Peking University is a century-old famous university at the top level in China. Mathematicians dreamed of entering this sacred temple to study. However, in the 1950s, a student who was admitted to Peking University voluntarily dropped out after one year of study.
This student is the famous child prodigy writer Liu Shaotang.
One
Liu Shaotang was born on February 29, 1936, in Tong County, Hebei Province (present-day Tongzhou District, Beijing). We are now saying that some people have their own talents from birth, which belongs to "God appreciates food and eats." Liu Shaotang is such a person.
Although his parents were peasants with little education, he showed literary talent at an early age. His mother sang him a ballad, which he quickly remembered, and he could tell it to his friends in a loud and colorful way. When he was 10 years old, he went to Tongzhou Model Primary School to attend a senior primary school, and the first time he wrote an essay, he wrote a long essay "Journey of Xihaizi", which was full of 5 volumes of texts, which caused a sensation in the school. When he was 13 years old, other students even wrote their essays, but Liu Shaotang published a short story in the Beijing Xinmin Daily. At the age of 14, Liu Shaotang officially published a short story of several thousand words, "Cai Guizhi". At the age of 15, Liu Shaotang had not yet graduated from junior high school, and the Hebei Provincial Federation of Literature and Art actually transferred him to the editorial department of Hebei Literature and Art as an editor. At the age of 17, something even more magical happened, Liu Shaotang was still in his third year of high school, and the short story he created, "Green Branches and Green Leaves", was selected for the second grade chinese textbook of high school...
What makes people envious and jealous is that Liu Shaotang is not only extremely talented in literature, but also a "scholar".
Two
When he made literary creations, he did not affect his homework. On the contrary, Liu Shaotang's academic performance, whether it is primary school, junior high school, or high school, is at the top level. Because of this, in 1954, 18-year-old Liu Shaotang was admitted to the department of Chinese of Peking University with excellent results. At that time, there was no expansion of enrollment in colleges and universities, and college students were called "proud sons of heaven", not to mention college students of Peking University.
However, Liu Shaotang only studied in college for 1 year, and then voluntarily applied for withdrawal. According to Liu Shaotang's wife, Zeng Caimei, the reason for his withdrawal from school was: "At that time, the school had many rules and disciplines, emphasized collective life, and forced group dance, and Liu Shaotang was very uncomfortable. In addition, Liu Shaotang found that many of the courses in the Chinese Department did not help him to create novels. After all, Chinese departments do not have the main purpose of training writers.
In fact, the deep-seated reason for Liu Shaotang's withdrawal from Peking University is that he wants to work full-time in literary creation and earn contributions.
Three
Liu Shaotang's family is too poor. In order to support his family, Liu Shaotang had the idea of joining the work at a very young age, but because he was too young, he had to return to school. Liu Shaotang studied while creating literature. When he published literary works in the press, he received varying amounts of manuscript fees, which could be used to subsidize the family and reduce the burden on his parents.
In August 1951, Liu Shaotang sent two novels, "Finishing Autumn" and "Summer Volt", to Tianjin Daily's "Literature and Art Weekly". In the letter to the editor, Liu Shaotang said very bluntly: "You can see if you can send it, if you can send it, please send the fee quickly." At that time, the editor-in-chief of Tianjin Daily's "Literature and Art Weekly" was mr. Sun Li, a famous writer. Sun Li admired Liu Shaotang's talent very much and quickly arranged to publish an article in September and October.
After the publication of the first article, "Finishing Autumn", Liu Shaotang received a manuscript fee of 260,000 yuan (S$26). What is the concept of 26 yuan? It is equivalent to two months' living expenses for one employee.
After Liu Shaotang tasted the sweetness of the manuscript fee, he no longer wanted to give up literary creation. In the 1950s, Liu Shaotang created a large number of novels based on the theme of rural life in his hometown, which were published and awarded in important domestic literary journals, like a rising literary star. The Hubei poet Yan Ming called him a "child prodigy". The term "child prodigy writer" goes unnoticed.
Four
These novel works brought Liu Shaotang a rich income from writing fees.
In June 1953, Liu Shaotang published his first collection of short stories, "Green Branches and Green Leaves", and received more than 1,800 yuan in royalties and royalties, which was equivalent to the salary income of a middle-level cadre for 3 years.
In March 1955, Liu Shaotang published his second collection of short stories, "The Song of Hawthorn Village", and received 2,000 yuan in writing fees and royalties, which was equivalent to the salary income of an intermediate cadre for 3 and a half years.
In October 1955, Liu Shaotang published his third novella, "The Oars of the Canal", and received more than 5,000 yuan in royalties and royalties, which was equivalent to the salary income of an intermediate cadre for 9 years.
In April 1956, Liu Shaotang published the fourth novella "Summer", and received 8,000 yuan in royalties and royalties, which was equivalent to the salary income of a middle-level cadre for 13 years.
Relying on these 4 novel collections, Liu Shaotang earned a total income of about 17,000 yuan. It was definitely a huge sum of money at the time. Liu Shaotang took out some of them and bought a house: "At that time, the price was cheap, one pound of lamb was more than 4 corners, and one pound of pork was 6 corners." I bought a house, 5 houses, 1 kitchen, 1 toilet, 1 stacking room, and 5 date trees and 5 locust trees, which cost only 2000 yuan, plus a private price increase of 500 yuan, and only spent 2500 yuan. ”
Liu Shaotang's house is located in No. 45 Guangming Hutong, Fuyou Street, Xicheng District, which is a small courtyard, there is no north room, and the three south rooms are considered to be the main room. Here, Liu Shaotang created 11 novels such as "Earth Fire", "Wolf Smoke", "Ten Steps of Herbs", "Wild Marriage" and many novellas and short stories, as well as a large number of prose works.