Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 225: The Third, Six, and Nine Classes
(I unexpectedly went home early, so I'll just make up a chapter)
The young man who came to pick up Zhang Chao obviously did not speak Mandarin and was not very proficient in English. After chatting for a few words, he shut up awkwardly, but his attitude was very good.

After driving for ten minutes on the narrow streets typical of Hong Kong Island, we arrived at a second-hand bookstore called "Books&Talks".

The front half of the bookstore was filled with colorful books that reached all the way to the ceiling. The owner was a middle-aged man with gray hair and a gentle appearance. When he saw Zhang Chao coming, he smiled and nodded, and said in English, "Professor Xu is in the back."

Zhang Chao followed the instructions, walked through the piles of books, and saw Xu Zidong behind two bookcases that stood like door gods. It turned out that the back half of the bookstore was separated into a small space that could seat six or seven people, and it was already full of people.

Xu Zidong was talking about something. When he saw Zhang Chao sticking his head in, he stopped speaking, quickly invited Zhang Chao in, and asked the others to squeeze in to make room for Zhang Chao.

Xu Zidong introduced: "This is Zhang Chao, the most famous young writer in the mainland in the past two years. Zhang Chao, these are some literature lovers from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, who invited me to give a small lecture.

The school is on summer vacation, so I stayed in this bookstore. The conditions are average and the place is too small. ”

Zhang Chao smiled and said, "It's a small place, but the atmosphere is great. If a place like this where every inch of land is worth a lot of money can squeeze out a place like this for everyone to gather, then every word spoken is worth a thousand gold."

Seeing Zhang Chao being so casual, everyone laughed.

Zhang Chao pulled a chair and sat down, then said to Xu Zidong, "Where did you leave off, Professor Xu? Keep going. I want to listen, too."

Xu Zidong said: "Then I will speak Mandarin." Xu Zidong is from Shanghai and moved to Hong Kong Island in the 90s. He is naturally good at Mandarin, but he learned Cantonese later.

Zhang Chao waved his hand quickly and said, "You should speak Cantonese. Your Cantonese should be 'virus sound', right? I can basically understand it."

This made everyone laugh again. "Viral pronunciation" is a derogatory term used by supporters of Hong Kong Cantonese to refer to the official Cantonese "standard pronunciation". Let's put aside this linguistic debate for now. "Viral pronunciation" has clear pronunciation, fewer lazy sounds and mispronunciations, and fewer slang and English words mixed in, making it easier to listen and speak. In addition, it has the support of TVB and ATV, so news broadcasts all use "Viral pronunciation".

For foreign intellectuals like Xu Zidong, it is easier to learn Cantonese by starting with the "viral sounds". Zhang Chao is similar. His "hearing but not speaking" method excludes the expressions of Hong Kong Cantonese that are mixed with a lot of slang and foreign words.

Xu Zidong continued to talk after hearing this: "… Xia Zhiqing believed that Chinese writers in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China were too obsessed with "feeling about the times and worrying about the country", which affected the literary quality of their works. In fact, this is a kind of harsh demand from a later generation of writers at that time.

Although Xia Zhiqing was also born in the 20s and experienced the warlord civil war and the Japanese invasion, he came from a wealthy family and was actually far away from the crisis of "national extinction" and could study literature more leisurely.

So he admired Zhang Ailing more, to some extent because of the similarity in their life backgrounds. Of course, this also caused his own controversy. So, this reminds us that when reading literary history, we should pay more attention to historical materials and research methods, and the author's point of view is secondary.

Lu Xun saw that the literature of weak nations contained the most useful and interesting things for Chinese writers, so he liked Polish literature and Nordic literature, but never translated American and French literature..."

The lecture lasted about half an hour. After Xu Zidong answered a few questions, the literature lovers dispersed.

However, Xu Zidong specifically called out to a young man sitting in the back corner, "Jia Han, please stay for a moment."

Zhang Chao's heart moved slightly, thinking that there was a name called "Lin Jiahan" on the list of Hong Kong Island's rematch players. Could it be him?
Soon, Zhang Chao, Xu Zidong, and a young man named "Jia Han" were the only ones left in the small room.

Zhang Chao did not ask in a hurry, but chatted with Xu Zidong first: "I didn't expect that you are already the head of the Chinese Department of Lingyuan, and you would come to give such a small lecture."

Xu Zidong laughed self-deprecatingly and said, "The literary soil in Hong Kong is too thin. If those of us who work on Chinese literature keep putting ourselves on the top, there will be even fewer seedlings that can grow. So we must be aware of planting widely and reaping little. Now that these small groups have invited me, I will generally come to give a talk as long as I am free."

Zhang Chao was puzzled, "I grew up watching Hong Kong movies and listening to Hong Kong music. Logically speaking, for such an international metropolis with such a developed economy, the citizens' aesthetic tastes should not be like this, right?"

Xu Zidong said: "What you watched when you were a child was instant food culture, or fast food culture, which is the mainstream culture of Hong Kong Island. Because the survival pressure here is too great..."

The two chatted for a while before Xu Zidong introduced him, "This guy is called Lin Jiahan. He's only 18 years old this year and is in Form , which is equivalent to Senior in mainland China. This year he participated in your essay competition and made it to the semi-finals."

Lin Jiahan stood up and bowed to Zhang Chao, and said in stiff but fluent Mandarin: "Hello, Mr. Zhang, it's an honor to meet you."

Zhang Chao quickly stood up and said in return, "Don't be polite, I'm only a few years older than you. I remember your preliminary essay was called "Capturing the Queen"? It tells the story of a group of students finding a portrait of the Queen that was sealed after 97 in the school warehouse - it's very interesting." There were only 22 contestants from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan in the semi-finals, so it's not surprising that Zhang Chao could remember the name of the work. However, Lin Jiahan was obviously surprised, and nodded repeatedly with more light in his eyes.

Xu Zidong said: "Jia Han is studying in a BAND 2C secondary school - this is the classification of secondary schools in Hong Kong Island. BAND 2C means that only about 8% of students can enter university, which is only slightly better than the worst BAND 3 schools.

But he himself is very interested in literature and has won prizes in the Hong Kong Student Essay Competition. I noticed him last year when he skipped class to attend my lecture and asked me a very good question. I didn't answer it very well at the time, so I left him my contact information.

Later, I figured out the problem and sent him the answer again, and we became familiar with each other. Jiahan, tell us about your experience and experience in participating in the "New Concept Essay Competition."

Lin Jiahan glanced at Zhang Chao and said awkwardly, "All...all?"

Xu Zidong said: "Just tell me, Zhang Chao came to Hong Kong Island just to hear the real situation."

Lin Jiahan sorted out his thoughts after hearing this, and then said, "Actually, I saw the news last year that Hong Kong students can participate in the 'New Concept Essay Contest'. Although I was very tempted to participate, on the one hand, I felt that it would be difficult to compete with tens of thousands of people; on the other hand, I felt that if I entered the semi-finals, it might cost a lot of money to go to the mainland to participate...

Later, Professor Xu repeatedly encouraged me, and I finally made up my mind to participate. However, this competition is not well-known in our school, and many students don’t know that there is such a competition. But when I asked other students from other schools who I met in the essay competition, it was not the same.

Schools in Band 1 basically have related publicity for the competition, and well-known literary societies have invited writers to come to the school to coach students to participate in the competition. However, the schools at the front of Band 2 do not have any posters. "

Zhang Chao asked, "You said they invited literary societies and writers to coach students to participate in the competition. What kind of format is that?"

Lin Jiahan said: "I don't know the details, and the students didn't want to say much. But it is said that each student wrote a lot of articles, and then asked the writers to help them choose."

Zhang Chao was silent for a while, then asked, "Anything else?"

Lin Jiahan said, "It is said that a literary society has promised that if you win an award, your travel and accommodation expenses will be reimbursed. I don't know much else, so I dare not say anything."

Zhang Chao and Xu Zidong looked at each other, and Xu Zidong said to Lin Jiahan: "Jiahan, you can go back first. Zhang Sheng and I have something to talk about."

Lin Jiahan said "Oh", stood up, packed his backpack, and left. He looked quite lonely, without the excitement he had when he first met Zhang Chao.

Xu Zidong watched Lin Jiahan walk away and said to Zhang Chao, "Actually, I also participated in the tutoring he mentioned."

Zhang Chao was not surprised and just said "hmm" lightly.

Xu Zidong continued, "The actual situation is a little more serious than what Jia Han said. Some schools held a disguised preliminary election. I accidentally became a judge for one of the schools.

I was told after the results were out that the winning school would be arranged to have 'special training'."

Zhang Chao said: "You don't have to tell me this - is what Zhong Weiming said true? Do you think what he said makes sense?"

Xu Zidong said: "The situation here is very complicated. What Zhong Weiming said makes sense, but it is also limited in its position. At first glance, the approach of the Hong Kong Island Organizing Committee of the Competition is unfair to most schools, and even more unfair to students like Jiahan, but it also has its reasons.

In a sense, the organizing committee's actions may help the New Concept Essay Contest to increase its visibility and influence in Hong Kong Island. But I still think it goes against the original intention of literature."

Before Zhang Chao could say anything, he heard a hearty laugh from outside: "Oh, you guys are really good at finding places! I walked around twice before I found this place."

Seeing the person coming, Zhang Chao and Xu Zidong both shut their mouths tacitly.

(End of this chapter)