Editor's note: Mr. Shi Peng, President of Hunan Provincial Chanting Society, life director of China Chanting Society, researcher of classical poetry, poet, and representative figure of Huxiang Chanting, died in Changsha on July 17, 2019 at the age of 94. New Hunan published an article by Li Kun in memory of Mr. Shi Peng.
Wen 丨 Li Kun
On the afternoon of July 16, I received a phone call and learned that Mr. Shi Peng had recently compiled a selected book of poems, which would be published with chanting. On the other end of the phone, Shi Lao's voice did not look anything out of the ordinary. I knew that my husband was not in good health, but Sun Xie said a few words of greeting and hung up the phone.
I didn't expect this to be the last contact with Shi Lao.
When I received the obituary on the evening of July 17, I couldn't believe that maybe the old man in the dark was saying goodbye to us. The first time I visited Elder Shi was in 1997. At that time, Professor Tao Xianhuai of Hunan Normal University took me to the regular meeting of the Poetry Society, and I was under the impression of a small conference room near Tianxin Pavilion. A twenty-three-year-old young man, holding a few pieces of paper printed with his study, sincerely fearful, listened to Professor Tao introduce me to all the poets here. Sitting at the end of the long table was a tall old man with a loud and clear voice. He took the study work that had been passed to him, read the words as he watched, and gently beat the beat of his left hand on the edge of the table. Suddenly paused and said: Good sentence! When I had finished reading it all, the old man stood up, took my hand, and said in a very sincere tone that I still remember clearly: "Well written, welcome to join the Poetry Society." ”
Professor Tao later told me that this Mr. Shi Peng was one of the founders of the Poetry Society and the spiritual leader of the Poetry Society and the Hunan Poetry Association.
During those years, I participated in most of the activities of the Shing Poetry Society. Every time, Mr. Shi Peng always wanted to pull me aside, asked what poems he had recently written, and when I finished reading them, Mr. Shi Peng was always sure that there were more than criticisms. He said, you young people, you want to take over the class of our old people, if you do not take over, no one will inherit the traditional poetry. He said that young people should shoulder the burden, and the affairs of the poetry club should be more involved. About two years after joining the society, at the initiative of Elder Shi and several other old gentlemen, I joined the editorial work of the magazine of the Poetry Society with Brother He Yinghui and Brother Zhang Daohua, and Mr. He even recommended me as the executive editor of the Journal of the Poetry Society. Not long after, under the recommendation of several elderly people in The Ming Dynasty, I, He and Zhang Er brothers became the directors of the Hunan Poetry Association.
But I was too busy at work at that time, and I was lazy, and I hardly participated in the activities of the Hunan Poetry Association. Finally, to the displeasure of the rest of the association, at a meeting, someone proposed to remove us from our board of directors. Later, I heard Brother Yinghui say that Elder Shi was angry at the meeting. He said, you are going to expel these young people, then I will not do it. It's time to go to bed.
Although neither Yinghui nor I attended this meeting, I believe that this matter is true and in line with Shi Lao's temper and personality. He is such an old man, always loving and promoting young people, never using the tone of an elder to talk to us, nor allowing us to hold the disciple ceremony, he does not even call us little friends, but treats us as friends. He was also a very humble old man, and once said to me, my poetry is not well written, my knowledge is not enough, I have a cardigan, his talent is far better than mine, I introduce you, you can go to ask for more benefits. Mr. Shi Lao was talking about Mr. He Zehan, a retired professor at Hunan Normal University who had served as Xue Yue's secretary. At a poetry meeting, Elder Shi dragged me to an old man and said, This is Mr. He Shenfu I said. Elder He seemed very reserved, there was not much talk at the venue, and later I opened a bookstore near the second and a half miles of the normal university, and Elder He was a neighbor, who had come to the door to ask for benefits, mr. He was actually a very kind old man, he even opened the line-bound bookcase for me to borrow.
At that time, the second history of the Mingming Society, a Mr. Shi Mu, and a Mr. Shi Peng. Both brothers have high names, and the people at the time are proposed to be Yuan Fang Ji Fang. He also struggled for the survival of the poetry society. At that time, the Poetry Society was a purely non-governmental organization with neither a source of income nor official support. To publish a journal, you can only rely on the members of the editorial board to collect money or sponsor poetry friends. Even the regular monthly meetings are repeatedly changed. I remember once, I don't know which old gentleman found the way, and held a meeting at a dilapidated hotel on West Long Street. The fish market is just downstairs, and the abalone is rampant, and its taste is known. More than a dozen old gentlemen with duck-tongue hats and one or two young teenagers chatted about poetry in the hotel room, worried about the funds for the publication. At this time, I learned that a large part of the funds of the journal were sponsored by Mr. Shi Mu. Mr. Shi Mu was a famous calligrapher and was very tall. He said that all the "business" introduced by the members of the poetry club would be folded in half, and the polishing pen did not need to be handed over to me, but directly handed over to the poetry club finance. Every time there was a difficulty in funding the poetry club, Elder Mu must be generous. Mr. Shi Peng is a younger brother and has great respect for his brother, although he is the founder of the Mingming Society, he always talks to Elder Mu in an inquiring tone.
Gradually, mr. Shi Peng was also old and began to fade out of the Poetry Society. The poetry club was taken over by another group of people, and I almost stopped attending activities. But the contact with Shi Lao was not broken, he lived in the highway bureau dormitory, and occasionally went to visit Mr. Shi. He always had to leave me for dinner and ask about my bookstore business and family situation. Once, when I took my five-year-old son to visit Shi Lao, after listening to Yuwen recite a few long poems, Shi Lao clapped his hands and laughed: "Widows can be taught, and widows can be taught." He asked me, "Do you have a history of Yanshan in your bookstore?" It's a strange book that you can read. He asked me, "Are there any new works lately?" ”
I can't answer. Over the years, busy with the chores of the bookstore, I have hardly ever written again. Although in my heart, the old style poetry will always be the favorite, but it is no longer possible to write decent poetry. I am ashamed that when I was young, I loved poetry, and I got the blue eyes of an old gentleman like Shi Lao, who was happy to talk about things, but I did not meet his expectations, and finally I was smoothed out by the trivial and boring life and lost my passion.
Shame on Shi Lao!!