"Talking about the Heart: Eighteen Years with Lin Qingxia" "Wrong Stamps"
Text/Jin Shenghua
In 2007, Lin Qingxia regrettably missed Yang Xianyi in Beijing, and she did not see Yang Dai. This time, there was no special reason, but Mr. Yang happened to go out at that time and went to Dalian.
Soon after I became friends with Qingxia, I introduced Yang Chen's works to her, because Mr. Yang's writing returned to the basics, the fire was pure, and he used the simplest words to express the deepest content, truly reaching the realm of Bai Lotte's "old woman can understand". Qingxia has been immersed in the film circle all her life, people say that the film circle is a big dyeing vat, and it is strange that she actually came out of the dyeing vat with a white body. Not only that, her innocence, earnestness, elegance and simplicity can be expressed in her daily dress, and can also be reflected in the pure sincerity of her words. Therefore, I think Yang Dai's writing style should be the best learning example for Qingxia.
Yang Dai (1911-2016), writer, translator, scholar, wife of Qian Zhongshu
In the preface to "Walking to the Edge of Life", Yang Dai said: "On January 6, 2005, I came out of the front door of the hospital. If I came out of the backdoor morgue, I was 'going home'. Such simple and unpretentious language is indeed the most touching to people's hearts. Qingxia said that she would not use allusions or idioms in her writing, but she was sincere and sincere, and she wrote down to tell what she thought and felt in her heart, which touched both herself and the reader.
Qingxia liked to read books on the meaning of life and spirituality at that time. It just so happened that Yang Dai sent me a copy of "Phaedo" that she translated, and I also lent it to Qingxia to read. Who knew that she was deeply moved after reading it, and even bought dozens of copies to give to friends in one go.
Phaedo is Plato's dialogue about the day of his execution, when the sage Socrates discussed life and death with his disciples. According to Yang Chen, the translation of the book is her healing work, "I am trying to do something beyond my reach, devote all my mind and forget myself" (see "Afterword") The publication of "Phaedo" coincided with the first anniversary of Qian Zhongshu's death. The book talks about the immortality of the soul and the spirit of Socrates' awe-inspiring righteousness. This book, Qingxia deeply realized after reading it, and also became a good medicine for each other to heal in the mourning of the loss of our loved ones. Therefore, Qingxia was sincerely grateful and admired for Yang Dai, and soon began to study other works such as "Six Memories of Cadre School", "We Both", "Bathing" and so on, remembering that when Yang Dai's new book "After Bathing" was published in 2014, Qingxia took the lead in buying it for me.
Yang Dai's book "Bathing"
In the spring of 2008, because I participated in the "Symposium to Commemorate the Centenary of Mr. Fu Lei's Birth", I went to Beijing again, and before I left, Qingxia solemnly entrusted me to bring her greetings and blessings when visiting Yang Dai. So, in the mid-spring of April 8, I was accompanied by the French literary translator Luo Xinzhang and visited the Sanli River. The first time I came was on July 17, 2000, the day of Mr. Yang Dai's birthday in the old calendar, when Mr. Yang described himself as haggard and lonely, refusing all socializing, but he made an exception to meet with me and Luo Xinzhang, an old colleague of the Academy of Social Sciences. After that, every time I visited, I found that the old man was stronger and stronger than ever, and he was more and more energetic, during which he not only published many new works of his own, but also completed the editing of the "Qian Zhongshu Manuscript Collection", just like the evergreen pine cypress, experiencing the severe cold of the midwinter, and only then did it become more and more tall and green.
Yang Dai received us that day, saying that she was going to let the guests "sit in the pile of books and chat" because she was busy proofreading Mr. Qian's manuscript. What could be more pleasant than talking to a wise old man in a bookish bookstore? At that time, I thought that Qingxia could also go along, but it was a pity!
I took out the gift that Qingxia entrusted me to bring, a box of exquisite and beautiful chocolates to give to Yang Dai. This is a treasure that Qingxia collected from a special store in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, each candy, individually wrapped in different colored paper, and then decorated with pearl rhinestones, sparkling and shiny, looking like jewels, each with a unique design, different from the other. The old man picked up this box of candy, rubbed it in his hand, and said softly: "So beautiful, so wrapped so well, I am not willing to eat it!" In an article "Father Lao", Yang Dai mentioned her experience when she was young, the French priest who hurt her the most, once gave her a box of chocolates that were very precious in that era, and the box was outsourced layer by layer of various papers, including newspapers, kraft paper, waste paper, there were always seventeen or eight layers, in order to let the little girl know to cherish, do not eat it casually, but take it home to taste with her parents. On that day, when the old man took the chocolate brought from Hong Kong and came out of his mind, the years were hurried, and I wondered if I remembered this childhood past that had not faded?
Next, Mr. Yang talked very excitedly, we talked about practicing words from her new book, from sports to health, chatting and chatting, the time passed quickly, I remembered Qingxia's regret that she could not come to meet last time, and quickly asked Mr. For a few words for her. I pulled out a note on Mr. Yang's desk and asked her to write ink treasure, she hesitated slightly, and said what to write? At this time, Luo Xinzhang proposed to write "beautiful people are rare"! Luo is a very talented translator, after he said, Yang Dai immediately wrote down, mentioned the upper paragraph "Ms. Qingxia", the next paragraph "Yang Dai sighed that there was no reason", I immediately felt like a treasure, who knows that the note was just written, she said "No, this paper is not good"! So I began to look in the drawer by the window on the left side of the speckled desk, which was also old, and it took a lot of effort to open it, and it creaked, and it turned out to find a delicate and beautiful card with an envelope and re-write it again. This time, she was finally satisfied, so she put away the card, signed a copy of "Phaedo", handed me the original note to keep, and instructed me to only give the beautiful card to Qingxia along with the book.
In fact, Yang Dai wrote the two words Of Qingxia as "Qingxia" at that time, and we were reluctant to propose it, because this was a rare wrong-body stamp, written by the ninety-eight old man's neat xiaokai, written on the desk where he had created such masterpieces as "Six Records of the Cadre School" and "The Two of Us", what is more precious?!
Lin Qingxia's cover of "Clouds Go to Clouds"
After returning to Hong Kong, I handed over Yang Chen's ink treasure to Qingxia, a rare "wrong-body stamp" that has played an active role over the years, and now, the winner of the "stamp" is not only making rapid progress in writing, but also in terms of style and charm, and constantly moving closer to the master. Many years ago, the Hong Kong Translation Society awarded Yang Dai the title of Honorary Fellow, and she did not refuse to come and wrote a special reply and asked me to read it on her behalf. The answer was short and wonderful, she wrote: "Translation is a work that never ends... Therefore, translators often lament that 'translation is thankless', and they are indeed well aware of the bitter talk. It is not good enough to achieve the original work, and the translator himself hates himself for not being good. If the translator thinks he is good, does not get the reader to praise, and tries his best to applaud himself, he is still thankless. Here a few "good" words are used in a row, which seems bland, but it is actually interesting! Recently, Qingxia wrote a letter to a movie fan, encouraging this twenty-year-old girl to work hard, she said in the letter: "Leave the comfortable and warm home, go to other places to seek knowledge, make friends, your sense of belonging and security should be found in your heart, like rapeseed, you can grow well anywhere... It is normal to be confused at this age, as long as you are like a sponge, study hard, and do a good job in the current situation, the opportunity will automatically find you. "The plain and sincere tone of the tone, isn't it also a bit of a shadow of Yang Dai's brushstrokes?
Yang Dai is old and strong, never tiresome, at the age of one hundred and three, he also published a new novel, the winner of the "wrong body stamp", in 2021, he also said in a letter to the girl: "Your sister is sixty-seven, still studying every day, and still wants to make sponges, to be honest, my sister has absorbed a lot of knowledge in the past two years, read a lot of books, made a lot of people of insight, and is very happy every day." With the spirit of Mr. Yang Dai leading in front of us, we know that learning is endless, as long as we continue to strive for progress, how can life not be full? (The author is Jin Shenghua, scholar, former president of the Hong Kong Translation Society)