In 2020, the hundred-year-old Zheng Min held a golden ear of rice in the western suburbs of Beijing. Courtesy of respondents
In the early morning of January 3 this year, the poet Zheng Min passed away at the age of 102. The last leaf of the "Nine Leaf Sect" landed on the ground.
The poet Lin Mang last met this poetic predecessor in the autumn of 2019. At that time, Zheng Min was 99 years old, and he had lost a lot of weight compared with the past, but his spirit was very good, and he was still paying attention to the development of poetry. She asked Lin Mang, "Are there many young people who write poetry now?" How's it written?" Lin Mang replied that there are many people who write, but there are not too many good writers.
Lin Mang recalled that when the conversation was in high spirits, the old man also sang an aria on the spot, and the voice was very beautiful. She shook her head gently, waved her hands, and looked attentively like a little girl.
A year later, Zheng Min recorded a video on her 100th birthday, sitting in front of the camera wearing a purple embroidered shirt, saying: "I feel like I haven't 'gone' every day." It's a bit like a flash, from this to that, I still haven't felt like I've reached the highest. ”
From entering the Southwest United University in 1939 to write his first poem, to the beginning of the 21st century, Zheng Min engaged in poetry writing for more than 70 years. During this time, Ba Jin published her first collection of poems for her, her poems flashed frequently in the newspapers edited by Shen Congwen, and the "Nine Leaves" poet group she participated in revived in the early days of literature in the new period. After the "Nine Leaves Collection" came out in 1981, Kitajima, the leading figure of obscure poetry, once said, "What we want to do, they started to do so early." ”
Zheng Min's early masterpiece "Golden Rice Bouquet" was included in the middle school textbook and appeared on the high examination paper. But the poet Nishikawa believes that Zheng Min's "Poet and Death" in his later years is the highest achievement of her poetry. "Mr. Zheng Min has been tracking the latest international trends of thought until his later years. She was both a poet and a scholar. This is not quite the same as the poets of her generation. ”
"Poetry and art don't know age." Zheng Min calls his poetic god Alice. In her mind, Alice has always been a quiet and quiet little girl, and no wind or rain can hurt her. In those years, Alice accompanied her through her youth, through difficulties, and gave her magical strength, writing many real poems.
Zheng Min participates in poetry activities overseas. Courtesy of respondents
A "lonely" childhood
In 1920, when the warlords were in full swing, Zheng Min was born in the stuffy Hulu Jar Hutong in Beijing's Dongcheng District. Today, the alley has been renamed "Fluke Lane". Zheng Min's original surname was Wang, his biological father Prince Yuan had studied in France after the Xinhai Revolution, and his grandfather Wang Youdian was a well-known Biqi poet in the former Qing Dynasty.
Zheng Min had a severe meningitis at the age of two, and needed a better recovery environment after recovering from the disease, so he was passed on to his father's friend Zheng Liming and changed his surname to Zheng. "Zheng Liming gave Mr. Zheng a completely Western-style education and let her exercise from an early age." Professor Zhang Yan, a student of Zheng Min, said. Zhang Yan is the longest student who studied with Zheng Min, and is now a professor at the School of Foreign Languages at Beijing Normal University and the editor-in-chief of Zheng Min's Collected Writings.
Because Zheng Liming worked as an engineer in a mine in Henan, Zheng Min lived in the mine until he was ten years old. "At that time, her family hired a tutor for her, and every day after class, she would go to the yard alone to stay with flowers, insects and birds." Zhang Yan said.
Zheng Min recalled in her autobiography that on summer nights, the low wall in her yard was very suitable for catching crickets, the pumpkin flowers in the back garden were the favorite of grasshoppers, and there were many wild graves on the back hillside outside the east wall. Sometimes, there would be a cry on the hillside in the evening, and a group of villagers dressed in filial piety would walk by. She was always alone in the yard observing all this. Her lonely childhood made her always love to make friends with mountains and rivers, and "loneliness" became the key word in her early poetry.
After the "9.18" incident, Zheng Min moved to Nanjing to attend junior high school. She often hides after school to read translated novels. Nietzsche's "What Zarathustra Says" became her philosophical enlightenment book.
In 1939, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, 19-year-old Zheng Min was admitted to the Southwest United Congress. She sat in a truck known locally as "Yellow Fish", bumped all the way, stopped at the spooky guest house where rats were scurrying, and finally arrived in Kunming.
Zheng Min in his youth. Courtesy of respondents
At the Southwest United General Assembly
Zheng Min recalled in his autobiography that the school building of Southwest United University is very simple, the liberal arts classroom is a few rows of tin houses, there is no dormitory, and teachers and students rent private houses outside the school. But this impoverished environment is home to the best professors and masters at home and abroad, with keen minds and the most liberal academic atmosphere.
Zheng Min elected the Department of Philosophy at the Southwest United General Assembly. There is no uniform teaching material in the classroom, and the professors need to compile it themselves. Many teachers take pride in teaching their own materials. Many philosophy classes do not even have textbooks, and the teacher will always share his philosophical thoughts. Running alarms during class is commonplace. As soon as the alarm bell sounded, teachers and students ran out of the tin classroom together and ran to lie down under the graveyard on the outskirts.
"Feng Youlan taught them the History of Chinese Philosophy, and his original Philosophy of Life had a great influence on Mr. Zheng." Zhang Yan said that in addition, Tang Yongtong taught "Wei jin philosophy", and Feng Wenqian taught "History of Western Philosophy" and "Aesthetics". Almost all the philosophical masters of that era taught her lessons. "Mr. Zheng is glad that she has been exposed to so many Chinese and Western philosophical ideas, and her later poems have a very philosophical meaning."
In addition, Zheng Min also went to observe the classes of many teachers in other colleges. "All departments of Southwest United University are open, and students can listen to any class they want." Zhang Yan said, "Sometimes, Zheng Min stands outside the tin house, through a glassless window, listening to teachers from other departments. ”
Zheng Min recalled many years later, Wen Yiduo taught "Chu Ci", liked to hold a pipe while lecturing in class, and did not write a word on the blackboard. Shen Congwen taught the "History of Chinese Novels", and the lectures were carefully written and sentenced, very slow, and he especially loved to write blackboard newspapers. Zheng Min found that Shen Congwen's every sentence and every word was very logical, and simply recording his lesson was a good article. Bian Zhilin has just visited The United Kingdom, the poet temperament is very strong, with a Jiangsu accent in class, people have to double their concentration. Feng Zhi taught "Goethe", liked to wear a long shirt, holding a cane, and spoke sincerely and earnestly in class, full of the temperament of a young man who had not yet entered the world, but did not like to chat with students.
Although each teacher's personality is very different, one thing in common is that the teacher seems to be immersed in learning, and the person and what he has learned are integrated, as if his life is the embodiment of the problem.
The poetry creation air of Southwest United University is very rich, almost gathering the major poets of all stages of China's new poetry in the 1940s. Li Yongyi said, "From the perspective of writing poets, it is so happy to have great poets like Feng Zhi, Bian Zhilin, and Wen Yiduo as teachers, and poet peers like Mu Dan, Wang Zuoliang, and Du Yunxie!"
Zheng Min read a lot of new poems in his freshman year and wrote his first poem, "Evening Party", which was published in the supplement of Kunming Newspaper edited by the united masters and students. But she really approached poetry because of Feng Zhi.
Zheng Min recalled in her autobiography that after taking Feng Zhi's "Goethe" class in her sophomore year, and after reading Feng Zhi's translation of Rilke's "Ten Letters to a Young Poet", she began to be very interested in Goethe and Rilke, and she began to like more intellectual poetry. In addition, she read a lot of British stream-of-consciousness novels from the early 20th century and began to write some vernacular poems after school.
After a German class in her junior year, Zheng Min handed Feng Zhi a copy of her poems on paper. The next day, Feng Zhi stood in the breeze after class, returned the paper to Zheng Min, and sincerely said: "There are poems here, you can write them, but this is a bumpy road." ”
Teachers and students of the United Nations University are also friends. For a while, Zheng Min often ran to Mr. Feng Zhi's house to sit, sometimes asking Feng Zhi questions, sometimes just listening to him and Bian Zhilin and other guests chatting, without a word, Mr. Feng Zhi would not drive her away.
After graduation, Zheng Min wrote a poem "Ode to southwest united universities", comparing his alma mater to "the only sun radiating in our memory".
Zheng Min studied at Southwest United University. Courtesy of respondents
The revival of "Alice"
In 1943, at the recommendation of Feng Zhi, Zheng Min published nine works in "Tomorrow's Literature and Art", including the masterpiece that was later renamed "Golden Rice Bunch". In the winter of 1948, Zheng Min went to Brown University in the United States to pursue a master's degree in English literature. During this time, her first collection of poems, Collected Poems 1942-1947, was edited and published by Barkin himself.
Because the family's money was only enough for the travel expenses, Zheng Min had to work and study half time and spent a difficult time.
When he was in the United States, Zheng Min and a Chinese student named Tong Shibai saw each other at first sight. The experience of studying at Southwest United University and their common love of music have made them constantly talk about common topics, and many of their views have a high degree of tacit understanding. After completing her studies, Tong Shibai went to New York to become a professor. As soon as he arrived in New York, he wrote a "marriage proposal letter" to Zheng Min, on which two pairs of dishes and chopsticks were drawn, and a fish lay in the middle of the plate. So, they "flashed marriage" after a few months of acquaintance.
Photo of Zheng Min (left) and Tong Shibai (right). Courtesy of respondents
After 7 years in the United States, Zheng Min had no creative inspiration at all and did not write a poem. "There are no roots in her own culture, and she can't have the urge to write." Zhang Yan said.
In June 1955, Zheng Min and Tong Shibai returned to China by boat from San Francisco and went to work at the Institute of Literature and Art of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Department of Electrical Engineering of Tsinghua University, respectively. In 1960, Zheng Min was transferred to Beijing Normal University to teach.
In 1979, Cao Xinzhi wrote a letter inviting several poets who had written new poems to meet at his home in Wangfujing. He said that the spring of poetry has arrived, and it is time to retrieve the new poems they published in the 1940s and publish a collection to let young people know that there was such poetry in China. The poets were enthusiastic about it. This was also the first time That Zheng Min met Tang Qi, Chen Jingrong, and Cao Xinzhi' poets.
On the night after the party, Zheng Min seemed to have returned to the kingdom of poetry. "'Poetry, I've Found You Again' suddenly came into my head in its entirety, along with its title, tone, feelings, and lines of poetry." Zheng Min quickly recorded it after returning home. Zheng Min's "Alice" awakens.
Nine leaves
At the second meeting of several poets, Wang Xindi said: "We are nine people, and we can't call ourselves nine flowers, so we are nine leaves." So everyone unanimously decided that the poetry collection would be called "Nine Leaves Collection", and Cao Xinzhi would design the cover.
In July 1981, the Nine Leaves Collection was published. The book includes poems by nine poets, including Mu Dan, Du Yunxie, Chen Jingrong, Zheng Min, Tang Qi, Tang Xiang, Xin Di, Hang Youhe, and Yuan Kejia, including 20 poems by Zheng Min. The Nine Leaves Collection echoes the emerging school of obscure poetry. Because of the book's enormous influence, these poets were named the "Nine Leaf School" by researchers.
After reading the Nine Leaves Collection, the poet Nishikawa felt that he had a spiritual affinity with this group of poets. "I once wanted to apply for Zheng Min's graduate school, but because I was a few points behind at that time, I had to give up." Nishikawa said.
"Their generation of poets, both with the foundation of old Chinese learning and the influence of Western modernism, have a lot of new ideas in their works, which really have a subtle influence on my later creations." Lin Mang said that he liked the poetry collection very much and had bought several copies to give to friends around him.
Some of Zheng Min's works on the bookshelf. Courtesy of respondents
In the spring of the 1980s, more than a dozen poets, including Beidao, Lin Mang, and Gu Cheng, rode bicycles together to Mr. Zheng's home to visit this poetic predecessor. At that time, Zheng Min lived on the first floor of Apartment 17 of Tsinghua University. Zheng Min loves flowers, and the yard is full of flowers and grasses planted by her own hands, including February orchids, peonies, moon seasons, lilacs, etc., full of vitality. It was early spring, and in February the orchid grew crazy, and pale blue flowers overflowed the fence and at one point spread to the yards and sidewalks of neighbors' homes. She also wrote many poems for this small courtyard.
Lin Mang recalled that Zheng Min warmly received them, although it was the first time they met, there was no sense of strangeness. They talked about the poets of southwest United University, about the surge of poetry and new poetry in the past, and about the changes and development of poetry. For the inadequacies of some poems in the current obscure poetry school, Zheng Min is also blunt. This was the first time Lin Mang had met this poetic predecessor. Zheng Min's elegance, knowledge and sharpness left a deep impression on him.
In those years, Zheng Min ushered in the second peak of poetry creation and theory in his life, and successively wrote more than 200 new works, publishing more than ten poetry collections and theoretical monographs such as "Seeking Collection", "Heart Elephant", "Morning, I Pick Flowers in the Rain", "Zheng Min Poetry Collection (1979-1999)" and so on.
In the 1990s, Zheng Min wrote Poet and Death after the death of the Nine Leaf Poet Tang Qi. Nishikawa considers the poem to represent Mr. Cheng's highest achievement, and he calls one of the most noble lines in the history of the new poem — "We are all flamingos / Step on red flames all our lives / Through hell, / Burn the overpass / No groan of losing identity" . "Teacher Zheng's generation of poets and intellectuals has maintained their intellectual personality in the midst of various hardships and setbacks."
Worry about the country and the people, worry about the earth
In addition to being a poet, Zheng Min also has an important identity as a teacher. Since 1979, Zheng Min has offered courses in English and American Literature and Western Literature in the Department of Foreign Languages of Beijing Normal University, re-studying British and American literature, with a special focus on Western modernist poetry. Since 1981, Zheng Min has been supervising master's students, teaching courses such as Shakespeare's plays, English Romantic poetry, 17th-century British metaphysical poetry, and Chinese modern and contemporary poetry. After a few years, she began to supervise doctoral students again.
Zhang Yanyu remembers that in 1987, she was studying for a master's degree at Beijing Normal University, and there was a course called History of English Literature, which was taught by Zheng Min. But unlike other teachers, Mr. Zheng's classes are at home. At that time, Zheng Min was 67 years old. Every Thursday, students knock on the door of Zheng Min's house, and she will bring each person a cup of tea and start the class. After more than 2 hours of the course, Zheng Min brought them snacks and cookies and began to discuss extracurricular things. They talk about the development of Chinese poetry, and they also talk about current affairs, politics, culture, etc. "It's a collision of hearts. Others say that reading is hard, but I feel very happy and have benefited a lot. Zhang Yan said.
Zhang Yan (right) and Zheng Min (left) in 2007. Courtesy of respondents
Zhang Yan speculated that this teaching method may be related to Zheng Min's experience of studying in his youth. "At Southwest United University, there is not much separation between teachers and students, and Mr. Zheng appreciates a blended teaching style."
"Zheng Min is not at all like an old man in his 60s, very good at talking, talking like a faucet, and can keep talking. Her mind was in another world. Liu Yan had listened to Zheng Min's class and liked this teacher very much. Later, after becoming a teacher, Liu Yan also opened a course on "Nine Leaf School Poetry Research" and took students to visit Zheng Min every year.
Student Li Yongyi recalled that Zheng Min's class has no distinction between inside and outside the classroom, there is no so-called teaching material, she will start with a small problem, and then constantly expand, associate, use her thoughts through all the discussions, unconsciously a few hours have passed. Mr. Zheng Min in Li Yongyi's eyes is indifferent, quiet, transcendent, but has a deep concern for mankind and the country.
In 2003, at the age of 83, Zheng Min sent off his last class of students. Zheng Min's daily life is: reading, thinking, writing, and only occasionally invited to go out to participate in some literary activities or give interviews at home. "When she creates, she only cares about whether to transform her thoughts into highly artistic and imaginative words, and does not care whether it is in line with popular trends or whether she is praised by others. She was responsible only for the art of poetry itself. Personally, I think that her poetry in her later years reached a high level, but it is difficult for readers to read them without caring about human history and culture. Li Yongyi said.
"Teacher Zheng's thoughts are very fresh, and he is not only a highly accomplished poet, but also a true intellectual. For those of us who are younger, she is very enthusiastic and likes to exchange views with me on the situation of the country and the situation in the world. Nishikawa has also visited Zheng Min many times. This generation of old intellectuals, represented by Zheng Min, also brought a subtle influence to Nishikawa. Although Nishikawa had different thoughts about Zheng Min's return to the classical Chinese poetic tradition proposed in his later years, he has always had great respect for Zheng Min.
"Mr. Zheng Min likes to talk about very 'xuan' issues." Liu Yan said, "She will not go to discuss with you whether the clothes look good, how much money to buy vegetables and so on." She focuses on grand themes such as humans, earth, war, poetry, philosophy, the environment, and traditional culture. She has been concerned and thinking about the fate of mankind and has written poems about the Iraq War and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. ”
In his later years, Zheng Min was also deaf and clear-sighted, and was willing to talk to people about various grand themes. Her family called her "worried about the country, worried about the people, worried about the earth." Zheng Min's grandson Lin Xuan recalled that after a multinational poet dinner, Zheng Min returned home and began to sulk, and after a moment she said, "I haven't talked to him about poetry yet, but he said that the biggest common denominator between China and France is that there are many foods." Who cares about such trivial things!" Lin Xuan burst out laughing. Zheng Min angrily counted him down, but after a while he suddenly came to him and asked, "Do you want to eat something good at night?"
After the age of 100, Zheng Min and the cat became more and more intimate. Courtesy of respondents
In 2005, Tong Shibai died at the age of 85. "A few years after he left, she still thinks he's still alive." Zhang Yan said. In Lamentations: Gently Drifting Away... To SBT, the beloved relative of the new immortals, she describes the scene in which she meets tong shibai in her dream, "Before dawn I was suddenly awakened by the song, / It's you, dear / Look for me through the darkness / You haven't gone far / Drift through the treetops / Follow the stream / Your finger flicks my window door".
Three years ago, Lin Xuan wanted to make a documentary for her grandmother before her 100th birthday. On this day, he planned to shoot a scene where a grandmother would lump half of the manuscript paper into a ball and throw it into the sky. At that time, Zheng Min was already a little unable to remember, and refused to cooperate with his grandson's shooting the whole time. Lin Xuan turned his manuscript paper into balls, and when he was worried, Zheng Min began to slowly put the paper ball on his leg and unfolded it, gently and slowly flattened the paper with his hand, smiled and said, "Honey, why do you want to pick them up, how pitiful they are." ”
In the Spring Festival of 2020, Zhang Yan went to visit Zheng Min. Her room was still full of flowers, and the greenery on the balcony was lush, but Zheng Min looked a little weak this day. The child girl Wei said that Mr. Zheng had broken another fall not long ago, and her entire arm was purple, and she had to go to the hospital because she never wanted to see a doctor, but the bandage was just tied and she took it off herself. Mr. Zheng used to enthusiastically talk to Zhang Yan about poetry and current affairs every time, but this day seemed very peaceful. She would sometimes smile at her students and sometimes seem to still be immersed in thought. This is the last side of Zhang Yan and Zheng Min.
"Poetry is her life." In the last few years, Zheng Min could no longer write poetry, but Zhang Yan felt that the poem was in Zheng Min's heart, in the words she said.
One winter, looking out the window at the lifeless, bare trunk, Zheng Min said that the blood of life was gushing inside the tree.
Resources:
Zheng Min's Collected Works of Zheng Min
Magazines from all walks of life "The Hundred-year-old Life of Zheng Min, the Last Poet of the "Nine-Leaf School""
China Writers Network "Zheng Min: Be a Strong Man of Life"
Beijing News reporter Pu Xiao Editor Hu Jie Proofreader Lu Qian