On December 2, 1966, Bai Chongxi died of a sudden heart attack in Taipei, and a generation of Gui's soul figures drove away, and there was no "little Zhuge Ge" in the world.
Regarding Bai Chongxi's sudden death, there are many rumors in the anecdote, some people say that Bai Chongxi died suddenly after the affair, and some people say that Chiang Kai-shek secretly poisoned him, resulting in this political enemy that he hated. No matter what outsiders say, the era that belonged to Bai Chongxi ended as early as 1949, and the remaining days were only lingering.
However, Bai Chongxi's sudden death was bad news for the Bai family, and many people had a hard time accepting this fact for a while.
Bai Xianyong
Bai Chongxi's son Bai Xianyong, after learning the news of his father's death, his first feeling was not sadness, but the end of an era.
"At that time, I was still in California, usa, and when I received a call from my brother to report his funeral, I was first shocked, and then a solemn touch," Bai Xianyong later recalled the nightmare.
"My father's life was full of praise and criticism, but he also contributed to the country and the nation, and he just left, and that historical memory ended at once."
Bai Chongxi is a famous general of the Gui clan, his life is full of legends, and his private virtues are praised. In the Republic of China, where the wind of concubines was prevalent, Bai Chongxi, as a top figure in the military circles, only took one wife from Ma Peizhang in his lifetime, and the two were always in love, and also gave birth to seven men and three women.
Among Bai Chongxi's children, one of the children is more introverted, not particularly valued by Bai Chongxi, but he eventually became a person who shines on the lintel of the White family, and also became the most famous child of Bai Chongxi, although he settled in the United States, but he still has the motherland in mind, and when he was eighty years old, he also made a wish: "I hope to see the revitalization of the Chinese nation."
<h1 class = "pgc-h-center-line" > unloved child</h1>
This child of Bai Chongxi was None other than Bai Xianyong, who was born four days after the July 7 Incident in 1937. Although his father was a first-class general of the Kuomintang and one of the most famous military leaders of his time, Bai Xianyong did not follow the path of martial arts like his father, but became a literati, a Chinese-American writer and a famous professor.
Bai Xianyong was very weak and physically poor, and he also suffered from tuberculosis at the age of six or seven, which was called "tuberculosis" in that era, which was almost a terminal disease at that time, not only contagious, but also difficult to treat.
After Bai Chongxi saw the lung light film of Bai Xianyong taken with the most advanced X-ray machine at that time, he immediately changed his face and ordered his family to let the "old eight" recuperate at home, and it was a house on the hillside.
Bai Xianyong ranked eighth in the family, there were many brothers and sisters, neither the eldest son nor the old man, it was easy to understand that he was not favored in such a big family, after all, Bai Chongxi's military affairs were complicated, and he could not take care of the thoughts and feelings of a child. What's more, Bai Xianyong also had the diseases that made people talk about tiger discoloration in that era, which made Bai Chongxi feel even more unhappy.
It can be said that Bai Xianyong's childhood was relatively lonely, although he was born in a rich family, but his father's southern conquest of the northern war, but also rarely able to take care of his feelings, Bai Xianyong is also difficult to enjoy the father-son affection. At that time, Bai Xianyong couldn't even go to school because he was sick, so he stayed alone in the house on the mountain.
One night, Bai Xianyong opened the curtains in the house on the hillside and looked down, which was the direction of the home. At that time, the White House was setting up a banquet, the lights were bright, the people were boiling, the high-ranking friends and distinguished guests were full, and his brothers and sisters were also running around in the crowd, so unhappy.
As Zhu Ziqing said: "The bustle is theirs, I have nothing", for Bai Xianyong, the bustle of the home seems to have nothing to do with him, he is just a lonely spectator. At that moment, Bai Xianyong witnessed the lively crowd and cheerful scenes, and felt like an abandoned child, with no care, no warmth, and no friends.
Growing up in such an environment, Bai Xianyong's childhood was flawed, and such an early life experience also made him develop a sensitive, thoughtful, introverted, compassionate and imaginative temperament, which also constituted Bai Xianyong's lonely and feminine personality, and he eventually poured these qualities into his inner words, penetrated into his works, and formed his unique style.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-center-line" > second, study hard in the turbulent displacement</h1>
During the war years, no one could be left alone, even if he was The son of Bai Chongxi.
After recovering from his illness, Bai Xianyong studied very hard and studied hard day and night, and he wanted to cherish the precious time he had lost. For learning, Bai Xianyong is not willing to give up day and night, whether it is Chinese, English or mathematics or science, Bai Xianyong has learned very well, and some key knowledge is still memorized.
Professor Bai gave a lecture on dream of the Red Chamber at CUHK
Bai Xianyong, who loves to read, is also very smart, he began to read "Dream of the Red Chamber" carefully when he was in the fifth grade of primary school, and said that he did not read the Red Chamber, but Bai Xianyong carefully tasted the literary masterpieces, felt the literary knowledge and writing techniques in them, and cultivated his own literary literacy.
Later, a reporter asked Bai Xianyong what was the biggest feature of his reading period, and he also replied with four words very calmly: "Never forget."
The fact that reading books can reach a state of never being forgotten is enough to show that this person's understanding and spirituality in learning is a seedling of reading.
Due to the outbreak of war, Bai Xianyong continued to migrate with his family, and after the fall of Changsha, Guilin and other large and medium-sized cities, Bai Xianyong also moved to Chongqing with a large family.
"Those days were constant wars, revolutions, resistance and battles..." Recalling that year, Bai Xianyong told reporters.
Of course, although Bai Chongxi was a soldier, he also attached great importance to the education of his children, and even in wartime, Bai Chongxi would do his best to send his children to the best schools for education.
"My father attached great importance to our studies, and whenever he went to a place, he would find a way to send us to the best local studies to study," Bai Xianyong recalled.
Bai Xianyong's childhood was spent in Guilin, when Guilin had not yet been affected by the war. However, as the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression drew to a close, Guilin fell after the fall of Changsha, and Bai Xianyong could only flee with his family.
Yes, even Bai Chongxi's family, in the face of a strong enemy invasion, can only flee, which is the sadness of the broken mountains and rivers and the fall of the homeland.
Bai Xianyong with his father
On March 16, 1944, Bai Chongxi's mother celebrated her ninetieth birthday at home in Guilin, the Bai family wished the old lady a happy birthday, Chiang Kai-shek also sent He Yingqin, who was also an important member of the state government, to Guilin to celebrate the birthday, and Li Jishen, Stilwell and other celebrities and politicians at that time also went to Guilin Baifu to wish the old man a happy birthday.
For a time, the white house was full of distinguished guests and celebrities gathered, and it seemed to be a look of singing and dancing. However, war has never been far away, and danger is often accompanied by danger.
On that day, Bai Xianyong rarely felt the warmth of the big family, and looking at the joyful scene, Bai Xianyong couldn't help but sigh. However, happy times are always short-lived, and in war, anything can happen.
On November 11 of that year, Guilin fell, and the Bai family fled to Chongqing.
"Our family of more than eighty people fled together, and although I was young at that time, I also knew that I was fleeing," Bai Xianyong recalled with a sigh.
At that time, Bai Chongxi's military order was there, there was no time to take care of his family and fled to Chongqing, it was Bai Xianyong's mother, Ms. Ma Peizhang, who led her family to run in the chaotic world, Bai Xianyong also remembered that he was also riding on the train, walking and stopping, and he was also very panicked along the way.
"We are on the train, several layers of people, the train can not move, stop and go, everyone is desperate to survive" Even the family of the General of the Kuomintang, Bai Xianyong still has to be displaced in the war. Fortunately, after all, he is Bai Chongxi's son, although it is bumpy, but after going to the rear of Chongqing, he can still have a big mansion to settle down.
When he was in Chongqing, Bai Xianyong went to the West Hot Spring Primary School next to the Tangxia Pass to study, at that time Chongqing was full of soldiers and wounded, and the mountain city was full of clouds and fog, these were Bai Xianyong's mood was not good, and it was difficult for him to like this city where he temporarily rested.
"For me, Chongqing is not a friendly city," Bai Xianyong wrote in the article years later.
After that, Bai Xianyong did not settle down, and his fate also changed with the changes of the times. After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, he first moved to Nanjing, and then soon moved to Shanghai to live. At the end of 1948, at the end of the Liberation War, Bai Xianyong followed his mother from Shanghai to Hankou for a few months.
In the chaos, Bai Xianyong's classes almost stopped, but his parents still hired a tutor to teach Chinese and English. "The course is important", this is the insistence of Bai Chongxi and his wife.
This is also a kind of luck for Bai Xianyong, no matter what the situation is, his parents always care about his studies, and attaching importance to education seems to have become a way to maintain dignity in the midst of war. But for Bai Xianyong, it was better to be able to enjoy education.
< h1 class = "pgc-h-center-line" > three, leaving the mainland and settling in the United States</h1>
With the dust settled on the three major battles, the defeat of the Kuomintang was already doomed, and the Kuomintang top brass, including Bai Chongxi, no longer had hope for the war.
"I could feel the anxiety of the adults at that time, and they often talked about whether they were leaving, they were leaving," Bai Xianyong recalled.
To leave, that is, to leave the mainland completely, Bai Xianyong had to follow the adults away again, fortunately, he was already accustomed to these things, and he was also very skilled in picking up his own manners.
In September 1949, Bai Xianyong and his family boarded a steamer bound for Hong Kong under the leadership of their mother, and Hong Kong was not a place to live for a long time. In December, Bai Chongxi flew from Haikou to Taipei, and when he left the mainland, Bai Chongxi also specially ordered the pilots to fly around the air twice, forming the word "Hui".
However, Bai Chongxi has never been able to return to the mainland since then, and eventually died inexplicably. Bai Xianyong and his family also went to Taipei shortly afterwards to reunite with their father and make their home on Songjiang Road in Taipei.
In Taipei, Bai Xianyong still studied hard, and was admitted to the best Jianguo Middle School in Taipei, and finally won the first place in the Department of Hydraulic Engineering of Cheng kung university.
Bai Xianyong's ambition was not small, he once wanted to build the Three Gorges Project, but after reading the university, he found that his interest was literature, and his ambition was also in the liberal arts. To this end, he wanted to change majors and go to his father Bai Chongxi for advice.
Bai Chongxi said: "Literature is inferior, boys should still be a science and engineering subject, law and business second", like all parents, Bai Chongxi also respects science, and does not recommend that his son change majors, especially in the case that Bai Xianyong was the first place in the water conservancy department at that time.
However, Bai Xianyong's mother supported her son's decision: "If you do something, don't interfere." With the encouragement of his mother, Bai Xianyong successfully went to the Department of Foreign Languages of National Taiwan University the following year to study English literature.
It was then that Bai Xianyong began to show his talent in literature. In 1958, at the age of twenty-one, Bai Xianyong published his first novel "Golden Grandmother", and since then, Bai Xianyong has moved all the way on the road of literature, creating many classic works and harvesting a successful life.
In the 1960s, Bai Xianyong, Ouyang Zi, Chen Ruoxi and others also founded the magazine "Modern Literature", and with his own magazine platform, Bai Xianyong's creative enthusiasm was even higher, and he successively published works such as "Yuqing Sister-in-law", "Lonely Seventeen-Year-Old", "Youth" and "Garden Dreams" in "Modern Literature".
During that period, Bai Xianyong's creative enthusiasm was very high and very positive, and he devoted himself to the world of literature, successively writing novels such as "Taipeier", "The New Yorker", and "Evil Son".
However, in those years, something also happened that had a great influence on Bai Xianyong, and his mother died in 1962.
The death of his mother hit Bai Xianyong very hard, and for his mother, Bai Xianyong was very respectful and very dependent, and the sudden death of his mother also emptied him. He used the phrase "the world collapsed, the building was destroyed" to describe his mother's death.
"At the time of the funeral, watching my mother fall into the ground, I felt that what was buried inside was not my mother, but a part of my own life," Bai Xianyong later recalled with a very heavy heart.
After this, Bai Xianyong's literary creation also underwent a great change, after experiencing the life and death of his relatives, he realized that the destiny of heaven cannot be violated, youth cannot be maintained forever, and only art can last.
In 1964, Bai Xianyong published The Death of Chicago, which is also recognized as his transformational work.
Shortly after his mother's death, Bai Xianyong finally decided to leave Taipei and fly to the United States. Before going to the United States, Bai Chongxi also personally sent off his son, unfortunately, this also became the last time the father and son met.
In 1963, Bai Xianyong flew to the United States to study and create at the Writers' Studio at the University of Iowa, and finally settled in California.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-center-line" >4, return to hometown in the twilight years, may China be revitalized</h1>
Although Bai Xianyong is in a foreign country, he still thinks about the motherland, especially his hometown in Guilin, which makes him worry about his stomach.
His childhood was also spent there, and for Guilin, Bai Xianyong had a very heavy local complex. Many years later, Bai Xianyong once again stepped on this hot land and felt a lot of emotions.
In the late 1990s, Bai Xianyong flew from the United States to the mainland via Taipei, and the plane landed at Guilin's Qifengling Airport.
"Hard work for you", Bai Xianyong greeted the person who docked the machine in a pure Guilin dialect, he has not returned for many years, he is still the township tone has not changed.
People were also amazed at the purity of his hometown voice and lamented that he still retained a pure rural voice for many years outside.
"The rural tone has not changed, it is rare, it is rare," people talked about.
Bai Xianyong was also very excited, and he ignored the fatigue of the journey and happily talked with these ordinary villagers around him in Guilin dialect. Guilin's landscape is the world, and rice noodles are also a must. Bai Xianyong's family, as authentic Guilin people, also like to eat rice noodles.
Bai Xianyong once told reporters: "Every time my father came home from a war before, he would clamor for the aunt next door to come and boil brine to make rice noodles to eat", even if he later moved to Chongqing, Nanjing or Shanghai, he also specially invited people to make rice noodles at home. Although you can eat rice noodles in Taipei, you no longer have the taste of Guilin.
For rice noodles, Bai Xianyong is also very obsessed, after he entered the restaurant, he first asked the waiter: "Hello, is there any Guilin hot rice noodles?" After getting a positive reply, Bai Xianyong couldn't wait to say two bowls, he hadn't eaten rice noodles from his hometown for many years.
When he left Guilin, Bai Xianyong deliberately went to the crescent tower to eat, asked the boss for two bowls of hot rice noodles, and ordered a small plate of fried rice pepper and a small plate of garlic rice, which was very painful.
"I haven't eaten so much in fifty years, I have to eat enough today," Bai Xianyong laughed.
Bai Xianyong is also very much in awe of traditional Chinese culture, he has watched Mei Lanfang's "Dream of Visiting the Garden" since he was a child, and he is determined to save the traditional culture of Kunqu opera and has made many efforts to this end.
"China's traditional culture is my hometown," Bai Xianyong told people, he said this, he also did this, decades of research, he also hopes to see the rejuvenation of the nation.