Yuan Shuipai, a native of Wu County, Jiangsu Province, was formerly known as Yuan Kelin and pen name ma fantuo. poet. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he began to write poems, including poems such as "People", "Sunflowers", and "Ma fantuo's mountain song", and served as the director of the literature, art and supplement department of the People's Daily and the director of the literature and art department of the Central Propaganda Department. Here is a poem by Yuan Shuipai and Mao Zedong.
Letter from Mao Zedong to Yuan Shuipai 1
Mao Zedong's letter to Yuan Shuipai 2
1. Talk about ancient and modern translation of poems in the guest house and ask questions
On January 9, 1957, Zang Kejia and others wrote a letter to Mao Zedong about the publication of Mao Zedong's poems in the Poetry Journal, and Mao Zedong wrote a reply to Zang Kejia and other comrades on January 12. On the third day of the reply, Mao Zedong summoned Yuan Shuipai and Zang Kejia, and the main content of the conversation was the development of Chinese poetry. Mao Zedong said to the two of them: "From the four words of the book of poetry, it later developed into five words and seven words, and now the folk songs, most of them are seven words and four beats, which is the need of the times." "A new form is tried and developed until it is finalized, and it is long-term and conditional. For example, the Vinaya poems, from the Liang Dynasty Shen Yue to make four sounds, and then from the four voices to the flat servants, after the experiments of the poets of the early Tang Dynasty, until the Sheng Tang Dynasty finalized. "They talked about the Book of Poetry, about the evolution of poetry, about new poetry, about the Three Lis of the Tang Dynasty, and everyone was very happy. When Yuan Shuipai and Zang Kejia left, Mao Zedong stood there and waved to them from a distance, loudly instructing: "Send me a copy of your poetry collection!" ”
Around 1960, in order to accurately translate Mao Zedong's poems into foreign languages, Yuan Shuipai, then director of the Literature and Art Department of the Central Propaganda Department, summoned Zang Kejia and Ye Junjian to jointly put together seventeen suggestions, mainly different understandings of the words and sentences in the work. Later, Yuan Shuipai asked the author for advice with these seventeen questions, and Mao Zedong answered them one by one. Soon after, Yuan Shuipai told Zang Kejia about Mao Zedong's answer. For example, how to understand "Ask the vast earth, who is the lord of the ups and downs?" The author means "who will rule China?" Another example is how to understand "the five ridges are full of waves, and the mud pills are walking in the mud." Zang Kejia and the other three people sorted out two statements: "The team is like a thin wave in the high mountains, such as walking mud balls; or the mountains themselves are like thin waves, like mud balls." Mao Zedong believed that "both statements are acceptable." ...... Now that decades have passed, the 17 opinions drafted by Yuan Shuipai at that time have been preserved by the Zang Ke family, and the green character white paper has become the only remaining orphan product in the sea.
2, Yuan Shui took a humorous work "Shake his head" Mao Zedong praised the good writing
On April 20, 1957, Mao Zedong wrote a letter to Comrade Yuan Shuipai:
Comrade Shuipai:
Your "Shaking Your Head" is well written (Chen Yi's six-word poem is also good), you should write more. I feel that you are better off as an editor than traveling. You can ask someone to act as your agent, go out for a few months and come back, and do editing for a few months and then go out. Whether it is feasible or not, please consider it and consult with the leading comrades... [1]
Mao Zedong's poem "Shaking the Head" mentioned is as follows:
Shake, shake, shake,
We comrades
Old love shakes his head.
"This
I don't see it well.
That one
I don't think it's good either.
"What!
Is this also being debated?
That's also being discussed?
Not good, not good?
"Full of chores,
Full of paper children's love.
No, no!
And what other essays, miscellaneous feelings, miscellaneous, adjustments,
Slander and essays...
Hey, check it out,
Which 'club' sent the soldiers! ”
"But, dear comrade,
'A hundred flowers bloom, a hundred schools of thought contend'?
Probably you've learned that,
This is our party's policy. ”
"Policy,
The policy is good,
Good, good, good!
A hundred good,
It was unbelievably good.
But it's also a bit... disastrous! ”
He said and shook his head again.
The doctor found out the condition,
Shout out:
"Comrade,
You are guilty of dogmatism,
And there's also popularity. ”
The poem was published in the People's Daily on April 18, 1957, along with Chen Yi's six-character poem "Records of Yuquan Mountain.". After mao zedong saw the poems of the two of them in the newspaper, he wrote the above letter to Yuan Shuipai on April 20, praising the poems of Yuan Shuipai and Chen Yi, and making earnest suggestions to Yuan Shuipai.
Mao Zedong was very concerned about the development trend of contemporary Chinese poetry, and he was also very concerned about poets. We can see this from this letter.
3. Punctuation moves skillfully, and the depression is not the same[3]
In June 1956, Mao Zedong went to Wuhan to inspect the work and swim in the Yangtze River.
Water tune song head
swim
June 1956
Only to drink Changsha water, but also eat Wuchang fish. Thousands of miles of the Yangtze River crossed, extremely eye Chu Tianshu. No matter how the wind blows or the waves, it is better to walk idly in a leisurely court, and today there is more than enough. Son in Kawakami: The deceased is like a sif!
The wind is moving, the turtle and snake are quiet, and the grand plan is raised. A bridge flys north and south, and the graben changes its path. More erect the stone wall of the West River, cut off the clouds and rain of Wushan Mountain, and the high gorge comes out of Ping Lake. The goddess should be unharmed, and be amazed by the world.
After the publication of this poem, Mao Zedong successively gave it to Montgomery, Huang Yanpei, Zhou Shizhao and so on. However, when including the Nineteen Poems of Mao Zedong and the 1963 edition of Chairman Mao's Poems, Mao Zedong listened to the opinions of others and changed the way of "a bridge flying north and south, and the natural graben." A sentence was re-broken, and changed to "a bridge flying frame, the north and south grabens change the way." This change does not change much in the sense, but it makes the second half of the sentence lack rhyme and beauty to read, and it is still a bit awkward, and the depression is obviously not as good as the original broken sentence. Later, Yuan Shuipai suggested to Mao Zedong that the original sentence be restored. In April 1966, Mao Zedong adopted Yuan Shuipai's suggestion and restored the original broken sentence. Although it is only a punctuation position, the different positions directly affect the rhythm and beauty of the whole poem. A small symbol has gone through ten years and changed places several times, and Mao Zedong's meticulous spirit of poetry creation and rigorous style are worth learning! It is no wonder that Mao Zedong said: "Poetry is difficult, it is not easy to learn, those who experience it are like fish drinking water, cold and warm self-knowledge, not enough for outsiders to be humane." ”[4]
[1] Edited by the Central Literature Research Office: Selected Letters of Mao Zedong, p. 483.
[2] Sun Qin'an and Li Shizhen, Mao Zedong and famous writers, pp. 387-388.