Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 137 Nie Hualing's Concerns
The Mayflower and the Mayflower Compact are generally considered the "beginning" of the United States. In November 1620, a British three-masted galleon named "Mayflower" from England deviated from its course and anchored in Provincetown Harbor.

In order to quell the disputes accumulated during the voyage and prepare for the establishment of a new colony and autonomous government, the 102 Puritan immigrants on board the ship drafted the Mayflower Compact in the cabin before landing, which required everyone to adopt and abide by it.

The Mayflower Compact is widely regarded as laying the foundation for the American political system, profoundly influencing the later Declaration of Independence, and a pioneer of the "American spirit". The crew and passengers on the Mayflower can also be considered "spiritual Americans" to some extent.

IWP arranges writers from all over the world in an apartment called "Mayflower", which always evokes certain associations, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

Zhang Chao didn't care about it. He quickly tidied up his room and put in a 1-meter-wide bed, a desk by the window, a chair, a small wardrobe, and an old-fashioned window air conditioner installed on half of the side window, which made a buzzing sound when it was turned on.

Not long after, roommate Wang Chongkai came knocking on the door. His expression was no longer as cold as it was at the beginning, and he began to cordially invite Zhang Chao to have dinner together.

Zhang Chao said calmly, "Next time. Carlson just said that Teacher Nie Hualing invited me to a Chinese restaurant for dinner tonight."

Wang Chongkai was stunned and said, "Isn't Teacher Nie from Taiwan? How come..." He didn't say the rest and left in a daze.

Zhang Chao connected his laptop to the Internet, handled some work for a while, and wrote something. Seeing that the time was almost up, he set off for the agreed location.

Ms. Nie Hualing booked a Chinese restaurant located on the lower reaches of the Iowa River. The river flows through the campus of the University of Iowa, winding through the undulating terrain of the hillside. It is summer now, and the trees are lush and lush, stretching along the river to the horizon.

When Zhang Chao arrived, Ms. Nie Hualing, her sister, daughter, and two resident writers, Chi Zijian and Liu Heng, had already arrived.

Zhang Chao quickly said, "Sorry, sorry, I'm not familiar with the traffic, so I took a detour."

Ms. Nie Hualing was already 80 years old at that time, but she was still vigorous, articulate, and quick-witted. She smiled and said to Zhang Chao: "It is better to come at the right time than to come early. You will have a view to see as soon as you arrive."

Everyone followed the direction the old lady pointed and looked out the window. They saw a low dam on the river releasing water, forming a small waterfall. The afterglow of the setting sun was reflected on the small waterfall, with a beautiful scene of flowing light and leaping gold.

Zhang Chao knew about Ms. Nie Hualing in his previous life, but he was more interested in her experience as a liberal activist in Taiwan. This time, he learned about her efforts to promote Chinese literature to the world and to promote mutual understanding among writers from the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan, so he still admired her very much.

Although most of the Chinese restaurants here have been completely Americanized and mostly serve American-style Chinese food such as Zuo Zhongtang Chicken and Li Hongzhang Offal, the chefs actually still know how to cook Chinese food, so under Nie Hualing's instructions, they prepared a table of relatively authentic Chinese food for everyone, which comforted the Chinese stomachs of Zhang Chao, Chi Zijian and Liu Heng.

At the dinner table, several people chatted about their experiences since coming to the United States and their writing plans for the next few months. Zhang Chao tactfully did not mention the special treatment given to him by IWP. However, Nie Hualing obviously knew the details and asked Zhang Chao after a while: "Are the Great Lakes fun?"

Zhang Chao smiled carefreely and said, "It's fun, especially since I don't have to spend my own money. It's even more fun."

Nie Hualing didn't expect Zhang Chao to admit it so frankly, and asked worriedly, "Are you under a lot of pressure?"

Zhang Chao said: "A little bit, but not much. The main thing is that I don't know what they want me to do specifically."

Nie Hualing nodded and said, "Although I am old, some people still listen to me here. If you really don't want to, tell me. They still have to give me some face."

Chi Zijian and Liu Heng didn't quite understand what was said, but as veterans who have been working in the literary world for decades, they probably knew what was going on.

Nie Hualing sighed: "For many things, the idea is always good at the beginning. But as time goes by, it gets further and further away from the original idea. I am a 'politically apathetic' person, but I can't help but feel enthusiastic about it."

Chi Zijian consoled him, "You don't have to worry too much. 20 years ago, I visited Europe and the United States with a group of writers. It was like Liu Laolao entering the Grand View Garden. How big was the gap between China and the United States at that time? But no one changed their mind." Then he joked, "Zhang Chao will not change his mind - he earns more than 99% of American writers. If you want to make him change his mind, you may have to spend a lot of money. Right, Zhang Chao?"

Zhang Chao smiled innocently and did not answer.

Nie Hualing suddenly asked seriously, "What if they really spend a lot of money?"

Zhang Chao answered without hesitation: "Then find a way to make them lose all their money!"

Nie Hualing said jokingly: "Boasting!"

Everyone burst into laughter. After the laughter died down, Nie Hualing said with emotion: "In the past, the mainland writers we invited were basically already famous for a long time - I remember that Wang Anyi was the youngest one. She was only 30 years old when she came, and she came with her mother. She was really young at that time, and when she smiled, the radiance on her face could light up the room..."

Chi Zijian said with a smile: "Zhang Chao is definitely the youngest now! I'm afraid all the records of the 'youngest' writer in China will be broken by Zhang Chao."

Zhang Chao replied, "I'm different - I can blow the house upside down with my boasting!"

Everyone laughed again. Nie Hualing finally felt relieved after days of worry. She felt Zhang Chao's frankness and self-confidence, which was completely different from the temperament of Chinese writers in the past.

After dinner, everyone accompanied Nie Hualing for a walk along the riverside before going back.

After Zhang Chao returned to the Mayflower apartment, he found that the corridor was much more lively. Writers from all over the world had basically arrived, and they had just finished dinner. Many people were chatting in the corridor, and some were active in connecting with each other in the dormitories.

People of all skin colors and hair colors, men and women, young and old, some speaking the language of their own country, some speaking English with a strong accent, no matter whether they can understand each other or not, everyone is trying hard to understand each other.

So even though there were only 30 people, the entire corridor was noisy.

No wonder the International Writing Project is called the “United Nations of the literary world” and Nie Hualing is hailed as the “Mother of World Literature Organization” and the “Architect of World Literature Organization”.

To be able to plan and successfully run an event like this is truly a remarkable achievement.

When Zhang Chao appeared in the corridor, two dark-skinned South Asian writers came up to greet him and took the initiative to introduce themselves: "My name is Yusman, I'm from Pakistan, and I'm a playwright."

Another said, "My name is Monhamand, I am from India and I am a poet."

Zhang Chao had been practicing spoken English with Huang Jiefu, Susan and others during this period, plus he had studied with Xu Ruya for more than a month before, so he could basically understand everything and introduced himself fluently: "My name is Li...Zhang Chao..." What a damn instinct!
When they heard that Zhang Chao was from China, they were overjoyed and quickly took out a book with "THREE CHINESE POETS" printed on the cover and asked Zhang Chao: "This is the work of three great poets in your country, Wang Wei, Li Bai and Du Fu, translated by Indian poet Vikram Seth. It has a great influence in South Asia. We have just been arguing for a long time, who is the greatest poet in your country, Li Bai or Du Fu? We need opinions from the poets' hometowns."

Zhang Chao pointed to his own dormitory in surprise and asked, "Didn't you ask Wang Chongkai?"

Yousman shook his head and said, "He just looked like you Chinese, but when I asked him where he was from, he said he was from Taiwan. So I didn't ask him any more..."

Zhang Chao: "..."

(End of this chapter)