After moving into a nursing home in 2015, Teacher Qian Liqun took off the hats of famous professors and public intellectuals at Peking University, refused all media interviews, and devoted himself to writing. But in the past two years, he has begun to give some interviews. Why is there such an impulse? Teacher Qian Liqun said: "I think it is inseparable from the psychological impact, confusion and anxiety brought about by the 2020 Gengzi epidemic. ”
"Thirteen Invitations" (Curator: Liu Jinfeng, Design: Chen Lin, Painting/Typography: Yuan Beibei)
"In the face of the epidemic and the post-epidemic dilemma, my choices and self-requirements can be summarized in four sentences: the first is to observe; the second is to wait; the third is to persevere; and the fourth is to do something within the scope of the possibility." Last year, teacher Qian Liqun wrote "Qian Liqun Reading Lu Xun" and "Qian Liqun's New Selection of Lu Xun's Works", and told young people about Lu Xun at station B.
Screenshot of the video course "Professor Qian Liqun of Peking University Speaks about Lu Xun"
Teacher Qian Liqun also turned his life in a nursing home into a kind of "field investigation", and had more close observation and thinking about the elderly. "Old people want to be stable, why are they old and still encounter such a chaotic world?" Extreme confusion also led me to ask the question: Where to find eternity in turbulent times? Teacher Qian Liqun said, "In fact, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, many people also faced this problem. How to pursue the eternity of life in times of turmoil. ”
Screenshot of the poster for the third season of "Thirteen Invitations"
Today, Movable Type Jun shared with book friends the article "Qian Liqun: Why Return to Lu Xun in the Era of the Epidemic" interviewed by Qian Liqun in Sanlian Life Weekly? 》。 Living in a nursing home for many years, teacher Qian Liqun told the reporter of Sanlian Life Weekly: "My new learning is pension science, I am ready to write a book, and I have now written eight or nine articles. ”
Qian Liqun: In the era of the epidemic, why did you return to Lu Xun?
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Reporter | Ai Jiangtao
This article was originally published in Sanlian Digital Journal, No. 9, 2022
Professor Qian Liqun Photo: Du Mengwei
"Now is the best phase of my life. There was no external interference, and my writing was not ready to be published, and I went into a state of freedom, a state of explosion. In a nursing home dozens of kilometers away from downtown Beijing, Qian Liqun, 82, sat down on the sofa with an enamel jar and talked to us. Although the time is winter, and the talk is rising, he will still pick up the fan next to him and say it while fanning it.
After moving into a nursing home in 2015, unloading the hat of a famous professor at Peking University, Qian Liqun refused all media interviews, immersed himself in writing, and the focus of attention was also shifted from the original research on Lu Xun and the study of modern literary history to the study of intellectual history and spiritual history that is more in line with his own nature. In his view, the real responsibility of intellectuals is to provide a value ideal for society.
"Friends who know me well know that I have formed a habit in my later years: consciously getting up half an hour early every morning. I usually get up at 7 o'clock and have consciousness at 6:30, what do I do in this half hour? Wild thinking will produce some very peculiar academic research ideas. A lot of my major research is all whimsical. "On December 8, 2021, two days after the interview with us, in the last lesson for Peking University students, Qian Liqun had just finished speaking, and the audience laughed everywhere.
On December 8, 2021, Qian Liqun gave a final lesson to Peking University students: "Stepping on the Earth, Looking Up at the Stars: Local Cultural Studies in the Era of Globalization." After class, he signed the students in line to commemorate the occasion (Photo by Yu Chuzhong)
Qian Liqun, who is still highly active in his thinking, likes to think about cutting-edge issues. He summed up the epidemic era we are in as "no truth, no consensus, no certainty", in an era of great changes, the whole world is sick, all development models, all civilization forms have problems, the game brought about by the crisis and the re-examination of human civilization can bring a new comprehensive value concept that transcends the system? In addition, the drastic changes in the relationship between man and nature, the advent of the era of human longevity, and a series of problems brought about by the combination of new technology and system are all concerned by Qian Liqun. Living in a nursing home for many years, Qian Liqun has more close observation and thinking about the elderly, he told us: "My new learning is pension science, I am ready to write a book, and I have now written eight or nine articles. ”
"Old people want to be stable, why are they old and still encounter such a chaotic world?" Extreme confusion also led me to ask the question: Where to find eternity in turbulent times? Qian Liqun set his sights on the history of modern literature, which he had studied all his life, "In fact, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, many people also faced this problem." How to pursue the eternity of life in times of turmoil.
In the forest hut of Yangjiashan on the outskirts of Kunming, Feng Zhi created important works such as "Landscape", "Wu Zixu", and "Fourteen Elements"
I pay particular attention to two writers of modern literature. One is Shen Congwen, who put forward a very important proposition: seeking the unchangeable things from a changing society. The other was Feng Zhi, who chose to live in a house in the woods on the outskirts of Kunming at that time, and on the forest path, he found two eternities: one is the eternity of nature, no matter how turbulent the society is, the sky is still going to rain, the clouds are still floating; the other is the eternity of daily life, no matter what changes occur, people should eat when they eat, sleep and sleep, get married, and fall in love. I was greatly inspired here to find the three eternities. One is nature, the second is everyday life, and the third is history, and I study history. ”
This spiritual stability and aggression permeated his entire later life, like the two photographs of himself hanging in the bedroom of the nursing home, one in serious contemplation, and the other with a smile like Maitreya Buddha. In 2018, Qian Liqun and his wife Cui Kexin were diagnosed with cancer almost at the same time, and the two did not seek more treatment, but devoted themselves to life. On August 4, 2019, after the death of the old partner who helped him take care of everything, he stepped out of the completely spiritual existence of the past, began to pay attention to what he ate, and would also take an hour in the afternoon to meet nature in the yard: "This tree you look at in the morning, there is sunshine to see, snow to see, completely different, constantly new discoveries." 」 When you get home, you will feel like a new life. ”
In the picture of "Thirteen Invitations", Qian Liqun walks in the nursing home every afternoon
Qian Liqun's historical research includes re-reading Lu Xun. This famous scholar who insisted on studying Lu Xun with his life experience could always find an echo of his soul from Lu Xun whenever he was confused and wandering. In 2021, Qian Liqun wrote "Qian Liqun Reading Lu Xun" and "Qian Liqun's Newly Edited Selected Readings of Lu Xun's Works", and re-told Lu Xun to young people at Station B. Back to the most authentic state of a person, talk about how Lu Xun sees, how he thinks, how he says, how he writes, how he reads, and how he behaves as a person.
Choosing to talk about Lu Xun at such a moment, Qian Liqun has a deep meaning: "The biggest feature of Lu Xun is that he has an alien thinking and questions the values and understandings recognized by everyone. When a person is comfortable and satisfied with the status quo, he will not read Lu Xun; when you have doubts about real life, feel that something is not quite right, and want to find another way, it is the best time to contact Lu Xun. ”
In Qian Liqun's view, Lu Xun is the most suitable for this era. His essays are typical of online literature, whether it is a quick response to reality or a sharp and sharp language, which is very much in line with the needs of network communication. "Today's intellectuals rely on the Internet to make an impact. For example, my biggest influence is the phrase 'exquisite egoist', and many people know Qian Liqun, probably because of that sentence. This is Lu Xun's expression, highly generalized and imaged, the kind of expression that makes people unforgettable as soon as they hear it. Now the phrase 'no truth, no consensus, no certainty' has also begun to spread. My influence in the future may be these two sentences. Qian Liqun said with a smile.
Why do we still need Lu Xun?
[Qian Liqun] Why do we still need Lu Xun today? Video screenshots
Q: In 2021, you wrote two books about Lu Xun and told lu xun to young people at station B. After many years, why reread and re-talk about Lu Xun?
Qian Liqun: As you have noticed, I am afraid that you have personally felt, the natural and man-made disaster crisis brought about by the Gengzi epidemic has plunged all the people of the world into extreme confusion and anxiety. In the face of this "no truth, no consensus, no uncertainty" social change, I feel unspeakably lonely and confused and helpless.
In such a dilemma of thought and life, two strong desires arise. The first is the desire to have a "true friend" who can speak his heart with confidence, exchange opinions frankly, and discuss freely—I thought of Lu Xun. I am more eager to pursue and explore many fundamental issues that I used to take for granted and rarely pondered, but which have been highlighted in the epidemic and post-epidemic era – I also think of Lu Xun. Therefore, I woke up to the fact that in this era of great historical changes and great spiritual confusion, Lu Xun is the best interlocutor.
With the questions raised by the current era and raised by my own life dilemma, reading Lu Xun again, I entered a surprising realm of thought and research that "constantly has new discoveries and new thinking", and my own life thus entered a "state of contemplation in turmoil". More importantly, I have a new understanding of Lu Xun and Lu Xun's research: a major, perhaps more fundamental aspect of Lu Xun's thought, is his thinking, exploration, and practice of the fundamental issues of life and human nature, such as "how people should see, think, speak, write, read, and behave and do things"; when we read and study Lu Xun, we should also regard Lu Xun as a person like us, looking for common ground in life, not only paying attention to the specific views and expositions of Lu Xun's works, but also thinking and absorbing how Lu Xun "sees, thinks, speaks, writes, and reads." The thinking, vision, vision, emotion, psychology and method behind "being a person and doing things": this may be more fundamental.
Therefore, I also have a new understanding of my own lu xun research, that is, "to keep Lu Xun is to guard my own academic roots and the roots of life." In this sense, it can be said that my "Selected Readings of Qian Liqun's Newly Edited Works of Lu Xun" is not only a popular reading of Lu Xun, but also has the academic significance of new research, new discoveries, and new understandings of Lu Xun.
▍ Q: Re-reading Lu Xun, you can always have new discoveries, such as the "calm aesthetics" of Lu Xun's novels. Where did Lu Xun's "calm aesthetics" come from? In the 1930s, when the national disaster was getting worse and deeper, this kind of calmness was actually difficult to find, did this also cause an internal crisis in Lu Xun's creation in his later years?
Qian Liqun: This involves two issues. One problem is that Lu Xun always has an innocent side. When young people, especially primary and secondary school students, read Lu Xun's works, I recommend that they see how Lu Xun writes about animals, and his cats, dogs, mice, and rabbits can all see his very innocent side. But he lived in an era that could not keep him innocent.
Lu Xun was actually very interested in folklore and children's literature, but he didn't have time to write about them. And this part was fully developed in Zhou Zuoren. Why do I think Lu Xun and Zhou Zuoren are complementary to some extent? Zhou Zuoren said, "In addition to the necessary things for daily use, we must have a little useless game and pleasure to make life interesting." We watch the sunset, look at the Autumn River, look at the flowers, listen to the rain, smell the incense, drink wine that does not quench our thirst, and eat snacks that do not seek to be full, all of which are necessary in life - although it is useless decoration, and the more refined the better", Lu Xun did not mention much, but he himself actually liked this life. So this is Lu Xun's complexity, and even his multifaceted nature. Some people asked, is Lu Xun cute? Lu Xun has a cute side, but he can't be called cute, because his complexity overwhelms the innocent side.
On the other hand, I don't quite agree with this view, believing that Lu Xun wrote essays in his later years because he couldn't write novels. Rather, it is because the essay is the most suitable form of expression for his inner requirements, a way of being for him.
On November 27, 1932, Lu Xun gave a speech at Beijing Normal University
▍Question: Why is it said that essays have become a way of life for Lu Xun?
▍ Qian Liqun: The novels, essays, and prose poems in the Complete Works of Lu Xun are only part of the first and second volumes of the complete collection, and after the third volume are all essays. Obviously, essays are the main body of Lu Xun's creation, and even Lu Xun's novel "New Story Compilation", which many people particularly like, has injected the vision and tone of the essay.
It can be said that the essay is the style that Lu Xun finally found, which is the most suitable for his relationship with the times. Essays are very similar to today's online literature, although it is published on paper, but like the Internet, freely enter and exit all fields of modern Chinese society, most rapidly absorb the information of the times that are changing rapidly; and then evaluate and judge from politics, social history, ethics, and even aesthetics, and use the most concise and flexible language to make their own responses, and then with the help of media dissemination, immediately known and accepted by the majority of readers, and the most rapid social feedback. More importantly, essay writing has become a way of life and a way of life for Lu Xun.
Lu Xun's essays thus acquired a kind of contemporaneity. Shao Yanjun, a teacher who studies online literature in the Department of Chinese at Peking University, told me that the internet literature celebrities she is familiar with like Lu Xun's essays. Therefore, my book mainly selects and compiles Lu Xun's essays to guide young people to "not understand Lu Xun's essays, do not understand Lu Xun."
Q: You just talked about the comparison of the Zhou brothers, and we know that you have done in-depth research on both of them. Zhang Zhongxing once said in "Negative Continuation: Talking About Bitter Rain Again": "Regarding the tao of the world, the brother looks at it with hot eyes, so it quickly turns into righteous indignation; the brother looks at it with cold eyes, so it is inevitable that there is a sense of discouragement that cannot be seen even in er'er, and he wants to be hot but cannot get hot." This mentions the height of contemplation of life, saying that the brother is biased toward the end of faith, and the brother is the end of doubt. Each has its own direction, which kind of near truth? It's not easy to say. "How do you view the relationship between the Zhou brothers?
▍ Qian Liqun: I wrote an article in which I felt that Lu Xun and Zhou Zuoren were somewhat similar to Don Quixote and Hamlet in Western literature, showing two sides of human nature. Lu Xun shows the more intense side of human nature, and Zhou Zuoren shows the more calm and leisure side of human nature. In fact, you see Lu Xun, he also appreciates the philosophy of calmness, so they are real brothers who complement each other and understand each other. Their differences are superficial, in fact, they are common in their bones, but they have their own emphases and different plays. So I think the greatest success of my life's research is to choose to study both of them at the same time, which makes my vision and vision more comprehensive.
From another point of view, I think the biggest problem Lu Xun encountered in his life was the lack of a real opponent. Although some people constantly criticized him, none of these criticisms touched on his point, so Lu Xun couldn't look at him at all. The thoughts of these people did not touch him in any way.
We can think of Lu Xun's personality, if someone touches his key points and stimulates his thinking, Lu Xun's thought will develop even more. And Zhou Zuoren, who can be his opponent, their relationship determines that he cannot be an opponent, which is a very interesting problem. So to some extent, in a turbulent era, Lu Xun is the most suitable; in a relatively stable era, Zhou Zuoren is the most suitable.
Mr. Lu Xun (first from left) talking to a young woodcarver (photographed in 1936) (courtesy of Wang Qiong/FOTOE)
▍Question: You just said that those criticisms against Lu Xun did not talk about his key points, so what is the key point of Lu Xun?
▍ Qian Liqun: This is a question raised by many people, and my view is this: Lu Xun's basic weakness is also, to some extent, the weakness of Chinese culture. Many people think that Lu Xun is a rebel of Chinese culture, but in fact, in my opinion, Lu Xun understands Chinese culture the best, and he is both the inheritor of the excellent tradition of Chinese culture and the critic of Chinese cultural problems.
There is a fundamental problem with Chinese culture, which is my personal opinion, that is, we have no faith. Chinese culture has always been based on Confucian culture as the core, and the biggest feature of Confucian culture is to talk about this shore, how people live better in real life, lack of a kind of care for the other shore, lack of an ultimate belief.
So Lu Xun has a big problem, we can't learn from him, what is the reason? Because Lu Xun did not have something higher to lead. He emphasizes the ego and he has a very strong ego. It is no accident that he admired Nietzsche, whose philosophy was at the heart of Lu Xun, emphasizing the strong willpower of the individual. But we can't learn that ordinary people can't have such a strong self. Lu Xun can only be the object of our admiration, there is no way to directly affect you, from another point of view, this is his weakness.
"Worthy of regret"
▍ Question: Your study of Lu Xun not only advocates returning to the historical situation of Lu Xun, but also "integrating Lu Xun into one's own life", and some commentators also call this kind of research method represented by you and Wang Furen as the "school of life". My doubt is that the deep-seated recognition of the life of the subject of the study as a personal choice of value is beyond reproach, but as an academic research, will it bring about an unconscious beautification of the subject of the study, or even the impulse to defend it at all times, and then create some new obscuration.
▍ Qian Liqun: The "school of life" in contemporary Lu Xun studies is one of my statements. In my understanding and vision, whether it constitutes a "school" may be discussed, but it represents the common pursuit of me and Wang Dehou and Wang Furen, three old friends who are engaged in Lu Xun research. Coincidentally, 2021 is the 140th anniversary of Lu Xun's birth, and all three of us have published our own research works: "Qian Liqun's Newly Edited Selected Works of Lu Xun" and "Qian Liqun Talks About Lu Xun", as well as "On Lu Xun" (part 1 and 2) in "Wang Furen's Academic Anthology", as well as "Lu Xun's Research Notes" written by Wang Dehou and commented by Qian Liqun. In the preface to my review, I referred to the three of us as "the 'old-fashioned and stubborn' Lu Xun Watchmen."
The recognition and concept behind this is: "The problem of Chinese thought and academia at present is not the 'deification' of Lu Xun, but the originality and foresight of Lu Xun's thought, and its role and impact on the reality and future of China and the world are far from underestimated." And a 'China that raised Lu Xun' will sooner or later 'recognize Lu Xun more and more, believe in Lu Xun, and accept Lu Xun'", thus determining our conscious choice: "Take Lu Xun Thought as the basic belief, and study and disseminate Lu Xun Thought as its historical mission." Moreover, if there is an 'afterlife', it is also necessary to study and disseminate Lu Xun's thought. This is probably our common belief, academic pursuit and self-positioning.
Qian Liqun, "The Quest of the Heart" (Life, Reading, and New Knowledge Triptych Bookstore, 2014)
In the "Introduction" of my first Lu Xun research work, "The Search of the Mind", I put forward my own "Lu Xun Research View", which has several main points: First, it acknowledges the objectivity and ontology of "Lu Xun" (his person and his works), and can be "approached" and revealed, and has its own objective standard. This avoids the subjective arbitrariness of "using Lu Xun for my own use" and falling into an incomprehensible nihilism. Second, it acknowledges the contradictions, complexity, multi-layeredness and multi-faceted nature of Lu Xun's ontology, thus determining that Lu Xun's research is a "process of movement" that is constantly approaching and never ending. Third, acknowledge the subject's input of the researcher, the "problem awareness" in the research: the active role of the problems raised by the existence of the "era" and the "self" life in which they live. Fourth, acknowledging that the intervention of such an era subject and an individual subject has two sides: while there is "discovery and creation", there will also be some "obscuration", which requires continuous "adjustment, repair and development".
From this point of view, any stage of understanding and research results is a kind of "flawed value". In the era of ideological enlightenment in the 1980s, I emphasized "individual Lu Xun" and in the new century highlighted the value of "left-wing Lu Xun", which is a process of "discovering something, covering it up, and constantly making adjustments."
▍Q: In the newly published "Qian Liqun On Lu Xun", you once again talked about "when I entered the academic community in the 1980s, I already gave myself a historical positioning of 'being a bridge between Lu Xun and contemporary youth', which has been adhered to until now, and I am afraid that I will have to keep it until the end of my life." I wonder why you had that historical position at the time? Where does this sense of historical mission come from?
▍ Qian Liqun: The subject intervention in research also has a problem of the relationship between thought and practice. We believe that Lu Xun is a "practical thinker who understands life with his unique ideas and engages in improving this life"; as a follower of Lu Xun, our Lu Xun research must also have "a certain practical character, with the transformation of Chinese and society as the reference", so we set ourselves such a research goal: "Talk about Lu Xun, then Lu Xun will talk down, and do it down." ”
How to "do it down" and find a way of practicing that suits you involves the question of how to correctly understand what you are, what you can do, and what you can't do. When I studied Lu Xun in the 1980s of the Enlightenment, the first thing I encountered and wanted to solve was this problem. Lu Xun's greatest enlightenment and influence on me was to make me see clearly the historical position and mission of my "historical intermediary": whether in the history of Social Change in China or in the history of Lu Xun's research, I am a "historical intermediary" role.
Therefore, in "The Search of the Heart", there is this dedication: "I would like to dedicate it to the young friends who are working on the transformation of Chinese and Chinese society." There is also the following inscription: "Telling young students about my View of Lu Xun is a dream that has been done for decades." Now that the mission has been accomplished, I should automatically disappear, but I still expect that the true voice of Lu Xun, who will be born among the contemporary youth, will surely emerge from the newcomers. ”
I have said many times that the biggest highlight of my life is to maintain flesh-and-blood spiritual ties with five generations of Young People in China (from the "post-40s" to the "post-80s"), and the main link is Lu Xun. The positioning of "historical intermediaries" also includes a sober understanding of the innate shortcomings and shortcomings of his own Lu Xun research.
Our generation grew up in the ideological, cultural, and educational environment of "a complete break with Chinese tradition and human civilization", which determines the fundamental limitations of our knowledge structure, as I often say, I do not understand foreign languages, ancient cultural cultivation is insufficient, but a "uncultured scholar, uninterested literati", which determines that I do not really and fully understand Lu Xun, can not enter his deeper inner world, but only in some aspects of the realization. And I definitely don't have the idea of making my choice absolute, as Wang Furen said, "I like Lu Xun, I can't ask others to like Lu Xun." I know that my views on Lu Xun cannot be accepted by many people, but I also want to defend my right to independently study and speak about Lu Xun. So much for.
▍Q: Behind your lu xun research is the value pursuit of intellectuals who act and practice. This choice was very interesting in the 1980s, because it reminded me of Mr. Li Zehou, who died not long ago, and in 1992 he famously mentioned in 1992 when explaining the change in academic trends at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s: "Thinkers fade out, scholars stand out." In fact, on the theoretical road of academic research, you and Chen Pingyuan and Huang Ziping, who proposed "Chinese literature in the 20th century" with you, are also different, can you understand the difference between you as a value enlightenment that you prefer Lu Xun as an ideological resource, while the other two are partial to Lu Xun in the vision of academic history and literary history? What discussions and exchanges have you had about the different choices of that year?
Qian Liqun: It should be said that a big reason why we were able to cooperate in the 80s was the common influence of the Enlightenment trend on us at that time, and our generation wanted to make its own independent voice. Later, you will see some changes. But the biggest difference between me and them is that my real interest is not in literature, but in the history of ideas, the history of spirit, the history of politics. And I'm older than them, and my generation has a stronger idealism, a romanticism, a stronger urge to intervene in reality. And they need to keep a certain distance from reality.
But our personal relationship has always been very good, and I think this relationship has the most valuable point, everyone sees each other's weaknesses and strengths very clearly, treats each other well, treats each other well, strengthens each other, and retains their independence. I think true friendship is like that.
Qian Liqun was with the students of that year
▍Question: Where is the limit of Using Lu Xun as an ideological resource? Or rather, what is the greatest nourishment and enlightenment that we can really get from Lu Xun today?
▍ Qian Liqun: Lu Xun himself is not a person who points the way. His greatest value lies in the way of thinking, not in specific ideas. Some of the specific ideas are outdated, and some are not necessarily right, right? His unique way of thinking and philosophy of life, everything has to ask why, "Has it always been so?" "Extremely profound.
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