introduction
From ancient times to the present, literati are an extremely complex group, they often have a compassionate sigh, a life of grievances and depression, lamenting the bleakness of the world everywhere, and every literary work will reveal sadness and anger between the lines, as if such a cry will be heard by the heavens, and then treat him kindly.
In modern times, Chinese culture has experienced the chaos of the Republic of China and the chaos of the Cultural Revolution.
And Yu Qiuyu, who wrote "Cultural Journey", seems to be a controversial representative.
1. A man of letters
Many people know Yu Qiuyu mostly from his prose "Cultural Journey", and the delicate words always reveal deep grief.
He said: "Everywhere I go, there is always a heavy historical pressure that covers my whole body, which makes me move and sigh for no reason..."
It is difficult to express people's emotions clearly in words, and it is only possible to truly immerse yourself in the "scene" where you touch the scene, just as Du Fu said "when you feel the tears, you hate to say goodbye to the birds", a truth.
Obviously, Yu Qiuyu also thought of the ancients: "I stood in the directions where the ancients must have stood, looking at the natural landscape that rarely changes with the black eyes of my ancestors, listening to the sound of the wind and birds that are not the slightest different from thousands of years ago, and thinking...... However, the true steps of Chinese culture have fallen on this land of mountains and rivers. ”
History always has a certain similarity, the same nostalgia for the place of time, maybe hundreds of years ago was standing a sad ancient.
In just a few lines, the image of a literati with delicate emotions and full of empathy for the world is vividly portrayed.
So, through the collection of essays, the world knew about this sad literati who chased after Chinese historical and cultural relics, Yu Qiuyu.
Although he was in the political arena, Yu Qiuyu showed his pursuit and love for literature with practical actions, and he even took the initiative to resign, and dealt with the leaders more than a dozen times, hoping to completely bid farewell to the comfortable life in the secular sense, and instead pursue his heart's desire, measuring every inch with his footsteps to prove that history once existed.
His attitude and actions have indeed made a name for himself in the world.
However, he is no longer the original literati Yu Qiuyu.
2. A politician
In addition to literary works, Yu Qiuyu is also active in the political arena, he has successively served as a full professor of liberal arts, vice president and dean of Shanghai Theater Academy, and has been specially appointed as a professor by Hong Kong Baptist University, Macau University of Science and Technology, Lanzhou University of Science and Technology, etc., and has participated in many cultural activities and forums at home and abroad.
Such a hugely influential figure is very controversial on the other side.
After the Wenchuan earthquake, Yu Qiuyu publicly expressed his views, advocating that the families of the victims should not be so grieved and should not vent their negative emotions in a big way, so as not to be used by people with intentions abroad and become an excuse to split the country.
As soon as this remark came out, it attracted wide attention from the society and also caused controversy in the literary world.
Imagine how devastated a family would be if it was destroyed by a sudden natural disaster, and wouldn't those pains and prayers be the outpouring of human feelings?
And it is really incomprehensible that Yu Qiuyu, a literati who is extremely sensitive and delicate in the text, should so indifferently use the international separatist reactionary forces as an excuse to ask everyone not to be sad and not to cry.
Although in a sense, Yu Qiuyu's worries have some truth. In recent years, with the rapid development of China, it has threatened the status of some developed countries in the world, so there are always some conspiracy forces trying to split China's cohesion by provoking contradictions among the Chinese.
But Yu Qiuyu didn't care about the celebrity effect at all in such a catastrophe, and it was really unreasonable to ask everyone to stop grieving so grandly.
In addition, he said that disasters contain warnings: "Small tribulations in the world occur every day, but great calamities cannot be taken lightly, but must contain some kind of great warning, great end, or great beginning." Unfortunately, few people are able to comprehend it. ”
Another example is that no matter where the disasters in the world befall, this society should bear them: "Heaven and earth have their own grand strokes, and every stroke makes all sides tremble. The large-scale gesture that appeared in Tangshan this time made all parties tremble, obviously ending a piece of history. ”
If the prohibition on the grief of the families of the victims is too harsh, then the latter interpretations are absurd.
3. Controversy continues
A literati in a materialist society, a literary master who can be called everyone, went so far as to openly say that natural and man-made disasters are warnings for all directions.
The ancients still believed that man will conquer heaven, but a literati living in the present believed that the great earthquake that destroyed countless families and took many young lives was a punishment and warning to this land.
Obviously, this statement is simply ridiculous.
Yu Qiuyu directly divided all the Chinese in this land into the position of destiny that "should be warned".
So what are we doing wrong, and who has the reason to make such an objective judgment and push us into the region?
Houses full of ruins, hysterical weeping, he discarded and unheard of, and only hung himself high above the literary and political arenas, criticizing the unwarranted mistakes of the ants.
Of course, as soon as Yu Qiuyu's remarks came out, many literati stood up to refute him, and some even wrote articles to refute Yu Qiuyu's views, and the famous painter Chen Danqing was one of them.
He said: "The last trace of my respect for Yu Qiuyu has also disappeared in this incident", a person who should empathize with the suffering of the world, to ignore those naked pathos, but to blame the victim's mistakes, this is really not what a literati should do.
It is true that Yu Qiuyu has made many contributions to the field of Chinese history and culture, and many of his studies have provided a reference for future scholars' research, and also allowed Chinese culture to slowly unfold on the world stage.
However, a person who only sighs at the void of history is too one-sided, and his view of this land will be even more limited.
A literati should shine in this fertile land with the influence of the literati, and be full of warmth to this bustling world, instead of watching coldly and judging in the end: It's all your fault.
Such a literati, no matter how influential he is and creates a lot of value, what is the difference between his essence and those "man-eating monsters" in Lu Xun's pen?