presented in an orderly and clear manner. Everyone who wants to understand the politics, historical evolution, and cultural traditions of ancient China cannot avoid the Zizhi Tongjian. Bai Yang's translation of "Zizhi Tongjian" is to hope that modern people can know ancient Chinese culture and think about ancient Chinese culture.
Reporter: What kind of painstaking efforts did he devote to the study of "Zizhi Tongjian"?
Zhang Xianghua: The Zizhi Tongjian is written in ancient Chinese from a thousand years ago, which is very jerky and difficult to understand, and few people are willing to spend time to read it. Therefore, from the 1980s onwards, Bai Yang began to translate the Zizhi Tongjian for a total of ten years, during which there was no interruption. In order to go further and make the Zizhi Tongjian easier to read, Bai Yang created the "BaiYang Edition of the Tongjian Chronicle", which was not completed until 2001. When writing, Bai Yang would even sleep and dream at night to dream of "Zizhi Tongjian", and often suddenly woke up in the predicament of being puzzled. It can be said that among Bai Yang's works, the "Zizhi Tongjian" series has the longest writing time, the largest amount of engineering, and the most hard work.
Reporter: Do you think that today's young people reading Bai Yang's "General Commentary" series should start with his book?
Zhang Xianghua: If you are busy at work, you can first read "Bai Yang Yue: Zizhi Tongjian Revelation"; if you have enough time, you can take the "Bai Yang Version of Zizhi Tongjian Benjie" as an introduction. "Bai Yang Yue: Zizhi Tongjian Revelation" concentrates Bai Yang's historical views, and "Bai Yang's version of Zizhi Tongjian Ben modalities" can very intuitively understand the story of "Zizhi Tongjian".
Reporter: How is your body now? How is your daily life arranged? In your opinion, what is Bai Yang like as a husband and family?
Zhang Xianghua: I usually read newspapers, read books, and take a walk.
Bai Yang writes essays, which seems to be very closed, in fact, he is very warm, very enthusiastic about people, although not a martial artist, but has a chivalrous heart, the pen can help the hero to fight righteousness. For example, when Bai Yang was studying in Malaysia in his early years, he met a poor woman with scales all over her body, he appealed for this woman, and also wrote an article called "Pangolin Man", as a result, this person was helped by many Taiwanese, and after Bai Yang's death, this woman came to Taiwan to mourn Bai Yang.
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The Baiyang Edition was first published in hardcover 20 years after the completion of the manuscript
It has been 20 years since the completion of the "Bai Yang Edition of the Chronicle of the Chronicle". A few days ago, the Oriental Publishing House solemnly launched the hardcover collector's edition of "Bai Yang Edition of the Chronicle of The Chronicle of The General Edition" (all ten volumes) to commemorate the 101st anniversary of Mr. Bai Yang's birth.
Bai Yang adopted the chronicle of the end of the chronicle in the "Bai Yang Edition of the Chronicle of tongjian", centered on the event, and recounted the history covered by the Zizhi Tongjian in the form of a continuous story and in the vernacular. In addition to objectively recording history, Bai Yang often injects historical views and comments into the notes, making unique observations and comments on historical facts from a broader perspective, expressing his understanding and feelings as a modern person. He once said: "Mr. Sima Guang wrote this book for the emperor and his ministers, and I rewrote this vernacular version for today's officials and ordinary people, so that they can see what is the righteousness of the Chinese nation, what is the suppression of feudal autocracy, and the deceit and hypocrisy of the treacherous people, and let the readers draw historical lessons and benefits from life." ”
Bai Yang, who began translating the Zizhi Tongjian in 1983, was sixty-four years old and already had white hair; by the time the "Baiyang Vernacular Version of the Zizhi Tongjian" had become a 10,000-word yangyang grand view, Bai Yang was already seventy-three years old and had white hair. After the opening up of cross-strait exchanges, Bai Yang revised the notes on the current place names of the "Zizhi Tongjian" according to the latest geographical divisions of the Chinese mainland at that time, presided over the drawing of a more accurate historical map of the events recorded in the "Zizhi Tongjian"; and began to compile a new vernacular reading of the "Zizhi Tongjian" in the style of the chronicle. By the end of the "Baiyang Edition of the Chronicle of the General Review", it was the beginning of the 21st century. In Bai Yang's view, the translation and commentary of the Zizhi Tongjian is "another new prison career, and the study has become a prison cell." As the last work in Bai Yang's "Zizhi Tongjian" series of works, "Bai Yang's Edition of Tongjian Chronicle" condenses all of Bai Yang's previous efforts to "Zizhi Tongjian".
Sun Han, editor-in-chief of Oriental Publishing House, said: "Bai Yang is a famous writer who has influenced the number of Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and the world for decades, a disseminator of China's excellent traditional culture and a promoter of cross-strait cultural exchanges. ”
(Original title: Interview with Zhang Xianghua, the widow of | Baiyang: "The Ugly Chinese" pointed directly to the officialdom in Taiwan at that time)
Source: Beijing Daily Client | Reporter Li Li
Process Edit: U016
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