Editor's note: This year marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of the famous contemporary writer Bai Xianyong's short story collection "TaipeiEr", which was selected as one of the top 100 novels of the 20th century Chinese (seventh).
Singaporean writer Ho Wah launched a new book, "The Taipei People Are Always Old", which researches and comments on all aspects of Bai Xianyong's book; at the same time, he transforms into fans and fans to talk about movies and old songs.
He Hua graduated from the Department of Chinese of Fudan University with a bachelor's degree and the Department of Chinese from the National University of Singapore with a master's degree. He is the author of the essay collection "Rising because of seeing the autumn wind", "Trying to dispatch foolishness", "Buying gold bumping into the gold seller", "Old Spring Water", "A Scoop of Drinking", "Taste of Nanyang" and so on.
The following is an excerpt from "Taipei People Are Never Old" Series 1:
Buddha tea, not drunk.
Camellias in Yunnan are very famous, and there is a "Buddha tea" that is even more famous. Bai Xianyong loves to plant flowers, especially tea flowers, and his home in Santa Barbara, California, usa, has planted many camellias in the yard, including Buddha tea, which is beautiful when in full bloom. Speaking of which, Buddha Tea also saved Teacher Bai's life. One day in the middle of the summer of 2000, when he gave a Buddhist tea to cultivate soil, he suddenly felt unwell and his heart was suffocated, so he put down his tools and immediately went to the hospital to check it out. Doctors told him that his blood vessels were clogged up to 99 percent and that there was a risk of fatal myocardial infarction at any time. On the same day, he had heart bypass surgery in the hospital and "picked up a life" to "retrieve a life." Bai Xianyong was related to the Buddha, and even the camellia that saved his life was called Buddha tea.
Speaking of this past, Teacher Bai was once again grateful to the Buddha and Bodhisattva, and he said that in June 2000, he went to Kyoto, Japan to visit the "Thirty-Three Halls", which enshrined 1,001 statues of Guanyin, and the shock was too great to express. Teacher Bai said, "Walking in, in front of the Guanyin statue in the middle, my tears flowed involuntarily. At that moment, my heart of refuge was strong. Back in the United States, one day I went to cultivate soil for Buddhist tea, and immediately found signs of illness, as if in the darkness, Guanyin Bodhisattva was blessing me. His old friend Ouyang Zi said, "It was the 1001 Guanyin who pulled Bai Xianyong's life back." "Two years ago, when I went to Kyoto, I also went to the Thirty-Three Halls to worship the Guanyin group statues, and I also invited an eleven-sided thousand-handed and thousand-eyed Guanyin card to give to Teacher Bai.
In fact, Bai Xianyong's family believes in Islam, but he has repeatedly said that his religious feelings are inclined to Buddhism, he has buried the Roots of Buddhism since he was a child, and there is still "Guanyin Diligent Ritual" at the head of the bed, and going out to live in a hotel is no exception.
(In 2015, Bai Xianyong burned incense to worship the Buddha at Longshan Temple in Taipei.)
In 2004, the youth version of the Kunqu opera "Peony Pavilion" premiered in the mainland of Cunjutang of Soochow University, and the day before the performance, I accompanied Teacher Bai to Lingyan Mountain to worship the Buddha. Modern high monk Yin Guang Master once lived in Xilingyan Mountain, for a long time Lingyan Mountain has maintained a pure Taoist style, and several generations of abbots have not repaired the winding mountain road, if you have the heart to come here, you must rely on your own feet to pick up the steps. That day, Teacher Bai and I climbed the mountain step by step, and the Fa Xi was full. Teacher Bai knelt down to worship the Buddha, which reminded me of Baoyu's renunciation in "Dream of the Red Chamber". Bai Xianyong believes that this section "the height of its artistic conception and the beauty of its imagery are the ultimate in Chinese lyrical writing." We seem to hear Zen chants filling the whole universe, 'Heaven and earth have been low for a long time'. Baoyu is not easy to write, and the Baoyu monks in the next forty times must come from everyone's handwriting. Bai Xianyong did not belittle the last forty times like many people (including Zhang Ailing), and he thought that the last forty times were equally well written. Zhang Ailing may not appreciate the section on Baoyu renunciation, basically it can be said that Zhang Ailing has no religious feelings, and she is likely to be indifferent to Baoyu renunciation. In addition, 106 times "Jia Taijun kneels and prays to the heavens", Jia Mu's big red prayer mat on the kneeling, that recitation, really a touching. Presumably, Zhang Ailing did not have a special touch on this section. Zhang Ailing is a writer I highly respect, but the fact that she has no religious feelings cannot but say that there is a lack of "motivation", and she is weak on the last few steps of the literary peak and cannot go up.
In recent years, every time I went to Taipei to see Teacher Bai, he always took me to sit in the Star Cafe and listen to him talk about the old things of art and literature. Sometimes he also took me to the temple to burn incense, in 2015 to Taipei, we went to Longshan Temple, that day was a big day, crowded, lively, Teacher Bai lit incense in the crowd to worship the Buddha, just like ordinary people. Teacher Bai also admitted that he still had some nostalgia for red dust, and he couldn't see through it 100% and put it down. It is a little nostalgia for the red dust that brings Teacher Bai closer to us.
(Bai Xianyong in front of his home in Taipei)
This year coincided with the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Bai Xianyong's short story collection "Taipei People", and He Hua wrote an article "Fifty Years after the Publication of "Taipei People" at the beginning of the year, which led to the cause of Erya's publication of this book.
In 1971, "Taipei People" was first published by the Morning Bell Publishing House founded by Bai Xianyong and his brother. Soon, morning bell ended operations. In 1983, Mr. Yindi's Erya Publishing House took over the launch of a new edition of "Taipei People", and the Taiwanese copyright of "Taipei People" has been in Erya ever since.
(The TaipeiEr, 1971, first edition of the morning bell)
Founded in 1975, Erya was once called the "Five Small" of Taiwan's publishing industry along with Jiu Ge, Hong Fan, Dadi and Pure Literature, and in the 1970s and 1980s, the white paper and black characters retained the beautiful era of Taiwanese literature.
(In 1971, Bai Xianyong's Morning Bell Publishing House was established, and Hidden Place (left) went to congratulate)
He Hua's "Taipei People" is always not old" is divided into two series. Series 1: A study and commentary on the various aspects of Bai Xianyong's book. For example: the influence of classical Chinese poetry on Bai Xianyong, the comparison of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights with Bai Xianyong's "Evil Son" and "YuQing Sister-in-law", the use of Bai Xianyong's "point of view", accompanying Bai Xianyong to see Maugham (a frequent restaurant), Bai Xianyong and Yu Dafu, Bai Xianyong and Gu Fusheng, Bai Xianyong and Dream of the Red Chamber, Bai Xianyong and Kunqu Opera, Bai Xianyong's father Bai Chongxi and Chiang Kai-shek, and the relevant comments on film and television works adapted from Bai Xianyong's novels, and also talked about Ye Jiaying, Lady Qian", Lu Yan, "Jin Daban" Yao Wei and other figures.
In the second series, you can see He Hua, a fan of avatars and fans, talking about movies and old songs, and his reading essays are more wise and eye-catching. Ho Wah wrote about Singaporean director Chen Zheyi, director Sang Arc in the old Shanghai period, Italian director Visconti, Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu, Hirokazu Kore-eda, singer Zhou Xuan, Singaporean genius dancer Wu Zhushan, Taiwanese singer Fan Yuwen and so on. They all came alive under He Hua's pen. Especially lively and vivid wording, did not drop the book bag because of the knowledge.
There are also several essays on "Dream of the Red Chamber" in the book, which are very vivid and interesting, and are not conventional. It also involves the classical literature "Jin Ping Mei" and "Liaozhai Zhiyi" and Western writers Henry James, George Eliot, and Virginia Woolf. The Chinese modern and contemporary writers discussed are Zhang Ailing, Qian Zhongshu, Lao She, Feng Zikai, and Chen Yingzhen.
The writer and publisher implicitly wrote the preface to this book, and he praised it in the preface: "How can there be such a beautiful book in the world, book reviews, reviews and even reading essays, I have read a lot, how can someone write this kind of literature so fascinating, really better than the novel, as if chatting with a bunch of friends with similar interests at night, chatting until dawn and refusing to give up." ”
This book is available in popular bookstores and grassroots bookstores. If you are interested, you can buy it offline.