Zheng Min (right) and Zhao Yun
Zheng Min (right) and student Zhang Yan The last poet of the "Nine Leaf Sect", Mr. Zheng Min, died on January 3 at the age of 102. As a name that has been written into modern literature textbooks, she is like a symbol linking modern literature and the current era. Mr. Zheng Min was also the last famous poet to die at the Southwest United Congress. This edition features articles by Zheng Min's student Zhang Yan and scholar Li Guangrong to express deep nostalgia.
January 3 is also the day of the death of Mr. Wen Liming, the grandson of Wen Yiduo. On January 7th, the farewell ceremony of the two United Nations people was held on the same day in Babaoshan, and the painter Zhao Yun specially wrote a farewell poem for them, which we published together for the benefit of readers.
Look up at the stars
Miss Aunt Zheng Min
◎ Zhao Yun
(Painter, daughter of translators Zhao Ruihong and Yang Yuan)
Midnight, I did not write a word
I don't know how to record this day
The heart, the head, the thyroid gland are all good, like my age
I still can't be happy
I know there are two more stars in the sky tonight, one big and one smaller
One for 102 years, one for 71 years
As dazzling as they are on earth
From now on, they started a new journey
And all of us are still walking on the ground, the way we have to go
Only strong, with heart and brain, with love and sincerity
Like them in the howl of the sea breeze
Go forward, go forward, never stop
The day of farewell on January 7, 2022
I miss my mentor, Mr. Zheng Min
◎ Zhang Yan
In the early morning of January 3 this year, Mr. Zheng Min, the last "leaf" of the "Nine Leaf Poets", embarked on a long journey, and the leaves that had danced for more than a century floated to the sky with its flexible philosophy, drifted to the distance, and also drifted to the eternity of life.
In the early autumn of last year, I learned that my husband was seriously ill, and that he was already over a hundred years old, and I was somewhat mentally prepared for his long journey, but his departure still made me think about it, and it was difficult to calm my heart for a long time.
Looking back at the 7 years I spent more than 30 years studying with him, I immediately saw him sitting opposite me, and I was constantly discussing Chinese and Western poetry, philosophy, history, and culture. Her soft and gentle voice often echoed in my ears and haunted my heart.
I'm going to go to her house for class
In the early autumn of 1987, I was admitted to the Department of Foreign Languages of Beijing Normal University to study for a master's degree, and I had the honor of becoming a student under Mr. Zheng Min, following mr. Zheng Min to study British and American poetry. At that time, my husband asked us to come to her house for classes, and several of our graduate students were very excited about it. Since then, we have pedaled our bicycles every Thursday afternoon to the home of Mr. Tsinghua Garden.
It was a pale gray old-fashioned 4-storey house surrounded by greenery and very secluded. There is also a green garden under the window of the gentleman's house, and the flowers are shining in the greenery. At 2:30 p.m., we gently knocked on the door of her house, and he smiled and opened the door and led us into her study. On the other side of the west wall in the study is a row of tall white bookshelves filled with various English books, photos and pictures, and the environment is elegant and warm. Sir let us sit down on the couch, a few cups of tea had been placed on the coffee table, and a dazzling bottle of flowers bloomed before our eyes.
Sir began to lecture, and she told us about Shakespeare's plays, and took us to read the poems of the English metaphysical poet John Dorne and the Romantic poet Wordsworth. She did not agree with the Soviet scholars at that time dividing British romantic poetry into positive romanticism and negative romanticism, but took us to read Wordsworth's original works, let us carefully appreciate the artistic conception in it, and feel the poet's rich and profound heart. In the 1980s, the domestic academic community's research on Wordsworth was still stagnant, and there were many prejudices about Wordsworth, and Mr. Wordsworth's research and his views were pioneering at that time.
In addition to telling us about The English literary classics, sir also told us about contemporary American poetry. At that time, the domestic poetry community was facing a new turn and eager to open up a new development path, so in 1985 he went to the United States to lecture, read a large number of contemporary American poetry, and translated them into Chinese. In 1986, her translation of "Selected Contemporary American Poetry" was published, which had a great influence on the creation of young poets in China and the development of poetry at that time. At that time, we were also exposed to American contemporary poetry for the first time, and we were extremely curious about the experimental exploration in it, and Mr. Li's explanation combined the turn of Western philosophical thought in the second half of the 20th century with the new trends of poetics and aesthetic thought, which opened a skylight for us to appreciate the new world of British and American poetry in contemporary development.
In the years when I studied for my doctorate, I was led by him to the door of Western philosophy. She was exposed to contemporary Western philosophical thought in the mid-1980s and resonated strongly with Derrida's deconstructivist theory. Deconstructivism reflects on and criticizes the rational authority of metaphysics, and pursues the eternal concept of change, pluralism and movement, which are all interconnected with the philosophical ideas that Mr. Li learned and realized in his early years of study at Southwest United University, and were deeply rooted in her heart, which had a great influence on her poetry creation and poetic thought, and made her poetic style in the 90s undergo a great change.
And her requirements for several of our doctoral students are also to study literature and poetry from the perspective of philosophy. He often said that without the height of philosophy, the study of literature cannot be deepened. She was convinced that "philosophy and poetry are close neighbors", and these ideas were deeply imprinted in my heart, although I returned to poetry in academic research after graduation, but I deeply realized that if I had not seriously read a little philosophy with my husband in those years, poetry research could only fall on the superficial surface. I am filled with endless gratitude for my husband's teachings.
"I'm glad I went back to China"
In the 7 years of studying with him, I have established a deep relationship with him, who is my academic leader and my spiritual mentor. Although she mostly talked to me about academics and ideas, she often talked to me about her extraordinary life after class, recalling her childhood events, the situation when she studied at Southwest United University, and her experiences after liberation, returning to China from overseas, working at the Academy of Social Sciences, and some experiences during the "Four Qings" and "Cultural Revolution".
She told me about the situation when I was studying at Southwest United University, which made me deeply admire the spirit of that generation of intellectuals in seeking knowledge and seeking truth. In 1939, she was admitted to the Southwest United University, and she originally wanted to study in the Department of Foreign Languages, but when she applied, she temporarily changed her mind and applied for the Department of Philosophy, because she deeply felt the difficulty of philosophy and the difficulty of self-study, and this temporary change of path affected her poetry creation and the formation of ideas in her later life.
At Southwest United University, she studied philosophy with Mr. Feng Youlan, Zheng Xin, Tang Yongtong, etc., and studied German with Mr. Feng Zhi. She also consulted Mr. Feng Zhi in poetry writing, and was affirmed and encouraged by Mr. Feng. Mr. Li said that although life at that time was hard and he often "ran alarms", he had pursuits in his heart and his spirit was calm and comfortable. Speaking of the masters and ancestors of the United Nations General Assembly, Sir said that each of them seems to be living in learning, and their lives and lives are immersed in those endless explorations and curiosities. My husband and I were always excited to talk about these early experiences, and I listened to them with relish, and was deeply attracted and moved by the experiences of my husband and her gentlemen.
What particularly impressed me was my husband's talk about her experiences in China and during the Cultural Revolution. He went to the United States to study in 1948 and returned to his homeland from the United States in 1955 with her husband Tong Shibai. At that time, mcCarthy's anti-China forces in the United States were very rampant, and some scientists in the United States were prevented from returning to their homeland, and Mr. Wang's experience was no exception. She had completed her master's degree in 1952 and studied vocal music with her teachers at the Juilliard School at her own expense, while anxiously waiting to return to China with her husband, but she was never allowed to go to the United States. It was not until after the Geneva Conference in 1954 that the situation took a turn for the better.
The gentleman left to return home within two weeks of being allowed to return home, and his urgent mood can be imagined. She studied and lived in the United States for 7 years, deeply influenced by Western culture, but she did not linger, but eagerly wanted to return to her homeland and serve the country. After talking about these experiences, the gentleman took a long breath and said, "After repeated tossing and turning, I finally arrived home!" She also told me that some of her friends and some of Mr. Tong's classmates and friends were in the United States. She said: "I am glad that I have returned to China, and if I still stay in the United States, I will only be able to be a good wife at home!" Without the land and culture that nurtured us, how could I write poetry? "Sir's words shook me tremendously, and I saw from them his character.
After my husband returned to China, the "Cultural Revolution" was inevitably impacted, but she said to me, "At that time, I didn't have to teach classes, I listened to music at home, listened to Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart..." The composure and resilience in her heart seemed to exceed the pain and suffering, and she always firmly believed that the pace of history must go forward. I think this is inseparable from the philosophical thinking that Mr. Li adheres to, and her vision is to see a broader human destiny and to feel a longer historical pulse. This made her reflection after the Cultural Revolution more profound and wise, and she wrote a group of poems "Poets and Death" that expressed the suffering mental journey of that generation of intellectuals, which was shocking in its profundity.
After graduation, I often visited my husband, and we have maintained a teacher-student relationship for many years. Every time I went to see her, she always had to talk to me about academic problems, about current events, or poetry, or culture, or education... In his later years, he paid particular attention to the problems and dilemmas faced by human beings and the worrying environment in which he lived. The gentleman in his 90s sat in front of me, gushing endlessly, never tired, and bursting out of her thin body was her deep humanistic concern and intellectual broad mind and conscience.
When the gentleman was gone, the leaf turned into a distant mountain in autumn, into a full moon on the harvest day, into a golden bunch of rice, into a small river that permeated the historical memory flowing under our feet, flowing into the distance, flowing into the future.
But the gentleman in my heart never left, and the quiet and philosophical verses she left us, the broad and lofty spiritual realm contained in her thoughts, always beat in my heart.
January 15, 2022
(The author is the daughter of the famous poet Tu An, Mr. Zheng Min Gaozu, professor of the School of Foreign Languages of Beijing Normal University)
Zheng Min: Southwest United University
The last famous poet
◎Li Guangrong (Distinguished Professor, Yunnan Normal University)
One
"Is the sky in Kunming still so blue?"
"It's still so blue."
"Are the clouds still so white?"
"It's still so white."
"Are the trees of the West Mountain still so green?"
"It's still so green."
"Is the water in Dianchi Still so clear?"
On October 6, 2004, I visited Mr. Zheng Min in Beijing, and the conversation began like this. It can be seen that Kunming is a clear color of blue, white and green that stays in her heart. But the next answer disappointed her:
“...... No, not so clear. "In the face of an 84-year-old man, I can't help but tell the truth, even if I break the beauty in her heart.
"What a pity! Kunming is the place where I have lived for a few years, it is very beautiful, it is really nostalgic! ”
"Haven't you been back since you left?"
"Never been there."
Previously, China's economy and transportation were still backward, tourism had not become a climate, and many teachers and students of Southwest United University did not return to Kunming to pursue Shaohua. I wanted to say "when are you going to go for a walk", but held back. I do not understand the physical condition of the elderly, nor do I know when the opportunity will appear, and I cannot give the elderly hope and disappointment.
The poet is so approachable, the conversation must be smooth. She said that she had recently been thinking about education, so she started from education and turned to the Southwest United University, talking about philosophy, talking about poetry, talking about the "Nine Leaf School" and so on. When it comes to education, she takes human development as the premise, psychology as the basis, and Western education as a reference, and its benchmark is the Southwest United University. It can be felt that she has a strong "Southwest United University complex". This reminds me of Xu Zhimo's teaching to Cambridge University: "My eyes were taught by Kangqiao to open, my curiosity was dialed by Kangqiao, and my self-consciousness was embryonic by Kangqiao." The Southwest United University also gave Zheng Min a thinking brain, a pair of eyes to see problems, and a life path. Unconsciously, two hours had passed, and I resigned, and she took out the "Collected Poems of Zheng Min" and "Thinking, Culture, and Poetics" and wrote the words "Mr. Li Guangrong Cunzheng" and sent them to me.
Two
Later, we talked on the phone from time to time, and the issues we talked about were broader, involving traditional culture, new cultural movements, and Western poetry. I think she is always looking at China with the eyes of the world, and comparing the world with China's reality, saying what she says at a high level, and at the same time standing at the forefront of her thinking.
In July 2014, I sent her my "Selected Literary Works of Southwest United University" and "Flowers In Seasons: A Study of literary societies of Southwest United University". In September, she called me and said that she wanted to send me the "Anthology", it was inconvenient for her to go out by herself, so she asked her daughter to send it, but the book was too heavy, and she could only send three copies of the poetry part. I was overjoyed. She repeatedly explained that the reason for not sending all the money was "too heavy". Yeah, she's 94 years old, and her daughter is over 60 years old, so she really can't move. Later, she said that the publisher gave her 20 sets of books and wanted to send some to foreign countries. Well, I was one of the more than ten objects of her book donation, and I was very touched. But I'm ashamed that I haven't written a decent review so far.
On June 21, 2015, I said that I was going to compile the "Collection of Literary Works of Southwest United University" and hoped that she would award me her own works. She was very happy to hear it, saying that there should be such a book, and she happily agreed.
Later, on the phone, I felt that she was very clear about abstract theory, and somewhat vague about recent matters, and should not bother her anymore, and the contact gradually decreased.
Three
On January 3, 2022, I was deeply saddened to see the news of "Zheng Min's death" in the WeChat group! The 102-year-old man, although expected, is also extremely reluctant. Gradually, the scene of the Southwest United Congress and Kunming that she had sung came to my eyes, and I opened the "Collected Poems of Zheng Min" and read "The Tree": the stars moved between its arms / The stream slowly flowed under its gaze / In its bosom the birds came and went / And it was always so praying, contemplating / As if growing in the land of eternal tranquility.
Is this a tree on the west hill of Kunming, or a tree on the slope of the flat slope on the edge of the city? I have seen it in "The Golden Rice Bunch", I have seen it in "MaoZu", in "Secret", in "Lonely", I have seen it in many poems in the early poets, and I believe that it is a poplar tree on the campus of Southwest United University - there is a section of poplar trees on the road side of the southwest United University that leads to the front and back gates. Zheng Min once used poplar as a symbol of the Southwest United Congress: "Oh, poplar is your young arm, once like this / lifted up to the cloudless blue sky, as if to promise us / an equally cloudless tomorrow." "The tree is a common object of the earth, and the tree of Kunming has its own characteristics, because it has not withered over the years, it has become the object of chanting by the writers of the Southwest United University, and the Yugali tree has entered the annals of history because of the poems of Feng Zhi, Li Guangtian and Shen Congwen, but the writing of poplar is rare.
Four
The "generalist" education of Southwest United University has made her a person with a solid foundation, a broad vision, profound thinking, and expertise. Wang Zengqi never forgot the freshman Chinese literature class, and Zheng Min did not forget the freshman philosophy, chinese general history and world general history class. She said the lessons allowed her to identify herself as a position to observe the problem. She listened to classes in the Department of Philosophy, and also took classes by Wen Yiduo and Feng Zhi, as well as classes by Shen Congwen and Bian Zhilin. She especially appreciated Zheng Xin's lectures: there is no established system, and talking about the problems he is studying may be his thinking the night before, the latest thing. He talked about Kant for a year, centering on the question of whether "things" have substance or not, and he talked very deeply. This is the fundamental problem of philosophy, the turning point of classical philosophy handed down by Plato to modern philosophy, and understanding it opens up the joints of philosophy.
She is also a beneficiary of the "from the tour" pedagogy. She learned German from Feng Zhi and her master's mother, Yao Kekun. One semester, Mr. Feng was ill, and Mr. Yao substituted for class, so he was very familiar with Mr. Feng's family. She took the study work and asked Mr. Feng to read it, and Mr. Feng said, "There are poems in it." A word inspired her creative enthusiasm. She sometimes went to his house for advice, and gradually became a regular visitor, going as long as she wanted, without restraint. He can learn from his life experience, the way he treats people and things, and the way he deals with problems. Once, when Mr. Bian Zhilin came, she sat on the sidelines and listened to them talk, and although she could not interject, she gained many things. She also went to other gentlemen's houses and had more contact with Shen Congwen. One day, she and a classmate went to the street, suddenly wanted to go to Chenggong to play, took the train to go. In Chenggong, he suddenly wanted to go to Mr. Shen's house to see, so he went. No plans and appointments at all, casually. Mr. Shen also valued Zheng Min, and published several poems such as "Time", "Death", "Time and Death", "Tree", "Dance" and so on in the supplement he edited.
Five
Mr. Feng Zhi went from literature to philosophy and then back to literature. Zheng Min went from philosophy to literature. This was the source of her thoughts approaching Mr. Feng Zhi. People who study philosophy like to explore the nature of things. Zheng Min was glad that he went to the philosophy department and could pay attention to the things behind literature when reading poetry. Therefore, she naturally followed Feng Zhi's path in writing poetry: there is philosophy in poetry.
In addition to the cultural background, impact research is very suitable for Zheng Min. At that time, Feng Zhi was writing a sonnet. Like her husband, she takes ordinary things, gives ideas, and expresses philosophical meanings. Feng Zhi's poems Oh big trees, weeds, moths, bugs, puppies, old cows, paths, streets, rivers, green mountains, peasant women, we can easily find the clouds, dawn, quiet night, ponds, woods, islands, trees, birds and other common things in Zheng Min's poems, we can also see children, students, blind people, small painters, scavengers, rickshaw pullers and other ordinary people, of course, there are life, love, death and other philosophers like to explore the subject. The calmness and soothingness of the poetic style, the rejection of contradictions and conflicts and the ups and downs are also self-evident. The well-known poetry "Golden Rice Bunch" is the most typical representative. I did not hesitate to include this poem when I compiled the Selected Literary Works of the Southwest United University. Of course, she and her teacher are many different.
In fact, at that time, Zheng Min was a quiet girl, who did not like to be lively, timidly communicative, and in her words, "going alone". She did not join any of the active societies of the Southwest United University, she did not participate in the collective speech meeting, except for the people around her, she did not know much, even Mu Dan, Zhao Ruihong, Lin Yuanyuan, Du Yunxie, Wu Ningkun, Chen Yunzhen, Wang Zengqi, etc. She did not know, and she only met Yuan Kejia in the 50s before the "Nine Leaf Poets" meeting. Her poem begins with the words " I don't want to raise my hand and knock on the door / I'm afraid the voice is too unmodicious " , which is a manifestation of her character. Teacher Qian Liqun captured this feature and said that "the word she uses most often is 'silence'", which can be described as the language of knowing people. Her poems during the Southwest United Congress period are cloudless blue skies and wordless sculptures. Everyone loves to say "Samsung", in fact, they are very different. She did not have the contradictions and conflicts of Mu Dan, nor did she have the relaxed atmosphere of Du Yunxie, and the two of them were not as quiet and distant as her.
Six
Southwest United University not only cultivated Zheng Min's philosophical thinking, but also created her poetic character, laying the foundation for her life's career, including her ability to change the poetry style of the early stage. The period of Southwest United University was still the happiest time of her life, material lack and spiritual wealth, ideals, pursuits, free thinking, brave exploration, and became a leader in poetry. Therefore, Southwest United University is her lifelong attachment. When it comes to the Southwest United University, she always can't help but express her nostalgia. Interestingly, in the twilight years, whoever talked to her about Southwest United University, she talked to whoever she talked to as an alumnus.
Today, her departure is the departure of the last famous poet of the Southwest United Congress who gained a poetic title and influenced in the 1940s and entered the history of literature in the 1990s.
Written in Chengdu on January 19, 2022
The title of this edition is selected from Zheng Min's poem "Golden Rice Bunch"
Photo courtesy of Zhang Yan, Zhao Yun, Li Guangrong