If you mention cultural celebrities on the other side of the strait, I am afraid that you have a long list of household names in front of your eyes, such as Qian Mu, Yu Guangzhong, Jin Yong, Lin Qingxuan, etc.
But one of the names that we can't always jump over is the author of "The Ugly Chinese" - Bai Yang.
He attended many schools in his early years, but he could not get any of the graduation diplomas, but still with solid professional ability, he was hired by The Chenggong University, an old famous school in Taiwan, and became famous at home and abroad.
Throughout his life, Bai Yang has been dealing with words, has had works of Biao Bing, and has also encountered prison disasters because of sharp words, and in these ups and downs of the decades, he has seen all kinds of scenery.
In 2008, Bai Yang died of pneumonia in Taiwan at the age of 89.
According to Bai Yang's will, his ashes were personally escorted by his wife and children back to his hometown of Hui County, Henan, where his soul had been haunted for nearly 60 years.
The brilliance and suffering of his life are not unrelated to his own writing philosophy of "hot writing articles".
In 1967, the famous comic "Popeye" was introduced to Taiwan from the United States at great expense by the Zhonghua Daily, and the task of translation fell on the shoulders of Ni Minghua, Bai Yang's wife and editor-in-chief of the women's edition of Zhonghua Daily.
Seeing his wife staying up late every night, Bai Yang couldn't bear it in his heart, so he took his wife's task to himself.
Who knew that this hot potato had become the source of his miserable life in the future.
Friends who have seen the work of "Popeye" should know very well in their hearts that this is not a comic involving politics.
However, because most of The Boyan's long-published works are critical of the situation, he gave irony to the translations of many words when translating Popeye.
This translation work allowed Bai Yang to be falsely accused and began an eight-year prison career.
After regaining his freedom, did Bai Yang deliberately restrain his pen? It doesn't seem to be.
On the contrary, he turned his critical brush to a much larger group: the Chinese.
In 1985, Bai Yang published his most famous masterpiece, "The Ugly Chinese", which was rated as the bestseller of the year and caused great discussion in society.
Dozens of articles in the book, all taken from Bai Yang's speeches at major universities in Taiwan over the past few years, are full of Bai Yang's criticism of the "inferiority" of Chinese, as well as the bombardment of the dross in traditional culture, and of course, more concerns about the growth of China's next generation of teenagers.
This "explosive" work, the spicy and sharp text is jaw-dropping to read, but at the same time, it can indeed trigger us to think deeply about ourselves.
All along, many readers will suspect that Mo Fei Baiyang is just a "drama writer" who uses a sharp literary style to incite emotions and sensationalize the public?
In fact, in addition to these spicy sharp comments amplified by media hype, as early as 1983, when Bai Yang was 64 years old, he had already begun a huge project, that is, to translate the vernacular version of "Zizhi Tongjian".
"Zizhi Tongjian" tells the history of more than 1,300 years from the Warring States to the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and is a cultural treasure mine left by Sima Guang for future generations.
However, because it was written in the Song Dynasty, a long time away from this year, many written words are difficult for us modern people to understand directly, and it takes some ancient Chinese skills, so it has not been popularized for many years.
And Mr. Bai Yang consciously picked up this burden in the last stage of his life.
He began to translate at the age of 64, and by the age of 73, he had completed the "Baiyang Vernacular Edition of Zizhi Tongjian" with tens of millions of words.
Ten years of writing, the green silk is all white, and he has made great contributions to the inheritance and promotion of the Treasure House of Chinese culture, zizhi Tongjian, with his residual energy.
At the beginning of the 21st century, Mr. Bai Yang finally completed all the translation work and submitted ten manuscripts to the Oriental Publishing House for publication.
Taking history as a mirror, we can dress up and understand things. History will always have a very important significance for us.
When we look at the actions of ancient people with the eyes of modern people, we can clearly find the problems and loopholes in them, and avoid and correct them in our later lives, which will be the greatest benefit that reading history books can bring to us.
With its witty and easy-to-understand language style, "Bai Yang Edition of tongjian chronicles" should also become the most convenient and preferred reading book for contemporary readers to read and study "Zizhi Tongjian".
Today, we stand on the other side of the long river of history, and Mr. Bai Yang has built a bridge for us with this set of "Bai Yang Edition of the Chronicle of the Chronicle".
I hope that in the future, together with me, you can take more leisure time in your daily life, go to the other side to meet the words and deeds of ancient people, and smile.
"Bai Yang Edition General Chronicle End" ¥799 purchase