Liu Xianping
Mr. Liu Xianping is gone
At 13:20 on January 10, 2022, a powerful heart stopped beating. Mr. Liu Xianping, the father of Chinese nature literature and a famous children's literature writer, suddenly left us, did not confess, did not say goodbye, and left so suddenly...
At noon that day, I was learning about Teacher Liu's hospitalization from Ms. Zhou Ling, an assistant to Mr. Liu Xianping, on WeChat, and made an appointment to visit him in the hospital in the evening. During the chat, Zhou Ling suddenly turned to Liu Jun, the son of Teacher Liu, to give her a screenshot of WeChat at 13:13 in the morning, giving her time to go to the hospital, and the doctor said that Teacher Liu was in a very bad condition. We immediately stopped chatting and took a taxi to the hospital, which was only 15 minutes away. In the taxi, I sent a WeChat message to Zhou Ling "I am leaving", and after a while I received a reply from Zhou Ling "gone", I giggled in my heart, is Teacher Liu "gone"? An ominous feeling struck, no, I read and looked at the two words, and then I thought that it might be Zhou Ling saying that she also left for the car and rushed to the hospital, I was too sensitive. My heart was pounding, I looked out the car window, the sky had suddenly darkened, and when I got out of the hospital, it had already rained a little sleet, and the wind was whimpering in the face.
When I met Ms. Wang Shu, a colleague of Liu Junzao and the editor-in-chief of "Art World: Children's Literature and Art" downstairs, I felt that something must have happened. She received a call from Liu Jun and rushed over. We arrived at the 6th floor and the 6th ward, Liu Jun was guarding his father's bed, when he saw us come in, he couldn't cry when he grabbed me, and one hand firmly grasped the guardrail at the head of the bed, and his whole body was trembling. Great grief struck, and my tears rolled down my face. Wang Shu and Zhou Ling hugged Liu Xianping's wife, Teacher Li, and wept bitterly.
At this moment, Mr. Liu Xianping was lying on the hospital bed, as if asleep, with one hand on the outside of the quilt, as if snoring. I went around the bed and looked at Teacher Liu carefully, the old man had lost a lot of weight, his hair seemed to be a little more and darker than before, his beard was growing luxuriantly, but his face and hands were pale with the patient's paleness, and the whole look was peaceful and calm, as if he was asleep, and I didn't believe that the old man had gone. I pulled Liu Jun aside and asked him in a serious voice, is the old man real? Has the doctor confirmed it? Liu Jun nodded his head in tears and said, "Confirmed." We hugged each other, grief-stricken heartsbroken, and as the people around me handed me tissues, I removed my tear-blurred glasses and let the tears flow.
At about 3:20 p.m., the funeral home car picked up Mr. Liu, and we watched the hearse leave in the wind and rain, which made it clear that Mr. Liu Xianping was gone.
We suppressed our grief, poured our nostalgia for my husband into building the spiritual hall, chose the red clothes he usually liked to wear for a walk, and the color photos of the red light on his birthday last year, and placed the photos on the flower beds with flowers and leaves, so that he could return to the embrace of nature; we chose the most emotional and accurate words, and accommodated as much content as possible in the short "Obituary", and wrote the natural literature that Mr. Wang's pursuit of a lifetime of dedication was written in the most prominent position; and selected the most suitable one to put in the farewell hall of the funeral home——" I am simple and virtuous, and the virtues of the world are always with the heavens and the earth, and the lifelong hard work and heroic soul will always hang in the universe", hoping to summarize his literary life of walking nature, calling for ecological morality, and pursuing the unity of heaven and man.
January 12, 2022, is a rare sunny day in the past few days, and the sun has come out early. At 10:00 a.m., Mr. Liu Xianping's "Farewell Meeting of Life" was solemnly held in Hall 1 of Hefei Funeral Home. Mr. Liu Xianping lay peacefully among the flowers, as if he were a relief in the green leaves of a green mountain. The mourning in the ears was low, and the people bowed deeply to see the last look of the gentleman.
Mr. Liu Xianping really left, let him rest in the embrace of nature...
At the end of life, I am still thinking about the relationship between man and nature
Bad news spread and no one believed it was true, even the people who worked around him.
Xiao Chen of Liu Xianping's Nature Literature Studio rushed to Mr. Liu's bed despite his pregnancy, crying and saying that he had not seen Teacher Liu for two days on the weekend, and how he suddenly left. In everyone's impression, Liu Xianping has always been in good health and energetic, and has never heard of being sick, so why did he suddenly leave us?
Just two days ago, Mr. Liu Xianping was still implementing the matter of making his works into Braille and including them in the Digital Library of The Chinese Braille Library; a week ago, Mr. Liu and the students of the Nature Literature Writers Class celebrated his 84th birthday together; a month ago, Mr. Liu Xianping also went to Huangshan to investigate a natural wonder of symbiosis between stones and trees encountered 40 years ago, thinking about the relationship between man and nature, preparing to write in the next work, and planning to go to Weizhou Island to investigate an animal, because the epidemic could not be completed. On December 2 last year, Mr. Liu Xianping returned to his alma mater, Hefei No. 1 Middle School, to donate his newly published "Liu Xianping Natural Literature Collection" (15 volumes), and also planned to donate this set of books to his hometown Chaohu Changlinhe Town Primary School around the Spring Festival, as well as the Museum of Contemporary Chinese Literature, Anhui Provincial Library, Hefei Municipal Library, and Anhui University Library. From November 24th to 26th, Mr. Liu Xianping also delivered a keynote speech at the "Seminar on the Theoretical Construction of Contemporary Chinese Nature Literature".
In the past three years, Mr. Liu Xianping has attached great importance to the research and theoretical construction of nature literature, and personally planned and organized an important national academic conference every year, such as the "Seminar on The 10th Anniversary of the Establishment of Liu Xianping Nature Literature Studio" from December 13 to 14, 2020, and the "Seminar on Contemporary Nature Literature Creation from the Perspective of Ecological Civilization" from November 15 to 17, 2019. The three major seminars were personally discussed, planned and organized by Mr. Liu Xianping, including inviting delegates, formulating topics, and arranging the venue, all of which he personally did, occupying a lot of his energy and time. He believes that regularly holding high-standard nature literature seminars is the best way to publicize, promote and promote nature literature. In people's eyes, Mr. Liu Xianping is always energetic, frequently active, and constantly new works, how can he suddenly pass away?
In fact, for two or three years, Mr. Liu Xianping has been tenaciously fighting against the disease. He is a very strong person, giving others the impression of always smiling, laughing heartily, and occasionally coughing, which is also common to the "post-80s" elderly. Mr. Liu Xianping never showed his illness, and only his family, work assistant Zhou Ling and I and very few other people knew about his health. Many times watching him work desperately, we all advised him to pay attention to rest, take care of his body, do not want to mention the topic of illness, afraid of saying too much, saying too much to make him unhappy, feel unlucky, we can only discuss his treatment in private, worry about him, secretly shed tears, everyone has only one wish, that is, to take care of Teacher Liu well, to do a good job of what Teacher Liu wants to do.
In fact, Mr. Liu Xianping's heart is clear and clear. As early as the end of 2019, Mr. Liu Xianping felt obvious discomfort in his body, thinking that he was tired for a long time, and he would rest and adjust after a while. That year, he took advantage of the limited time suitable for natural investigation in a year, and still rushed non-stop to conduct natural literature creation investigations in five places, including Anhui Xuancheng Yashan Geological Park, Huangshan Jiulongfeng Nature Reserve, Qingdao Beach Marine Life, Chongqing Panzhihua Cycad National Nature Reserve, and ecological corridor in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. In nature investigation, there is danger at all times. Every time I come back from an inspection, I have to sort out a large number of pictures and inspection notes, often sleep and forget to eat, and the intensity of such work is even if it is a young person who can't stand it, let alone an 80-year-old person. After returning, he felt that his health was not as good as before, and went to the hospital for a comprehensive physical examination. He underwent a major surgery on May 27, 2020, and has been in chemotherapy ever since, stubbornly battling the disease. In October of the same year, Mr. Liu Xianping went to 4 middle schools in Hengfeng County, Jiangxi Province to participate in public welfare reading activities. On April 5, 2021, Mr. Liu Xianping risked the epidemic to visit the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Guangzhou for several days, planning to write a biography of a young scientist in the South China Botanical Garden. When people saw that he was thin and had less hair, they all cared to persuade him to pay attention to his body, and he always said that his body was very good, and he looked like he was doing nothing, and people believed his words and put their hearts at ease. He is a tough guy who wants to be strong, never accepts defeat, and has encountered so many ups and downs in his life, and he has come over. He said that if people eat grains and grains, how can they not get sick? The disease golem is difficult, you are weak and it is strong, don't be afraid, just deal with it seriously. In his optimistic and cheerful mentality, the condition seems to gradually stabilize, and he devotes himself to creation and work, working more than 12 hours a day.
Since the operation, he himself has also been somewhat mentally prepared, speeding up the work in the plan, and also intentionally or unintentionally chatting with us about the arrangements behind him. He doesn't want others to know that he is sick, he doesn't want to trouble others to see him, people come to see him endlessly, it will also affect his quiet creation and work, he has too many things to do, he has to seize the time to grasp the little bits and pieces of time, for Hebei Education Publishing House to compile the "Nature Reserve Adventure Series" (4 kinds, published in March 2020), for the Yangtze River Children's Society to create nature long reportage "Gaoligong Mountain Goddess" (published in February 2021), for Anhui Literature publishing house to edit the "Liu Xianping Natural Literature Collection Collection" (15 titles, published in October 2021), as well as worrying about the Nature Literature Writers Class, and many jobs in Liu Xianping's Nature Literature Studio.
Liu Xianping Nature Literature Studio
When Mr. Liu Xianping last inspected the symbiosis of stone and tree in Huangshan, he said with deep feeling: "I found this natural landscape when I came to Huangshan 40 years ago to experience life and wrote it into my nature adventure novel "Tracking of a Thousand Birds Valley" (1985). Every time I came to Huangshan for 40 years, I had to come to see this stone and this tree, and it gave people inspiration. How should people get along with each other, between people and nature, between people and society, and even between people and diseases? Symbiosis is coexistence, coexistence is harmony, harmonious symbiosis is the most precious enlightenment of nature to mankind, and nature is the teacher of mankind! Mr. Liu Xianping also inspected the Huangshan Sanatorium at the same time, he praised the sanatorium built in the world's dual cultural heritage of Huangshan Mountain, there is a high-quality ecological cultural environment and ecological safety barrier, here for a period of recuperation, people's physical and mental health can be greatly improved, to achieve a better state of adaptation to society, confirming the truth of harmony and unity between man and nature.
The great loss of Chinese nature literature
Mr. Liu Xianping agreed to the invitation of the Huangshan Sanatorium and prepared to choose a time after the Spring Festival to visit while recuperating. Unexpectedly, this Huangshan expedition was his last natural expedition. Mr. Liu Xianping is a natural son who walks in nature, writes about nature with passion and love, and praises nature. He has crossed China twice, from the north and south to the Pamir Plateau, twice to the Paracel Islands, three times through the Taklamakan Desert, four times to explore the Nu River Grand Canyon, and six to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. In more than 40 years of intimate contact with nature, he has written more than 40 works of nature literature, and won important literary awards such as the "Five One Project" Book Award of the Central Propaganda Department, the National Book Award, the National Outstanding Children's Literature Award of the China Writers Association, the Song Qingling Children's Literature Award, the Bingxin Children's Literature Award, the China "Nature Good Book Award", the Bianchi International Literature Award, the International Hans Christian Andersen Award Nomination Award, and the International Green Award Nomination Award. Classic works have been recommended by UNESCO to the world and translated into English, French, Russian, Polish and other languages for dissemination around the world. The literary circles called his literary creations on the theme of the relationship between man and nature "Chinese nature literature", and his name was associated with "nature literature" as "Liu Xianping nature literature".
Chinese nature literature pioneered by Mr. Liu Xianping has two remarkable characteristics: it is synchronized with the construction of China's ecological civilization and the development of world natural literature, and has become a literary phenomenon with world influence in contemporary China. If there is a literary phenomenon formed because of the creation of a writer, it is the Chinese nature literature pioneered by Mr. Liu Xianping, who is known as the "father of Chinese nature literature". Mr. Liu Xianping said that I have trekked in nature for more than 40 years and written dozens of works, but in fact, I am only doing one thing: calling for ecological morality - in a world facing crisis, showing the magnificence of nature and life, because only ecological morality is the link that maintains the connection between human beings and nature. I believe that only when people cultivate their own countries with ecological morality, the flower of harmony will bloom everywhere!
In January 2010, in view of the contemporary significance and social influence of Mr. Liu Xianping's creation of nature literature, with the approval of the People's Government of Anhui Province, the special funds allocated by the provincial finance, and the name of the writer Liu Xianping, the "Liu Xianping Nature Literature Studio" was established, specializing in the creation, research, collation, display and derivative product development of nature literature, and Mr. Liu Xianping personally served as the head of the studio. Located on the campus of Anhui University, the studio is a garden-style Huipai building, built by the slope of the lake, reflecting the ecological concept of harmonious living between man and nature. Since then, Mr. Liu Xianping has carried out a series of discipline construction activities around "nature literature" with the studio as the front and Anhui University as the base, established the Institute of Natural Literature of Anhui University, created the Collaborative Innovation Center of Nature Literature of Anhui University, opened a course in nature literature, recruited graduate students in nature literature, opened a class of natural literature writers, compiled natural literature textbooks, published a series of "Nature Literature Research", and adapted and filmed the nature literature animation film "Legend of the Giant Panda". Carry out Sino-foreign exchanges of nature literature. Under the leadership of Mr. Liu Xianping, Anhui University has become the research center of Chinese nature literature, and nature literature has become an important achievement of Anhui University's founding of characteristic disciplines, and has explored a new path for the development of Chinese nature literature.
Mr. Liu Xianping not only created a category of nature literature, but also created a discipline of nature literature, he is not only a writer and theorist of cross-border children's literature and nature literature, but also an activist of nature literature and ecological civilization construction. His sudden death has brought great shock and sorrow to the literary, academic, publishing, and educational circles. Jiang Feng, Wei Wei, Shu Peide, Jin Bo, Gao Hongbo, Wang Quangen, Bai Bing, He Xiangyang, Lu Shuyuan, Liu Guohui, He Long, and other former friends in the literary and art circles and publishing circles sent condolences and condolences to their former friends. The writer Mr. Jin Bo wrote in his condolence letter: "After so many years, it is very, very difficult for Xianping to insist on writing in nature. I felt from his work that he was engaged in hard work. His works are written step by step by wading through mountains and rivers, and he wrote them with his own sweat. He wrote for nature all his life, and nature embraced his soul forever. In his condolence letter, the theorist Lu Shuyuan commented that Mr. Liu Xianping "created statues for living beings, made a speech for the earth's mountains and rivers, was born from Mangfu, and returned to nature when he passed away." The critic Mr. Shu Peide wrote in his condolence letter: "I am deeply saddened by the loss of an old friend and friend. Mr. Liu Xianping is the earliest pioneer and advocate of contemporary nature literature in mainland China. For more than 40 spring and autumn seasons, he traveled south and north, waded through mountains and rivers, experienced hardships and dangers, and explored the mysteries of nature. With the help of vivid and vivid artistic images, he shows the magnificence of nature and life, calls for ecological morality, promotes the harmonious coexistence between man and nature, and has achieved remarkable achievements in creation. His informative, interesting and infectious masterpieces have won generations of young readers and big readers. His death is a great loss for the nature literature community and the children's literature community. Liu Guohui, president of the Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, wrote in a condolence telegram: "The death of Mr. Liu Xianping is a great loss to the cause of Chinese literature. Mr. Liu Xianping's contribution to the cause of Chinese literature will always be remembered in the hearts of the vast number of readers. The condolence telegram of the People's Literature Publishing House wrote: "Mr. Liu Xianping has been engaged in nature literature writing and theoretical research for a long time, with fruitful results and fame all over the world, and his death is a major loss to the Chinese literary and cultural circles!" The condolence telegram of the Institute of Ecological Culture of Henan University wrote: "Mr. Liu Xianping is a pioneer of mainland nature literature and has made great contributions to the establishment and development of nature literature. Mr. Liu Xianping sincerely and selflessly promoted the study of the future, cultivated many outstanding talents who wrote about nature, and his death is a huge loss to the mainland academic community. ”
Unfulfilled Dreams: Establishment of the "Liu Xianping Nature Literature Award"
Mr. Liu Xianping is gone, leaving people with great sadness and endless thoughts. In the WeChat group of the national key writers of "Ecological Culture" magazine, people spontaneously mourned Mr. Liu Xianping, recalled the experience of understanding and interacting with Mr. Liu Xianping, published their experience of reading Liu Xianping's works, and some people proposed to "establish the Liu Xianping Natural Literature Award".
Mr. Liu Xianping collects silhouettes
In fact, this is also Mr. Liu Xianping's unfulfilled dream. During my writing of the book "Liu Xianping Research on The Creation of Nature Literature" (published by Anhui University Press in 2020), Liu Xianping once talked to me about the two "natural literature awards" he most liked to win among all the literary awards he won, the China Nature Good Book Award (2018) and the Bianchi International Literature Award (2019), and he also had the desire to set up the "Liu Xianping Nature Literature Award": "I have only one mission in my life, that is, to put the relationship between man and nature. Use the way of nature literature to make it clear, tell the story of beautiful China, call for the establishment of ecological morality, so that more people can have some natural heart, understand some ecological ways, and so on. My strength alone is limited, I need to mobilize more people to join the team of nature literature, an effective way is to set up the 'Liu Xianping Nature Literature Award' to attract more people to pay attention to nature literature, pay attention to the relationship between man and nature, especially in the young minds of children to sow the seeds of ecological morality. ”
To this end, he asked me to collect for him similar awards that already exist at home and abroad, such as the "China Nature Good Book Award" in Shenzhen, the "Nature Original Children's Literature Award" in Liaoning, the "Bianchi International Literature Award" in Russia, and the "Bulos Natural Literature Award" in the United States as a reference. But he also understands that the key to the difficulty of setting up a literary prize is not in the establishment, but in how to carry it out for a long time after it is established, which is what he thinks about the most. Liu Xianping said, wait until the conditions are more mature to do it. I understand his difficulties very well, and in the "Afterword" of "Liu Xianping's Research on The Creation of Nature Literature", I specially wrote a section "If there is no "Liu Xianping Nature Literature Award", it will be a pity", but I did not expect that this really became an irreparable regret.
Mr. Liu Xianping only does one thing in his life, calling for ecological morality with natural literature; if the "Liu Xianping Natural Literature Award" can be established, it is the best memorial to Mr. Liu Xianping. In China, without Mr. Liu Xianping's advocacy and adherence to nature literature for more than 40 years, there would be no concept of "nature literature". With the spirit and spirit of "One Wooden Branch Building", Mr. Liu Xianping founded a category called "Nature Literature" and created a discipline called "Nature Literature". Naming the Nature Literature Award after Mr. Liu Xianping not only recognizes Mr. Liu Xianping's outstanding contributions to Chinese nature literature, but also encourages more people to participate in the team of nature literature, carry forward the "Liu Xianping Spirit", and develop Chinese nature literature. The familiar and distant voice of Mr. Liu Xianping sounded in my ears: the concept of ecological civilization has been firmly established in the whole society, giving nature literature a lofty mission, and nature literature will certainly have greater development and prosperity and make due contributions to the construction of ecological civilization.
May Mr. Liu Xianping's last wish be realized as soon as possible, and may the Chinese natural literature pioneered by Mr. Liu Xianping flourish and develop.