Text/Hu Hongxia
Exactly 39 years ago tomorrow, on April 23, 1983, a big thing happened in Shenzhen. Perhaps because of the passage of time, this matter is rarely mentioned now. There are too many major events in Shenzhen that are worth remembering, and some things inevitably fade out of the complicated memories.
However, if you go through a book such as "Shenzhen Memorabilia", whether it is an old edition or a new edition, it will record this matter, which shows that it belongs to the "major event" without a doubt.
I didn't know anything about it either. In 2018 (two years before the COVID-19 pandemic, it felt like "a long, long time ago"), I collided head-on with this matter when I checked the data, and I have been very interested since then. Through the contact of friends, that year I met the protagonist of the story, Lei Ziyuan, at the Shenzhen Art Museum on the edge of the Shenzhen Reservoir.
Like showing the joint code, I took out a book called "Shenzhen Book Market" and handed it to Lao Lei. He first stunned, stared at it, and then grabbed the book from my hand with the force and speed of almost "grabbing" or "grabbing", and shouted in succession: "How can you have this book?" yes? How could you have it? Where did you get this book? ”
So, that morning, the story of the long-silent years began to come alive little by little, as if the calm surface of the reservoir had resumed the wind and waves. The more I listened, the more I felt that the story was bigger and more complicated than I thought, and that I needed to talk to Old Ray a few more times. Old Lei said, no problem, I live in Hong Kong now, it is very convenient to travel to and from Shenzhen, we can make an appointment at any time.
Later we hurriedly met twice. Then, the epidemic came, don't say it was me, his son Lei Yu, who lives in Shenzhen, has not been reunited with his parents for two or three years. A few days ago, I talked to Thunderstorm and said that I don't know when the epidemic will end, my "story" can't wait any longer, and the 39th anniversary of this year's Shenzhen Book Market is coming. He said helplessly that his parents were healthy and safe, but they couldn't see each other, so they were in trouble.
The next day he sent a WeChat message to the effect that my father had been doing cultural work for decades, and the dangers were rife, counting the most "sinister" in the Shenzhen Book Market this time.
I see what he means.
▲On April 23, 1983, the first Shenzhen Book Fair opened grandly.
1
What I want to tell is the story of the Shenzhen Book Market. The day of the interview with Lei Ziyuan was August 27, 2018, the second day of the 38th birthday of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, and the venue was the "birthplace" of the first Shenzhen Book Market on April 23, 1983.
I didn't expect Lei Ziyuan to be so tall. He was 85 years old, with a straight waist, a steady walk, a hard handshake, eyes staring at you warmly and intently, and a smile that opened and closed just right. It was a smile that had seen a lot of big scenes. He beckoned me to sit down in a loud voice, as if he were still the master of the place. The most shining years of his life were cast here. As soon as he returned to this space, he would feel proud, like returning to the battlefield and sticking to the commander position again.
▲Lei Zi source
Lei Ziyuan talked a lot about the past that day, so I had a strong curiosity about the Shenzhen reservoir area. Then, one winter afternoon, I walked alone in East Lake Park for a long time, turning around almost every place I could reach on foot. Those abandoned, idle or under renovation buildings, the old appearance is still faint, the charm is still there, enough to make people speculate about the hustle and bustle of the day. More than 40 years ago, this was the only area in Bao'an County open to the public, and it was a scenic spot dedicated to receiving overseas tourists.
Zhang Yanfang, the current director of the Shenzhen Art Museum, is an old subordinate of Lei Ziyuan and participated in the first Shenzhen Book Market. After listening to him carefully interpret the photos of the book market collection that day, I have been trying to "restore" the scene of the opening day of the book market. At that time, the building was not called Shenzhen Art Museum, but Shenzhen Exhibition Center. The weather forecast on April 23 said it was "cloudy, with light rain, and the average temperature was 23.6 °C", but in the photo, the weather was very bright in the small square in front of the museum, and there was no rain disturbance. Lei Ziyuan stood in front of the color building that had just been erected in front of the door, and felt that he was very proud and full of emotion.
A burst of firecrackers sounded, and everyone was in a state of flux. After half a year of preparation, the first Shenzhen Book Market has finally opened. Nearly 10,000 kinds of overseas books fill the three halls of the exhibition hall. Ten thousand! When did so many foreign books appear together in the mainland? And to run a book market specifically for them? He re-walked through the "exhibition line" in his head. As long as he thinks about it, the layout of the exhibition hall comes to mind: when he enters the hall, the first thing he sees is a dictionary and a dictionary tool book; when he enters the central hall, books on history, social science, literature and art, and medicine and health are displayed in turn. They picked up all the books they had picked up when they went to Hong Kong. And he is no stranger to Hong Kong.
▲ Lei Ziyuan (left) tells about book love and book affairs.
2
Lei Ziyuan was born in Hong Kong in 1933 to a merchant family, and after the Japanese occupied Hong Kong in December 1941, he took refuge with his family in taishan, Guangdong. In 1951, new China needed young people to participate in construction everywhere, and Lei Ziyuan, who was studying in Taishan in his second year of high school, decided not to return to Hong Kong, nor wait for high school graduation, and immediately went to Guangzhou to find a job. This tall, handsome and cultured young man was very popular with the recruiting unit. Military and Political University? He didn't want to go. Many people choose the finance and tax department, and he is not interested. Lei Ziyuan said, I like to read books, I go to Xinhua Bookstore.
The 18-year-old Lei Ziyuan went to the South China Branch of Guangzhou Xinhua Bookstore as he wished, and was assigned to work in the Promotion Department and Reader Service Division. The section chief's surname is Huang, and his name is Huang Yi. Although their colleagues' time was not long, the wonderful thing is that they were reunited in Shenzhen decades later.
In 1952, Huang Yi returned to Hong Kong. In 1953, in order to strengthen the cultural propaganda in the border areas, Xinhua Bookstore in Guangdong Province decided to send Lei Ziyuan to work at Xinhua Bookstore in Shenzhen Town, Bao'an County. On August 15 of that year, he came to Shenzhen.
"Do you know," Lei Ziyuan recalled with a bitter smile during the interview that day, on September 5, 1976, the then county "Revolutionary Committee" convened a meeting of the heads of the Cultural Bureau, the Infrastructure Construction Office, the Overseas Chinese Society, and other units, and decided to open an exhibition hall in the Shenzhen Reservoir Tourist Area. "The day after their meeting, the head of the Cultural Affairs Bureau talked to me and asked me to take over the exhibition hall. I was already working at the Cultural Affairs Bureau and I said I would consider it. I'm not a small official, I'm too little money! Only give eight thousand yuan, how to do the exhibition? ”
"A few days later, on September 9, you know, something big happened in China." Lei Ziyuan said. "When I got to the tenth day, the leader sought me out again, saying that Chairman Mao had passed away, and the people of the whole country were in grief. Hurry up and take office! ”
Taking the key to the door of the exhibition hall and following the potholed dirt road, Lei Ziyuan rode for nearly an hour to the door of a lonely row of houses on the edge of the reservoir. When I pushed the door, I saw that there wasn't even a stool inside.
After taking charge of the exhibition hall, with the help of Shao Yu in Beijing and Huang Xinbo in Guangzhou, Lei Ziyuan held several influential exhibitions. The so-called "influence" is to attract Hong Kong people on the other side of the Shenzhen River; the more they come, the greater the impact. In the spring of 1978, his old leader Huang Yi appeared in the crowd of Hong Kongers visiting the Shenzhen Exhibition Center, and it was Lei Ziyuan who was responsible for receiving them. Thirty years after a separation in Guangzhou, the two actually met unexpectedly in Shenzhen, and Lei Ziyuanguan's reunion this time was called "meeting in his hometown and knowing the past".
At this time, Huang Yi was already the deputy general manager of the Hong Kong General Service Office of Sanlian Bookstore, Zhonghua Bookstore and Commercial Press at that time.
3
Lei Ziyuan recalled that one afternoon in the early summer of 1980, when Shenzhen was very hot, he suddenly received a notice that Wu Nansheng, the first secretary of the municipal party committee, was going to meet with well-known figures in Hong Kong's cultural circles at the Xinyuan Guest House, and he needed to accompany him. Lei Ziyuan heard Wu Nansheng say to Lan Zhen, Huang Yi, Wang Guihong and others: "You believe it! The advent of the climax of the economic construction of the special economic zone will inevitably bring about a climax of cultural construction; you are welcome to take the lead and come to Shenzhen to invest in and set up cultural undertakings. Wu Nansheng also instructed Lei Ziyuan that if you and your Hong Kong friends discuss together, you can first set up a gallery to display traditional Chinese calligraphy and paintings and the four treasures of literature, and open a cultural window for the SAR.
In October 1980, the Shenzhen Municipal Government was not called "Shenzhen Municipal People's Government", but "Shenzhen Municipal Revolutionary Committee". On the 4th of this month, the Revolutionary Committee issued a document No. 242, which reads:
Shenzhen Exhibition Center: The agreement to jointly open Shenzhen Boya Gallery with Hong Kong Boya Art Company was received. Upon review, agreed.
I found the agreement mentioned in the document in the Shenzhen Archives. This is already a document that reflects the spirit of Shenzhen people who dared to try it. Although Shenzhen Boya is still a "cultural window", from this agreement onwards, this "window" will not only display and sell books and paintings from the mainland, but also import cultural goods including books from abroad. In July 1981, Shenzhen Boya officially opened. Shenzhen's first Shenzhen-Hong Kong cooperative cultural enterprise was born. Huang Yi is the first chairman of Boya Gallery, and Lei Ziyuan is the general manager. The two of them discussed: Several publishing houses in Hong Kong have already held a Chinese book fair in Beijing in 1980, but there are too few varieties, but two or three thousand, why not engage in a big book market in Shenzhen?
On October 12, 1982, Shenzhen Boya Gallery made a report to the Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee, asking for a joint "Shenzhen Book Fair" with the Hong Kong Branch of zhonghua bookstore. After 18 days, the Propaganda Department of the Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee replied to the "Shenzhen Boya Gallery and the Municipal Bureau of Culture", saying that "after consulting the Municipal Party Committee, I agree with your proposal to hold a book market". Not only did it agree to hold it, but the reply letter had very specific guidance on how to select books and how to settle the bill, and it also agreed in principle to give the foreign exchange settlement index used by the book market to use 150,000 US dollars.
On the opening day of the book market, the main leaders of the Publication Bureau of the Central Propaganda Department, the Publication Bureau of the Ministry of Culture, the Hong Kong Branch of Xinhua News Agency, Sanlian, Zhonghua Bookstore, the Hong Kong General Management Office of the Commercial Press, and the Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee and the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government all attended the ceremony to cut the ribbon. Of course, Huang Yi also came.
4
When interviewing Lei Ziyuan, he was greatly surprised by the "Shenzhen Book Market", I bought it from the Internet. It's true to say it's a book, of course, but it's just an in-house printed catalogue of the Shenzhen Book Market exhibits: paperback, traditional horizontal, printed in Hong Kong in April 1983, 304 pages. According to the "Instructions for Ordering and Purchasing Books" listed in the book, those who participated in the book fair that year should have a copy, and after selecting the book on the spot, they will find the corresponding number and pricing in the book and fill in the order form attached to the book.
However, nearly forty years later, although the usefulness of this book has been zero, the value of the literature has increased day by day. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is "an important document in the history of Reading in Shenzhen".
▲"Shenzhen Book Market" is actually just a volume of internally printed books of the first Shenzhen Book Market exhibition book catalog.
I remember when I first opened this book, my inner excitement was indescribable. Who would have thought? Those big books that have now become "legends", those books that cannot be found and cannot be found everywhere at present, those books that are now unattainable in the price of old books on the Internet, such as mr. Shen Congwen's huge book "Research on Ancient Chinese Costumes" in the first edition of the Hong Kong Branch of the Commercial Press in 1981, etc., have all appeared in several fairly bright houses in the northwest corner of the Shenzhen Reservoir in 1983.
And when I turned to page 44 of the Shenzhen Book Fair, I was surprised! Jin yong 's! 12 Jin Yong martial arts! Ming River Edition! Book market order numbers are arranged from 241341 to 241352!
Why did hong Kong's original vertical traditional Jin Yong martial arts novel appear in Shenzhen in 1983?
Lao Lei said that Shenzhen had sent a high-level "book selection team to Hong Kong" to Hong Kong that year, led by a municipal leader, and the Propaganda Department of the Municipal Party Committee, the Municipal Bureau of Culture, and the Boya Gallery all sent personnel to participate. The hotel room where they were staying was full of alternative books sent by various publishing agencies, and more than 10,000 kinds of books they read one by one, encountered "situations", and jointly discussed ways to deal with them. The city leader trusted Lei Ziyuan and said, "If you think there is a problem, you will not enter." You decide, otherwise you will be the general manager. Lei Ziyuan understood the weight of this sentence.
Almost everyone in the "book selection group" likes to read martial arts, and they all feel that the Shenzhen book market cannot be without new martial arts. However, no institution in the mainland has ever officially imported Jin Yong's works before, and it may be risky to set this precedent. In the end, after asking for instructions, they specially set a principle for Jin Yongwu, called "advanced and post-trial", that is, to say it again before speaking, and then review it according to the situation.
The first Shenzhen Book Fair was a complete success. In the summary report of the book market submitted to the municipal party committee on May 31, 1983, Lei Ziyuan did not avoid the problem of martial arts novels being too popular, and specially wrote a text with the flavor of "self-reflection": "It is necessary to strengthen the publicity and introduction of books, and be good at guiding and helping readers to choose books." ...... The book market exhibited dozens of Hong Kong versions of martial arts novels, and when selected in various places, some units focused on or all of them selected this type of martial arts novels. In the face of such a situation, we gently explain that it is not suitable for such martial arts novels to be circulated and read among ordinary readers in large numbers; second, it is impossible to accept a large number of orders, so as not to consume too much of the country's precious foreign exchange; third, if such books are issued in large quantities, the book market will go to the evil road of a purely economic point of view. Therefore, only one set of libraries above the provincial and municipal level is allowed to be booked. ”
This is already a bit like a review. Moreover, one-two-three-four is "foreign exchange" and "evil road", where is it still "euphemistic explanation"? It is estimated that Lei Ziyuan played a little bit of the "ugly words in front" speech strategy, just in case someone attacked, they also had a way out. Even so, the later "internal control incident" and its severity greatly surprised them.
5
Now, if you suddenly want to read Jin Yong Wuxia, you can just walk into a bookstore or choose a book e-commerce, buy which one you want, and the new version of the old collector's edition of the juvenile version can be bought at will, and read it casually. If you want to collect, then go to the old book network to shop, Minghe version, triptych version, long-term version are available, as long as you are willing to spend a high price, there is no version that cannot be bought. You'd think it's all ordinary, normal.
However, where do you know that in the early 1980s, the new martial arts and feudal superstitious readings, the sound of Hong Kong and Taiwan, the obscene and thieving novels, the celebrity secret news newspapers, as well as flared pants, toad mirrors, shawl hair, etc., were all unhealthy, very decaying, and to be resisted. It was in this climate that on April 23, 1983, 12 kinds of Hong Kong Minghe editions of Jin Yong's martial arts novels appeared at the first Shenzhen Book Fair. This is the first time that the original Hong Kong new martial artists have crossed the border, crossed the customs, and entered the book market in Shenzhen.
It was not until 1985 that the mainland published Jin Yong's officially authorized work, namely the Tianjin Hundred Flowers Edition of "Book of Swords and Enmity", and it was not until 1994 that the triad simplified version of the "Jin Yong Works Collection" came out in a big way. Shenzhen and Hong Kong are so closely related that the word "Jin Yong" first appeared in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone Daily in 1986.
When Lei Ziyuan and I talked about the Shenzhen Book Market, every time he would talk about Jin Yong's martial arts; and when he talked about Jin Yong, he would definitely talk about the internal reference that seemed to suddenly fall from the sky. Nearly forty years have passed, and he is still a little indignant when he mentions this matter, and there is a bit of self-satisfaction in the unevenness.
In the winter of 1983, a reporter was interviewing in Guangxi, went to Liuzhou, and found a roadside book stall selling The Tale of Jin Yong in hong Kong's original vertical and traditional chinese version of Jin Yong's "Flying Fox Wai Biao". The stall owner just wanted to make some money by selling Jin Yong martial arts to supplement the family, where did he think that this book was actually "poisonous weed". Seeing that the man in front of him was speaking with a straight face and seemed to have a big head, so his heart was empty first, and he did not dare to hide it a little, saying that he had run to the special zone and bought it at the Shenzhen Book Market with all his might. When the reporter heard this, he immediately went to Shenzhen for a secret visit. At that time, the Shenzhen Book Fair had long been closed, but the Boya Gallery, which opened across the street from the Shenzhen Theater on Dongmen Jiefang Road, still had Jin Yong's works for sale. He immediately wrote an internal reference. Not long after, the internal reference was transferred from the province to Shenzhen. According to insiders' recollections, the internal reference said that the Shenzhen Book Market openly sold the martial arts novel "The Tale of the Flying Fox" published in Hong Kong, poisoning readers with the idea of "feudal superstition and absurdity."
Everyone knows what that means. Lei Ziyuan quickly grabbed a copy of the internal reference and went to the city leader to explain the situation. The city leaders who were familiar with "Capital" asked people to find books to read carefully, and the evaluation was "the tone is still healthy, not a flood beast, can not be said to be a bad book."
Lei Ziyuan also told me another thing. It turned out that he had made a special trip to Beijing that winter, and his task was to go to the office of Bian Chunguang, then director of the Press and Publication Bureau of the Central Propaganda Department, to conduct a face-to-face review. He knew Bian Chunguang. At the opening of the Shenzhen Book Fair, director Bian was a ribbon-cutting guest on the rostrum.
"Commissioner, I'm here to review." Lei Ziyuan immediately went straight to the subject after arriving at Bian Chunguang's office.
"Oh," Bian Chunguang laughed, "the internal reference criticized you by name?" ”
Lei Ziyuan smiled bitterly and nodded.
"How many kinds of Books are there in the book market?" Bian Chunguang asked.
"Twelve." Lei Ziyuan answered.
"So how many books did your book market import?"
"More than 10,000."
"So old Lei," Bian Chunguang said, "you don't have to be nervous." Of the more than 10,000 books, there are twelve kinds of books that should not be imported, right? What percentage does it make? One in a thousand! ”
The border chief held out two palms and said, "Of these ten fingers, you can't even make a mistake with one finger." ”
"You know what?" On the day of the interview, Lei Ziyuan patted my knee and said, "I run the Shenzhen Book Fair, engage in various reforms, break through all kinds of barriers, and suffer all kinds of grievances, and I have not cried." However, in Beijing that year, I burst into tears after listening to the words of the director of the Border Bureau. I was too stressed during that time. Listening to the director of the border bureau settle the account like this, the stone in my heart really fell to the ground, and the tears could no longer be stopped. ”
Two years ago, when I made the "Night Study Edition of Shenzhen 40 Years and 40 Books" book list, I insisted on including the "Jin Yong Works Collection". Many friends questioned that Jin Yong was not from Shenzhen, and that the genus of "Flying Snow Shooting White Deer in the Sky" was not written for Shenzhen, let alone Shenzhen, so why should Jin Yong wear a Shenzhen hat?
I said that Jin Yong has two far-reaching things in the history of Reading in Shenzhen City, one is that the first "Shenzhen Book Fair" opened the precedent for the spread of Jin Yong's original Hong Kong new martial arts novels in the mainland; second, after 2000, Jin Yong came to Shenzhen many times to participate in reading activities and gladly served as a special adviser for Shenzhen Reading Month. Today, his name still appears on the list of reading month consultants every year, but there is a black box on the name. This is a special way for the master to accept thousands of readers to pay tribute every year during the Shenzhen Reading Month.
However, I admit that I did not think it through when I chose the "Jin Yong Collection", and at this moment I solemnly revised: "Jin Yong Works" was replaced by "The Flying Fox"!
In 1933
Lei Ziyuan was born in Hong Kong.
In 1941
After the Japanese occupied Hong Kong, they took refuge with their families in taishan, Guangdong.
In 1951
As desired, he was assigned to work in the South China Branch of Xinhua Bookstore in Guangzhou and met Huang Yi.
In 1952
He was sent to work at Xinhua Bookstore in Shenzhen Town, Bao'an County, so he came to Shenzhen.
In 1976
He took charge of the Shenzhen Exhibition Center, and has since held several influential exhibitions.
In 1981
Jointly established Shenzhen Boya Gallery with Hong Kong Boya Art Company, with Lei Ziyuan as the general manager.
In 1982
Shenzhen Boya Gallery made a report to the Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee and asked to jointly hold the "Shenzhen Book Fair" with the Hong Kong Branch of the Zhonghua Bookstore.