Legends are the most reliable passport for heroes to the realm of immortality
A few years ago, after our friend and Chinese-France writer Mr. Gao Xingjian won an award, a female visiting scholar from United States came to Xi'an. During a discussion at Northwest University, she asked me if Gao Xingjian won a certain award, and they had expected that he would be resisted within the Chinese system. What they didn't anticipate, however, was that resistance from outside the system seemed to be stronger.
I remember my answer at the time. I said, at the level of the novel "Lingshan", I can find fifty such writers for you in China. I remember that the first Chinese writer I talked about when I crossed my fingers was Zhang Xianliang. I said that Zhang Xianliang's understanding and interpretation of suffering in "The Greening Tree", in "Half of a Man is a Woman", and in "Habitual Death", his inheritance of Chinese style and Chinese tradition are all unattainable in "Lingshan".
When the lantana steamed buns in "Greening Tree", the finger eggs left a few dustpans and buckets on the steamed steamed buns, which is a stroke of genius, and the power of a thousand jun in the detailed description! And in "Habitual Death", in the labor camp, while eating, a group of obscene-looking prisoners digging trenches surround a female skeleton excavated in the trench, drooling, and imagine her as the most beautiful woman in the world. The reason why this pile of white bones is judged to be female bones is because the long flowing hair on this female bone is still there, and it has not yet rotted.
"Death of Habit" was originally called "Sail Without a Mast". It's a shame that this novel hasn't received the attention it deserves. Zhang Xianliang's wife, Ms. Feng Jianhua, said that "Habitual Death" is the most difficult and serious book Zhang Xianliang has written.
I remember the small symposium at Northwest University, and there were also Mr. Zhang Hua, who used to work at Peking University and was later branded as a rightist and went to teach at Northwest University, as well as Yang Lesheng, a young scholar and professor at Northwest University. During the dinner, I consulted Zhang Hualao. I said, you are a disciple of Mr. Wu Mi, can you sum up in one sentence what is Wu Mi's greatest contribution to the Chinese intellectual circle? Zhang Hua Lao replied that Wu Mi had discovered an iron law of history and tried it repeatedly. The iron rule is that when a tide comes, it is not the people who are at the front who represent the truth, nor the people who are at the back who represent the truth, but the gray masses who walk in the middle. Although this discovery is frustrating, it is true. I'm interjecting.
The last time I saw Mr. Xianliang was on October 25, a year before he died, when I went to Ejina to see the poplar forest. The peak time of the poplar forest is on October 23 every year, when all the poplar leaves will suddenly become golden at noon under the dazzling autumn sun, as if they have received some order from nature. After watching the poplar forest, I spent another night in Greater Mongolia, and returned to Yinchuan the next day, and then I called the Ningxia Federation of Literature. After Jiangdong and Qiaolao, I want to visit Mr. Xianliang.
At that time, I didn't know that Mr. Xianliang had been diagnosed with illness. In the morning, drive to the gate of Western Studios. A deep trench was dug under the gate, with two suspension bridges on the left and one on the right, and two soldiers, divided into left and right. One was holding a pole spear, and in the center of the circle on his back, the word "soldier" was written; One was holding a ghost-headed knife, and in the center of the circle on his back, the word "pawn" was written. I stood outside the city and shouted: "Report to you Chairman Zhang, just say that Chairman Shaanxi Gao is here." He said that in this studio, Chairman Gao is half of his home! Seeing me say this, one of the soldiers stood still, with the devil's head knife behind his back, and the other carried his spear, and trotted back to report the news. After a while, Mr. Ma, dressed in a navy blue suit and wearing a streamer, came out, raised her hand, signaled to put the drawbridge squeaky down, and then our car went in.
Mr. Zhang Xianliang was pacing in a small courtyard and waiting for me. He was always well-dressed like a big man, with a straight waist. Mr. Ma whispered in my ear, Xianliang is not in good health, don't make him excited, talk for half an hour at most, and let him rest. So we went back to his reception room and had tea. I don't remember what I said that day. I only remember that he repeatedly said the sentence "The contemporary literary world can't get around me Zhang Xianliang". Later, when I learned that he was suffering from an incurable disease, I learned about his state of mind at that time and the deep meaning of his words.
He also said one more thing. One year, there was a congress in Beijing, and the meeting was followed by a presidium meeting. He is a member of the Bureau. After the meeting, after going out, a person came up to put on his shoulder, hugged his shoulder, and said, Congratulations on the re-election of a certain chairman. As soon as he reflexively turned around, the man realized that he had recognized the wrong person. The man was embarrassed, and he was embarrassed. At that time, it was fashionable to wear a black half-coat of tweed, and several people in attendees wore it.
Mr. Xianliang told me about this several times. This time, he said again, it can be seen that he is not exempt from vulgarity, and he cares about this false position very much.
The CEO of Ningxia Electric Power, who went with me, took out a red envelope and said that they had held a creative meeting, and hoped that Chairman Zhang would meet everyone and give a lecture. Zhang Xianliang shook his head and said proudly, my tax revenue in the film and television city last year was 1.5 million, and money is just a number for me.
On that occasion, he also gave me a new novel of his own, which seemed to be called "One Hundred and Sixty Million." I came back and flipped through the book, but I never understood what "one hundred million six" meant. He struggled to explain for a long time that day, and I didn't understand it. It means that there are 100 million and six sperm racing to touch the egg, and finally one sperm wins, and a chosen one is born. This person is the writer Zhang Xianliang. Is that so? I do not know.
When he finally said goodbye to him, he took out a calligraphy work that he had written in advance and gave it to me: "The sunset in the desert is splendid." Jianqun brother is right. The words were already in the bag, and Xianliang took them out of the bag again, holding the words and introducing them to me for a long time. I said, the last time in the studio, we had a calligraphy competition, you wrote for me "Spring and Autumn are many good days, there are high-rise buildings in the northwest", and what I wrote for you was "Driving a long car to break through the lack of Helan Mountain".
Throughout the meeting, there was a feeling of mourning in the air. Until I said goodbye and walked away, Mr. Xianliang was still standing at the door of the reception room, as if looking at me and looking at the empty sky.
In the third year of Mr. Xianliang's death, at the Beijing Kaiwen Congress, I specifically found Mrs. Zhang's sister-in-law, Jianhua. I said that I would like to talk to you about two things: first, I have published an article in Southern Weekly to mourn Mr. Xianliang, called "The Sunset in the Desert is Brilliant from Glory", and you will collect it when you publish a commemorative anthology in the future; The second is that Mr. Ma's situation doesn't know what's going on, and I can't rest assured about it. What I mean is to let her continue to serve as the general manager of the film and television city, and the right is to give her a job! In this way, Mr. Xianliang will also rest in peace under the nine springs. Jianhua said, you said it was late, Mr. Ma had already left the film and television city. I asked her where she was. Jianhua said she went to work at a cultural relics store in Yinchuan City. I burst into tears at that moment. I said, "Sister-in-law, then I didn't say it!" ”
I've been to Fort West West, I've been to it many times. Shaanxi and Ningxia are very close to each other. I remember the first time Mr. Xianliang accompanied me to see the studio, it was still a very desolate place. Mr. Xianliang said that from the labor camp to Yinchuan City, you have to pass through here. Originally, it was called Zhennanbao, and there were some herdsmen living in the fort. Usually, he would take a break here and stay for the night.
Later, he developed it into a cinema. What does Ningxia have, Ningxia has "desolation", so his main focus is a "betrayal of desolation". It is a tourist attraction where tourists take away their feet of dirt and leave their pockets with money.
I said, Mr. Zhang, why are you so economically minded, we Shaanxi writers don't have your chemical brain. Mr. Xianliang said, you Shaanxi writers and a group of peasants have changed their names, thinking that they are not peasants. I'm telling you, what is in your bones can never be changed.
He also said that three generations of his family have been capitalists. When he was in prison, he knew that the tide of reform and opening up would come one day. So I began to study Das Kapital.
He also said that he was very unhappy when the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) held a meeting and assigned him to the cultural and historical group. He told them that next time, he should go to the economic group.
I remember that time, he spread some newspapers on the glass plate of his office desk, put rice paper on the newspaper, and asked me to write the words "Chinese Films Go to the World from Here". I don't know if the horizontal sign that I made later is the one I wrote. Maybe Mr. Xianliang wrote it himself.
Mr. Xianliang said that these herdsmen living in Zhenbeibao could not be driven away no matter how much they were driven away. The herdsmen said that Ma Hongkui, who was carrying two box guns, wanted to drive us away, but he couldn't do it. You Chairman Zhang, an unarmed white-faced scholar, want to drive us away, so you curl your feet!
He said that the most unacceptable thing is that the movie "Red Sorghum" has just filmed the scene of "Jiujiu Qing Killing", and the herdsmen drove their sheep like clouds, from the moon gate of the fort all over the mountains and fields, making people cry and laugh.
Later, he said, he came up with a way to recruit the herdsmen's children as employees, make work clothes for them, and then pull them to Guangzhou and train them for three months. After the children returned, they did work for their parents, and in this way, the herdsmen living in Zhenbeibao moved away one after another.
On that occasion, Mr. Ma led me to visit the film and television city, which had already begun to take shape. Mr. Ma held a loudspeaker and spoke Yinchuan Mandarin. He came to the horizontal sign, his eyes were shining, looking at the sky, and said loudly: "Dear Chairman Zhang taught us that Chinese films go to the world from here!" I came to the shochu shop in the middle of the castle again, stomped my feet on the ground, and said that there was a pair of broken sneakers of director Zhang Yimou buried in the ground. After filming "Red Sorghum", Director Zhang buried his shoes here as a souvenir. Finally, I came to the moon gate in a corner of the city, and said that the original gate had collapsed, and it was rebuilt for the purpose of making a movie.
I remember once when I had dinner with the writers in Ningxia, I said to them, please understand Zhang Xianliang, tolerate Zhang Xianliang, appreciate Zhang Xianliang, every writer in the true sense of the word is an extreme egocentr, and there is no one else in his dictionary. It is your luck that you and Mr. Zhang Xianliang live together under this sky in Yinchuan, because the master is by his side, and his success will inspire you. At the same time, it is also a misfortune, because this big tree takes up too much sunlight and thus obscures you - there is no grass under the big tree!
In 1957, Mr. Xianliang was branded as a rightist because of "Song of the Great Wind", suffered unfair treatment, and had a period of imprisonment. At the meeting in Shenzhen that year, the author of "Magnolia Under the Wall" said from Mr. Wei Xi that everyone said that Zhang Xianliang was the "father of the big wall literature" and that Cong Weixi was the "uncle of the big wall literature", and I agreed with this statement.
Another time, the 2014 China Book Festival was held in Guizhou, and Mr. Ouyang Qiansen, chairman of the Guizhou Federation of Literary and Art Circles, invited me to dinner, accompanied by the old writer He Shiguang. During the banquet, when Mr. Zhang Xianliang's illness was discussed, Mr. Shiguang said that I wanted to talk to him. So I called Mr. Xianliang's phone, but no one answered there.
There are several theories about the comeback of teacher Zhang Xianliang: Ningxia writer Li Wei said that he discovered his free manuscript when he was an editor in "Shuofang". Qin Chuanniu, the supplement editor of Ningxia Daily, said that he found Zhang Xianliang's manuscript from a large number of free manuscripts.
We all agree with these rumors, and people always talk about this topic with a sense of reverence for literature, hoping that they will have crossed fates with those extraordinary people.
Once, Xu Sai, the former director of Ningxia TV Station, called me and asked me to go to Yinchuan to talk about the adaptation of my novella "Statue" into a TV series. So I took a shuttle bus to Yinchuan with Zhang Min, an old writer known as Chang'an's No. 1 merry man, and Shi Gang, a young cultural scholar. Xu Sai said that "Helan Xue" has just finished filming, this is the room where director Chen Jialin lives, he just left with his front foot, you can live here!
That day, we went to visit Zhang Xianliang. Mr. Xianliang said that he wanted to compare calligraphy with me. We seemed to be going to another place, the room was very spacious, a large boss's table, Mr. Xianliang sat on a swivel chair with Erlang's legs on his legs, and behind him, a young secretary lady pinched his shoulders and beat his back. Seeing this, I said that cultural people have boiled up to this, which is called becoming fine. I asked, this boss's table is assigned to you by the Federation of Literary and Art Circles! Mr. Xianliang said, No! The white wooden table given by the Federation of Literary and Art Circles, I had already let the tattered ones take away, and this boss table was given by the company to the chairman.
On that day, I met friends in writing and wrote. As mentioned earlier, I wrote a banner for Xianliang "Driving a long car to break through the lack of Helan Mountain", and Mr. Xianliang wrote a banner for me "There are many good days in spring and autumn, and there are high-rise buildings in the northwest".
Zhang Min of the Literature Department of West Film Studio is very familiar with Xianliang. Back then, Director Wu Tianming wanted to turn Mr. Xianliang's "Romantic Black Cannon" into a movie and sent Zhang Min to talk about it. Zhang Min's personality is somewhat similar to Xianliang, both are good at making big words, and both are a bit arrogant. When the two talked about it, when it came to the Heat, Mr. Xianliang authorized it, and bought the adaptation rights for a mere 20,000 yuan. This made Director Wu very happy. Later, the film was made, called "Black Cannon Incident", directed by Huang Jianxin, and the film later became one of the masterpieces of Western films. Later, Director Huang proposed that he wanted to make a sequel. This script was written by Mr. Zhang Min himself, and the name of the movie is "Dislocation", which is also one of the masterpieces of Western movies.
Zhang Min asked Mr. Xianliang to write eight words for him: "Use the pen as a sword to sweep the literary world." Under everyone's praise, Xianliang wrote out the words. Zhang Min clapped his hands next to him and shouted: Hurry up and sign your name. Tomorrow, I will print this word on my vest, and then run around the country, and say, Master Zhang said, I, Zhang Min, am as strong as an ox, and I use my pen as a sword to sweep the literary world!
Mr. Xianliang was such a smart and well-behaved man, he frowned, and felt that it was inappropriate to write it like this. But the words have fallen on the paper, and it is not easy to take them back. I saw him, walked around the room with his hands behind his back, and when he came back, he took up the pen and wrote the money: record Zhang Min's brother's words. Zhang Xianliang.
The ball was kicked back at Zhang Min's feet. Zhang Min lifted the word, put his arm around Zhang Xianliang's shoulders and said, you are cunning!
There was also an important trip to Yinchuan. Before the CCTV science and education channel was launched, an opening scene was to be filmed, and the name of the feature film was "China's Great Northwest". CCTV genius Tong Ning served as the chief director, Xinjiang writer Zhou Tao, Beijing writer Bi Shumin, and Shaanxi writer I served as the chief writer. We all have a common characteristic, we have military experience, and we have a lot of treasures for the great northwest. In addition, Zhu Youke, deputy editor-in-chief of Xinjiang Economic News, served as editor, photographer and assistant.
Sister Bi Shumin said to me, Lao Gao, the names of the two of us are not romantic and lack imagination. Your name is like the name of a township cadre; My name is like the name of an aunt in the neighborhood committee! I said, yes, yes, seriously agree.
On that occasion, the relevant leaders of the autonomous region met with us. And later dinner, according to Zhu Youke's recollection, was invited by Mr. Xianliang in the studio.
I remember that at the dinner, Mr. Xianliang chattered and complained to the leader. It's about the bell tower on Yinchuan Street, Ann's video advertisement. The urban management department asked him to demolish it, saying that it was nondescript and hindered the city's appearance. Xianliang said, leader, the bell tower building is a tradition, and the video advertisement is fashion, and the two complement each other, increasing the cultural diversity of our Yinchuan City!
There was another incident that impressed me very much. At that time, a leader waved his hand, as if he was about to speak, and turned over a bottle of Ningxia dry red ribbon on the table. The bottle was poured and the wine flowed to the table. The leader was a little embarrassed. Who knew that Xianliang stood up all of a sudden, arched his hands, and said in a loud voice, good things are coming, congratulations to the leader, you are going to make a big deal.
The leader was a little puzzled. Xianliang said that the wine was spilled, and the word "splash" was three drops of water on one side and the word "hair" on the other. Three drops of water is wine, and hair means that you want to make a big hair!
Good words are the most listened to, and the leaders are very happy to hear them. Then Mr. Xianliang put his mouth to my ear and whispered, "Brother, you have to learn from me, this is called some eye drops for the leader!"
The day after the meal, Director Xu called and said, Chairman Feng is going to invite you to dinner at noon today.
The meal was very hearty, and it was in a place called "Mutton Village". It's all about mutton. The people of Yinchuan seem to know this place.
I have known Mr. Feng for a long time. In 1983, the Shaanxi Writers' Association organized a loess poetry club, and we went to Yinchuan and visited the editorial office of Shuofang. Feng Jianhua in his memory, with shiny hair, cut into a brush head (short hair with ears), tall, wearing a navy blue suit, and light leather shoes. I think that Zhang Xianliang, a prisoner released from labor camp back then, must have been amazed as soon as he stepped into the editorial department of "Shuofang" to revise the draft.
That day, I wrote a banner to Chairman Feng, called "Ride a donkey across the small bridge, sigh the plum blossoms are thin".
The first time I met Mr. Zhang Xianliang was in late July 1991. At that time, the Chinese Writers Association awarded the 4th Zhuang Zhengwen Literature Award in Xi'an. Mr. Zhang is the judge and I am the winner.
Zhang Kai of the Chinese Writers Association presided over the award, and the winners this time focused on the northwest, so they were awarded in Xi'an. One of the winners in Ningxia is named Li Wei, a handsome guy with long hair and a black T-shirt shirt. Mr. Zhuang Chongwen is a Hong Kong entrepreneur, he did not come, sent his son, and raised 200,000 yuan to present the award to everyone.
Mr. Xianliang arrived a little late, it was already eight o'clock in the evening. He went to Guizhou to give a lecture and flew over from Guiyang. He took his own son, a handsome little boy. He said that the child was eight years old, and it was just summer vacation, so he took him out.
The Assembly asked me to accompany him. Is it the author of The Distant White House? He asked me enthusiastically. He said that we don't eat the meal on the stove, let's go to the street to eat, and I will be sent a review fee of 1,000 yuan, which is called futility, let's go to the street and consume it!
Xi'an People's Building goes out to the east, called Dongxin Street, and the Xi'an Municipal Government has made it a food street. A long cart with a red lantern on it. Li Xiu'e of the Shaanxi Writers Association led the way in front, and we ate it one by one.
I remember, Mr. Xianliang pointed to the word "beautiful" on the movie poster on the street and asked me how to pronounce it. I shook my head and said, I don't know.
That day, he was still in the passion and thinking of a lecture in Guizhou, and we ate all the way. In the meantime, he made a very important literary point. This idea has been shining like a candle in my work ever since.
He said that if you want to write its epic for a nation, there is a trick, that is, to find its dynastic history, and write its dynastic history, and the epic of the nation will be written.
He said that Guizhou is so poor, the land is not three feet flat, and people have no food, but Miao women, each of them has a pair of silver jewelry weighing more than ten catties, which is locked in a box on weekdays and worn on their heads during festivals.
What does this mean? It shows that in the history of this nation, it was once a nation living in a gentle and wealthy country, and later, for some reason, a change occurred, and they moved their families from the plains to the 100,000 mountains. The silver jewelry retains their distant national memory.
Mr. Xianliang repeatedly said that if this peerless history is written, this national epic will be written. I have repeatedly talked about this in my lectures in Guizhou, and I don't know if my friends in Guizhou have understood.
Ten years after the death of the esteemed Mr. Xianliang, I write these heavy words. When I was writing, my eyes were dizzy, and my husband's voice and smile always flashed in front of me. It was a literary era that was infinitely nostalgic. Because of the times, many maverick figures emerged in that era, and Mr. Zhang Xianliang was a banner of that literary era.
For this ten-year sacrifice, they have already made an appointment with me. Because in the past few years, I have been busy with one of my novels, "Once Upon a Time in Central Asia", closed my eyes and listened, and my mind was in a trance. It wasn't until three days ago that after adding the WeChat account of the editor-in-chief of "Shuofang", he told me that Mr. Feng Jianhua repeatedly said that he had to write a memorial article for me, saying that I knew Xianliang best. Mr. Feng's words carry a lot of weight. So I pushed aside all the chores and spent three days finishing this text.
Mr. Xianliang is a person who has walked through his life with a legend all the way. The United Kingdom novelist Maugham said that legends are the most reliable passport for heroes to immortality. "Contemporary literary history can't be separated from my Zhang Xianliang!" At this moment, I remembered his slightly tragic words.
I feel that in addition to being as strong as an ox, this sentence also vaguely reveals a hint of concern that it may be forgotten by time.
Originally published in "Shuofang" 2024 No. 9 Responsible Editor Fire will be bright
