Rou Shi and Feng Hao: Lamentations of Premature Withering

"You should know the preciousness and cherishing of your own treasures. You should fly high in the boat of your resolute will to achieve the purpose of circumnavigating the earth... You should rise from the mountains of the Himalayas and look down on the vastness of the Pacific Ocean! From now on, may you understand the night and the day, the vital meaning of life and death, the tether of life and death! ”

- "The Diary of a Soft Stone"

A young lover, dying in the dark of night. No one knows if they had a moment to look at each other's faces at the moment when the gunshots rang out, in the midst of the roar of bullets and the slogans that rose and fell.

On February 7, 1931, Roushi and Feng Hao, along with 22 other comrades, were secretly executed. After their deaths, their names flew all over the world and became the young Chinese revolutionary writers who mourned in unison in the international left-wing literary circles – a prestige they could never have imagined during their lifetime.

In their young lives, the novels and poems they wrote, like weeds growing in thick brick walls, were small and lonely, and often ruthlessly removed by censors, but this was the only trace they left in the world, and the glimmer of their burning lives.

Rou Shi and Feng Hao

Written by | Li Yongbo

The idealism of the youth of the small county town

Roushi, whose original name was Zhao Pingfu, was born in 1901 in Ninghai County, Taizhou, Zhejiang Province. According to Lu Xun's statement in "The Small Biography of Roushi", Roushi had already fallen into the middle of the family when he was a teenager, "The previous generations were all reading, and by his father, the family scenery could no longer be supported, so he had to go to a small business." Therefore, Roushi could not enter elementary school until he was ten years old. After graduating from Elementary School, Roushi transferred to a high school elementary school that is relatively close to home. The name of the school is to commemorate the filial piety of the townsfolk here. There is also a square shrine next to the elementary school, next to roushi's home. Roushi often went there to play when she was a child, and often listened to the elders tell the heroic deeds of Fang Xiaoru who was just and upright, upright and outspoken, and preferred to die unyieldingly.

Lu Xun recalled in "For the Memory of Forgetting" that Roushi's "rather pedantic" Taizhou-style toughness reminded him of Fang Xiaoru. In fact, Fang Xiaoru not only became the guide of Roushi's childhood enlightenment, but also the spiritual image he adhered to and followed. After Roushi was killed, there is a photo of Fang Xiaoru's portrait in his relics, and the four words written by Roushi on the back are "long-term retention", which shows his respect and admiration for this Ming Dynasty sage.

Rou shi entered the Zhejiang First Normal School at the age of sixteen, and the principal at that time was Jing Hengyi, one of the pioneers of the Zhejiang New Culture Movement. Roushi had previously accepted the traditional culture of the private school, and suddenly a large number of fresh ideas and knowledge poured into him, which made him very happy. In the second year of Roushi's enrollment, he ushered in the "May Fourth" new cultural movement. Driven by the wave of the new literary movement, Roushi and his classmates began to learn to write new poems and essays, and they also set up a "Chenguang Literature Society" to exchange ideas and exchange works with each other, with participants including Roushi, Feng Xuefeng, Wang Jingzhi, and Zhou Furen, and they also invited Chinese language teachers Zhu Ziqing and Ye Shengtao as consultants.

When Roushi was approaching the end of middle school, the social trend of thought took a turn, the "May Fourth" new cultural movement had entered the tide, and the ranks of intellectuals had a gap; some people found that the distant water of "education to save the country" could not save the near fire, so they went to the road of revolution, while others wandered in the middle of the road and were dazed. Roushi's parents hope that he can return to his hometown to find a job and reduce the family's financial burden. But as far as Roushi himself is concerned, his ideal is to "enter the university, go abroad, and be a thoughtful scholar."

However, contrary to his wishes, Roushi's dream of entering Southeast University finally fell through, and after returning to his hometown, he began to work as a primary school teacher under the introduction of his relatives. Despite living in an insincere environment, Roushi is very serious about the work of elementary school teachers, believing that children are the "truth and beauty of the future" and the hope of resisting the dirty environment of reality. In addition to teaching, Roushi also insists on literary creation since his student days. He wrote a lot of poetry, but more of it was still a novel, and finally selected 6 more satisfactory works and compiled them into an episode, which was named "Mad Man". Unable to find a place to publish, Roushi entrusted someone to print it at his own expense, proofreading and designing the cover himself. "Mad Man" became Roushi's first collection of novels and his first step into the literary world.

Lu Xun and Rou Shi's teacher friendship

The first intersection between Roushi and Lu Xun came from an experience of studying. After the Spring Festival in 1925, Roushi left home with a thirst for knowledge and went north to study biology, philosophy, English and other courses as an auditor at Peking University.

Although Lu Xun did not leave an impression on the auditor at that time, his personality charm had a profound impact on Roushi. Later, Roushi wrote in a letter to a friend that listening to Mr. Lu Xun's lectures was really a joy in his life, better than the cold window of ten years. Among the existing Collection of Roushi, there are two copies of Lu Xun's "Historical Outline of chinese Novels", one of which is the lecture notes of Roushi when he was listening to lectures in Beijing, which has been cherished by him.

Due to poor health and financial constraints, Beijing's study tour soon came to an end. In 1926, after returning to his hometown, Roushi began to teach again, first as the director of Zhenhai Middle School, and then through the recommendation of everyone, Roushi served as the director of Ninghai County Education, and spent a lot of effort to build the school building of Ninghai Middle School.

At that time, the Northern Expedition had already begun, and Roushi vigorously supported the movement of teachers and students against the warlords. On February 7, 1927, the Northern Expeditionary Army conquered Hangzhou, overthrowing the rule of the direct warlord Sun Chuanfang, and the whole province of Zhejiang was restored. Unfortunately, after the outbreak of the "April 12" incident in Shanghai, the political situation in Ninghai County took a sharp turn for the worse, and Ninghai Middle School, which was originally regarded as a "thorn in the eye" by the old warlords, became a "thorn in the flesh" of the Kuomintang. Forced by helplessness, Roushi could only give up the ideal of education and rejuvenation, and went to Shanghai several times to seek new development.

After arriving in Shanghai, Roushi soon formally became acquainted with the Buddha-figure on the recommendation of Lu Xun's students. Lu Xun admired Rou Shi and invited him, Wang Fangren, Cui Zhenwu and several other young people to move to his original apartment, located in Jingyunli No. 23 in Zhabei, Shanghai, and often invited them to eat with the group at Jingyunli No. 18, where he lived. As a result, Rou Shi and the two elders, Lu Xun and Zhou Jianren, got along day and night, and usually questioned and asked questions, and increased a lot of knowledge.

After Lu Xun's introduction, Roushi quickly restarted his literary and artistic career in Shanghai. First, he served as the editor of "YuSi", and then established the "Chaohua Society" with several like-minded young people, in addition to creation, he devoted himself to introducing foreign literature and art, especially Nordic and Eastern European literature and printmaking. Soon after, Roushi's "Death of the Old Era", "Three Sisters" and "February" three novellas were published one after another, it can be said that this period is the golden period of Roushi's lifelong creation, with his own works to gain a firm foothold in the Shanghai literary circle.

Feng Hao of "To Learn Qiu Jin"

At the time of Roushi's murder, among the people who went with him was his girlfriend Feng Hao, who was also the only female writer among the "Five Martyrs of the Left League".

Feng Heng, whose original name was Feng Lingmei, was born on October 10, 1907 in Haiyang County, Guangdong Province, to a poor intellectual family, with three brothers and one sister, and his parents and siblings were teachers. Feng Hao has loved literature since he was a child, reading classical Chinese novels at the age of 8 and publishing works at the age of 15. The young Feng Hao paid close attention to social politics and the sufferings of the people very early on. During his studies at the high school of Youlian Middle School, a national revolution against local warlords was breaking out in the Chaoshan area, and 17-year-old Feng Hao published more than a dozen articles in one breath, such as "Commemoration of National Day" and "Destruction and Construction", criticizing and thinking about the social reality of warlords occupying Chaoshan and Guangdong competing for land, seeking personal interests, and fighting for years.

Her lifelong indictment of the unfair fate of women and the pursuit of free love constitute the most unique aspect of the life and creation of this "left-wing" female writer. In Feng Hao's later literary works, readers can often see her sister's persistent pursuit of female liberation and the shadow of her inevitable tragic fate. For example, the novel "A Poor Woman" tells the tragic life situation of a child daughter-in-law: she can never get rid of inhuman torture, and finally jumps into the river to end her life; in the novel "Under the Moon", Feng Hao depicts a young woman whose mother-in-law always abuses her with strict feudal etiquette, making her live a "slave, prisoner, puppet ... A life of the same stalemate"; and in the masterpiece "The Last Way Out", Feng Hao used the characters of the novel to shout out the voice of women for their own liberation.

After Feng Hao came to Shanghai, he soon joined the Communist Party of China and later joined the "Left League". It was also at this time that Feng Hao became acquainted with Roushi and was quickly attracted by his talent and temperament. As early as middle school, 17-year-old Roushi had arranged a marriage by the family, and his wife Wu Suying followed him to Shanghai, but the two lacked a common language and emotional foundation, and were doomed to an unhappy marriage. Feng Hao's like-minded pursuits and love-hate hot feelings touched Roushi, and the two soon fell in love.

In Lu Xun's view, this somewhat "romantic, eager to do" woman has had a huge impact on Roushi, and even changed her long-term creative style. Lu Xun expressed some doubts about this, but it was not difficult to see from it that Rou Shi and Feng Hao were in love.

Roushi believes that his love affair with Feng Hao is more based on a common revolutionary ideal. He wrote to Feng Hao's old love, Xu Meixun: "I am a young man, of course I need a girlfriend, but my main idea is this: 'If it is helpful and encouraging for my career, I accept it, otherwise, I refuse!'" ’...... If Feng Jun and you can still be united, there is still happiness, I will never see Feng Jun again, I believe in idealism, I frankly say this to my brother. Brother, of course, will not force a lover who has lost his love to be with him all his life; nor will I seize a lover who has love and satisfy a momentary carnal desire. ”

Despite the frankness of Roushi's expression in the letter, his vision of the future is unexpectedly toyed with by fate.

On the afternoon of January 17, 1931, more than 30 people, including Rou Shi, Feng Heng, Hu Yipin and Yin Fu, were arrested during a meeting at the Oriental Hotel in Shanghai. On the night and half of February 7 of the same year, the lovers were shot dead in the wasteland inside the Longhua Headquarters, and the bodies were buried on the spot without leaving a trace. At the time of his death, Roushi was 28 years old and Feng Hao was 24 years old.

Resources:

The Diary of a Soft Stone

The Life and Creation of RouShi, by Zheng Zekui and Sheng Zhongjian, Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House, October 1985

Commentary on Roushi, by Wang Aicun, Shanghai People's Publishing House, January 2002

Author | Li Yongbo

Edit | Li Yang Gong Zhaohua

Proofreading | Xue Jingning