Qianjiang Evening News hourly news reporter Zhang Jinhua
Ma Lao was at home.
Ma Zhitu was born in January 1915, also known as the Year of the Tiger in the lunar calendar. A native of Zhong County, Chongqing. He joined the revolution in 1936 and joined the Communist Party of China in 1938, where he held various leadership positions. He began publishing in 1935 and graduated from the Department of Chinese Literature of Southwest Union University in Kunming in 1945. He has successively served as a director, consultant and honorary member of the Chinese Writers Association of the Chinese Writers Association, the chairman and honorary chairman of the Sichuan Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles, the chairman and honorary chairman of the Sichuan Writers Association, the vice president of the Chinese Poetry Society, the vice president of the China Guo Moruo Research Society, the chairman of the Sichuan International Cultural Exchange Center, the director of the China International PEN Association Center, and so on. He is the author of novels such as "Qingjiang Zhuangge", "Ten Tales of Night Tan", "Bashu Female Jie", "Ten Years of Magic Cave", "Ten Years of Vicissitudes", etc., long documentary literature "Underground", novella "Three Wars Huayuan", "DanXin", short story collection "Looking for the Red Army", "Ma Zhitu Satirical Novel Collection" and other works. Published the Collected Works of Ma Zhitu (18 volumes).
Mr. Ma Zhitu's name is widely known, or because of Ma Lao's novel collection "Ten Tales of night Tan", some chapters have been adapted into the movie "Let the Bullets Fly" by the famous director Jiang Wen, through the image, more people have entered the strange world of Ma Lao's pen, the laughing and angry human world.
Last year, Ma Zhitu won the 2021 Spring Breeze Yue Reading List Annual Salute Award for "The Continuation of night tan", at the age of 107.
A year later, Ma Lao entered the age of 108. Looking back at the Spring Wind List, since 2012, the oldest winner of all the winners in the past 9 years is Mr. Ma Zhitu.
The old horse knows the way, the old ji futuo. It is gratifying that 108-year-old Ma Lao published a new book by the Sichuan People's Publishing House in October 2021, "Notes on the Oracle Bones of Ma Zhitu Southwest United University".
Mr. Ma Zhitu is well known in Sichuan. The reporter walked through the famous internet red bookstore in Chengdu's wide and narrow alleys to see the mountain bookstore, and as soon as he entered the door, he saw a complete set of "Ma Zhitu Anthology".
See The Collected Works of Ma Zhitu at the Mountain Bookstore.
The old man is like gold, and he still has too much to do on his hands. This is the father in the eyes of the daughter who usually takes care of Ma Lao's later life.
Ma Lao, 108 years old, is still full of excitement. In addition to The Oracle studies, fiction remains his interest. Ah Lai, chairman of the Sichuan Writers Association, once suggested that Ma Lao could use oral records to tell readers his century-old life story. Therefore, the so-called "Ma Lao Seal Pen" is really difficult to seal the "pen".
Tie Ning, chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, chairman of the China Writers Association, and a famous writer, said that this "Notes on the Oracle Bones of Ma Zhitu Southwest United University" bears witness to Ma Lao's long-lasting love for Chinese characters and the broad traditions they carry, and even more witnesses the unshakable cultural self-confidence of a revolutionary writer like Gold.
Spring Wind Ten Years Return Visit, let us get closer to the world of Mr. Ma Zhitu, the oldest Spring Wind winner.
Ma Lao and Cai Linjun, editor of the Sichuan People's Publishing House, are discussing the details of Ma Zhitu's Oracle Notes of the Southwest United University.
【"Treasure Old Man" non-stop]
Because this spring, the epidemic situation is once again severe, and when the reporter of this newspaper arrived in Chengdu, he was still unable to visit the "treasure old man" in person. After all, the old man of the horse is already high, and we express our understanding of the careful care of the old man by the old daughter of the horse.
So the reporter went to the Sichuan People's Publishing House, which published Ma Lao's latest work, "Notes on the Oracle Bones of Ma Zhitu Southwest United University", and met with Cai Linjun, the responsible editor of the book.
Cai Linjun used the Chengdu dialect to learn Ma Lao's tone in a subtle way. She said that as soon as Ma Lao picked up his new book, he was very satisfied. In Sichuanese, he said, "When I saw this book, my joy was indescribable. ”
Cai Linjun said that maybe this book is Ma Lao's sealed work, but who knows. Ma Lao created a miracle, which is rare in the world. According to Cai Linjun, the book has received a series of honors.
Cai Linjun showed reporters The revision opinions of Elder Ma on the proof, and on several pages of paper, there was a dense handwriting of Elder Ma on the revision opinions.
"It was exactly Sunday, I was working overtime in the office to deal with some manuscripts, and suddenly I received a text message from Ma Wanmei, the daughter of Ma Lao, saying that Ma Lao's school draft had been read and that I had been going to get it for a long time. Ma Lao's manuscript cannot be delayed for a moment, and I immediately said that I can pass now. Teacher Ma Wanmei said that it was necessary to wait until Elder Ma had taken a nap, after three o'clock. I made an appointment with her around 4 p.m.
At 3:50, I finally arrived at Ma Laojia. Ma Lao was waving Danqing. I saw him standing earnestly at his desk, writing brushes, engrossed. Probably standing too long, he first stopped the brush he was holding and rested for a while. Elder Ma took the manuscript he had placed on the table behind him, placed it in front of the table, and said to me, "Oh, this is the manuscript!" The pride in his eyes was palpable. I sat down and slowly pulled out the manuscript he had taken. I was stunned to see the first page of the preface, and Ma Lao changed many of the inaccuracies in the manuscript, and each page was changed.
According to Teacher Ma Wanmei, Ma Lao took a magnifying glass every day for a week and read the proofs page by page. In addition to eating and sleeping, I just sat there with a magnifying glass and checked the manuscript page by page, motionless. The family asked him to rest, but he was reluctant to do so. This high-intensity efficiency, the average young people can not eat, this is not even a week, Ma Wanmei teacher sent me WeChat, let me go to get Ma Lao proofread the manuscript.
Ma Lao also specially explained which oracle bones in it are best to put those regular oracle bones, and must be shown to me later, and there can be no half a mistake. Ma Lao also pointed out that the oracle bones of those few pages of manuscripts were not well written. I'm going to re-find a calligrapher to write the oracle bones in the book. ”
In Cai Linjun's impression, Ma Lao's voice was like Hong Zhong, and the middle qi was still so full and thick. Ma Lao looked at his book, and sometimes he would smile like a child,
She also told a story —
"I told Ma Lao that on May 3rd, I wrote an article specifically for May Fourth Youth Day, saying that Ma Lao you are our real idol, and also read him the Xinhua News Agency report, which was almost 1 million+ at that time, and finally reached 1.06 million+. Elder Ma especially looked at his youth photo and kept nodding. I read the last paragraph to Ma Lao, 'If youth can not be old...', Ma Lao smiled happily and said to me, You are very enthusiastic. I was instantly moved. Ma Lao has no celebrity shelf. He is also very kind to the juniors. Elder Ma pointed to the problems I needed to deal with and the third part of the manuscript, and said to me with confidence, I can read this manuscript in one day. ”
A 108-year-old elder, or a youth idol, is not surprising.
Horse old close-up.
【Oracle is a lifelong feeling】
On why at the age of 108, he finally published a book related to Oracle, Ma Lao has such a past -
In that year, he was admitted to the Department of Foreign Chinese Literature of Southwest United University, and later transferred to the Department of Chinese Literature. On the one hand, he participated in the underground party work at the Southwest United University and served as the secretary of the southwest United University branch of the Communist Party of China; on the other hand, he studied hard under the famous scholars in the country. He has taken courses such as "Explanation of Characters in Speaking" and "Oracle Bone" opened by Professor Tang Lan, a major philologist, and "Bronze Inscriptions and Epigraphy" opened by Professor Chen Mengjia. Four years later, he graduated from university with a bachelor's degree and was about to continue his studies, but he was ordered by the Southern Bureau of the CPC Central Committee to leave Kunming. Since then, he has given up academic research at southwest united universities, and according to the principles of underground party work, all relevant notes and manuscripts have been burned.
After that, Ma Lao risked his life, died nine times, and fought until 1949, ushering in the liberation of the whole country.
Elder Ma said to himself, "After the founding of the People's Republic of China, I was ordered to enter politics, and since then I have held leading positions in large and small units of the party and government groups, carrying heavy loads and floating for more than seventy years, engaging in fine industry, not daring to do anything else, so I was insulated from Oracle. But I often remember those years, and I never forgot the teachings of the masters. After I left, in my spare time of literary creation, I actually recalled what I had done in those years and began to write "Oracle Bone Collection"; especially after the completion of my "Continuation of the Night Tan" in 2017, I devoted myself to the study of ancient characters including oracle bones and gold texts, and wrote this oracle bone note, which was hidden in the book, and did not dare to show it. ”
According to Ma Lao's recollection, the symposium on the 120th anniversary of the discovery of Oracle was opened, and many Oracle researchers enthusiastically participated. At the meeting, some scholars put forward the idea of "popular science oracle bone" to promote the carrier of Chinese civilization inheritance among primary and secondary school students and college students on the mainland - oracle bone. "As a student who has been a student of many masters at Southwest United University for more than seventy years after a small success, I am excited to receive this information and on a whim. So I returned to my old business, reread oracle bones, took notes as I read, and after more than seventy years, revisited this mastery.
"This time re-reading the oracle bone, I also classified the oracle bone, selected some of the words in the oracle bone I had read, and wrote it one by one according to the order I designed, according to simplified, traditional, oracle, pinyin, "Explanation of Words", Tang's new solution, etc., and strived to be easy to recognize and understand. According to Professor Tang Lan's often said, "people as the center", such as man and nature, man and family..."
It is such an ambitious Ma Lao, although Ma Lao is humbled that "his talent is not enough, he is old and weak, and he can no longer realize the 'Popular Science Oracle' project that he yearns for", but this book in his heart has really become a reality.
This is a book, but also a far-reaching feeling.
When Ma Lao Hiro learned to write this book, he constantly recalled his period at Southwest United University and was taught by Professor Tang Lan.
Speaking of oracle bones, and why there is such an "obsession" with oracle bones, Ma Lao said that in academic research, the invention of a word is often exhausted, so that many researchers may not invent a word in their lifetime. As long as he can invent an ancient character on the antiquities and ancient scripts, he is enough to be called a professor. A word in ancient artifacts and ancient texts is often debated for decades or even hundreds of years, and a word difference can achieve a family's words; solving a difficult academic problem can form a new interpretation of ancient history and ancient texts.
He recalled, "Don't think of it as cold scholarship, it has a lot to do with the evolution and development of Chinese culture." You have to start by reading "Explaining Words and Sayings". Often the excavation of an ancient script is like the discovery of a new star in the sky to bring endless happiness to researchers. This is one of the most interesting, academically valuable and important disciplines! Professor Tang Lan's remarks aroused our interest in studying the origin and flow of ancient scripts.
Speaking of the "spirit of the Southwest United Congress", Ma Lao said: "Scholars who conduct language and writing research must first be proficient in the cultural classics of Chinese dynasties. The so-called proficiency must not only be able to 'read the textbook' and impart knowledge, but also be able to explain its essence from the classics, and discover and invent from it. Not only must we not muddy the ancients, but we must also have the spirit of doubting the ancients, thinking of what people have not been able to think about, saying what people have not said, daring to express creative ideas, expressing doubts about the sayings of predecessors, and even making a splash and inspiring, which is a layer of meaning of proficiency. Secondly, I must be proficient in several foreign languages, and be able to extract the essence of them from foreign classics and use them for my use. Students studying abroad should be able to discover the important cultural classics of China's past dynasties that have been stolen, carried, and copied by foreigners over the past hundred years, which is called 'studying abroad to Chinese'; after completing their studies, they will 'move' back the ancient treasures that have been lost abroad and interpret them in China, which is a higher level of proficiency. Third, a language researcher must not only learn from both Chinese and Western, be proficient in ancient and modern times, be good at surveying and identifying and inheriting classics from new archaeological discoveries, but also be willing to discover new materials from Chinese folk customs, myths, and spoken languages, especially to obtain comparative research materials from the surviving classics and spoken languages of Ethnic Minorities in China. ”
Ma Lao signed the "Spring Breeze Small Desk" of Qianjiang Evening News.
[Ma Lao said, how did he interpret the oracle bone]
For this "child" born at the age of 108, Ma Lao loves it. He also modestly said that the memories of the ancient characters taught by the masters in the southwest United University class and the explanation of the ancient characters may be the last meritorious thing that I, an old man, can do. Please axe everyone!
Let's open this new book of the 108-year-old man and see how Ma Lao's brilliant pen is full of flowers, saying that the text is deciphering words-
stuff. "The ancients called things things, and these are these two words. You see, the word 'east' is a bundle of things tied with rope at both ends, and the word 'west' is also a bag of things and ends are tied up. It is the word 'thing' that we write to this day. There is also a 'bundle' character, and the ancient character is only written as if it were 'east', which is also a thing that is ligated at both ends, meaning 'end'. Now the words 'thing' and the word 'bundle' that we write are originally hieroglyphs. Today you will begin to know the three ancient scripts. There has been no etymology of the word 'thing' since ancient times, and now it has finally been studied by us. Many of the words we use are derived from ancient hieroglyphs. As soon as you check the etymology, it is clear. ”
For the two words of China, Ma Lao explained it like this:
The word "middle" has a flag waving to one side on the straight pole, what is the meaning of this flag waving? So Professor Tang Lan expressed his personal opinion after his research. He said that since ancient times, human beings have always loved to form groups of different sizes, each occupying a piece of land in order to survive, collecting plants, hunting animals, and using them as food. After evolving into a real person with two hands, he continued to compete for food and territory, or allied with each other, or invaded each other. In ancient books, there are the battles of the Yellow Emperor Yandi and the battles of the Yellow Emperor Xuanyou. Therefore, these tribes erected a log flagpole in the center of the territory or military camp, and a square or circular flag bucket was built at the upper end of the flagpole, which people could sit in and look out against the enemy. This flagpole is very important, and the whole barracks are centered on it. Above and below the flagpole are two fluttering flags. Modern calligraphy is also commonly written in Chinese characters with military flags fluttering above and below.
So, what about the Chinese word for "guo"? Ma Lao said that the word "or" in the ancient "kingdom" character has the word "domain" understood as the region, and the earth is added later. In fact, the word "or" is the weapon "Go" held by the warriors guarding the territory. The Go is the main weapon of the ancient primitive tribes, and it is originally the image of the weapon, which is no objection. The word "wéi" is a sign of scope, so the etymology of the word "kingdom" is that there are guardians of the tribe's territory.
Today, the world is not at peace, and war and peace have once again attracted the attention of the world.
Ma Lao also pays attention to the outside world.
Ma Lao said three words, one of which was the word "wu". This word is easily misunderstood as "stop" as "wu", and is now also quoted as a call for peace, which is a big mistake. This "stop" is not "stop fighting", but means "to fight". The word "wu" means to take a step, take out a weapon, and "go" to fight.
One is the word "take". He said that Professor Tang Lan first talked about the word "take" in this regard, and the word "take" was clearly stated, and the word "lian" could naturally make sense. The image of the word "take" is to grab an ear with a hand. As mentioned earlier, in ancient times, clan wars did not stop, and when wars began, killing people in the wilderness, and piling up the people who were killed, it was the result of the battle, so as to repay the leader. But it was too much trouble to move the piles of dead bodies back, so it was much easier to cut off the ears of the dead bodies (it is said that the left ear was cut) and take them back to repay the merits. This gives rise to the word "take", and the taker takes the ear. In this way, can the word "lian" be interpreted as a function of cutting the ear? Wouldn't it be easier to use the silk rope to be the strongest, and to string the cut ears together and transport them back? So the word "lian" next to the ear naturally appeared.
One is the word "jin". The ancients also often used axes when fighting wars, known as plate axes, with large blades and sharp blades. Sui and Tang Dynasty hero Cheng bit Jin with this kind of plate axe in his hand. Cheng Yaojin used a plate axe to do kung fu deeply, so his "three-plate axe" was rumored to be a beautiful talk and has been passed down to this day. On the stage, this illiterate, brave and brave black-faced man is commonly seen. There is also a descendant named Li Kui, who also uses an axe to kill people, and Lu Xun described Li Kui as "picking up a three-plate axe and cutting it all the way."
There is also the word "and". Ma Lao said that the word "he" is composed of "he" and "mouth", and he is the grain, the material of human survival, and nature is important. In terms of spirit, Chinese since ancient times, we have attached importance to the harmony of heaven and man, and harmony is precious, and harmony is different. "Harmony" is the norm of human survival and interaction, and the world also advocates peace. But the most understanding and most important thing about "and" is the Chinese, which is one of our excellent traditional cultures. Individual countries and groups, on the other hand, are often at odds with each other and have been fighting ceaselessly, which is the opposite of "peace." To "and" must be "equal", i.e., equal. Equality is the connotation of "and".
There are two festivals in March, a Women's Day and a Tree Planting Day on March 12.
Ma Lao said the word "good". Good hǎo from the female congzi, which is similar to the "good" character seal script of the Shuowen Jiezi. "Explanation of Words": "Good, beautiful." From women. Professor Tang Lan explained that a man and a woman were next to each other, and they were naturally happy with each other.
Elder Ma was often silent. He said, don't women like to wear beautiful bracelets and necklaces and anklets? Where did they know that it was an ancient tool for enslaving women. Male superiority and female inferiority, a "respect" word, the image is the appearance of holding wine in both hands to respect the superior. The inferiority of men and women has been the case since patrilineal clan society, and although great progress has been made now, the old concept remains. The so-called "civilized society" of the Western countries is still the same, the so-called Lady First is a model, so there are organizations in the world that fight for women's rights.
He said that now human beings know that forests are precious, not only can be used as materials, but also have a lot to do with people's healthy survival. China is a model of afforestation, and it is not surprising that there are still countries opposing the Paris Agreement.
For the word "horse" in his surname Ma, Ma always said this: horse (horse). The oracle bones of domestic animals or animals are all made of shapes, and the same is true for horses. The existing oracle bones, with horse's eye as the first word, emphasize the shape of the horse's head, which is no different from cattle, sheep, etc., not only emphasizing the horse's mane. Horses are now reduced to "horses" and do not emphasize either the mane or the head. The strokes of "ma" are simplified to three strokes, so in "Arranged in Alphabetical Order", I, a person surnamed Ma, always ranks first by borrowing light. When it comes to elections, my name appears at the front of the list, which is very conspicuous, so that everyone can draw circles (○) or draw hooks (√), and my selection rate increases. Because of this simplified word, I took advantage of some. A friend has joked to me that you are the one who should be most grateful for simplifying the word "horse" to the word "horse". Instead of appreciating it, I wondered why it was so simplified. This can also be regarded as an interesting thing, so it is written.
Borrowing "horse" to say "horse", it is such an interesting horse old.
Elder Ma, I wish you to continue to write and write, happy and healthy, and write down.
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