Mr. Liu Shinan took a photo in front of the Chongshao Library of Jiangxi Normal University. (Photo courtesy of Li Taosheng/Photo)
Those who are eager to fear friends
Mr. Liu Shinan (1923-2021) was a fighter, and this is the first impression of him by those who are familiar with him and those who are not familiar with him. He dared to criticize all kinds of scholars, including those who were older than him, his contemporaries, and younger than him, and his articles were scattered in various books and periodicals from the late seventies of the last century to the new century, which made those who read him feel his enthusiasm and persistence in criticism, and of course the critics were inevitably embarrassed, but they were indeed instructed, and many of the scholars who were criticized thanked him and admired him even more. His criticism, in fact, is aimed at the problem, especially for the style of study, his crisp and refreshing writing contains a deep call for sincerity, simplicity, seriousness, and down-to-earth style of study.
Not many people know about him because they are very eager to be criticized. He criticized Mr. Liu Mengfu (Outside the Hall of Learning, p. 301), and Mr. Mengfu also criticized him. He invited Mr. Mengfu to write a preface to his "The Poetry of the Great Luoju", and Mr. Mengfu wrote a long preface, in which he wrote his own criticism, and criticized it with real knives and guns, and Mr. Shinan did not think about it and let it remain in the preface. This is a sincere and open demeanor. In a letter dated 26 July 2005, he stated:
Liu Mengfujun is middle-aged, and poetry and poetry are both wonderful. To look down on it, to look at it, to fear friends.
He respects and looks forward to "fearing friends". When he heard Mr. Tao Wenpeng say that his "History of Qing Poetry Genres" was a little "old" in some places, he wrote to Mr. Tao to point out his shortcomings in detail, Mr. Tao replied, and Mr. Shinan sent me a copy of the letter, and wrote:
Send a copy of Tao Wenpengjun to the book, and Mr. book review, although Mr. Yun and Tao Jun are more absurd, and Tao Jun can pick out its flaws, I hope Mr. can do the same. In the past, Chen Si said: "The writings of the world cannot be disease-free." Servants often ridicule the good people, and if there are bad people, they should be changed from time to time. He also quoted Ding Jingli and said: "Who in the future will know that the writer is evil?" "I hope that Mr. Shiwang, as the editor of "The History of Qing Poetry Genres", can decide the loss of my book, so as to tell future generations of Qing poets to know what to avoid, which is the meaning of academic public instruments. (12 January 2005)
It can be seen that he is still not satisfied with Mr. Tao's criticism, and hopes to get more and more authentic criticism, and he treats criticism as an "academic instrument". This makes us more aware that the reason why he has been carrying out academic criticism with indomitable progress is really unselfish, but he is dedicated to the development and growth of academic health and maturity. His attitude towards criticism is not only aimed at others, but also at himself, which is conducive to his own improvement and clear understanding in the academic community. He is the first to demonstrate, and he has a beautiful mind with a clear breeze and a bright moon, which is admirable.
Professor Liu Shinan and his "Detailed Notes on Three Hundred Qing Poems". (Data map/Figure)
He was very touched by the corrections that others had given him, and he paid tribute to him repeatedly. Zhou Xuanlong, the director of the Classical Department at that time, took into account Mr. Shinan's familiarity with Qing Dynasty literature, so he invited him to select the "Qing Anthology", he took into account the urgency of time, so he asked his student Liu Songlai to assist in the review, after the manuscript arrived, Ms. Wen Lichen, a graduate student of Beijing Normal University, reviewed it under my guidance, and then I reviewed it again, wrote two revisions, and sent it to Mr. Shinan for review. In a letter written to the Provincial Library on 1 October 2005, he stated:
On September 22, the handwritten instructions, review opinions, and copies of the book review have been received, please read them. Under the reading, I am ashamed and feel!
From Kuang Zheng and Bu Tho, it can also be seen that Mr. and Wen Lichen's female history have made profound contributions to their learning, and their admiration is so detrimental, how can it be overstated! Stealing the "Qing Anthology" he can be a little helpful to the world, and the power of the cooperation of the four of us is not caused by the thin cotton of Songlai and our district. I plan to add a few words in the preface of this book, so as to clarify the meaning and talk to show that the two of us dare not plunder the beauty.
He later insisted on adding words commending me and Xiaowen in the preface of the book, which shows that he was happy when he heard it, and he was humble and humble in the mind of a sage, which made people feel like a spring breeze.
Professor Liu Shinan has written two books. (Data map/Figure)
"A silverfish in the book of life and death"
Mr. Shinan's fighting spirit is mainly reflected in his own diligent reading and writing.
He did not have a large collection of books, mainly because he was so sad that he was so sad that he generally stopped buying books because of the destruction of his two generations of books during the special period (Records of Teachers and Friends, p. 117). He mainly runs the library, and he is a frequent visitor to the provincial library and the school library. In 1994, after 14 years of painstaking reading, research, and writing, he finally completed The History of the Qing Poetry School, and when he proofread the manuscript in the summer of the following year, he happily reviewed this process:
Reminiscing about the past, every year is excepted, and the book city is still Han.
Wanjia celebrates Tuan Luan, sits alone and smiles.
The card is full of boxes, and there are more than good food.
After 14 years of hard work, the book has become a pen and inkstone.
(Appendix to "History of Qing Poetry Genres" "Jiaxu Year Midsummer Proofreading of the Manuscript of 'History of Qing Poetry Genres)...")
Note: "Every Spring Festival and Chinese New Year's Eve, Yu Yu sits in the library, far away from the administrator. "I had the honor of being the editor-in-charge as the editor in charge of the publication of the simplified Chinese version of our company, and during the editing process, I greeted him and mentioned this impressive scene, and he wrote back to me on the evening of December 30, 2003 and the next day in the sample library, saying:
Thank you for your attention, and remember when I was still sitting in the library on Chinese New Year's Eve. If the school map was still open, I would have done that.
"A silverfish in the book of life and death", this is how I have come over all my life.
Indeed, he still can't let go of every day, and one year on Chinese New Year's Eve, the curator was "far away" from him, but it was a scene. He wrote to his student, Professor Guo Dan, saying: "It is nearly 4 o'clock in the afternoon of Chinese New Year's Eve, and there are only two people left in the reading hall of the library, Director Zhang and me; Director Zhang was personally on duty, smiling and accompanying me until 4 o'clock when the door closed. (Guo Dan, "The Realm of Learning, the Demeanor of Personality - Remembering Mr. Liu Shinan", "Teachers' and Friends' Occasional Notes", p. 237) Such a curator is really a good curator, and such a reader is really a good reader, which can be called a good story in the contemporary reading world. On a postcard he sent me on December 31, 2006, he wrote:
The book city is cocooned and pitiful, forgetting the hurried years.
It's not that the feast is drunk, who knows that the day after tomorrow is the New Year.
Chinese New Year's Eve is still reading, which is indeed the style of reading seeds. Of course, he didn't just look at Chinese New Year's Eve, in fact, every day was precious to him. Letter dated 4 June 2004 states:
I have never been so nervous because the school map will be closed as soon as the summer vacation is over, and I have to finish it before the holiday.
This is the scene when I rushed to select the "Selected Writings of the Qing Dynasty" with Professor Matsurai. Later, when I didn't have any important work, I continued to go to the library. In the past, revolutionaries had a bold saying, "Wear the bottom of the prison", and Mr. Shinan, in his old age, insisted on going to the library despite his illness, and he really had the courage to sit through the library. The letter dated 10 January 2013 stated:
After another year, I was hospitalized to have my nose wart removed, and the doctor said that it was basal cell carcinoma, and it was removed. I am 90 years old, and I have been living and dying for a long time, so after I was discharged from the hospital, I still sit in the library.
When Professor Guo Dan called Mr. Shinan on the morning of the first day of the Spring Festival in 2015, he heard the answer "I have read books in the provincial library"! Mr. Li Taosheng has accompanied Mr. Shinan for many years, and he said in the article "Self-Consciousness and Words": "Books are all his spiritual sustenance. "No matter the weather, rain or snow, he will show up at the library on time like a staff member. He said he wished he could die at his desk in the future. ("The Couples of Teachers and Friends", p. 249) shows how obsessed he was with books.
"From Ten Thousand Books"
Mr. Shinan is a well-versed scholar and is particularly familiar with the classics and history, so he is sensitive to misunderstandings, misjudgments, and corrections in many treatises, and can give corrections. In addition to helping others publish fallacies, his main energy was spent on the research and writing of "History of Qing Poetry Genres". In addition, a lot of effort is made in the selected notes of the "Selected Writings of the Qing Dynasty". After undertaking this work, he devoted himself to the selection of essays. Although Professor Matsulai was invited to participate in the annotation work, he still did it himself:
From selection to punctuation to annotation, I will read through it all and revise it.
At these times, I was busy selecting articles, mainly from the "Siku Quanshu", "Continuation of the Siku Quanshu" and "Inventory Series", and a few had to find them from the thread-bound library. For example, Jiang Shiquan, there is no text in "Continuation", and "Mingji Night Class Map" must be selected. Others can be analogous. The selection of texts is time-consuming, and after selection, it is necessary to make copies and then hand-copy them into simplified characters. (16 December 2003)
In order to concentrate all his efforts on the work of "Selected Writings of the Qing Dynasty", he also resigned from the post of chief academic advisor (i.e., the final gatekeeper) of the collation of the "Yuzhang Series" in Jiangxi Province's colleges and universities for several years. It can be seen that he is determined to devote himself wholeheartedly to the work of "Selected Qing Writings". Because he was familiar with the Qing Dynasty anthologies, and read them day and night, by December 30, 2003, he "flipped through the Qing Dynasty collection of the "Continuation of the Siku Quanshu" page by page, and among the 188 volumes, 154 volumes had been turned, and there were still 30 volumes, which could be completed before the winter vacation", and said, "Then look at the "Siku Quanshu", there are not many anthologies. I haven't seen it, I don't know how much." In the selection of articles, "we must not be blind, not because of people's popularity" (letter dated 30 December 2003). In this letter, he still could not hide his critical eye, and expressed his opinion on several books.
Looking at Zeng Guofan's anthology today, by the way, I found four books of today's people's annotations, taking the article "Yuancai" as an example, Tu Xiaomaben, Laixin Xia Ben, and Guo Pre-Hengben, on "whether it is not false", all of them are concluded as: "It is not false, but it?" No, neither. However, Zheng Zhenduo's "Selected Writings of the Late Qing Dynasty" asserted: "It's not false, but is it okay?" "That's right. Tu, Lai, Guo... I don't know if the "also" of "can be or not" is actually "yes", "Commentary on the Scriptures" and other books are very clear, and the ancient texts written by Han Yu and Ouyang Xiu are swaying and colorful, and there are often such arias.
In addition, the misunderstanding of the "king" of "all the kings", the misunderstanding of "broadcasting as a voice" in the "Summoning", and the misinterpretation of "although the saint is inevitable" and "not" are mistakenly changed to "must". He didn't deny your contributions, he just wanted to show that he would learn from their work, but he would never simply copy them:
Even if we refer to such anthologies, we must be discerning and will never make vague remarks about the impact, but will try to be clear and accurate.
In fact, there are very few similar works that can be relied on, and even if they are referenced, they must be used discriminately, which is in line with the academic spirit that Mr. Shinan has always advocated, "self-heartedness, not only words".
By June 26, 2004, when the "Selected Writings of the Qing Dynasty" was at its final stage, he wrote to me about the writing of the preface of the book:
The preface proves that the two of us have a slightly new understanding of Qingwen, and we do not read it in unison, precisely because we have put a lot of effort into the annotation of the work. For example, "there is a single genre and a variety of styles", we not only point out "what is", but also "why it is". This is the characteristic of our learning. It is also aimed at traditional Chinese literary criticism. The traditional technique is improvisational and perceptual, and only points out the "what", but does not analyze the "why it is". We accept the influence of Western scholarship and always like to ask a "why". Therefore, for the emergence of the Tongcheng faction (including the later Yanghu faction and the Xiangxiang faction), as well as the praise of "the article of the world, it is in Tongcheng", we try to find out its logical inevitability through this phenomenon, historical phenomena have always been regular, among which the law of cause and effect is the most interesting, and the interesting result is also the most thought-provoking.
When Mr. Tao Wenpeng heard about this preface, he immediately asked Mr. Shinan to publish it in the "Literary Heritage" in advance. In his letter of 12 January 2005, Mr. Shinan stated:
Tao Jun asked to rewrite the preface of the "Qing Anthology" as a thesis, and has cooperated with Song Laijun, but the thrush may not be in time, Zhu Yi may not nod, and those who can be confident, then this text is from the bottom of my heart, from the ten thousand volumes of books, no suppression, no similarity.
The self-confidence embodied here comes from his down-to-earth reading and long-term deep cultivation. This spirit is reflected in his writings and in his critical articles.
This way of cultural popularization is traditional, but it is an effective way of cultural dissemination for thousands of years, but few people are willing to undertake such a job at present, because it requires a lot of energy, a high level of appreciation, and a broad knowledge reserve and profound cultural heritage. The study of commenting is extremely difficult to do, and it is often exposed. However, Mr. Shinan resolutely agreed to do the work of "Qing Wen Anthology", which shows his self-confidence and responsibility. After the publication of this book, the readers' feedback was very good, and Mr. Shinan was very happy, and wrote to say:
If you have a new topic next year, it is suitable for Songlai and my cotton force, Shang Xi Yucheng. Although the servant is old, and the gods are not declining, the time is itchy, and he is not happy to do anything. (Written on October 1, 2005 on the provincial map)
It can be seen that his ambition of "being old and ambitious". Because he was too old to be overworked, we didn't invite him to do another one.
"Young Thinkers"
Mr. Shinan seems to be a nerd sitting in the library, but he is actually a "young thinker" (Chen Ji, "Mr. Forever Young", "The Couples of Teachers and Friends"). In addition to the "History of the Qing Poetry School" and "The Collection of Poetry of Da Luoju", Mr. Shinan also has "Outside the Academic Palace" revised and reprinted, as well as "Occasional Records of Teachers and Friends", these two books are not "pure" books, the collection is more miscellaneous, the form is very casual, but the theme is distinct, all are on the study of the text, are "dry goods", which preserves a large number of correspondence on the study of letters, brings together some book reviews, talks about the method of learning, but also stresses the spirit of learning, and interestingly also collects some views that have differences with Mr. Shinan. He said in the preface to "The Couples of Teachers and Friends": "'The dispute is also a gentleman', it is by no means a dispute of will, in which I am 'I love my teacher, and I especially love the truth'." He once again praised Mr. Mengfu, praising him as a "friend" and "admiring his courage in upholding the truth." Regarding the theme of this book, "I and the Intellectuals I Understand", Mr. Shinan said: "The nature of this book, similar to the "Records of the Inheritance of Sinologists in the Chinese Dynasty", is academic, and it can be used as a material for modern and contemporary academic history and intellectual history. Indeed, its content is more than an independent paper, it contains a wealth of materials for the exchange of ideas and even confrontations between contemporary scholars, the academic value is very great, and it is undoubtedly a breakthrough and pioneering in form. In a letter dated 18 July 2004, he stated:
You will feel that this is a picture of the times, and it reflects the vigor of the soul fight. It can leave a valuable legacy to future generations, so that future generations can know how the intellectuals of our time are seeking up and down.
The "external editor" of this book has an article "How Do Contemporary Intellectuals Inherit and Carry Forward the Fine Traditions of Ancient Chinese Scholars?" It reflects his exploration of the ideological and spiritual level, letting people know that he is not a nerd, and his active mind is like his body that surpasses many young people.
In terms of academic research, he has direct and in-depth discussions. In the creation of poetry, it is also deeply sustenance, which is worth appreciating. On January 12, 2005, he wrote about his "Poetry of the Great Luoju":
After a careful reading, Mr. knew that the clumsy poems were not works of criticism of the wind and the moon, but all of them wept bitterly.
He said in the preface to "Poems": "Whatever is a poem, it must be written for the sake of it, and he will never sigh for the old and humble, but only give birth to the worries of the people and the country." Many of his poems directly record reality, which makes people sigh and move the breadth of his mind.
After the book was edited and published, I wrote a book review, which was published in Hainan Daily, and later revised and published in Guangming Daily. In a letter dated 4 June 2004, Mr. Submission stated:
I am busy with the work of "Selected Writings of the Qing Dynasty", and I will put aside the general letter and return later. I didn't expect to get your letter today, and I didn't expect to read your book review. After reading the book review carefully, I was in tears.
You may wonder: How can I get so easily excited? There are about seven or eight reviews of "The History of the Qing Poetry School", and I have never been so excited. And you, obviously, as the editor-in-charge, have carefully read "The History of the Qing Poetry School", so you have carefully read "Outside the Academic Palace", coupled with your superb appreciation, rich life experience, and correct ideological understanding, to write such an exciting book review. The masterpiece is not long, but it all gets to the point, especially the humanistic care, only you dare to point it out. Frankly speaking, I wrote "The History of the Qing Poetry School" with the mentality of Confucius writing "Spring and Autumn" and Ma Qian writing "Historical Records". This point has only been pointed out in a book review by Professor Wang Qizhen of our university, but the article does not seem to have been published. And you coincide with Mr. Wang, which is my most comforting.
Mr. Yunbo, please let me say a word of heartfelt gratitude: "You can know that Uncle Bao can take care of it, and I am proud of Yuqing." "This is a casual couplet, all of which use "Historical Records", and I feel very keen. Some people may question: how can people be against things? Then I will be ashamed to say: even if I am an ancient.
Mr. affirmed the book review I wrote, and I had this confidence, but I didn't expect to lead him to the point of "crying with emotion", and also wrote "Uncle Bao can know how to manage" Yunyun's words of thanks; He directly confided in his ambitions and pursuits, which showed that he did not see the outside. In 2011, Mr. recorded a superstar academic video, talking about "Me and the History of the Qing Poetry School" (later included in "The Couples of Teachers and Friends"), mentioning that "Mr. Ge Yunbo is really my bosom friend". All of these moved me very much, made me feel the power of my predecessors to inspire my juniors, and made me feel the honor of being a down-to-earth editor.
The above experience has undoubtedly increased our closeness. On October 6, 2018, our family went to Nanchang to visit Mr. Shinan for the first time, the guest and the host were happy, he held my hand strongly, for a long time, not at all like the hand of a 96-year-old man, he can support himself, and often goes to the library, we all believe that he can easily spend his old age, we look forward to visiting Mr. again. But unexpectedly, on August 2, 2021, I received a text message from Professor Matsurai, learning that Mr. Shinan had passed away the night before. I wanted to write an article of gratitude after learning from the pain, but I was tired of the publication project and was unable to do so. This year is the 100th anniversary of Mr. Shinan's birth, and I have made up my mind to write a little bit of admiration and gratitude for his old man.
Ge Yunbo
Editor-in-charge: Liu Xiaolei