Poet Li Jihe "Yumen Sketch"

Text/Ma Jiajun

About the poet Li Ji

Li Ji, a native of Tanghe, Henan, came to Yan'an in 1938, entered the Kang Da to study, joined the Communist Party of China the following year, and went to Shanxi after graduation to serve as an instructor for the Eighth Route Army Company. From 1942 to 1947, he was a county and district cadre in the three sides of northern Shaanxi, at which time he studied folk songs. He said: "In the course of my work, I have also read and tried to write a number of literary and artistic works, and I also have a fairly strong petty-bourgeois arrogance that people of the same origin as me" (1), and there is not enough understanding of folk art. After studying the "Speech at the Yan'an Literary and Art Forum", I rationally understood the huge artistic creation ability of the working people. After getting close to the people in practical work, we have integrated with the people ideologically and emotionally. Thus "love for folk songs" (2), he collected three thousand "Xintianyou" and a large number of "Walking West Mouth", "Embroidered Lotus Bag" and so on in his spare time. Therefore, he was influenced by the spirit of struggle of the people in folk songs, and the fresh, healthy, profound and simple atmosphere of folk songs. Because the author has gone deep into folk life and absorbed the nourishment of folk literature, Li Ji has achieved great achievements in creation. In December 1945, he wrote "Wang Gui and Li Xiangxiang".

The long narrative poem "Wang Gui and Li Xiangxiang" "is a very successful and excellent narrative poem" (3) It sings about the peasant struggle and love during the agrarian revolution in northern Shaanxi. It successfully reflects the revolutionary struggle of the Red Guards under the leadership of the Party, and realistically and vividly depicts the tenacious and indomitable revolutionary character of the peasant Wang Gui and the beautiful girl Li Xiangxiang. The author organically unifies revolutionary struggle and love, showing their flesh-and-blood relationship. "Wang Gui and Li Xiangxiang" is the first work to achieve outstanding results since Chairman Mao Zedong delivered his "Speech at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art.". In its content, it "expresses the people in itself, the life and environment of ordinary people, their struggles and victories" (4). It has set an excellent example for artists to go deep into people's lives and depict the masses of workers and peasants. The poem "grows in the soil of China and is the first milestone of the people's psalms" (5). In terms of form, vivid and full of local colors, the mature first adopted the form of the folk song "Xintianyou", and made an excellent example in combining the characteristics of new literature and folk literature and using the forms that the people liked to hear. In terms of language, the author applied the spoken language to the creation of poetry, creatively absorbed the dialect, and reached a relatively high degree of popularity. It can be said that "Wang Gui and Li Xiangxiang" has great significance and value in the history of modern Chinese literature and occupies its historical position.

After the founding of New China, Li Ji went to work in the Southern District. In Wuhan, he revised and completed the long narrative poem "Messenger Girl". The poem describes the story of a kidnapper on three sides who witnessed the enemy's brutal "exposed corpse" beastly behavior when the Huma gang attacked the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, rose up and participated in the struggle, and once reported to the masses the news of the enemy's attack and died heroically (6). The poem portrays the new people who have grown up in the new society, and describes the people's clear feelings of love and hatred. This poem is a continuation of "Wang Gui and Li Xiangxiang". It is interspersed with the love of the kidnapped girl and the company leader of the trunk, making this poem more moving and richer in the atmosphere of life. This poem has the characteristics of folklore, and at the end it shows the people's nostalgia for the messenger girl and the noble sentiment that she did not die. In Wuhan, Li Ji edited "Yangtze River Literature and Art", and wrote the poetry collection "Seventeen Short Poems" and the long narrative poem "Chrysanthemum Stone".

In the winter of 1951, Li Ji participated in a delegation of Chinese writers visiting the Soviet Union. During his two-month visit to the Soviet Union and after returning home, he published essays "I See the Great Lenin", poems "Moscow in October", "There was a young man in Leningrad "To the Little Sisters of Tolstoy's Orphanage", and so on.

After the literary and artistic rectification in 1952, the Literary Association organized a large number of writers to go deep into the industrial and mining, the army, and the rural areas. Li Ji arrived at the Jade Gate. After in-depth experience of life, the author has a new creative achievement. Among them, the poems are "Yumen Poetry Banknote" and "Song of Life".

The subtitle of "Yumen Poetry Banknote" is "Spring Breeze Pudu Yumen Guan". The collection of 25 poems was published by Writers Press in April 1955. The poem describes the laborers and organizers who built the Yumen oil mine ("The General", "Mine Director", "The Old Socialist Man"), describes the beautiful scenery of Yumen ("I Stand on the Top of Qilian Mountain", "Our Oil Mine"), the happy labor mood of young people ("Red Turban", "Black Eyes"), describes the enthusiasm of the new oilfield prospectors ("Qaidam A Young Man", "At the side of the picturesque Gasi Cave") ... These poems are full of strong emotions and are touching to read.

"Song of Life" is a long narrative poem praising the creative labor of oil workers in the Yumen Oil Mine, with eight chapters of wedges, published by China Youth Publishing House in April 1955. Through the story of zhao ming, a young worker, who enthusiastically forgot his own labor, and learned from the older generation of workers with an open mind, he jointly developed a new set of oil production methods and increased production volume, described the magnificent picture of the vigorous development of the motherland's petroleum industry, praised the true meaning of ordinary creative labor, and the infinite and broad road of the young generation in the great cause of socialist construction in the motherland.

In terms of prose: Li Ji's "Yumen Sketch" published in the 16th issue of the "Literature and Art Daily" in 1953 is to build an excellent work. This is what we'll analyze later.

In 1957, he went to work for the Beijing Writers Association and wrote "Xiyuan Poetry Grass" and "Song of Construction".

After 1959, as the chairman of the Lanzhou Branch of the Writers Association, he published a long narrative poem "Yang Gao's Biography", which commented on the Internet: "The scale is magnificent, the story is complex, there are many characters, and the life reflected is broader than that of "Wang Gui and Li Xiangxiang". With a high degree of generalization, through the protagonist Yang Gao's life of fighting, the poet truly reflects the cruel, sharp and complex struggle life in various historical periods of the agrarian revolution, the War of Resistance Against Japan, the War of Liberation and socialist construction, artistically combines folk songs with classical poetry and drum lyrics, adopts the rules and syntax of China's traditional rap literature, and takes another step forward on the road of nationalization and popularization. ”

After that, In 1959, Li Ji published the children's poem "Three Sides and a Teenager", the novel prose collection "Gobi Traveling Companion", "Beloved Qaidam" and his ten-year short poem anthology "Unforgettable Spring".

In the 1960s, there were "Sea Oath" (1961) narrative poems "Xiang Kunlun", "Sword Song", "Petroleum Poems" (1 and 2) (1963).

On March 8, 1980, the poet Li Ji passed away.

About yumen oil mine

The Yumen oil mine described by Li Ji occupies an important position in the socialist construction of the motherland.

The Yumen oil mine is located in Laojun Temple between Yumen County and Jiuquan County in Gansu Province. It is located in the northern foothills of the Qilian Mountains in the Jiuquan Basin. Yumen Oil Mine is our first petroleum industry base, which has superior natural conditions, rich reserves and promising development. In particular, the Lanxin Railway passes through Yumen, making it closely linked to the industries of other regions. The various oils produced by the Yumen Oil Mine supply the construction needs of the motherland.

In ancient times, Yumen was a border fortress in the western part of China, and many poets such as Li Bai, Wang Changling, Wang Zhizhuo, cen shan, etc. sang about this place. But the historical Jade Gate was desolate and empty, and the local people's life was miserable. In modern times, oil has been found in Yumen, but the appearance of Yumen is still the same, especially under the plunder of the Kuomintang, Yumen is more desolate and chaotic, and the people's lives are more miserable. The production of Yumen Oil Mine is very small.

After liberation, under the leadership of the party and the efforts of the workers in the mine, the production of the Yumen oil mine was rapidly restored and developed. The laborers "love the Gobi Desert" deeply, and they understand that "under the stone there is the blood of the industrialization of our motherland, the oil", which is what attracts them to "the strength to move forward" (7). New and old workers form a powerful fighting collective, constantly changing the face of the Yumen oil mine.

The importance and cuteness of Yumen, as well as its changes in development, have rarely been described in literary and artistic works before. Li Ji's "Yumen Sketch" has made contributions, it has made people understand the beauty and cuteness of Yumen, and inspired the courage and confidence of the builders.

Rich and exquisite "Yumen Sketch"

This article tells us: Living in the land of the motherland, any place is lovely, which will make you have strong feelings, and Yumen is such a place. The reason why Yumen is cute is as the article says: Yumen is a city created by a powerful fighting collective, and it is exerting infinite power to supply the construction of the motherland.

In addition to writing about the characteristics of the people and places here, at the same time, the author depicts the scenery of Yumen: in the spring, people's thoughts and emotions are happy and cheerful, the buds of camel grass after the snow melts, the crisp birds in the morning light, the rows of small white yellow flowers and wild peach blossoms... make Yumen full of life and pulsation. And the spring in the world is more beautiful, red scarves, awards, big red flowers, good news, colorful flower clothes of girls... this not only contains happiness, labor, joy, but also deepens the beauty of spring.

"Yumen Sketch" specifically writes about the night scene: let the reader follow the author's brushstrokes and first look at the Yumen from the Gobi Desert: it is "a cluster of lights as dense as a nebula in mid-air", such as "the Tanabata Galactic Constellation". Standing in Nangang again is to look at the Yumen Gate: "dense rows of street lamps", "lights flashing all kinds of lights in every window", traffic cars and transport vehicles that shoot white light back and forth, electric welding flashes like strange flowers, and intensive oil refinery lights like the sun at night... The author wrote that the jade gate was a brilliantly lit night garden. In these lights people are busy, working, and living happily.

The author does not describe the scenery "objectivistically", and in the sketch of the Jade Gate, the author's feelings of loving the Jade Gate and loving the construction of the motherland are permeated. Therefore, this article is an ode to Yumen and an ode to the construction of the motherland. It calls on people to love Yumen and the construction of the motherland.

The artistic feature of "Yumen Sketch"

The author's description of Yumen is expressed in the form of sketching. The main feature of this literary form is that it is sketchy and displayive. This literary form has been used in ancient Chinese literature.

Sketching is also often referred to as sketching, which was originally the name in the art of painting. Ni Yide said in "On Shorthand": "Sketching, it is in the shortest possible time, from the corner of life, the fleeting dynamics of the characters directly and quickly convey the author's strong feelings and keen feelings, showing the spiritual characteristics of the object. It is characterized by vividness, freshness, conciseness, and conciseness, so it has a more vivid breath of life to give people more imagination. It can be seen that in literature, there is no complex and detailed description of people, events, places, and nature, and only prominently outlines the characteristics and outlines of the object, that is, it is equivalent to the sketch in painting. Sketching, faster than other literary styles, can create vivid images of life.

This article only makes a sketch of the appearance and characteristics of Yumen, which shows the essence and cuteness of Yumen.

Yumen is a large city, and the author has a bird's eye view of the whole picture of Yumen to show its essential power. Writing the whole picture, of course, can not only be described from a certain corner, a certain character, can only take a bird's eye view of the whole city, overlooking the entire oil mine, so the brushstrokes involve the main scenery, abandoning secondary things. The author includes the Yumen oil mine in a picture: therefore, only the drilling rigs and derricks, the machinery factory, the hydropower plant, the moving bus... from the hills, the canyons, the groups of houses to the straight roads, includes all the Yumen.

The article describes the unique scenery of Yumen to show its beauty and cuteness. It is not enough to describe only the outline of the jade gate without a specific unique scenery. The scenery of Yumen has its own unique place, its brilliant night, charming spring, windy days with flying sand and stones, which are different from other places. Such as night scenery, there are everywhere, but the night of Yumen is not only a natural night, but a night of brilliant lights. There are lights everywhere, but the lights of Yumen are interwoven with lights of various shapes, colors, and different situations. It makes Yumen a wonderful night garden.

The author blends deep feelings and natural scenes to depict, and each other is deepened and beautified.

[Note]

(1) Li Ji, "How I Learned Folk Songs", December 10, 1949, Literature and Art Daily, Vol. 1, No. 6, pp. 7-8.

(2) Ibid.

(3) Ding Yi: A Brief History of Modern Chinese Literature, 1953, p. 420.

(4) Lu Su and Zun Shan, "Gerasimov on < Wang Gui and Li Xiangxiang > and China's New Opera", December 25, 1950, Literature and Art Daily, Vol. 3, No. 3, p. 9.

(5) Zhou Erfu: "Afterword to the > of Wang Gui and Li Xiangxiang of <" (Zhou Erfu, "New Beginnings", p. 123)

(6) See People's Literature, Vol. 1, No. 4, pp. 41-46, April 1950.

(7) Speech by Jin Jinhong, Women's Surveying Team of Yumen Oil Mine, Gansu Province, at the National Conference of Young Activists in Socialist Construction on September 21, 1955 (China Youth Daily, September 22, 1955).

(Note: The author of this article has authorized this headline)

(Ma Jiajun, a native of Qingyuan, Hebei, born on October 5, 1929, is currently a professor at the College of Literature of Shaanxi Normal University, a member of the Chinese Writers Association, a member of the Chinese Dramatists Association, a member of the Chinese Filmmakers Association, an honorary president (former president) of the Shaanxi Foreign Literature Society, a principle of the Chinese Foreign Literature Society, a principle of the Chinese Russian Literature Research Society, a former president of the Shaanxi Provincial Higher Education Drama Research Society, a former consultant of the Shaanxi Poetry Society, and a former executive director of the Shaanxi Provincial Federation of Social Science Societies. Shaanxi Province to build socialist spiritual civilization advanced individuals, Shaanxi Province to teach and educate advanced teachers, etc., enjoy special allowances from the State Council.

He is the author of 12 kinds of "Nineteenth Century Russian Literature", "The New Stage of Aesthetic History", "Poetry Exploration", "Exploration of World Literature", etc.; 4 kinds of "The Essence of World Literature" and "History of Western Drama" co-authored with his daughter Ma Xiaoyi; 9 kinds of "History of World Literature" (3 volumes) and "Research on Gorky's Creation"; edited 4 kinds of "30 Lectures on European and American Modernist Literature"; co-edited and co-authored "100 Topics of Marxism-Leninism", "Cultural Research Methods", "50 Lectures on Oriental Literature", "Western Literature in the Twentieth Century", etc. and more than 40 kinds.

It has been listed in more than 40 kinds, such as the Dictionary of Chinese Writers, the Dictionary of Chinese Poets, the Dictionary of Chinese Social Science Scholars, the Cambridge Dictionary of International Biographies (27th Edition in English), the Directory of Experts in Russian Studies Abroad (Russian Edition) of the Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Classics of Shaanxi Century of Literature and Art. ）