Caption: Teacher Xiong Jingming
Ms. Xiong Jingming, born in Kunming in 1943, immigrated to Hong Kong in 1979. From 1988 to 2007, she chaired the China Studies Service Center at the University of Chinese, Hong Kong, where she participated in a number of rural poverty alleviation projects Chinese mainland and compiled several chinese research papers.
Teacher Xiong's great-grandfather Xiong Tingquan was a late Qing Dynasty jinshi, who served as the prefect of Lijiang, diligent and loving the people, grandfather Xiong Guangqi thought new, supported political reform, and served as a county magistrate for more than ten years during the Republic of China period, his maternal grandfather Su Dixin was the first generation of students studying in Japan in Yunnan, and his father Xiong Yunshi was an engineer who participated in the construction of the Yunnan Burma Highway. These large and small figures have experienced and witnessed the historical changes of modern China. In recent years, Teacher Xiong has devoted herself to the promotion of folk history and the collection of materials, and has also written her own folk history, and the "big history" of the country can be seen from the "small history" of this family.
This article is some of her experiences in writing family history.
Family history and oral history writing experience
Text | Xiong Jingming
The source | Scholar Scholar (ID: isixiang)
Why write
Computers opened up an era when everyone could write, writing was fulfilling, happy, and practiced the habit of independent thinking.
Writing a memoir or a family history is the easiest way to get into writing, and it's also a meaningful thing that ordinary people like you and I can do.
China has a long history of writing "family trees" and "family trees". The traditional genealogy was once the most sacred document in the family, telling everyone where you came from, who in the world, and how to connect with you by blood. You will continue this family, the family will be passed down from generation to generation, and you are one of them. There is a powerful pillar behind you that gives you a sense of security and makes your achievements glorious. Family identity, which extends to the hometown, village or city where you live, has become a major factor in China's social stability.
Telling the stories of elders, being able to leave their life experiences and even their voices and smiles behind, is a precious "wealth" for every family. When our ancestors died, we left their ashes and buried them for future generations to worship. If you write a vivid story about them and leave their life deeds, it is equivalent to making them "survive" in the human world forever.
In 1938, the four generations of the Xiong family took a group photo: the old man and the boy holding the cane in the middle were Xiong Jingming's great-grandfather Xiong Tingquan and Xiong Jingming's brother, respectively, and the left one was Xiong Jingming's mother, Su Erduan, and the photo was taken by Xiong Jingming's father
History is the best teacher to learn to judge right from wrong. Documenting their experiences not only annotates history, but also deepens our understanding of history. Mr. Wang Dingjun, a Taiwanese writer, said that history is like a river, and his memoirs are like a pond on the outside of a river. "There are tributaries between the pond and the river, and the water volume regulates each other." Reading the memories of predecessors, it is as if they hold hands, step into the long river of history, know the depth of the water, and understand the rapids to avoid.
The vivid life story of the elders carries the truth of being a person, as well as the understanding of society and the relationship between home and country, which can be called culture. Even if individuals have experienced many injustices, injustices, grievances and even tribulations, their life stories convey love rather than hate. Love yourself, love your family, love your neighbors and communities, love your motherland and human beings, love nature, love life.
Talking and listening between generations increases mutual awareness and affection, and is the most common thing about this activity. The family lives under the same roof, and the elderly care about the living and eating, health and education of their children and grandchildren. Cared for younger generations take it for granted. Each other should be a generation gap or even avoid deep talk. Children and grandchildren know little about grandparents and are not interested.
In today's era of dizzying information, everyone is like an audience sitting in front of a ever-changing stage, rejoicing and mourning with the joys and sorrows on the stage, and gradually losing themselves. Writing, so that our eyes are no longer just staring at the stage, so that our brains no longer follow the elusive plot, let us independently apply our thoughts, feelings, and do something that only you alone in the world can do. No one in the world can write down the memories of the past and the life stories of your ancestors for you.
Xiong Jingming (right) with mother
Entering writing, the first thing you find is that you don't know your loved ones or old friends. Recording the life of another person will inevitably "think in a different position" and look at things from that person's point of view. Tolerance and understanding come from understanding. Enter into the inner world of others, and understanding ensues. People who are grateful are more mentally balanced. Writing about relatives, friends, and memories, just like the Taiwanese writer Mr. Wang Dingjun said, is to record love and righteousness. Even in the sinister and filthy environment, there are also moments illuminated by the brilliance of human nature, and there are unforgettable feelings and righteousness.
What to write? How to write?
"Truth" is the only principle of non-fiction writing. Writing about relatives and friends will inevitably be prejudiced; in addition, people's memories are like sieves, leaving far from complete. Culturally, for the deceased, we are accustomed to hiding evil and promoting good. Compile a commemorative book for the person who has just died, and leave a good impression of him, the purpose of which is not the same as writing memory texts. The biggest challenge in doing oral history is judging whether the other person's account is based on facts and whether it is exaggerated. Doing your homework beforehand and reading the relevant history can help you distinguish between true and false. I have doubts about doing interviews, but I need to sympathize with why the other person's account deviates from the truth. Stay alert to biases in respondents' memories while trying to understand them. This allowed us to learn not only to interview, but also to be human.
The kung fu of writing, including writing and talking, is a honement from childhood to old age. Writing forces us to pay attention to words and practice the ability to express ourselves. Kung Fu arrived home, the use of words accurately, vividly, in addition to the original text foundation, more to see more and write more honing, to have a little talent. Don't be too demanding of yourself, just know how to avoid writing too badly. Two tips: clean and unpretentious. Lu Xun has a famous saying that after the article is written, unnecessary words, sentences, and paragraphs are deleted. You try to remove "yes", "of", "very", "very", "but", and the text is suddenly much cleaner.
Family portrait in 1946, with Xiong Jingming in the front row
On the one hand, it is necessary to avoid the language of the press and the style of the chief's report. For example, "firm" is already a very heavy word, but it is not enough, to say "unswerving", "effort" into "increased intensity". The linguistic violence that developed during the Cultural Revolution went with the Cultural Revolution, but it also showed traces from time to time and polluted our writing.
The opposite of simplicity is fancy, abusive adjectives and idioms. Most of the Chinese teachers in elementary and junior high schools appreciate the use of four-word phrases and idioms for their classmates' essays. "White clouds are leisurely, the wind and rain are drizzling, and the flowers are colorful" and the like will be drawn by the teacher. After the article is written, I see where it may be circled by the teacher, and then consider whether I want to modify it. Non-fiction writing is originally recorded truthfully, and the style must be simple, not heavy makeup.
The grasp of content follows the principle of "putting more facts and less reasoning". In fact, the truth is in the facts, each person's story is unique, and the truth may be the same. For topics of interest, you can read more about the relevant research, but the next pen focuses on personal experience. On the other hand, when describing the events of the year, it is necessary to take into account that the reader does not understand the background and make necessary explanations. For example, when it comes to the salary of each month of the year, it may be necessary to explain the price at that time. When it comes to concepts that young people today and in the future are completely unaware of, we have to explain it somewhat.
More than once someone has asked: How to deal with the memories of the authenticity of the real name, involving personal errors or evil deeds? When I write it myself, I call people by their first names when praising them, and "hide their names" for negative events. To write about other people's mistakes and even great evils, we must think that the other party has no chance to justify (like the big character newspaper during the Cultural Revolution). Non-scholars who write memoirs or do oral interviews are only responsible for truthfully recording, not compiling or compiling. Analytical criticism is not our pursuit.
Many ordinary people who have the heart to write reminiscences and do oral histories are rich in feelings and naturally inject their own emotions into the text. In the whole story, it is a challenge for the writer to grasp the emotional measure, otherwise the things written will not be able to resonate with the reader although they have impressed themselves. Space for thinking, room for emotional catharsis, leave a reader.
The pen is in your hand (the keyboard is under your hand), you can write however you want. Just like exercising, it doesn't matter what you do, perseverance is the way to success.