Text Photo/Mu Jinfeng
On January 13, 2024, Ma Lao will usher in his 110th birthday, looking at the history of the Chinese literary world and the world literary world, the writer can live such a long life, in the world I know, Ma Lao should be the only one. This record is probably unprecedented, and it is likely that it will never be seen again. I think the only one who can break this record is Ma Lao himself.
The last time I saw Ma Lao was on the morning of October 15, 2023, at his home in Chengdu. Mr. Feng Wenli, president of China Yanshi Publishing House, and Ms. Gong Yuanyuan, the editor-in-charge, are not only fans of Ma Lao, but also the main promoter of the book.
Mu Jinfeng (first from left), Feng Wenli and Ma Lao
Time flies, and in a flash, Ma Lao and I haven't seen each other for five years. The last time I came to see Ma Lao, it was on the evening of November 23, 2018, when I came to Chengdu to return Ma Lao's calligraphy works. Time is very urgent, I will arrive this evening, and I will return to Beijing at noon the next day. When I walked into Ma Lao's study, Ma Lao was watching "News Network" seriously. After Teacher Wan Mei and Teacher Jiansheng brought me to Ma Lao, I leaned down and said to Ma Lao, "Hello Ma Lao! I have come to see you again! This time I am here to return your calligraphy works." Your exhibition at the Museum of Literature was a success, with many news outlets reporting on it, and the results of the bazaar were very good. ”
Ma Lao was very happy to see that I was coming, took my hand to welcome me, and expressed his gratitude to the Chinese Writers' Association and Literature Museum for successfully holding his calligraphy exhibition for the third time. I knew that Ma Lao's life was very regular, and he usually had to rest early at night, so he didn't dare to disturb too much, so he hurriedly said goodbye to Ma Lao. I thought I would come back to Chengdu soon, but who knew it would take five years to meet again. During these three years, the epidemic made my expectation of visiting Ma Lao in Chengdu far away.
Fortunately, 2023 is all over.
When I arrived at Ma Lao's home in the western suburbs of Chengdu at 9 a.m. on October 15, I saw that nothing had changed here, and everything was still so familiar. When Teacher Wan Mei introduced me, President Feng, and Teacher Gong into the study, Ma Lao was sitting at his desk looking down at something. An old man who is about to turn 110 is still so diligent every day, either studying, reading, writing, and practicing calligraphy. This is really admirable to me, a junior. Ma Lao's diligence is well-known in writers' circles. I haven't seen him for five years, and Ma Lao, who is 106 years old, has pushed three new works in a row in more than a year and a half, and the speed and quality are really staggering.
In June 2020, Ma Lao, who is already 106 years old, launched his new work "The Continuation of the Night" at the People's Literature Publishing House, which took nearly 40 years to create. The book is divided into two volumes. The first volume is called "The Old Tale of the Night", and there are six articles and five stories: "The Origin of the Longmen Array Tea Party", "The Story of the Three Village Husbands and the Fox Spirit", "The Qiangjiang Fisherman and the Tree Spirit", "The Story of the Mountain City Pawn and the Creation of People", "The Wild Fox Zenzi Borrowing Seeds", and "The Record of the Heaven's Punishment of the Lord of the Yan Cultivator". The next volume is called "The New Story of the Night Tan", and it also tells five stories, "Today is the Landlord's Escape", "The Legend of the Nameless Hall of Yulan", "The Story of Aunt Fang Yuan of the Water Moon Nunnery", "The Reunion of the Mirror Flower Pavilion Baby", and "The History of the Huanhua Girl: The Reunion and Reunion". This novel can be described as the brainchild of Ma Lao. In his new book, "Whispers", he writes:
The reason why this book is called "The Continuation of the Night Tales" is the sequel to "The Ten Tales of the Night Tales" published by the People's Literature Publishing House in 1982, and it still refers to the original example: Sichuan people tell Sichuan stories in Sichuan dialect. The content is all more than a dozen staff members in Sichuan in their spare time, gathering together, drinking tea and chatting, and setting up a dragon gate array to eliminate the eternal night. It still uses the unique dialect of Sichuan people, the humorous and witty style of talking, the slang folk customs of Sichuan and the strange anecdotes. Although it is not enough to ascend to the hall of elegance, it is a talk about tea and wine, and it may also have the effect of eliminating phlegm and reducing food and prolonging life. Readers should not think that barnyard official novels and wild old man's exposure are not enough to save the world and abandon them. Luckily, I was able to observe it.
The creation of "The Continuation of the Night" originated from its "prequel" "Ten Tales of the Night". "Ten Tales of the Night" is a literary classic written by Ma Lao after 46 years of painstaking work from the initial creation in 1936 to the publication in 1982. Its length of time is rare in the history of Chinese literature. "Ten Tales of the Night" includes ten stories: "Breaking the City", "Reimbursement", "Stealing Officials", "Marrying a Concubine", "Banning Smoking", "Sinking River", "Family Feud", "Watching Flowers", "Buying Cows" and "Tapping". Ma Lao takes ten poor clerks in the old Chinese officialdom as the protagonists, and tells the ugly deeds of deceitful and selling official positions in the officialdom of the old society, the miserable and painful life of the ordinary working people, especially the tragic experience of women being insulted and damaged, which makes people see the coldness of the human situation in the old society, the hypocrisy of ethics and morality, and the sinister social relations between people. The advent of "The Continuation of the Tale of the Night" also experienced a time span of 39 years. In November 1982, the People's Literature Publishing House had just published Ma Lao's "Ten Tales of the Night". The first edition of the book sold 200,000 copies, and it was soon reprinted again due to the popularity of readers. "Ten Tales of the Night" was quite popular in the Chinese literary scene for a while. So, Wei Junyi, president of the Humanities Society, went to Chengdu to find his friend Ma Zhitu. As soon as they met, she made a creative suggestion to Ma Shitu: "Ten Tales of the Night" received a very good response after its publication, you might as well take out the strange stories that still exist in your head, and use the format of the famous Italian writer Boccaccio's "Decameron" to create a "Tales of the Night Literature Series". Soon, Ma began to write an outline of the story. But later, because Wei Junyi suddenly suffered a stroke, no one continued to urge Ma Lao to write this book, and Ma Lao was busy with official business at that time, so he gave up this writing plan. This has been going on for nearly 30 years. It was only at the end of 2010 that the creation of the manuscript took another turnaround. In December of that year, the film "Let the Bullets Fly", adapted from Ma Lao's "Ten Tales of the Night", became the box office champion in China that year, and had an important impact at home and abroad. "Let the bullets fly for a while" became a popular phrase in society at that time. In those two years, "Ten Tales of the Night", which had been published for 28 years and had been somewhat silent, also became popular with this movie, and many publishing houses published "Ten Tales of the Night" one after another. In the face of the popularity of "Ten Tales of the Night", Ma Lao really wants to re-complete the "Continuation of the Tales of the Night" that he originally planned with his old friend Wei Junyi, which can be regarded as a commemoration of his old friend. After that, Ma Lao began to write the book. In January 2018, Ma Lao finally completed the first draft of this collection of satirical novels that spanned nearly 40 years in the hospital. This is a terrible thing for a 104-year-old man! You must know that Ma Lao was diagnosed with cancer again at that time, and he was still under treatment. This time, the resident doctors and his family hoped that he would be able to recuperate in peace, and did not agree with him to continue writing, which made the manuscript face the possibility of giving up halfway. But Ma Lao insisted on disagreeing, and he remembered the story of Sima Qian's angry writing of the "Historical Records", which made him deeply encouraged. Ma Lao decided that he would continue to work in anger and compete with the illness to complete this creation in his lifetime. After making up his mind, Ma Lao ordered the child to bring the manuscript paper to the hospital, and he insisted on writing it. In the hospital, the doctors and nurses all felt that this centenarian had such a dangerous disease, they didn't care at all, and they were still struggling to write, what a weirdo. Ma Lao said: "Actually, this is not surprising, I just want to fight the disease to the end, just like when I did the underground revolutionary struggle without fear of death." As long as a person is not afraid of death, he will be a hundred times more courageous, and once he has courage, he will have more strength to overcome danger and pain. ”
During the treatment, whether in the hospital or after discharge, Ma Lao actively cooperated with the doctor's treatment while insisting on writing. Just as Ma Lao was finishing the first draft of the book, his health care doctor told him that after more than half a year of medication, the tumor shadow on Ma Lao's lungs was no longer visible, and the blood test indicators were completely normal. Hearing this good news, Ma Laoxi said: "What's the matter, the cancer demon fought with me, did you run away?" After two years of continuous revision, the book was finally published in 2020.
Ma Lao still insisted on reading
A year and a half later, in October 2021, Ma Lao launched his first academic monograph "Ma Zhitu Southwest Associated University Oracle Notes" at Sichuan People's Publishing House. This oracle bone research work consists of two main volumes, the first and second volumes, and an appendix. The first volume is "Ma Zhitu Notes", the second volume is "Ma's Ancient Characters Notes", and the appendix includes "Ma Zhitu Oracle Bone Inscription Training" and other contents. The book was completed in November 2019 when the 120th Anniversary Symposium of Oracle was held in Beijing. General Secretary Xi Jinping sent a special letter to the commemorative meeting, encouraging the study of ancient culture and learning ancient characters, and proposed to popularize oracle bone inscriptions among college and middle school students. Ma Lao was excited when he saw the news, and he felt that he also had a heavy responsibility. At this time, it occurred to him that he had an unfinished "shelved manuscript" and that he should continue to finish it.
As early as the 40s of the 20th century, when he was studying at Southwest Associated University, Ma Shitu came into contact with oracle bones. In September 1943, 28-year-old Ma Zhitu took the "Language and Philology Professional Course" taught by Professor Tang Lan of the Department of Chinese, and at first listened to the compulsory course of Philology, "Speaking and Interpreting Characters". In order to learn this course well, Ma Shitu specially borrowed and bought a copy of "Commentary on Words" from his senior classmates. Professor Tang Lan's lectures are always combined with social reality and explained in simple terms in the form of stories, which is very interesting. Professor Tang Lan believes that his lecture "Shuowen Jie Zi" is the most interesting, academic value and important academic course. This course is closely related to the evolution and development of Chinese culture. He told the students that the invention of an ancient script is often like the discovery of a new star in the sky that brings endless joy to researchers. Professor Tang's speech aroused Ma Zhitu's interest in studying paleographies. For Professor Tang Lan's first lesson, Ma Zhitu will never forget it. For the course he learned, Ma Shitu has always remembered it vividly. However, due to revolutionary work, he has not conducted systematic research on ancient characters since he graduated and left the Southwest Associated University. It was not until his retirement in the 80s of the 20th century that Ma Shitu recalled what he had learned in his spare time in literary creation, and tried to start writing "Oracle Bone Inscriptions". I didn't expect that I would write this for nearly 30 years. At the end of 2019, Ma Lao began to speed up his writing and decided to finish the manuscript of this "Oracle Bone Inscription Memory", so he began to devote most of his energy to the study of ancient characters including oracle bone inscription and golden inscription, and wrote two volumes of Memories in one go. Talking about this book, Ma Lao said modestly: "My book is not a profound oracle bone academic book, but it is for everyone to popularize the oracle bone for everyone's entertainment." After learning that the veteran writer Ma Zhitu had this new work, the Sichuan People's Publishing House felt that the notes on the 70-year history of oracle bone research were very precious and of great academic value, and decided to publish it. After two years of review and proofreading, the book "Oracle Notes of Ma Shitu Southwest Associated University" was grandly published in October 2021. On the title page of the book, there is a sentence printed here: I would like to dedicate this book to the Southwest Associated University and masters such as Luo Changpei, Tang Lan, Wen Yiduo, Wang Li, and Chen Mengjia.
Three months later, in January 2022, Ma Lao launched his third new book "That Era, That People" at the People's Publishing House. "In That Era, That kind of People" is divided into five volumes: literati, friends, relatives, mortals, and foreigners. In the first volume of "Literati", Ma Lao fondly recalled the Mr. Lu Xun he had met, Guo Moruo, Zhou Yang, Ba Jin, Bingxin, Yang Hansheng, Zhang Guangnian/Wei Junyi, Wen Yiduo, Wu Mi, Wang Zengqi, Xia Yan/Cao Yu, Liu Shaotang, Huang Zongjiang, Zeng Yanxiu, Zhou Youguang, Li Jieren, Li Yaqun, He Qifang, Sha Ting, Ai Wu, Zhou Keqin, Che Hui, and Mr. Yang Jiang, who he had always wanted to see but had never met, a total of 26 famous writers. In the second volume of "Friends", Ma Lao wrote about 31 friends who were deeply impressed by him, including Ma Lao's comrades-in-arms Yuan Yongxi, Luo Guangbin, Li Qiang, He Gongwei, Chen Junqing and others, as well as his admired female friends Shu Sai, Wang Dewei, Ling Qifeng, and his own impressive enlightenment teachers Chen Mengren and Lu Shiyu. In the third volume, "Relatives", Ma Lao reminisces about three of his relatives. The first is his old classmate, good comrade-in-arms, and brother-in-law Qi Liang at Southwest Associated University, the second is his first revolutionary partner Liu Huixin, and the third is his second wife Wang Fang. In the fourth volume of "Mortals", Ma Lao wrote four articles: "Guo Dexian and Sister-in-law Qiu", "Wang Shuhao and Yao Sanmei, Sister-in-law Guo", "Gao Qicai" and "Da Lao Chen". In the fifth volume of "Foreigners", Ma Lao wrote about Yun Conglong, a Canadian foreign teacher he met who had given him great help when he was engaged in the revolution in Chengdu. There is also a Japanese "Du Fu fan" Matsumura Kenzo who he met in Chengdu after the founding of New China, and several Flying Tiger team members who he made friends when he was studying at Southwest Associated University in the forties of the last century. This book was basically written by Ma Lao on a computer. But because of using a computer to write, Ma Lao's already bad eyes had problems. In order to continue his creation, he went to West China Hospital for injections, but the doctor's advice was to use as little computer as possible, so Ma always wrote some of the manuscripts with a pen.
The book cover of "That Time, That Man".
In the early spring of 2017, Ma Lao completed the first draft in Chengdu, and the tentative title of the book was "Character Impressions—That Time and That People". After four years of continuous revision, this book of essays reminiscing about Ma Lao's life and old friends was finally published when he was 108 years old! Between the lines, Ma Lao used his own pen to affectionately tell the friends and relatives he had known, befriended, and met in the past 100 years, which he admired and moved. Some of these people are everyone, famous artists, heroes, and martyrs who have entered history, while some are just unknown ordinary people, but they have always been vividly stored in Ma Lao's memory. Although he is 100 years old, Ma Lao's memory is still so clear, his characters are still so vivid, and the emotions he exudes are still so sincere and warm. There are big things and small things written in the book, but most of them are small things, but it is these small things that let us see the value of those friends, and it is these small things that make Ma Lao's life so wonderful and legendary, making history more complete and real. This book is a centenarian's recounting of his past, but it is also a reflection on China's past 100 years.
When I saw Ma Lao again, I was very excited. I walked quickly to Ma Lao's side, lowered my head and leaned into Ma Lao's ear, and greeted loudly: "Ma Lao, I am Xiao Mu, Mu Jinfeng of the Museum of Modern Chinese Literature, I came to see you today." Ma Lao raised his head and looked at me, Teacher Wan Mei asked me to say it out loud again, Ma Lao was a little degraded due to his advanced age, and his vision and hearing had declined. When I greeted Ma Lao loudly again, Ma Lao recognized me, happily took my hand and said, "Xiao Mu, you are here, we haven't seen each other for many years." I've been waiting for you to come today, come and sit next to me. "Ma Lao is the same as five years ago, he is still so energetic, he still speaks with confidence, and his hands are still so thick and warm. I hurriedly introduced two of his fans to Ma Lao, and Ma Lao greeted them warmly.
President Feng and I sat next to Mr. Ma, who held my hand and happily chatted with me. I first reported to Ma Lao, I came to Chengdu this time to participate in the press conference of "Ma Zhitu: Trekking for a Hundred Years and Still a Youth" held by China Yanshi Publishing House in Alai Study, speaking of which, I quickly took out my new book from my schoolbag and handed it to Ma Lao, who looked at it very seriously. Ma Lao said while looking at it, "Xiao Mu, you have written me several books in the past few years, thank you very much." "Ma Lao, I want to thank you! Thank you for your trust and support! Your life is so wonderful, it is my blessing to be able to write about you! Even my level is limited, please criticize more! Correct!" Ma Lao looked at it for a while, put the book on the desk, and said: "My eyes are not good now, I can't see clearly, I have time to take a magnifying glass to take a good look." After speaking, Ma Lao turned around and deliberately opened a small drawer behind him, and took out a book from it, and I looked at it, it was "Old Ma Zhitu" edited by me for Ma Lao in June 2022. Ma Lao opened the book and said to me: "Xiao Mu, the book you compiled for me is very good, I like it very much, I have always treasured this book, and I have given it to some friends." Thank you!" I was still a little excited to hear Mr. Ma comment, and being recognized by Mr. Ma was the biggest compliment to my book.
During the conversation, I expressed to Ma Lao the greetings and blessings of the leaders of the Literature Museum to him, and said that in 2024, the Literature Museum would like to do something for Ma Lao when he is 110 years old, and if he has the opportunity, I hope to hold another exhibition for him in Beijing. Ma Lao was very happy to hear this, he said that he had not been to Beijing for many years, and he missed those old friends in Beijing very much, five years later, some old friends left, and there were not many left, if possible, he would like to meet them again, talk, and reminisce.
Yes, Ma Lao's comrades-in-arms who were engaged in underground revolutionary work in his early years and his classmates from Southwest Associated University are almost 100 years old now, and they are all revolutionaries, builders, reformers, and innovators of the older generation who have made great sacrifices and contributions to the Chinese revolution and the construction of New China. Behind everyone is a wonderful Chinese story, and when they meet, they have endless words to talk about and things to tell. I had the privilege of accompanying Ma Lao to visit some of his friends, and listening to their conversation, it was like reading a century-old history of modern and contemporary China.
If the Literature Museum can hold another exhibition for Ma Lao in 2024, this will also be a new record in the history of the Literature Museum. In 2004, the Literature Museum held the "Ma Shitu 90-year-old calligraphy exhibition" for Ma Lao, in 2014, the "Ma Shitu 100-year-old calligraphy exhibition", and in 2018, the "Ma Zhitu calligraphy exhibition". Ma Laodu personally came to Beijing from Chengdu for the three exhibitions, especially the last two should be an extremely rare "feat" in the history of Chinese literature.
I said to Ma Lao: "Ma Lao, you should pay more attention to your body! When you are in good health, you can write more good characters, and our calligraphy exhibition will show you to the readers and audiences who love you." After hearing this, Ma Lao happily agreed: "I am still in good health now, it seems that I still have to live for a while, I want to exercise hard, write hard, study hard, and see old friends more." ”
On that day, Ma Lao also talked about Su Dongpo, a Sichuan villager who has been very hot in the past two years. He told Zhang Jie that he has been paying close attention to the "Finding the Way Dongpo Series" that "West China Metropolis Daily" will do in 2023, and he is very interested in Dongpo laymen. "I also wrote something about Dongpo this year, in the format of a five-character poem. As he spoke, he took out a small stack of manuscripts titled "The Long Road to the Eastern Slope" from the information bag beside him, with a total of five pages. The first page reads: "The road is long and obstructive." Scholars like to seek officials, and they are conscientious in their careers. Li Bai had a difficult road to travel, and sighed to himself that there were many divergent paths. Du Fu was born in troubled times and lived in exile all his life. Su Shi also said that his life is on a journey. Why did you say this, try to elaborate for you. Ma Lao sighed to Zhang Jie while turning over, "Dongpo has been on the road almost all his life. I hurriedly expressed my willingness to solicit these precious manuscripts to Mr. Ma Lao and Mr. Wan Mei: If possible, the Literature Museum is very willing to collect them, and we will definitely preserve them well and pass them on to future generations. Let more readers and audiences see Ma Lao's efforts and contributions to Chinese literature.
That morning, we had a great chat. President Feng also said that China Yanshi Publishing House hopes to have the opportunity to publish more works about Ma Lao and leave more valuable literary wealth for the history of Chinese literature. Thinking that Ma Lao should rest more, our group did not dare to delay him for too long, so we got up and said goodbye. Before leaving, Ma Lao and I agreed to meet again in 2024.
On the way back to my accommodation, I have been thinking about how to make the 2024 Ma Lao's 110-year-old calligraphy exhibition a good one. I believe that if this exhibition is successfully held, it will definitely leave a profound mark on the history of Chinese literature. Ma Lao began calligraphy enlightenment at the age of five, and he mainly studied Han tablets and official calligraphy, and it has been one hundred and five years now. This should also be a unique "feat" in China's 5,000-year-long history. Ma Lao's official calligraphy has been 100 years old, old and vigorous, unique charm, and he often has unique variants, which makes people look at it and can't help but be deeply impressed by his profound calligraphy attainments. However, in the "Confession" of the 2018 calligraphy exhibition, Ma Lao modestly wrote: "Yu has been learning official calligraphy since childhood, copying Han tablets and famous posts, but unfortunately he has not realized its charm......
Ma Lao wrote the word Fu for Mu Jinfeng
In the past 23 years, Ma Lao has taught me a lot, and these things have had a profound impact on my growth. In my eyes, Ma Lao is my idol. His charisma is like his calligraphy, which is immediately appreciated.
Here, I sincerely wish Ma Lao a happy 110th birthday, good health, and long life!
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