The Paper
【Editor's Note】
On January 10, 2021, the famous publisher Mr. Shen Changwen passed away. On January 18th, a memorial service for Mr. Shen Changwen, sponsored by The Paper, Shanghai Book Review, Century Publishing Group Shanghai Bookstore Publishing House and Caolu Culture Company, was held at the Duoyun Academy Drama Shop in Shanghai. The memorial service was presided over by Lu Hao, Professor Ge Zhaoguang of the Institute of Literature and History of Fudan University, Professor Dai Yan of the Department of Chinese of Fudan University, Professor Wang Yonghao of the Department of Chinese of Fudan University, Professor Jiang Xiaoyuan of the School of Humanities of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Professor Chen Zishan Emeritus of the Department of Chinese of East China Normal University, Zhou Limin, Deputy Director of Shanghai Bajin Former Residence, Sun Ganlu, famous writer and vice chairman of the Shanghai Writers Association, Wang Weisong, editor-in-chief of Shanghai Century Publishing Group and president of Shanghai People's Publishing House, Wang Qiang, founder of Zhen Fund and chairman of Caolu Culture, Chen Xin, former chairman of Shanghai Century Publishing Group, and other scholars, writers, publishers, and media people, as well as Mr. Shen Changwen's niece and granddaughter Shen Kai, attended the meeting. The following is a compilation of the speeches of some of the guests.
The memorial service is on-site
Lu Hao: We are here today to remember a commonly respected elder who has just passed away, and a familiar friend, Mr. Shen Changwen.
In the summer of the previous year (2019), Shen Gong came to Shanghai for the last time and participated in the new book release activity of "Eight Eight Shen Gong" at the Shanghai Book Fair. In an interview with reporters that day, he said: "Don't forget my original heart, Shanghai is my original heart." "We know that Shen Gong went from Shanghai to work at the Beijing People's Publishing House in March 1951, and he lived in Shanghai for nearly 20 years. His early years were hard and colorful, and we usually listened to him and read his books to know a lot. In June 1949, just after the liberation of Shanghai, Shen Gong was admitted to the interview department of the Minzhi Journalism College, and later he said in his reminiscence article that it was precisely because he entered the interview department of the Minzhi College, "and from then on, he also bounded with the liberal arts, with culture, and with the news and publishing business." At that time, the Minzhi Journalism College was on Changle Road, where our bookstore is located today, so our commemoration of Shen Gong in this bookstore today is not only his original intention, but also the initial point of his brilliant publishing career, so it is particularly meaningful.
First of all, I will briefly report on Shen Gong's final situation. Because after Shen Gong's death, media reports said that he died peacefully in sleep, which is true, but it is not a disease. We remember that when Shen Gong came to Shanghai last summer, most of his friends here met with Shen Gong, and although his ears were not good at that time, his body was still very strong and his thinking was very clear. That autumn I went to Beijing again to participate in the publicity activities of "Eight Eight Shen Gong", and at the Front Door Page One Bookstore, I saw him take out the speech and write a lot, but he did not read the speech from beginning to end, he kept it in his hand, did not read it, and spoke very funny and decently. That night, some of our friends wished him and Dr. Bai on their birthdays at the huishang hometown in Beijing, a restaurant that Shen Gong preferred to go to, which had stinky mandarin fish in it. There was laughter that night, but I didn't think that this was the last time I would meet Shen Gong.
The epidemic last year will definitely have a great impact on Shen Gong, who likes to socialize and like to be lively. Yu Xiaoqun, who often invited Shen Gong out to dinner, could not find Shen Gong. After a while, I contacted his daughter Shen Yi to find out about Shen Gong's situation. She said he was okay, and every day at home he was on the Internet to get a computer, and he had broken three computers. Last year's book fair, he didn't come. Zheng Yonglai, deputy editor-in-chief of Sanlian Bookstore, told me that September 26 is Shen Gong's birthday, and Sanlian Bookstore wants to make him a birthday celebration and let me go when the time comes. But then it was not held in September, until October 16, Sanlian Bookstore held a birthday banquet for him, the scope is very small, that is, the leaders of Sanlian Bookstore plus Zhao Heng, Yang Zhishui and several other acquaintances participated. They sent me a picture, at that time the photo of old Shen was very thin, I said how to be thin like this, they said not only thin, feet are still swollen, there is ascites, may be sick. Listening to Zheng Yong say that when they went to pick him up, it was a commercial car, and his feet could not be lifted, and when he was sent back later, he could get on the car in a lower car.
A day or two after the meal that day, they took him to the hospital and found out that he was terminal liver cancer. Shen Yi said that he was hospitalized for three days and quarreled for three days to come out, and then he was quickly discharged from the hospital, and when he came out, he was very angry when he saw his photos, and Yu Xiaoqun they also invited him out to eat. Shen Yi told me that the diagnosis is advanced liver cancer, but it is not the end, life is completely self-care, they take him out to eat a meal every week, it is OK, they also go online every day, and do some briefing scans and other things at night...
After New Year's Day, it's a little weaker. Until January 9th, that day was Saturday, Shen Yi said that he was a little confused, like a slightly drunk state, Shen Yi used a massager to knock him on the back, he shook his head as if he was very comfortable. That night Shen Yi stayed at Shen Gong's place, in the middle of the night to see that he was in a fairly good condition, breathing steadily, but by 6 o'clock in the morning to see, there was no sign of life, the body temperature was still there, so she quickly called 120. 120 came and said he had passed away, probably at 6 o'clock. Shen Gong, who we are all familiar with, likes to be lively, likes nonsense, and is funny and humorous has left us forever.
Left. Shen Gong's family did not prepare any ceremony, but after discussion in The Sanlian Bookstore, Shen Gong's influence in the publishing industry was so great, and so many people also wanted to send Shen Gong, so they still felt that a farewell ceremony should be held in Babaoshan. Because of the epidemic, their obituary said that there were 50 people restricted, but the farewell ceremony on the morning of the 14th was said to have gone to more than 200 people.
After Shen Gong's death, the paper media and the Internet commemorated Shen Gong's report very solemnly, and the surging news not only made a series of reports, but also broadcast the farewell ceremony live. Respecting the requirements of the family, the live broadcast did not enter the farewell hall, and interviewed some of Shen Gong's friends who participated in the farewell ceremony in the courtyard. Shen Gong liked to be lively all his life, and finally walked so beautifully, he himself should be quite happy.
After Shen Gong's death, Zheng Yong commissioned me and Yang Zhishui and Wang Weisong to draw up a pair of bangs, which is the one behind the resume of Shen Gong that everyone sees in the triptych: "There is no forbidden area for reading, tolerance has affection and love, and the old dream of booksellers is finally fulfilled; knowing that there is a teacher, going back to no rain and no sunshine, it is the language of the attic people." "Strung together with the titles of books published by Shen Gong and his own writings, Shanglian writes about his achievements in publishing career, which is the achievement of a bookseller, and xialian is what he later wrote as an author and left us with so many books. The last sentence of the Shanglian was originally "the old dream of the difficult yuan bookseller", and later showed it to Wu Bin, who said that it was changed to "the old dream of the final round bookseller", which was more positive. We felt very good. Old Shen's life was vigorous, he created so much glory, and he had a high lifespan, and there was almost no pain in leaving in a dashing manner, and it should be the completion of merit.
Shen Gong left the greatest influence on our readers was the "Reading" magazine he edited, two days ago someone asked me, the influence of "Reading" on me, now looking back, I know that the older generation of authors, young scholars, almost eighty percent of them know through reading their articles in "Reading", including Jin Kemu, Zhang Zhongxing, Huang Bao, Gu Lin, Lü Shuxiang, Chen Yuan, etc.; the slightly younger generation of scholars, almost the earliest understanding from "Reading", including Mr. Ge Zhaoguang, who is here today. I also read his article in "Reading" to know him, after the 1990s to Beijing, to meet Mr. Ge, almost all at the dinner or discussion organized by Lao Shen. As a backbone author of "Reading", and Shen Gong has been in contact with Shen Gong for so many years, let's ask Mr. Ge to say two words first.
Ge Zhaoguang: Today, when we talk about Old Shen — we usually call him Old Shen — it's actually a bit nostalgic. Because I probably met Lao Shen in 1986, I became the author of "Reading" from 1986. Probably estimated, there may be more than 40 articles written in "Reading", not too few. But I am a person without a story, and Lao Shen belongs to people with stories, so I can only tell a story about the era when Lao Shen was the editor-in-chief of "Reading", which is actually the 1980s we are talking about now - the 1980s I am talking about has actually been until 1995. I've been thinking that today we are going to talk about Old Shen and miss old Shen, in fact, in a sense, nostalgia for an era.
I remember that Li Zehou once said a passage, and many people quoted that the difference between the 1980s and the 1990s was the different era of thinkers and scholars, and the 1990s became the era when scholars went to heaven and thinkers landed. I have always disagreed with this statement. Before 1995, Lao Shen was still presiding over the work of "Reading", and at that time, he published a lot of articles about Chen Yinke, Wang Guowei, Hu Shi, etc., in fact, he was still talking about thought through scholarship, and it was not that scholars went to heaven and thinkers landed. I remember that at that time, I didn't have much discussion with Lao Shen in this regard, because I was more familiar with Wu Bin, and Wu Bin's husband used to be a colleague of mine, one of the two editors who edited "Chinese Culture", so many of my manuscripts were basically obtained through Wu Bin to "Reading".
Although every time I saw Old Shen, I joked with him a little, but I didn't know Old Shen so well. My personality seems to be a little bit unlikely to spark with Old Shen, because Old Shen is a person who laughs and scolds, and I am a person who may be too academic. But I do have a lot of intersection and contact with "Reading", so I think Lao Shen originally created a very interesting phenomenon in the Chinese editorial circles, a person who did not have his own profession, did not have his own specific position, did not have a particular stubborn angle, perhaps in that era as the editor-in-chief of a magazine was just able to open a magazine with a hundred flowers and free contention. I think Lao Shen's biggest role is that he has no prejudice of his own, which is his greatest benefit.
Lu Hao: Mr. Ge said that there was no story with Old Shen, I remember that in the early 1990s they were discussing a prize at the Overseas Chinese Hotel, and it happened that I was in Beijing, and Old Shen asked me to go together, and there was Ge Zhaoguang, and it seemed that there was Zhao Yifan and so on. Discussing who to invite as the chairman of the jury, Lao Shen suddenly thought, saying that we can not ask Mr. Jin to come out this time. I remember very clearly, Mr. Ge shook his head and said, "I can't stop it." In the end, he decided to invite Mr. Ji Xianlin. This award activity did not seem to be completed later, but I was deeply impressed by Mr. Ge's "can't hold back".
Chen Xin: Shen Gong's achievements have been talked about from different angles in the past two days, and I myself wrote the article "Shen Gong the Wise Man" when Shen Gong was born two years ago, talking about the past contact with Shen Gong. Today, when I am here to remember Shen Gong, I would like to talk about the most admirable point of Shen Gong, that is, in the complicated environment, he broke through many obstacles, found ways to publish good books, run magazines well, and contributed to social progress.
The 1980s was an era of "ideological emancipation" and "vicissitudes", with new ideas, new trends, new schools, and new disciplines, just like a thousand waves, rolling in. However, how easy it is to introduce these new ideas and trends to readers, I was deeply touched when I planned to edit and publish the yellow book "Contemporary Academic Thought" in the early and mid-1980s. Shen Gong was different in that he mainly adopted a "backward look" strategy, skipping certain contemporary sensitive areas and translating and publishing important works of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. According to his own account, this was inspired by Mr. Li Shenzhi. Thus there was the publication of popular works such as "Tolerance", "The Right of Heresy", and "Love Theory", which influenced an entire generation and made up for some of the most basic things of human beings. In fact, it is difficult to truly understand contemporary academic thought without understanding Western thought at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century.
In the ten years of the 1980s and 1990s, the reason why "Reading" magazine can beat with the pulse of the times, echo the theme of reform and opening up of the times, unite the old, middle and young, tolerate the left, center and right, and launch so many thoughtful and creative articles, is also related to the editor-in-chief Shen Gong respecting the freedom of expression, the editor-in-chief Shen Gong respects the freedom of expression, the editor-in-chief of the article before the article Chinese the editor-in-chief, he always eliminates such sensitive topics between the smoke and smoke, so that readers can get enlightenment. He also often tells us stories about how to do reviews and write inspections, so that more good books and articles can meet readers. He had the ability to turn a controversial magazine into a publication full of rich humanistic atmosphere that the intellectuals liked and the leaders felt necessary, so that even Comrade Qiaomu came out at the most difficult time of "Reading" to solve its dilemma by submitting articles.
Shen Gong's ability is not simply through study, he is more of a political experience, life experience. However, Shen Gong has another skill that can be learned, that is, to make friends in the academic circles and borrow external brains. In the early 1980s, the humanistic style of the New Sanlian was inherited by Shen Gong from Mr. Chen Yuan's generation, and xia Yan, Lü Shuxiang, Qian Zhongshu, Jin Kemu, Li Shu, Li Shenzhi and so many other cultural celebrities supported "Reading" and Sanlian, and the humanistic atmosphere flowing under their pens made the Sanlian. After the mid-1980s, a large number of young scholars from Ganyang, Liang Zhiping, Zhou Guoping, Su Guoxun, Wang Hui, and Huang Ping gathered under the banner of the Triad to raise the level of modern academic thinking of "Reading" and the publications of the Triptych. Shen Gong is an important fulcrum in it, and his organizational skills, inclusive attitude and shameless questioning, as well as various ways of serving the author, have enabled Sanlian to obtain inexhaustible cultural resources. I have never seen such an unscrupulous publisher, and every time I went to Beijing in the 1980s and 1990s to see Shen Gong, he always had to put down his body and learn all aspects of the economics from me, a hairy young man editor, let alone his posture in the face of famous celebrities. With such an open-minded and teach-seeking attitude, is there anything that cannot be done?
Shen Gong, as a unique publisher, will always remain in our memory.
On Love, 1984
Tolerance, 1985
The Right of Heresy, 1986
Chen Zishan: Just now everyone talked about Shen Gong's outstanding contribution to "Reading", I thought that in the 1990s, Yu Xiaoqun and Shen Gong successfully cooperated for the first time in the "New Century Universal Library" and there were many readers, this book was printed very popular, the price was very cheap, many people from this book to further understand China's traditional culture, Western culture, this is also worth mentioning in particular. I also participated in part of the work, and I also participated in part of the work in the next Dolphin Bookstore, Lao Shen is a soul figure, and the specific implementation is Yu Xiaoqun and Lu Hao. Old Shen's vision was very far-sighted, and after his retirement, his world was broader. It should also be mentioned that he contacted many publishers and authors in China's Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the United States, Jin Yong was introduced by him, and So was Cai Zhizhong, all of whom were very remarkable.
When I saw a couplet proposed by Hu Hongxia on the Internet, I said that I would not propose a couplet, and I would say eight words: not only know, truly tolerant. He is truly tolerant. He came into contact with a variety of people, some of whom could not publish articles, but Lao Shen still appreciated and truly tolerated.
Wang Weisong: I really had contact with Shen Gong very late, but I have long been famous in the publishing industry. Shen Gong really has a relationship with our Shanghai People's Society, he himself has spoken many times, in March 1951, the Shanghai People's Publishing House recruited, he came to apply for admission. But he did not last long at the Shanghai People's Publishing House, so he was transferred to Beijing. Later, I read his resume that the People's Publishing House entrusted Shanghai to recruit on his behalf, so if he counted, he said that he should also be an employee of the Shanghai People's Publishing House. In 2007, in the shanghai bookstore's maritime library, we published two of his books, "The Old Dream of the Bookseller" and "The Last Supper", and in 2011, we put together two copies to produce a book called "Let Time Rush Away" as a gift for his eightieth birthday.
Although I met Shen Gong very late, we were not strangers to me, or rather, he was a strange acquaintance of mine. Because of his legends and rumors, I have heard about him. Moreover, the books he presided over published, when I was in college, I saw one copy and bought one, and it is still prominently displayed on my bookshelf. Since I entered the industry, I have always taken it as my goal to be able to make several books like this, hoping that like Shen Gong and other predecessors, I can make some books that can be handed down and influence generations of people. But I soon found that the older generation's style of doing things cannot be learned by our generation. The last time Mr. Fan Yong's exhibition was held in Shanghai, I had the privilege of listening to Dong Xiuyu and Wang Jiaming tell a lot of stories, but I was still a little surprised. In order to publish the book, the editor of that year even used various social relations to help solve the author's historical problems before it was possible to publish a book for him. I thought, at that time, the publishing house was really wide-ranging.
Publishing, because of its essential nature, determines that it connects all aspects of society. I remember when I first arrived at the People's Society, I also heard Mr. Chen tell us that the editors of the People's Society often play an important role in the economic association, the historical society, the aesthetics society and other community organizations, such as the president or vice president. At that time, the social status of publishing was relatively high. Later, I remember when I was in the Shanghai Bookstore, I also had a symposium with Lu Hao on "The Ideal of Academic Publishing and Academic Publishing", when Mr. Jiang Xiaoyuan expressed his concern because he paid too much attention to the "project book" in publishing, and I think that this is also the concern of the publisher, when a profession may become a market slave, its industry status will only go down.
A cultural power must be a publishing power. Today, if we want to reflect, then from Shen Gong and other predecessor publishers, we should see what kind of attitude they have to publish. In the past, it was said that the best memorial to a writer is to read his books, and I think the best memory for Shen Gong is how to carry forward a good publishing concept and the positive role of publishing in promoting society.
Jiang Xiaoyuan: Everyone associates Shen Gong with "Reading", and now if you want to talk about Shen Gong's xunye, his construction of "Reading" is a very important content. It just so happens that I have been studying Western journals for the past two years, so I have a little bit of a view. I think shen gong's exploration and contribution to the matter of "Reading" is very rare in our country, and I believe that many people have not noticed this matter. In Western magazines like Nature, its first editor-in-chief worked for more than 50 years until he died, and the second editor-in-chief worked for more than 30 years until he died. This long-term editor-in-chief created a strong personal style for the magazine. Our "Reading" also has a strong style, and this style lao Shen must have played a very big role. Although just now everyone said that Lao Shen is tolerant, in fact, tolerance does not mean that there is no personal style of his, and "Reading" definitely has a strong personal style. This strong personal style is inconsistent with most of the current philosophy of running a journal in our country. Most of our domestic publications, especially academic journals, always say that they are going to be academic instruments. What is an academic instrument? That is to say, this journal is for the service of this academic community. The standard configuration of the academic public instrument is that an editorial board includes some celebrities, with special emphasis on the anonymous review system, and the manuscripts are sent outside for review by experts. The vast majority of academic journals are run in this way, and the same is true abroad. Such a journal cannot be a divine journal, because such a journal will certainly become an equalized thing. If you want to be an academic instrument, don't expect this journal to have a strong unique style, and don't expect the editor-in-chief's personal color to be reflected in it. Because academic instruments naturally reject these two things. In the West, a magazine like Nature, which is now familiar to everyone, is exactly the opposite, and the editor-in-chief of Nature has repeatedly stressed to the media that we do not have an editorial board, and my manuscript is decided by me not to use it, and it has nothing to do with people outside. Even if I let people review the manuscript, he does not have the right to decide whether to use the manuscript or not, even if they finish reviewing it and shoot it unanimously, I can still use it, they unanimously recommend it, I can also use it. Of course, such publications, which are completely decided by the editorial board, also exist in China, and many popular science publications are like this. However, "Reading" did not intend to be a popular science journal from the beginning of its inception, and in Shen Gong's own book, he said that he wanted to become an ideological and cultural commentary. "Reading" still maintains a similar way of running a journal to this day as Nature, which is why I said in the book "Reading" for 40 years that I think "Reading" is the Nature of The Chinese liberal arts community, because from the concept of running a journal, it is done in this way. Shen Gong himself specifically said in that book, he said that there are some people who write very well, the content of the article itself is very good, but the text is bad, he will not publish their articles. He has an aesthetic pursuit of text, and this aesthetic pursuit of text is completely Shen Gong's personal style.
Then "Reading" experienced a period of serious "falling powder", at that time it was no longer Princess Shen's government, it made Shen Gong very disappointed, so Shen Gong later told others that he did not read "Reading" now, only looked at "Vientiane", because of the aesthetic pursuit of the text, at that time it was pinned on "Vientiane", that is, there was still an aesthetic pursuit of the text on "Vientiane". Of course, "Reading" has now returned to the past, and has begun to pursue textual aesthetics again. I said something joking at that time, I told the media, I know why "Reading" has become unsightly now, it is because Li Zero is not writing articles on it, this statement was quoted by Shen Gong in his book, he said that this word is widely circulated. Of course, after "Reading" later resumed the aesthetic pursuit of text, Li Zero also wrote articles on it again, and everyone thought it was good. In the concept of "Reading" magazine, Shen Gong has a very strong personal style, which I think is very worth learning, although most of the domestic high-grade academic or cultural publications may still seem to lack the conditions for learning, but at least "Reading" adheres to this, and other publications can also keep up.
Lu Hao: Mr. Jiang Xiaoyuan just said that I studied Shen Gong, of course, since I knew Shen Gong, I had the idea of following Shen Gong and being Shen Gong's apprentice, but there were not many opportunities, because he later retired. Originally, "Vientiane" was completely made for Shen Gong, because he felt that he had so many resources and so much energy, and retired, it was a pity that he would make another magazine for him to edit. As a result, the magazine number took two years to come down, when Lao Shen said that in the past two years, my people have dispersed, you let me edit a magazine every month, I don't have the patience, you take it to Shanghai to edit it. I did learn from Shen Gong in the magazine, but Shen Gong said in an interview in the book "Know" that he liked to have a sound and a meaning of words, but "Vientiane" did not emphasize this, saying that I did not like the sound of the string and the meaning of the words, saying that I prefer pure culture. In fact, Lao Shen's extra-string sound is the means I most appreciate, but at the time of "Vientiane", there was no chance to try. Later, I helped to found the "Shanghai Book Review", and the leaders of the Shanghai Book Review were more enlightened, so in this newspaper, some of the extraneous sounds of the old Shen when he compiled "Reading". Therefore, Lao Shen has a good evaluation of the "Shanghai Review of Books", which is more in line with his appetite and a bit out of context.
Shen Kai: First of all, I am very grateful to have such an opportunity today, and everyone can hold such a memorial service for your father-in-law in Shanghai. In fact, every time my father-in-law came to Shanghai before, I would follow behind like a small follower to rub some meals and eat some meals.
My father-in-law likes to eat this thing from childhood to adulthood, but when I was a child, my impression of him was that the word "stinks". When I was 6 years old, I started living in Xizongbu, when I opened the refrigerator, it was full of Wang Zhi and stinky tofu, and he especially liked to make fried rice with stinky salted fish. He would often fry a plate of fried rice in the kitchen, a smelly and fragrant kind, which he especially liked to eat. Later, my mother told me that in fact, he had fried very little at that time, and my mother should have grown up eating all kinds of rice he made when she was a child. It is said that when he was young, he especially liked to cook, and he should belong to such a person who loved to eat.
Last year, because of the epidemic, there were fewer meals at home, and when he was found out in October when he had advanced liver cancer, according to his personality, we knew that he was definitely not hospitalized, and he must eat and drink very happily through his last period of time. So at that time my father and my mother sent me a message saying, where did we go to eat again today. At that time, they had an agreement, that is, every week the guild would find my father to go to a newly opened Arwen soup bun on Nanxiao Street, and my father-in-law especially liked to eat this kind of southern cuisine, especially Shanghai cuisine and Ningbo cuisine, and the Awen soup bun had to be eaten every week. My dad, as a return invitation, would invite him to a Russian-style dinner every two weeks, or Jiangsu and Zhejiang cuisine.
He also has a few more interesting things at home, and he has a kind of wit and alliance relationship with Dr. Bai, Aunt Yi and us at home. Later, his ears were not very good, he couldn't hear clearly, he wanted to wear a hearing aid, I found that he wore a hearing aid in fact, there were some intermittent backs of the ear, and if there were some words, he could hear it very clearly at once, and some words could not be heard. For example, when we go to dinner and want to drink beer, as soon as you say beer, he can hear it immediately, and immediately say yes, come to a cup, and you can also have another half a cup; but if you say that you want to take medicine, you can't hear him. So the doctor at home couldn't do anything with him.
We have everything in our family, doctors, chemical engineering, he will give us a nickname, for example, my sister studied chemical engineering, he said chemist, when can you research a new drug, is braised meat flavor medicine, so that I can eat it all, I can eat it on wine.
Dai Yan: What I want to say is that for many people, Lao Shen is a special publisher in that specific era and environment. In fact, with him in the same era, there are various publishers, publishers of various styles, each with its own characteristics and achievements, but Shen Gong is a publisher who may never have again. He was in a time when things were changing at the right time, and he really had enough space to do things. It is as if ignorance is great, he himself does not have a special position, does not have a particularly strong side, but gives him a lot of space to move freely, borrow all kinds of forces, borrow all kinds of resources. And he's really capable, you see he talks nonsense at dinner, in fact, when he says those messy things, he already thinks about what he's going to do. This one is really admirable. I think Lao Shen is a particularly determined person, which makes him do what he wants to do at the dinner table and when dealing with the three religions and nine streams.
Sun Ganlu: In the late 1970s and early 1980s, reading Reading had a major impact on the spiritual life of that era, including the later Vientiane. One is the style of his magazine editing, which is indeed like what several teachers just said, and the editing method is beyond a completely academic or research magazine publication. And just now Jiang Xiaoyuan said that he is not only an article of academic value, but also a beautiful article, which is a kind of Beautiful text in layman's terms. Why does it affect me? Some of the things I did later, including doing book clubs or compiling the Sinan Literary Anthology, were not to say a single literary magazine, an art magazine, or a research and ideological magazine, but I hoped to put them together through cross-field, including novels, poems, essays, including art history, as well as the study of words, Chinese and foreign. This is actually very far-reaching with the style of the original "Reading" magazine, including the later "Vientiane" and "Shanghai Review of Books".
Later, Lu Hao and Yu Xiaoqun did the Dolphin Bookstore, and I was also invited to compile a part, and there was a series of novels. It is also influenced by Shen Gong, the way of compiling the book and the choice of the angle of entry, in fact, expanded, no matter from the script, the choice of people, all angles, are in addition to the mainstream publishing at that time another way. The publication of an era may indeed need such a kind of flower and grass that looks like flowers and plants, but is actually enriched in the perspective of daily life, to confirm our memory or integrity of the times. Because these flowers and plants are really not a simple thing. Like "Reading", "Vientiane", or later "Shanghai Review of Books", it is actually very rich, in the main line of culture, those corners and corners, people's imagination, people's daily life, and memories of daily life are all summarized. Just now Wei Song also said, in another 50 years, when our generation has passed, how will future generations look at Shen Gong? When a generation has changed, and when there is a generation apart, it may be through the work done by Shen Gong, these magazines edited, and these books published. At that time, Sanlian produced a large number of works, shaping the fashion of an era, his work or talking and laughing at the dinner table, these seemingly gossipy things, in fact, are of deep meaning.
Finally, I will make an analogy, of course, to borrow other people's words, "The Story of Art" said, the spiritual fashion of art in an era is like a flag, you see the flag flying, but in fact the wind is blowing, but you can't see the wind directly. The spiritual fashion and artistic fashion of an era are driven by this thing behind it, and Shen Gong is doing this work.
Wang Qiang: I wrote an article in "Eight Eight Shen Gong" that year, called "The Postman of Thought." In fact, As a publisher, Mr. Shen's greatest contribution is the postman of ideas, and this postman is very sensitive and accurate to deliver the package of ideas, which is a very clear impression of the topic I wrote that article. Because everyone knows that the postman in the sixties and seventies and seventies and eighties is the most important person that everyone is looking forward to. Later, when I thought about whether Mr. Shen was compiling "Reading", or "Vientiane", or Lu Hao's "Shanghai Book Review" they later made, why I was willing to submit articles, I felt that they actually made their ideas into markets and temple fairs. This bazaar fully embodies a free thing, embodies freedom, beauty, and high morality.
Wang Yonghao: Mr. Shen Changwen is closely related to the rebirth of culture throughout the 1980s. How remarkable is it that a person's work is related to the changes and developments of the whole era, the context and the qi vein, and the iconic figures of this era after his death miss him, and his body is very wonderful, and there is enough mourning behind him, which is very remarkable.
From him, I feel that publishing is definitely not a matter of dealing with books, and publishing is essentially a matter of dealing with people. In this regard, Mr. Shen Changwen is a model, in the past Confucius said that there is no class in teaching, I think Shen Changwen has no class, and in the process of communication, he shows rare knowledge, judgment, and affinity. In order to make a book, he can be submissive, tolerant, obedient, and subservient to others, and there is a great deal of learning in it. Outside of the profession, we must be able to distinguish things, experience human feelings, be able to cope with leaders, and motivate employees, these things are necessary for people who do publishing, but today it seems that these are slowly disappearing.
Zhou Limin: Just now everyone heard about Fan Yong and Shen Gong, we don't comment on the grievances, recently I have come to understand more and more, it is true that the two of them are two traditions. Shen Gong said in his memoirs that there were revolutionaries and scholars, and he was an apprentice. We can not see it this way, if from the perspective of two traditions, Shen Gong's tradition should be a more pragmatic tradition in publishing, and Mr. Fan Yong is probably an elite or more literati tradition. Fan Yong's tradition is closer to that of Ba Jin and Lu Xun, who do not care whether books are sold for money or not—of course, they are not completely indifferent. But these friends run publishing houses, they don't get a salary, lu xun is also, books don't sell money I pay for printing. Shen Gong's tradition may be closer to Zou Taofen's tradition, the old life bookstore is very cost-oriented, including with the public, the needs of the market, so it is normal for Lu Xun to break up with the life bookstore, and their concept is different. In these two traditions, we, the so-called literati, definitely prefer the tradition of Fan Yong, because we can do whatever we want, but to be honest, over the years, with the increase of age, I have increasingly believed that these two traditions cannot be abandoned, nor can they be separated, and even to some extent, many of Shen Gong's traditions are more worthy of our attention.
Today, whether we talk about the triptych, Shen Gong, or "Reading", we should not strip them from that era, otherwise, young people or younger generations may just treat them as a personal legend. They are representative figures in this era, and it is very important that they can grasp the conditions of the times and provide them with great achievements. Nor do we have to complain about how it is today, how it is in the past, how it is in the future, the conditions that the times have offered us, whether we make full use of it, or do what we intellectuals can play, or the bottom line that we uphold, which requires us to question our conscience before our predecessors.
Editor-in-Charge: Gu Ming
Proofreader: Shi Gong