Back to 80: My literary life.

Chapter 528 Zhou Keqin's Memorial Service

Fang Minghua still saw this obituary in Guangming Daily:

In the early morning of August 1990, 8, Zhou Keqin, a famous Chinese writer who was called a close friend by contemporary farmers, died suddenly at the age of 5 due to overwork, leaving people with many regrets: he had not had time to revise the first draft of his novel "The Hungry Plain", and he had two other novels in his mind, as well as many materials, ideas and drafts already written on paper and in notebooks...

Fang Minghua also felt very sad when she saw it.

In the contemporary Chinese literary landscape, local literature has always been a major tradition, and this major local literature tradition is mainly known for Sun Li and Zhao Shuli in the north.

In fact, in addition to this great tradition, there is also a small literary tradition that relatively few people understand in depth.

For example, the local literature in Sichuan Province has formed and accumulated a strong aesthetic experience and creative wealth. They write about the local life in Sichuan Province, with Sichuan cultural characteristics and using language with Sichuan local characteristics. Zhou Keqin is an outstanding representative.

His representative work "Xu Mao and His Daughters" is full of strong local color and rural flavor, with twists and turns in the plot, fascinating and very contemporary.

Zhou Keqin left a very good impression on Fang Minghua. Fang Minghua had met him several times. In 85, Xijing Academy of Arts invited Zhou Keqin to give lectures and he stayed in Xijing for a period of time.

Also, at the end of the same year, Fang Minghua went to Chengdu to attend the first Galaxy Science Fiction Awards, where he was hosted by the Sichuan Writers Association. He also met Zhou Keqin, the vice chairman of the association, and the two chatted for a while.

The other person is very simple and unpretentious, a bit like Chen Zhongshi.

Sadly, he passed away.

That afternoon, Fang Minghua suddenly received a call from Hu Cai, chairman of the Provincial Writers Association, asking him to go to Chengdu on behalf of the Provincial Writers Association to attend Zhou Keqin's funeral and express condolences.

"We have always had a good relationship with the Sichuan Writers Association. Zhou Keqin was invited to give lectures in Xijing. Now that he has unfortunately passed away, we should send someone to pay our respects. Minghua, you also know Zhou Keqin. If you don't have anything urgent, please go to Chengdu on a business trip and take me to say hello to Chairman Ma."

"No problem, Chairman Hu, I will leave tonight." Fang Minghua agreed immediately.

After Song Tangtang came back from work, Fang Minghua explained the reason. After dinner, Song Tangtang drove Fang Minghua to the train station.

There are many trains from Xijing to Chengdu. Fang Minghua bought a sleeper ticket and embarked on a journey south.

After crossing the Qinling Mountains and Bashan Mountains, we arrived in Chengdu at around nine o'clock on the third morning after one day and two nights.

After getting off the train, Fang Minghua took a taxi directly to the Sichuan Writers Association on Section 2 of Hongxing Road. However, he did not go to see the leaders of the Writers Association immediately. Instead, he found a hotel nearby to stay in and washed up before going to the Writers Association compound.

Soon, they found Ma Shi Tu from the Sichuan Writers Association, and Fang Minghua explained their purpose and expressed their condolences to Comrade Zhou Keqin.

"Thank you to the Qin Province Writers Association, thank you Chairman Hu for your concern, and thank you Chairman Fang for coming to Chengdu in person." After a few pleasantries, Ma Shi Tu told Fang Minghua that Zhou Keqin's memorial service will be held at the funeral home at nine o'clock tomorrow morning.

"Okay, I'll attend on time tomorrow."

Ma Zhitu tried to persuade Fang Minghua to have lunch with him at noon, but Fang Minghua declined. After Zhou Keqin's death, the Writers Association must have a lot of things to do.

Zhou Keqin's family all live in the countryside and do not live in Chengdu, so the Writers Association has to handle the reception of official condolences.

Don't cause trouble to others.

Chengdu was also very hot in August, and Fang Minghua was too lazy to go out and just watched TV in the hotel. He randomly turned on a channel and found that "Desire" was still playing!
Ha ha
This time, Shengshi Film and Television won a great victory.

However, after watching this kind of TV once, Fang Minghua no longer had much interest in it, not to mention that it was a script he wrote himself and he knew everything about it.

I switched to a few channels but found nothing interesting, so I simply turned off the TV and went to bed for a nap.

Fang Minghua suddenly thought of someone.

Shang Zhongmin, a poet from Sichuan Province.

The acquaintance of Fang Minghua and Shang Zhongmin was quite dramatic. It was in 1984, not long after Fang Minghua became the deputy editor-in-chief of Yanhe magazine in charge of poetry and prose. He issued a notice to solicit poetry submissions from college students. Because his poetry concept was different from Shang Zhongmin's, Shang Zhongmin, who was still studying at Chongqing University at the time, took a train to Xijing and had a debate on poetry creation concepts with Fang Minghua in the West University Auditorium.

In the winter of 1986, Chengdu's Xingxing Poetry Magazine held a week-long "China Poetry Festival" and invited poets who had won the title of "Top Ten Chinese Young and Middle-aged Poets" to gather in Chengdu.

Fang Minghua attended the party after participating in the second Galaxy Science Fiction Awards.

At the meeting, Sichuan poets such as Wan Xia and Hu Dong suddenly attacked Bei Dao and Shu Ting, accusing them of writing Misty Poetry that was too obscure and difficult to understand and out of date. They also shouted the slogan "Beat Bei Dao! PASS Shu Ting!" Among them was Shang Zhongmin.

Fang Minghua stood up to defend Bei Dao and others and read a very vulgar poem written by Wan Xia that insulted women. As a result, Wan Xia was driven out of the venue by the tough Chengdu girls and the farce ended.

But in the end, Shang Zhongmin also invited Fang Minghua to have a Sichuan hotpot, saying that it was a reward for Fang Minghua's hospitality when he went to Xijing.

From then on, the two never contacted each other again. Fang Minghua only occasionally saw Shang Zhongmin writing articles in the newspaper to promote their "Non-Nonism" poetry school and oral poetry concept. However, after the second half of last year, there was rarely any news about him.

I wonder what he is doing now? Is he still in Chengdu?
Are you still writing poetry?

Fang Minghua suddenly wanted to see him.

Let’s talk about it after we pay our respects to Zhou Keqin.

Zhou Keqin's funeral was held at the city funeral home at 8 a.m. on August 10. Well-known figures in Sichuan's cultural circles and leaders of relevant provincial and municipal departments all attended the ceremony. Except for Qin Province, the writers' associations of the surrounding Gansu Province, Qinghai Province, Guizhou Province, Yunnan Province, and Hubei Province all sent representatives to express their condolences.

Feng Muye, vice chairman of the China Writers Association, rushed to Chengdu on behalf of the association and gave Zhou Keqin a very high evaluation.

Comrade Zhou Keqin was an outstanding literary and artistic worker cultivated by our party and the people. He devoted his life to the cause of socialist literature and art and made outstanding contributions. He was in his prime, but unfortunately he became ill due to overwork and died suddenly. Our party lost a good member, and the cause of literature and art lost a strong and outstanding fighter, good cadre and good comrade. This is a heartbreaking loss for the party's literary and artistic cause.
Fang Minghua met a writer of similar age from the Daliang Mountains named Alai.

He is the young man who wrote "Dust Settles" and won the Mao Dun Prize.

Of course, it had not been written at that time. My identity was the editor of the literary magazine "Grassland" under the AB State Cultural Bureau.

After the simple and solemn memorial service, Zhou Keqin's body was cremated, but the ashes were not buried immediately. It was said that at the request of his family, they would be buried in his hometown Jianyang.

After Zhou Keqin’s memorial service, Fang Minghua prepared to look for Shang Zhongmin.

(End of this chapter)