Mao Dun (1896—1981)
Mao Dun is a giant in the history of modern Chinese literature. In the literary circles, there is a popular saying of "Lu Guomao, Ba Lao Cao", which is the ranking of modern Chinese literary writers in the past, and "Mao" refers to Mao Dun. In this camp, it is clear that Mao Dun was included as a writer of new literature.
Indeed, Mao Dun's literary creation and literary achievements are mainly in the field of new literature. However, just like Lu Xun and Guo Moruo, who are new literary writers, he not only has a profound classical literary cultivation, but also has many old-style poems in literary creation.
According to relevant statistics, Mao Dun created more than 150 old-style poems in his lifetime. These poems vary in subject matter, in different forms, and of varying quality. Among his many poems, the "Seven Laws" created in his later years is a mourning poem for his mother, with deep emotions, harmonious rhythm, and the words reveal gratitude to his mother.
Its poems are as follows:
The township party group is called the female husband, with hard work and hard caress for the two chicks.
Strive to obey the will of the people and dare to violate the family rules and take a dangerous road.
Midnight short is worried about the country, autumn wind leaves cry yellow mound.
Ping business is more self-assured, and does not teach Cao to be an ugly Confucian.
The Seven Laws was written by Mao Dun in the fall of 1970, when he was 74 years old. Later, this poem was engraved on the tombstone of Mao Dun's mother, which is a permanent memorial to Mao Dun's mother.
Chen Aizhu (1875-1940)
Mao Dun's mother, Chen Aizhu, was born in 1875 and died in 1940, a native of Wuzhen, Tongxiang, Zhejiang. Chen Aizhu's ancestors are from a family of medicine, so she has the conditions to study since she was a child, is quite familiar with ancient Chinese history and culture, and is a woman with independent thoughts. In 1894, she married Mao Dun's father, Shen Yongxi, who was a late Qing Dynasty reformer, so under the influence of her husband, she became more open-minded and progressive, often reading fashion newspapers and novels, and paying attention to current affairs.
After two years of marriage, Chen Aizhu gave birth to her eldest son, Shen Dehong (Mao Dun's original name), and was very attentive to the education of her children. Mao Dun once said: "My first enlightenment teacher was my mother. At first glance, this sentence may not sound special, and each of us can say that the mother is our first enlightenment teacher. But for Mao Dun, his mother is truly an enlightener in cultural education. This kind of enlightenment effect is not something that every mother in the world can do.
Private school education was still popular in China in the late Qing Dynasty, even long after the implementation of the New Deal in the late Qing Dynasty. Before Mao Dun went to primary school, his father personally selected reading materials such as "Character Lesson Drawings", "Astronomical Song Sketch", "Geography Song Sketch" and let his wife Chen Aizhu teach him personally. His mother was the equivalent of Mao Dun's own private school teacher. Under the guidance of his mother, Mao Dun began to read and write at the age of 5.
In 1906, when Mao Dun was 10 years old, his father Shen Yongxi died of illness. Losing the head of the family, the Shen family's economy fell into difficulties. Since then, Chen Aizhu has been working hard and bitter, raising Shen Dehong and his younger brother Shen Zemin and using his own money to provide them with education.
After that, both sons embarked on the path of revolution, and her mother, Chen Aizhu, was well aware of the dangers of revolution, but still supported the children's choice. Mao Dun gradually increased his popularity in the literary and art circles after the May Fourth New Culture Movement, and in the late 1920s he wrote the "Eclipse" trilogy ("Disillusionment", "Wavering", and "Pursuit"), which reflected the Great Revolution, and joined the Chinese Left-Wing Writers' Union in the 1930s. His younger brother, Shen Zemin, was elected head of the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee in 1931 and later secretary of the Provincial Party Committee of the Eyu-Anhui Soviet District, and died in revolutionary work in 1933 at the age of 33.
Shen Zemin (1900—1933)
It is difficult for us to imagine today that in the era of revolutionary noise and artillery fire, it is even more difficult for a single mother to worry about her children who are on the go, and it is even more difficult to understand the grief of the young life of the child when she dies in the fire.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Mao Dun traveled all over the country for many years due to the needs of his work. Mr. and Mrs. Mao Dun had pleaded with their mother to live with them, but Chen Aizhu was worried that his old age would affect his son's revolutionary work, so he returned to his hometown to live alone. When Chen Aizhu died on April 17, 1940, Mao Dun was in Xinjiang. His dearest people were not around when they left, and the grief was indescribable.
Therefore, in his later years, Mao Dun wrote this mourning poem, and his reasoning came from the heart. After experiencing the vicissitudes of the world and the vicissitudes of personnel, it is not easy for an old man to recall his life and remember his mother!
The mother's duty is to raise the child as an adult, and there are too many implications beyond the duty. Because how much this identity has to pay and how much suffering it has to suffer is different in different women. But for the mothers of the world, this is all their willingness, out of an instinct to be a mother.
Hats off to the great mother!