Shao Quanlin is famous as a Marxist literary theorist and leader of the Chinese Writers Association, but as early as the 40s of the last century, he published in-depth and weighty research papers on Lu Xun, and has made outstanding contributions to Lu Xun research, and should leave his name in the history of Lu Xun studies in China.
1. Treatise on "Weeds".
On September 10, 1945, the monthly "Mandarin Magazine", Vol. 3, No. 4, published Shao Quanlin's "Lu <野草>Xun's". This paper is very theoretical, and it makes a good summary of the value and characteristics of "Weeds".
The article commented on the stylistic characteristics and significance of "Wild Grass" in the history of literature:
Mr. Lu Xun's works are the most essays, followed by novels and translations, and only one collection of essays, but the exquisiteness and solidity of his prose are unmatched in the history of Chinese literature. Each of the poems collected in this collection can be said to be the most authentic poems, and they are the crystallization of the author's thoughts and emotions directly expressed from the pain and excitement of his personal life at that time.
affirms that "Weeds" is prose, but later says that it is "the most authentic poem", in fact, I still think that "Weeds" belongs to prose poems. Summarizing its characteristics as "exquisite and solid" is concise and accurate, and has not been said before. From the height of Chinese literary history, making a definitive evaluation of "no one is really incomparable" is also a great improvement in the value evaluation of "Weeds".
and Lu Xun's state of mind when he created "Wild Grass" made a more incisive analysis:
In these moments, Mr. Lu Xun's state of mind is indeed the state of mind of a hopeless, indeed the state of mind of a nihilist, and it is even more than the state of mind of all hopeless people and nihilists. However, despite this, we cannot conclude that Mr. Lu Xun at the time of writing "Wild Grass" was purely in this state of mind. We must know that at that time, Mr. Lu Xun was engaged in the highest level of intense struggle in his heart, and his emotions were fluctuating the most violently, like the impact of the waves, one after another; hope and despair, rehabilitation and destruction, victory and defeat, everything reached the most acute peak, and from this struggle, all kinds of brilliant sparks burst out from his thoughts and emotions. This is the great anguish and great pain that a great thinker and great artist must experience before his thoughts rush forward, and only from this real anguish and pain can a more brilliant flower of thought bloom. If we do not grasp this complex and contradictory mood and determine that he is a nihilist or a pessimist, it will not explain why he was so emotionally agitated at that time, nor can it explain the kind of leap in his thinking that followed.
After more than 70 years of research, how to understand the despair and nihilism contained in "Weeds" has always been the focus of debate. Some people assert that Lu Xun was a hopeless and nihilist, while others deny it, believing that Lu Xun was a fighter for optimism and had no feelings of despair and nihilism. Shao Quanlin, on the other hand, is different from both in that he takes one step back and two steps forward: first admits that "Mr. Lu Xun's state of mind is indeed the state of mind of a hopeless person and a nihilist, and it is more than the state of mind of all hopelesss and nihilists"; and then points out that "this is the great anguish and great pain that a great thinker and great artist must experience before his thoughts advance forward, and only from this real anguish and pain can a more brilliant flower of thought bloom." In fact, this is precisely the essence of Lu Xun's "resistance to despair". Nearly 40 years after the publication of this paper, Lu Xun's letter to Zhao Qiwen on April 11, 1925 was discovered, in which Lu Xun's own confession was included: "Although I know that the road ahead is a grave and I want to go, it is to resist despair, because I think that it is difficult for those who resist because of despair, and they are more courageous and tragic than those who fight because of hope." Lu Xun's own confession is the best proof that "resisting despair" is the spiritual essence of Lu Xun. Shao Quanlin made this judgment as early as the 40s of the last century, which is not easy. Later, Japan's Yoshiyoshi Takeuchi also summed up the essence of Lu Xun's thought with "resisting despair", and Shu Wu of China also made the same summary in the article "Lu Xun's China and Lu Xun's Road" (October 18, 1946, Shanghai "Hope" Monthly, Vol. 2, No. 4). Wang Hui, who appeared in the 90s of the last century, directly used the title of the book "Resisting Despair" to expound this idea. In the history of exploration to grasp the essence of Lu Xun's thought of "resisting despair", Shao Quanlin should be the first person. This alone proves the profundity of Shao Quanlin's understanding of the essence of Lu Xun's thought and its position in the history of Lu Xun studies in China. It is in this grasp of the complex contradiction between hope and despair that Shao Quanlin profoundly expounds the spiritual essence of "Weeds". The high ideological realm on which he stands, the sharpness of the argumentation method used, and the brilliance and vigor of the language can be said to be unique in the history of "Weeds". Many subsequent commentators have been ambiguous when it comes to this issue. It also shows the necessity of studying academic history, if the predecessors have said it and said it well, and they can no longer surpass it, it is better to revisit the expositions of the predecessors, and there is no need to start anew.
Shao Quanlin also made his own judgment on the internal structure of the 23 chapters of "Wild Grass":
Some people say that "Tomb Text" should be the best self-preface of "Wild Grass", then I think "Such a Warrior" should be the best self-preface of "Wild Grass".
Making a correct judgment on the placement of the various chapters of "Weeds" in the whole book is helpful for the overall understanding of this masterpiece. Researchers have put forward different views, for example, Du Zijin, who commented earlier, regards "Yijue" as a postscript to "Wild Grass", while Shao Quanlin believes that ""Such a Warrior" should be the best self-defense of "Wild Grass", which seems to be more reasonable. Because "Such a Warrior" does reflect Lu Xun's original image more truly, and it is more of a summary nature.
As a result, Shao Quanlin summarized Lu Xun's spirit as "tough, kraft-like tactics".
What is even more valuable is that Shao Quanlin not only saw "Mr. Lu Xun's personal anger and grief" from "Wild Grass", but also saw "the anger and grief of history". He noted:
These brilliant sparks burst out not so much from Mr. Lu Xun's personal thoughts and feelings, but rather from the struggle of historical contradictions. "Wild Grass" allows us to see the spasmodic state of China in the process of going from numbness to awakening.
Only with the theoretical perspective of historical materialism can we see such a profound and broad historical connotation through "Wild Grass".
The most valuable thing is that Shao Quanlin also made this summary of Lu Xun:
Mr. Lu Xun is not a philist, his thinking is wrestling and tempered from the bloody historical reality. He has no other characteristics, but he is always closely integrated with the development of history and embraces the hearts of the people, so that he can most truly hear the voice of history and feel the pain of history and the people most truly.
Many later commentators added some "ist" labels to Lu Xun, with those who praised him calling him a "communist," "an antiliberal," "a democrat," and so on, and detractors calling him a "radical," "revanchist," "nihilist," and so on. In fact, this is not in line with Lu Xun's reality, and it will not be recognized by him himself. The most appropriate way to put it is, as Shao Quanlin said, "It is from the bloody historical reality that it is fought and tempered." He has no other characteristics, but he is always closely integrated with the development of history and embraces the hearts of the people, so that he can most truly hear the voice of history and feel the pain of history and the people most truly. "Lu Xun's thoughts and works are born from the history and reality of the humiliation of China's oppression and aggression in modern times, and there is no need to add any external labels.
It is worth paying special attention to the fact that Shao Quanlin's paper was published on September 10, 1945, and on January 1, 1940, Mao Zedong proposed that Lu Xun was a "communist" in "On New Democracy". In September 1945, when Mao Zedong's formulation had become a "holy decree" within the party, Shao Quanlin went so far as to point out that "Mr. Lu Xun is not a philist, and his ideas are tempered from the bloody historical reality...... I feel the pain of history and the people most keenly. This fully demonstrates his theoretical courage as an outstanding Marxist theorist of literature and art! Today, when we revisit Shao Quanlin's viewpoint, I feel that it is very important! In the history of the Chinese nation's cognition of Lu Xun, Shao Quanlin's viewpoint on "Mr. Lu Xun is not a theorist" is a very brilliant bright spot, which is of even more profound enlightening significance at present, and provides a scientific reference for Lu Xun scholars to correctly define Lu Xun. It can be seen from this that Shao Quanlin's scientific spirit of "not only the top, not only the book, but the truth"; he does not specifically figure out and understand the psychological likes and dislikes of his superiors, especially the supreme leader Mao Zedong, like Chen Boda and other theorists, nor does he pay attention to observing and sniffing the movements, trajectories, and "smells" of the "class struggle." He only blindly immerses himself in doing things there, "calling for truth" from theory and practice, and showing full "scholarly anger." Does this not indicate that when the "leftist" tendency prevails, it will be difficult to suffer bad luck.
Shao Quanlin not only made an overall evaluation of "Weeds", but also made a special interpretation of the famous articles. In 1949, the Shanghai Life Reading New Knowledge Joint Publishing House published the "Selected Readings of Literary and Artistic Works" edited by him and his wife Ge Qin, which analyzed the "Autumn Night" in "Wild Grass". He believes that "what the author expresses is such a sincere and far-reaching feeling, which allows us to fully access the author's broad historical mind, which is not the same as the prose that expresses personal sentimentality in ordinary trivial and trivial articles", and that the skillful use of symbolism in the work is "not easy for people who do not have profound thoughts and feelings and a high degree of cultivation".
2. Discussion on Ah Q
In the 40s of the last century, there was a discussion in the Chinese literary circle about the typical class attributes of Ah Q, and famous writers such as Ai Wu, Zhang Tianyi, and Duanmu Yuliang participated, but the more scientific analysis of Ah Q's typical class characteristics was the Marxist literary theorist Shao Quanlin, who had already shown his skills at that time. In "Also Talking About Ah Q" (August 10, 1941, "Culture Magazine", Vol. 1, No. 1), he expressed a different opinion on Ai Wu's suggestion that Ah Q was a synthesis of national mental illness, arguing:
However, if we do not excavate the characteristics of the class represented by Ah Q, the contradictory relationship between Ah Q and the class represented by Ah Q to the whole society, and the special significance of Ah Qism to Ah Q's class, it is easy to regard Ah Q simply as a typical representative of the Chinese people, and ignore the essence of the typical class, and thus we will be confused with another misunderstanding of the typical, that the typical, that is, the misunderstanding that the typicality represents the national character。
Shao Quanlin believes that the special significance of this characteristic of Ah Qism to the Ah Q class is as follows:
Ah Q and Ah Q are the people at the bottom of society. They can't oppress people, their spiritual victory method is just a kind of pitiful ignorant self-deception, except for self-harm, it can't harm others, for them, Ah Qism is also the defeat of slaves, but the other side of this defeatism is to show that slaves are rebelling, Ah Qism is the crystallization of the blood of the history of slave failure, and the history of Ah Q is a historical map of the oppression of the ignorant people at the bottom of China. Looking at this historical picture, it is angry, trembling, and sympathetic. ...... This is the essential characteristic of Ah Q, which is something that cannot be shared with other social classes, and only in this way can we explain Ah Q from the fundamental law of typical creation, and only by grasping this essential characteristic can the author strongly unfold the disease of the entire historical era and the nation before our eyes.
The characteristics of Shao Quanlin's analysis are that he does not deny the universal significance of Ah Q's superclass, but also excavates the special significance of the class represented by Ah Q, a typical figure, and systematically and comprehensively understands the typicality of Ah Q from various levels. In this way, it will naturally promote the deepening of the research on the typical Aq.
Indeed, the Marxist historical materialism and class viewpoint are the crystallization of human scientific thought, and as long as they are applied correctly and not vulgarly, they will certainly promote the development of the study of Ah Q's typical example.
In 1942, Ouyang Fanhai published an important work on Lu Xun research, "Lu Xun's Book", which is actually half of Lu Xun's biography, which is very theoretical and has a great influence. Shao Quanlin wholeheartedly welcomed the publication of this book, but disagreed with the book's discussion of "The True Story of Ah Q", so he wrote a more elaborate essay "About<阿Q正传>", which was published in 1942 in Youth Literature and Art, Vol. 1, No. 1.
First of all, the most important contribution of this paper is to talk about the methodological issues of Lu Xun's research. Ouyang Fanhai believed that Lu Xun's writing of "The True Story of Ah Q" was based on the idea expressed in his essay "Knowledge is Evil" written two months earlier, and that he wanted to "discover the seeds of revolution in Ah Q, a Chinese peasant who sympathized with him and bore the burden of feudal history", but he did not succeed. Shao Quanlin pointed out that there is a problem with this research method, that is, "first assuming the process of Lu Xun's ideological development, and then analyzing this work according to the schema of this program, so that we unconsciously go to the road of conceptual theory." "We can reflect on the entire history of Lu Xun studies in China, didn't we do this for a long period of time?" First of all, the procedure of the development of Mr. Lu Xun's thought is assumed, and according to the schema of this procedure, we can analyze "the time of the transformation of Lu Xun's ideological development and world outlook, and as a result, we can only enter a "strange circle" in which the more we study Lu Xun, the farther away from Lu Xun's reality. As early as the 40s of the last century, Shao Quanlin had very clearly pointed out the long-standing methodological errors in Lu Xun's research, which cannot but be said to be commendable.
Second, the paper affirms that the main theme of The True Story of Ah Q is aimed at "exposing the weakness of the Chinese people" (436) rather than "discovering the seeds of revolution from Ah Q and pursuing the driving force of revolution", as Ouyang Fanhai puts it. "If Mr. Lu Xun really wrote the typical example of Ah Q as a revolutionary peasant with awakened consciousness and full of anger and hatred, it would not be in line with historical truth and become 'untrue'. This question has also been one of the long-standing points of debate in the history of Ah Q studies, and many commentators, even Mao Zedong, have criticized Lu Xun for not writing about Ah Q's revolutionary nature in The True Story of Ah Q, believing that this is due to Lu Xun's "failure to participate in the peasant movement". And this view just obscures the authenticity and profundity of Lu Xun.
Again, this paper solves the question of "why did Mr. Lu Xun choose a lumpen-proletarian Ah Q as the protagonist of the novel, instead of a peasant of the intercalary type". This is also one of the long-standing points of debate in Ah Q's research. Some people say that Ah Q is a typical peasant, even a revolutionary peasant and a revolutionary proletarian, but Shao Quanlin pointed out more than half a century ago that Ah Q is a typical "bankrupt wandering peasant". And deeply analyzed the reason: "Because Ah Q is the most unseemly character who has been tortured, and the most miserable member of the slave herd." Not only was he deprived of his land and tools, leaving him homeless, but he was left with only a pair of pants. And what is especially chilling is that his 'humanity' is so crippled by the torment. This is the root of the emergence of Ah Qism. That is, the true appearance of the slave that Mr. Lu Xun wants to write. Such a character, to choose from the bankrupt rural homeless people, is naturally more appropriate than to choose from people like Runtu. ”
Fourth, this logically boils down to the fundamental issue of Lu Xun's critique of slavery. He said: "Taking the bankrupt wandering peasants (the lowest class of slaves) as the typical class basis, thus exposing the contradictions between the lowest class slaves and the social environment, and the consistency and contradiction between slaves and slavery. Furthermore, it shows the root cause of slavery and the contradiction of this root cause for the liberation of the Chinese nation, so Ah Q cannot but be such a figure." "A "True Story of Ah Q" is not so much a history of the slave revolution as a history of the failure of the slave revolution, or in other words, a history of the oppression of the slaves. From this history of blood and tears, we can clearly see not only that the slaves are rebelling, but also that the slaves themselves are weak. so that we know how to struggle, and to fight against our weaknesses. ”
Fifth, this naturally leads to the Law of Spiritual Victory. It is pointed out that "the method of spiritual victory is only a pitiful foolish self-deception". "The True Story of Ah Q not only exposes the weakness of slaves, but also the roots of national weakness. The history of the defeat not only of the slaves, but also of the nation. From the typical character of Ah Q, Mr. Lu Xun excavated the basic contradictions of Chinese society and nationality in the Xinhai era, and launched the battle of social ideology. In the middle, we have seen Mr. Lu Xun's great love for the nation and the people. The great ideological content and great artistic value of "The True Story of Ah Q" should be recognized from here. ”
In the end, Shao Quanlin relied on his keen artistic sense to write Lu Xun's description of Ah Q's eyes from onlookers to the eyes of hungry wolves before his death, and sighed: "What a sharp pen power this is, is there an artist in the world who has ever written a more terrifying character than this?" irrefutably proves that Lu Xun's artistic pen power is also rare in the history of world literature!
It is particularly worth noting that Shao Quanlin has this assertion in this article:
Mr. Lu Xun was not a politician.
Therefore, it is possible that he "did not have enough knowledge of the process of the formation of the revolution". This sentence, which is often overlooked by readers, has a lot of meaning. Because Lu Xun was later pushed to the "altar of God," people subconsciously regarded Lu Xun as an "all-knowing and all-powerful 'god'," as if what he said should be correct, every sentence is the truth, and "one sentence is worth 10,000 sentences"; politically, he should also be correct in everything, be full of foresight, and be able to put forward correct solutions. The consequences of this are: First, Lu Xun's words are taken as a statesman's instructions and all are followed, and the results may not be satisfactory; second, Lu Xun is required to use the standards of a statesman, and once it is discovered that some of Lu Xun's words are not completely correct in real politics, he jumps from one extreme to the other, so as to completely negate Lu Xun. Like Shao Quanlin, we should realize that "Mr. Lu Xun is not a politician", but a genius writer and local thinker who has a deep understanding of Chinese society and Chinese history during the transition period of Chinese society from tradition to modernity. More precisely, in Lu Xun's own words, he is a "warrior in the spiritual world", a spiritual fighter who has opposed the "qualitative" trend of the world since the beginning of the 20th century, advocated "respecting individuality and promoting spirit", presided over justice, and opposed inequality. He is a living person living in the world, but he is definitely not an ordinary layman, but a very special literary genius and intellectual genius that has only appeared in hundreds of years. Therefore, there may be not only talents that ordinary people do not have, but also various shortcomings and weaknesses that ordinary people have, and even strange temper and agitated madness that surpass ordinary people. We should not deny his whole person because of these so-called "faults"; it is still less necessary to beautify his shortcomings and even mistakes into merits or "great deeds" for the sake of the sages. Take Lu Xun's rights and wrongs as right and wrong, and take Lu Xun's likes and dislikes as likes and dislikes. Rather, we should act according to the principle of criticism that he himself once said: "Good is good, bad is bad". But in any case, his words and personality are absolutely great, and many other sages or giants cannot match. It has played an irreplaceable role in the Chinese "realizing that they are slaves", thus overcoming servility, improving understanding, and realizing human consciousness. However, he was not a politician who gave specific guidance and management to the practice of social revolution, and although he longed for a "classless society" and called for the advent of a "third era" in which there were neither slaves nor slave owners, it was impossible for him to design a more rational political plan for the advent of such a society and to explore a more scientific political approach like a politician. Not only not, but sometimes, there may be mistakes, such as misunderstandings about the situation in the former Soviet Union, and so on. Writers need passion, even "bias", so that they must retain their "innocence", while politicians are different, and the most important thing is to be calm, objective, and pragmatic. Don't demand Lu Xun by the standard of a statesman! A person, even a very great person, cannot be omniscient, omnipotent, and perfect. Just like Lu Xun, it is extremely rare for the Chinese nation to play such an extraordinary literary and ideological effect in the process of understanding itself and "introspecting" itself, and it will certainly exist in the history of spiritual culture for a long time. The cognition of great figures in history is by no means the higher the evaluation, the better, but needs to be appropriate, pertinent and accurate, and need to have a rational vision.
At the end, Shao Quanlin further showed everyone's demeanor, pointing out that although Ouyang Fanhai's analysis of "The True Story of Ah Q" "needs to be discussed", his "Lu Xun's Book" is "still a good book for studying Lu Xun in general." There are many excellent and correct insights, and because of this, it is all the more necessary to discuss the points that the content of this book thinks are problematic. ”
In March 1943, Shao Quanlin published a thought-provoking article in Literary Criticism No. 2: "The Death of Ah Q". This was written to commemorate the day of Lu Xun's death. The article raised three questions: 1. Why did Ah Q have to die? 2. What does Ah Q's death mean? 3. What did Ah Q's death teach him? He replied: "When Mrs. Zhao respectfully called 'Old Q', the killing machine was really in ambush. Even if there is no scene of Weizhuang being robbed after that, Ah Q's life may not be saved for a long time. Because, "although it was a revolution, the slaves were not allowed to rebel." "Ah Q's death" is not so much a sacrifice for the revolution as a sacrifice for the defeatism of slaves taught by thousands of years of blood. "Only by fundamentally destroying the philosophy of slavery, which had been taught in the blood of thousands of years by its rulers, could the emancipation of slaves be truly successful." "The enemy of Ah Qism is not far away, but all around us and among ourselves, and the only way to defeat it is to start from ourselves. ”
For a long time, our Lu Xun research has neglected the review and study of academic history, and even more ignored these wonderful papers of Shao Quanlin. It can be seen that it is really necessary to re-read these Lu Xun research papers by Shao Quanlin!
3. Discuss Lu Xun with Feng Wenbing
On August 29, 1961, Shao Quanlin wrote a letter to the famous writer Feng Wenbing: "On Lu Xun's Thoughts from "May Fourth" to 1927 -- A Letter to Comrade Feng Wenbing, the author of "Lu Xun Studies". It was later published in Library Journal, No. 1, 1982.
Feng Wenbing's "Lu Xun Studies" put forward some views that were consistent with the views of the time, one is that Lu Xun only learned about imperialism during the "Five Thirtieth" period, and before that, Lu Xun had the dream of learning from the West, and even during the "Five Thirtieth" period, he did not completely break the dream of Chinese learning from the West. Before the "May Three", Lu Xun had not yet "recognized anyone as an enemy". Second, it is believed that Lu Xun's anti-feudal scope also includes Chinese peasants. Because in "Diary of a Madman", a passage from the tenant is quoted, "This is to treat the peasants and the 'big brother' as representatives of the feudal class." The third is that "Lu Xun himself is a petty bourgeoisie, so he often speaks on behalf of the interests of the petty bourgeoisie." The 'people' and 'common people' in his pen always refer to the petty bourgeoisie and ordinary citizens." In his analysis of "Writing Under the Lamp", he also said that Lu Xun's attitude was "neutral" in the struggle between slaves and the ruling class. Fourth, it is believed that Lu Xun could not raise the peasant issue during the "May Fourth" period, and believes that Ah Q and others are only the image of small citizens, and Weizhuang is not a rural village. It is also believed that Lu Xun's "unfortunate people in a sick society" do not include working people. In the last section, it is argued that calling Lu Xun a revolutionary democrat during the May Fourth period is "inconsistent with the reality of Lu Xun's thought and the reality of the era in which Lu Xun lived." ”
At the time, these views were condemned by the whole world. In 1956, when commemorating the 20th anniversary of Lu Xun's death, He Qifang, a revolutionary cadre from Yan'an, was ruthlessly criticized for saying that Ah Q's spiritual victory method represented a universal weakness of mankind in "On Ah Q". Feng Wenbing, as a "bourgeois intellectual" from the old society, would not have led to the disaster of death if he Wenbing even talked about such a dissent that was even bolder than He Qifang?
However, in this letter, Shao Quanlin did not have the tyrannical spirit of the "critics" of that time, neither "wore hats" nor "beat sticks," nor did he preach in vain and oppress people with force, but had a frank discussion with the author and expounded his views on the development process of Lu Xun's thought; while respecting and affirming the author, he also pointed out the defects and deficiencies in his exposition, insisting that the struggle on the ideological and cultural front waged by Lu Xun "fully demonstrated Lu Xun's thoroughly uncompromising anti-imperialist and anti-feudal spirit." This is the basic spirit of the May Fourth Movement, that is, the basic spirit of the New Democratic Cultural Revolution. Shao Quanlin's spirit of serious and equal academic discussion and Lu Xun's anti-imperialist and anti-feudal new democratic cultural revolution stance were not only extremely rare at that time, but should also be cherished today.
Fourth, summary
Generally speaking, I think Shao Quanlin's Lu Xun research works have the following characteristics:
1. Have a solid theoretical foundation and keen and rigorous thinking ability. The analysis of complex theoretical problems was significantly higher than that of the average writer at the time. This can be fully seen from the above review of Shao Quanlin's research papers on Lu Xun and his series of literary and artistic theoretical articles.
Second, he mastered the scientific research methods and vigorously criticized the erroneous and simplistic methods in the field of Lu Xun's research. For example, in "About<阿Q正传>", it is pointed out: "To study a writer's thought and creative process, we can only comprehensively observe its development trend. If you mechanically cut it into sections, or even take each piece of work as a paragraph, this method is not only mechanical, but also dangerous. Shao Quanlin's admonition on the methodology of Lu Xun's research was an important warning not only at that time, but also in the entire history of Lu Xun studies in China. Isn't it still popular to use the mechanistic theory and simplistic method of "mechanically cutting Lu Xun's works into sections, and even taking each work into a paragraph to study"?
3. Because Shao Quanlin has a solid theoretical foundation, keen and rigorous thinking, and has mastered scientific research methods, his understanding of Lu Xun is very profound and convincing. For example, he said: "In the course of Mr. Lu Xun's lifelong ideological development, we can see that there is a red thread running through it, that is, his thorough democratic thought." Emphasizing Lu Xun's democratic thought and the spiritual essence of anti-feudal absolutism is of great significance in the history of Lu Xun studies in China. Shao Quanlin has always clearly insisted on this point, which determines his indelible and important value in the history of Chinese Lu Xun studies. Shao Quanlin also pointed out with his insight into history and rich social experience: "Mr. Lu Xun's profound analysis of Chinese society is unprecedented in the history of Chinese literature. From this point alone, we cannot but admit that Mr. Lu Xun had a deeper understanding of Chinese social relations than anyone else at that time. "You know, these words were said nearly 70 years ago, but they still shine with the light of scientific theories. It is worth revisiting for those who blindly deny the value of Lu Xun. Shao Quanlin's most important contribution is to confirm that "Mr. Lu Xun is not a philist" and "not a politician". These two points, far more important than specific academic opinions, are the basic principle starting point in the history of Lu Xun's cognition in China, and have the effect of affecting the whole body, and are crucial to scientifically understanding Lu Xun and giving him an appropriate historical positioning, so that Lu Xunxue can move towards a more scientific track, and future generations can get real beneficial nourishment from Lu Xun and avoid historical misunderstandings.
Fourth, full of keen artistic sense. His evaluation of the description of the hungry wolf's eyes at the end of "The True Story of Ah Q" mentioned above fully illustrates this point.
Fifth, always adhere to the attitude of equal and kind scientific discussion. This is clearly stated in the letter to Feng Wenbing and in all the articles. And this kind of attitude is extremely rare in the Chinese literary circle, where "leftist" winds are rampant. Including Zhou Yang, the leader of China's literary and artistic circles, and his antagonist Hu Feng, they all lack this style. It is precisely because Shao Quanlin has always maintained a scientific attitude of seeking truth from facts and a peaceful and humble style that he has put forward scientific literary and artistic ideas such as the theory of "middle figures" in response to the ultra-leftist concept of literature and art, and he will inevitably become a thorn in the side of the ultra-left forces, a thorn in the flesh, and bear the brunt of the attack and be knocked to the ground. But history is fair. The eyes of the people are bright. History and the people finally returned his innocence and spoke highly of him.
As I am about to conclude this article, I cannot help but recall the scene in the early days of the "Cultural Revolution", that is, in late August 1966, when I met Mr. Shao Quanlin at the location of the Chinese Writers Association in Dongzongbu Hutong. At that time, together with Liu Baiyu, Feng Mu and other leaders of the Writers' Association, he was "pulled out" by the masses for the first time to "show the public", and perhaps because of his special status in the Writers' Association, he was locked in a room alone, and then taken out alone, and was forced to kneel on the ground to confess his so-called "crimes". His second son, Shao Xiaoou, and I were classmates at Beijing No. 2 Middle School, so I paid special attention to him. By then, he was sick and weak, and he was still forced to confess his sins. I was born in a family of high-level intellectuals, and I liked academic authorities such as Ji Xianlin, who was a fellow villager with my father, and because of the so-called ideas of fame and family and personal struggle, I was put into a separate book, and I could not join the Red Guards, so I could only watch from the sidelines. Looking at Shao Quanlin's loyal and honest face, it is hard to imagine what kind of reactionary he will be. After a while, the Red Guards who escorted him said that he was too ill and had more important materials to explain and could not stay long, so they escorted him back. I looked at his thin back, extremely sympathetic, but I didn't dare to show the slightest, but this scene will always be engraved in my memory, unforgettable. Later, when I heard that he died of illness in Qincheng Prison in 1971, I couldn't help but tremble in my heart, and secretly asked: For such a weak scholar and an outstanding literary theorist, why is it so cruel?......
I think: Shao Quanlin's name is not only indelible in the history of Lu Xun in China. In the entire history of Chinese literary and artistic theory and even in the spiritual history of Chinese intellectuals in the 20th century, there should also be a value that cannot be underestimated.
Text/Zhang Mengyang
