Analyzing the "Zhang Chengzhi Problem" from the Perspective of History

Analyzing the "Zhang Chengzhi Problem" from the Perspective of History

Buy Lily

(College of Literature, Ningxia Normal University, Guyuan 756000, Ningxia, China)

Abstract: Zhang Chengzhi has become a difficult problem in the study of contemporary Chinese literature, one of the reasons is that his literary themes and ideas are interspersed from multiple dimensions, and from the essence, they can eventually be brought together in one place, which has caused the academic community to interpret Zhang Chengzhi. This article attempts to analyze this difficult problem from Zhang Chengzhi's unique view of history.

Keywords: Zhang Chengzhi; historical view; documentary

Zhang Chengzhi's view of history is complex and profound, he explains the importance of the inheritance of civilization from a historical perspective, and believes that in the process of historical development, we should first strive to pursue the truth, and secondly, we should pursue the truth. The background of this view is that people ignore or discriminate against vulnerable cultures outside the field of vision, and even ignore the importance of these cultures in history and their impact on current cultures, that is, ignore the historical significance of cultures.

Zhang Chengzhi pursues "living history", which is completely different from the traditional view of history, where living history is a true presentation of all aspects of people's lives, a diachronic retrospective of things, rather than fragmentary interception and subjective generalization, nor a record of "major events". Luo Gang believes that in Zhang Chengzhi's works, "'Civilization' is important, 'history' is the key"[1] (P10), and history here refers to Zhang Chengzhi's view of history, specifically the historical context and historical truth of the development of civilization, as well as the historical recognition of marginalized people. In "The Gift of Persia", Zhang Chengzhi proposed that China's Uyghur culture is the inheritance of Persian culture, "If Persia is a distant classical, then Uyghur is its modern version." In the oasis of Uyghur, the essence of Persia that we chase not only exists, but lives and is revered in life. [2] (P73) In the History of the Commune, Zhang Chengzhi recounts the unique way in which herders record history, and herders record their own vivid history in a comprehensive and comprehensive way, and looking back on such history gives herders a real sense of participation, because such history is the past experience of the herders themselves. This is fundamentally different from the history that is recorded, but such a history is difficult to pass on in mainstream culture.

So how do you put this view of history into practice? There is a clear view in "The Study of the Temple" that allowing the subject of civilization to intervene in the interpretation of his own civilization can avoid intentional or unintentional distortion by others. In addition to learning knowledge related to their own beliefs, the monks (students) in the temple also learn a wide range of other types of knowledge in order to explain their civilization and culture as accurately as possible. At present, the history of the weak is basically written and studied by people outside the subject, and it is excluded to coexist with the subject. The essay "Labor Manual" mentions that "for memory, sometimes a kind of evidence is needed"[2] (P150), and the confirmation of historical memory requires first-hand evidence, rather than authoritative compilation and revision of materials, which is very different from official historical records. First-hand sources establish positions from the original source material, rather than bowing down to the discipline of the strong, distorting obscurations or selective memories. For example, Zhang Chengzhi's "Secret History of the Yuan Dynasty" records a special history other than the main history, and is also obviously different from the traditional official historical materials in terms of language, content, and narrative form, so he believes that "since the history of the past is caused by such complex materials, then scholarship should respect this history itself, which is obviously more real than several 'books' passed down." [2] (P157) Then, in addition to having a general meaning, how literature can be written to be as close to history itself as the "Secret History of the Yuan Dynasty" is the inspiration brought to us by the creative form of "History of the Mind", which is also the discussion caused by the genre of "History of the Mind".

Another aspect of Zhang Chengzhi's view of history is his focus on the human psychic process, in which he uses literature to record the "history" that has been omitted outside of traditional history. Traditional history is often a cold "dead history", which is mainly concerned with and recorded the development of political economy. Political economy occupies a prominent place in the history of human development, and people's spiritual journeys are abandoned by official history. Human feelings and hearts have long been ignored, especially the feelings and life course of the people at the bottom. The History of the Mind completes such a title and becomes a precious aspect of contemporary literature, and he records the psychological history of the people at the bottom in a unique language and writing form. To record the history of people's minds in the form of literature, it is necessary to avoid officially compiled historical materials, as mentioned in "History and The History of the Heart": "To study from the data left by the object of study." ”[2](P157)

The documentary nature of Zhang Chengzhi's works supports his view of history. Documentary is the carrier of the people's will, and the documentary records of the works restore the real people, and articles such as "History and Mental History - Reading the Secret History of the Yuan Dynasty" caprice", "The Curiosity of Common Sense", and "Methodological Thinking under the Concept of Human Geography" have such characteristics.

However, the documentary nature of literature is not Zhang Chengzhi's original creation, and the attributes of literary works are not contradictory in history, because the significance of traditional Chinese literature is very extensive and can completely cover the documentary nature of literature. This broad inclusiveness of literature was replaced by the literary meaning that came from the West later, and the meaning of literature was reduced. Liu Daxian believes that "this modern concept of 'literature' itself has also been gradually formed in the West since the Enlightenment with the large-scale development of the printing industry." As far as the origin of Chinese literature and the literary historical facts of subsequent generations are concerned, literature has never been limited to the so-called novels, dramas, poetry, and prose in later times, but has a broader range of meanings that can roughly be equated with literature. [3] (P9) Zhang Chengzhi's literary definition seems to belong to the category of ancient literature, but there is a profound cultural and ideological significance behind this form of return, which not only questions the literary world, but also refreshes the understanding of culture.

This kind of documentary work seems to lack the meaning of beauty in the aesthetic view of contemporary literature, but Zhang Chengzhi's works are fully able to cope with this kind of doubt, and he has improved the aesthetic significance of the work from the ideological and linguistic point of view, which is a challenge for contemporary literature. Zhang Chengzhi can cope with this challenge, and the intervention and artistry of his works can be perfectly combined. Zhang Chengzhi's view of history directly affects his literary creation, and his literary content, form, and intention have distinct characteristics, and works such as "Golden Ranch", "The Ruins of Flowers", and "Assassination Examination of The Western Province" directly embody Zhang Chengzhi's historical outlook and unique literary outlook.

The difficulty in "Zhang Chengzhi's Problem" is that it contains his complex feelings about the 60s, "I used this behavior to express my repentance and persistence in the 60s, and my loud protest against the system and alienation"[2] (P125), which is the core content of his view of history. In the preface to the revised edition of The History of the Mind, he wrote, "I am a son of the great sixties, carrying its touch and heaviness, and my feet are pierced with thorns. The defeat of that era, the significance of that era, made me, like my comrades in all corners of the earth, to devote my life to searching for a way to self-criticism and the inheritance of justice. This is his careful grooming of the 60s.

The idea of "for the people" in the 1960s was the background of Zhang Chengzhi's writing and the enlightenment of his youth. The idea of "for the people", Mao Zedong Thought, and the people's position are all topics designed in Zhang Chengzhi's literature. One of Zhang Chengzhi's contributions to contemporary literature is to re-add the people's propositions to the scope of literary writing, mainly reflected in the attention to the people at the bottom. The images of herders and peasants at the bottom of the three continents returned to literature, entered people's vision, and became the most important artistic image he portrayed. Zhang Chengzhi took the people as the yardstick to correct his direction and posture, he gave up his direct lyricism and heroism, lifted his pen to write for the people, and wrote down the inner world that the people wanted to say but was difficult to explain. History should respect the mood of the main body of civilization, and it is difficult for the officially compiled history to meet this requirement. Zhang Chengzhi's literature is a concrete form of practice, and his literature is rooted in the people with the weak as the background.

In the combing of the 1960s, the "theory of descent" and the Red Guards are the two most important objects of Zhang Chengzhi's analysis. Discriminating against others under the pretext of descent was the greatest evil of the Cultural Revolution. Zhang Chengzhi believes that if there is any evil in the revolution of the 60s - then the act of discriminating against others on the pretext of blood is the greatest evil, but "the powerful state apparatus collapsed before the people - its significance cannot be overemphasized", this is the complex side of that era, which will weaken or obscure its complexity in previous criticisms. The article "Forty Years of Lugou Bridge" commemorates Yu Luoke, reflecting on the 60s when people were classified, discriminated against and even oppressed, "Even in the 60s when the spirit was emphasized, the pleasure of the vassal system was affordable; even if we were teenagers, we instinctively understood this." [2] (P101) Such reflection strikes to the heart of the matter and is an unreserved exposure of human weaknesses. Zhang Chengzhi's inclusion of the remote mountains of Xihaigu into the scope of contemporary literature is a continuation of the spirit of Yu Luoke and the inheritance of the spirit of "for the people" in the 60s, which is the most thorough repentance and inheritance of the 60s. He noted that "I am not a member of the Communist Party, but I am the son of revolutionary and communist ideals"[2] (p101). If we can understand the revolutionary spirit and sacrifice spirit of the 60s, we will understand the content of "violence" in Zhang Chengzhi's literature, and we can also understand the reasons why Zhang Chengzhi has always insisted on "opposing discrimination" in literature.

The most important contribution of Zhang Chengzhi's feelings in the 1960s to contemporary literature is to dredge up the content and ideas of contemporary literature between the first 30 years and the last 30 years. This period of literature is almost broken, the ideological inheritance is very weak, and there are many contradictions. The most serious conflict is that the 60s were a fault line in the thinking before and after. Many contemporary writers are eager to clear up their relationship with the 1960s, basically negating the writing of the first 30 years, and sad about that period of history. It is embodied in the fact that people seem to be deceived by that era, and under the deception, people have inappropriate behavior, and then have the right reflection on their own inappropriate behavior. Zhang Chengzhi participated in the "going to the mountains and going to the countryside" movement, but did not produce a lingering sense of disillusionment. In the 1980s, when he wrote "Black Horse" and "The River of the North", he was full of youthful enthusiasm and idealism, which was very different from the scar literature that was popular at that time, and he was full of gratitude for the passion and advocacy of serving the people in that special era.

The spirit of sacrifice in the 1960s had a huge attraction for Zhang Chengzhi. Revolutionary martyrs Qiu Jin, Xu Xilin and other revolutionaries have spiritual charm in Zhang Chengzhi's view, and even Mr. Lu Xun's examination of the revolutionary spirit does not seem to be thorough enough. In addition, the Red Guards were the ideas of the 60s that changed into a demon, and it was also the focus of Zhang Chengzhi's reflection on the defeat of the 60-year movement.

Zhang Chengzhi's view of history is also reflected in the pursuit of a noble spirit that really existed through historical places or historical figures. Li Ling in Hanggai, Wen Tianxiang in Jishuitang Village, Wen Tianxiang in Meiguan, Hairui in Hainan, and Lu Xun in Shaoxing... He explored the relationship between the "individual" and the "state" in history, the relationship between "morality" and "death", the relationship between "peace" and "danger", and embodied the human spirit in complex relations. In addition, he also analyzed history through the analysis of international celebrities in history, such as through the analysis of celebrities such as Snow and Morgan, to illustrate the inheritance and development of civilization, as he mentioned in "Snow's Pre-Wangbao": "Probably because of the habit of seeing corrupt and treacherous bureaucrats, in the past two years, sometimes suddenly I feel interested in real revolutions." From Ruijin in the south to Prewang in the north, I have been interested in the past two years and have arrived at red sites everywhere. ”[2](P237)

Zhang Chengzhi's view of history is consistent in both diachronic and synchronicity, with the life of inner Mongolia joining the team becoming an important part of his works, and the poorest Hui people in the Loess Plateau becoming his close friends, these choices and experiences are his practice of communist ideals and the most loyal response to the 60s. But, today, it seems ironic that the call of that era convinced some people, and the call of that era was used by others as a cover for the rightful pursuit of power. Zhang Chengzhi thought this was a lifelong belief from the beginning, so while many writers of the same period were full of sadness reflecting on the 60s, Zhang Chengzhi deeply missed that era and never regretted his choice. The spirit of the 1960s had a dual identity, like the Asia Minor policy proposed during the Tokugawa shogunate in Japan. The Japanese warriors, who were convinced of Asiaticism at the time, set aside the disguise of politicians and earnestly practiced their great responsibilities, just like the Japanese hattori Yukio's support for education in poor areas of Qinghai. However, the political policy and cultural atmosphere of China in the 1960s were completely different from those of modern Japan's Asiaticism in terms of specific content, one was aimed at its own country, and the other was aimed at the political planning of other countries.

In short, Zhang Chengzhi uses the form of literature to challenge the powerful traditional view of history, although there are many debatable places, but the historical examination of the entire cultural environment is beyond the scope of current cultural and literary criticism, and the reflection on spirit and thought is beyond the scope of the interpretation of the current mainstream knowledge, and the pioneering nature of this thought is a crucial stroke for contemporary literature.

bibliography:

LI Chen. In the Depths of the Bottom: Zhang Chengzhi's Literature and Thought: Preface[M].Taipei: Human World Publishing House, 2016.

ZHANG Chengzhi. Zhang Chengzhi's Collected Works VIII.[M].Shanghai:Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House,2015.]

LIU Daxian. The Republic of Literature[M].Beijing:Peking University Press,2014.]

Medium figure classification number: I206.7

Document identification code: A

Article ID: 1674-1331 (2017) 05-0028-03

Received:2017-04-22

Fund Project: 2017 Ningxia Normal University Research Project.

About author:Mai Li (1986-), female, Haiyuan, Ningxia, assistant professor of the School of Literature of Ningxia Normal University, mainly engaged in the study of modern and contemporary Chinese literature.