The past of Qian Zhongshu and his neighbor and colleague Pu Liangpei and his wife fighting during the "Cultural Revolution" has been hotly speculated on the Internet from time to time over the years. Among them, the plot of Qian Zhongshu injuring Pu Liangpei with a big stick (board) and Qian Zhongshu's wife Yang Dai biting the finger of Pu Liangpei's wife Zhao Fengxiang attracted the most attention. Contradictions and disputes between neighbors were originally commonplace phenomena and were not worth remembering, just because Qian Zhongshu and his wife Yang Dai were celebrities, and Pu Liangpei (pen name Lin Fei) and his wife Zhao Fengxiang (pen name Xiao Feng) were also quite accomplished scholars later, which aroused the enduring interest of the melon-eating masses.
I noticed that many of the people who hyped up this matter were based on Yang Chen's article "From "Mixing Sand" to "Exile"" published in Southern Weekend and Xiao Feng's chronicle essay "Looking Back". But it is more of a shortcut, directly copying "The Ins and Outs of qian Zhongshu and Lin Fei's fight" published in the first issue of "Celebrities Today" in 2000. The editor-in-chief and president of this publication at the time was Fang Fang, a female writer who later became famous for her "heard" diary! For the matter of fighting, both sides have their own opinions, which is also normal. What is abnormal is that the author of that article describes the whole process of the fight in a colorful way, obviously favoring one side and taking the rhythm. As a result, most of the netizens who were taken astray applauded Qian Zhongshu and his wife who won the battle, while Pu Liangpei and his wife, who were injured, condemned and insulted.
I had heard of Mr. and Mrs. Qian, but I had never met them; but Mr. and Mrs. Lin Fei had the opportunity to know each other. This "edge" is Xiao Hong. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a wave of research on Xiao Hong at home and abroad quietly arose. I was in my sophomore year of college and was keen to collect articles and monographs on Xiao Hong's research. In the winter of 1979, I saw Zhao Fengxiang's thesis on Xiao Hong's research in the Journal of Kaifeng Normal University, and I wrote to her for advice. Because they did not know the author's mailing address, they were mailed to the editorial board of the journal and asked them to forward it. To be honest, writing a letter to a stranger, I myself felt a bit presumptuous and didn't have much hope to get a reply. In March of the following year, I received a reply from the author of the paper. In the letter, she told me, "Regarding Xiao Hong's deception in love, you can see the second chapter of my book "Xiao Hong's Biography", which was published in the inaugural issue of the monthly magazine "Essays" of Tianjin Hundred Flowers Literary and Art Publishing House. Signed is my pen name Xiao Feng. She also instructed, "If you come back to the letter, you don't have to send it to Kaifeng, you can send it to my work unit, the communication office is: Beijing Broadcasting College Journalism and Literature Teaching and Research Department..." After the letter, she also attached a line: "Considering that you are on winter vacation, you may not be in school, so this letter is only sent now." "After reading this letter, I felt like I was facing an attentive big sister and feeling like a spring breeze.
In December 1980, Zhao Fengxiang published "Xiao Hong's Biography" under the pseudonym Xiao Feng, becoming the first female scholar to publish a monograph on Xiao Hong. In the summer of 1981, the symposium to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Xiao Hong's birth was held in Harbin. More than 80 famous veteran writers Sai Ke, Xiao Jun, Shu Qun, Luo Binji, and Xiao Hong researchers from Beijing, Shanghai, Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang attended the commemorative activities, and Xiao Feng was also invited to attend the meeting. Daping, the younger son of Chen Sui, one of the initiators and moderators of the conference and a professor at Heilongjiang University, and I had previously known and become friends, taking many photos of the people attending the meeting. After the meeting, he sent me the negatives. After I entrusted someone to wash and print, I immediately sent Xiao Feng a set, which included several photos of female characters, and I thought that there must be her in it. I took this opportunity to summon up the courage to ask her for her book Xiao Hong's biography. In the mood of waiting, I finally received her reply. She said in the letter, "If you want my "Xiao Hong Biography", you can send you a copy, I am entrusting someone to buy it, and after buying it, I will send it to you." The publisher gave the author twenty sample books, and I bought some of them myself, but relatives, friends, teachers, classmates, etc. all came to ask for it, and they snatched it up, which was really not enough. When I was in Harbin, if it weren't for the representatives of the publishing house who also attended and brought the books with me, I really didn't know how to deal with it. After I buy another batch, I will definitely send it to you, because you care about Xiao Hong. "In October, I finally received the long-awaited "Xiao Hong Biography", which was also the first time in my life that I received an author's signature book. While being grateful, I also had admiration for Xiao Feng. To a poor college student who is studying is indeed worthy of respect!
Soon after, I also completed a paper on Xiao Hong's research. Since the various universities at that time resumed the evaluation of professional titles, the necessary condition for promotion was to publish papers. As a result, all academic journals have received a large number of manuscripts, and the phenomenon of publication is difficult. I copied a copy of the paper and sent it to Xiao Feng and asked her to help find a journal to publish. She tried a lot, but unfortunately she did not succeed, and finally my school journal made my paper available.
In the early 1980s, the Second Simplified Chinese Characters Program (Revised Draft) was published, and Xiao was shortened to Xiao, and I assumed that Teacher Zhao's pen name was related to this. On October 4, 1981, she explained in a letter to me: "My pen name 'Xiao Feng' is simplified from my real name, and the cancellation of a 'go' word and another 'Xiang' word is taken from Li Shangyin's poem 'Tonghua Wanli Danshan Road, Young Feng Qing Yu Lao FengSheng'. ”
On the eve of "May Day" in 1982, the school organized fresh graduates to visit Beijing, in order to save money, everyone lived in a bath on East Fourth Avenue at night, and in the morning, they had to vacate beds for guests who came to bathe. During those days, while my classmates were visiting the scenic spots of Beijing, I visited the old northeastern writers Xiao Jun, Duanmu Hongliang, Luo Feng, Luo Binji, and so on, who lived in the capital. One evening, I made a special trip to Xiao Feng's home in the dormitory of the Academy of Social Sciences near Wangfujing. When I first met, Xiao Feng gave me the impression of being kind-eyed, amiable, soft-spoken, and somewhat obese. I remember that in the living room of her house, there were two writing desks opposite each other, and she and her husband Lin Fei sat opposite each other, looking like colleagues in the office. I had already bought Lin Fei's monograph "Notes on Sixty Essays of Modern Times" published in 1980, and I regretted that I did not bring him a signature. The couple warmly greeted me for a seat, brought me brewed tea, and chatted with me. I heard that I lived in the bath, so I was allowed to live at home. Seeing that the two desks were piled high with manuscripts, I didn't want to disturb their research work, and after half an hour I got up and resigned. For many years, the image of the couple respecting each other and raising eyebrows has remained in my mind.
The day before I left Beijing, I checked Hong Kong newspapers and periodicals in the Peking University library, found some works by Duanmu and Xiao Hong, and was pleasantly surprised to find photos of Xiao Hong's speech at the Hong Kong Literary and Art Circles Commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of Lu Xun's Birth on June 3, 1940! After returning to school, I immediately wrote to Xiao Feng and asked her to go to the library to remake. As a result, the photograph was made public.
After graduation, I went to work at a newspaper, and for decades I was busy, with almost no time to engage in literary research, and I had little contact with Mr. Zhao, but I kept a close eye on the dynamics of their couple. Lin Feihou served as president of the China Lu Xun Society, president of the China Essay Literature Association, and honorary president of the China Essayists Association; Xiao Feng joined the China Writers Association in 1982, and later served as a professor at the Communication University of China, a visiting professor at the Department of Chinese of Korea University, and the vice chairman of the Fifth CPPCC Committee in Chaoyang District, Beijing, and was awarded the title of "Top Ten Old TV Artists in Beijing" in 2000.
Xiao Feng and Lin Fei in their later years (right)
Xiao Feng's major works also include biographical literature: "Bingxin Biography", "Lu Yin Biography", "Heavenly Love and Old Age"; essay collections "Journey to Korea", "Selected Essays of Xiao Feng", etc.; novella "Orphans of Parents"; Novella Documentary Literature "Looking Back"; Long Documentary Literature "Happy Tutoring - A Complete Record of a Professor's Mother's Tutoring"; theoretical works "Literature and Love". The three-volume Collected Works of Xiao Feng was published by the Communication University of China Press in 2011.
In the 10th issue of Sichuan Literature in 2017, Shu Jinyu's article was published entitled "Xiao Feng, the First Person to Write a Biography of a Modern Female Writer in New China". The text said: "People who know Xiao Feng are rarely infected by her boldness, sincerity, enthusiasm and selfless fraternity..."
Xiao Feng was born in 1937 and is now 84 years old, entering his old age. I wish her and Teacher Lin Fei in Beijing good health and a long life!