Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 227 The War between North and South
Due to the limited resolution of MMS images at that time, only the bold black front-page headlines were visible. The specific content was naturally unclear, but the big orange on the masthead was quite eye-catching. It was none other than Hong Kong’s most famous gossip news weekly, “Orange Daily”.

The author of this article, "Zhong Weiming", is also highlighted in bold.

Zhang Chao said: "I'm not some entertainment star, why is Orange Daily interested in me?"

Poon Yaoming said: "Hong Kong people's favorite news is not celebrity gossip, but two types - one is rich, and the other is controversial. You are a rich person surrounded by controversy!"

Zhang Chao: “…” He didn’t know how to respond for a moment.

Pan Yaoming said: "This is why I didn't want to inform you so early. These people are even more excited when you come!"

Then he asked Zhang Chao: "Do you want to write an article to fight back? I saw that the articles you published in mainland newspapers and blogs were all very sharp. If you want to write, I can ask you to write on behalf of Ming Pao."

Zhang Chao sighed and said, "I didn't come here to have a quarrel. But they've already come to the door... I'll go buy a copy of Orange Daily and see what Zhong Weiming said."

Newspapers are easy to buy, you can find them at the 7-11 downstairs. Zhang Chao also bought a bottle of happy water and started reading on the side of the road.

The idea behind Zhong Weiming's article is actually very simple - first define Zhang Chao as the new king of the literary world who is strongly supported by the mainland government, with a carrot in the left hand and a stick in the right hand. He came to Hong Kong to take advantage of the rematch of the "New Concept Composition Competition" to collude with the Hong Kong officials and the "Southern Literary Group" to force Hong Kong local writers to succumb to mainland culture.

But the example he gave is indeed very confusing -

[…Hong Kong’s court writers flocked to the “New Concept Essay Competition” organized by Zhang Chao, as if a few students participated in the semi-finals, and Zhang Chao awarded a few first and second prizes, and Hong Kong writers could also go north.]

[In fact, even if the mainland has mountains of gold and silver, what does it have to do with you Hong Kong people? The experience of the film industry in the past 10 years has proved that going north is not a way out for Hong Kong artists, but instead falls into the trap of these "literati from the south". ]

[All the Hong Kong directors who went north were not able to adapt to the local environment. They lost the local literary soil of Hong Kong Island on which they became famous, and they could not truly integrate into the mainland's entertainment industry. They used Hong Kong's experience and technology to upgrade the mainland's film industry, but in the end they were still abandoned.]

[These directors, like fat pigs, have been sucked dry and eaten up by the mainland film industry. As a result, the Hong Kong film market has been very bleak in the past 10 years. There are no jobs and no money to be made. Talents have all gone to other places.]

[Writers are more regional than filmmakers. If Hong Kong writers don’t have a foothold in Hong Kong, where can you? Some people can’t make a living in Hong Kong by writing. The books they write and the magazines they edit have to rely on “Literary Comprehensive Assistance” to survive. These people are the ones that Zhang Chao recruits.]

[Zhang Chao may have given them a fantasy, making them imagine that with his advice, they could make a fortune in the mainland.]

[In fact, the writers who want to go north from Hong Kong are probably only those "Southern literati" and their vassals and spiritual descendants. Because they never feel that they belong to Hong Kong. ]

[If they want to go north, they can go north by themselves. Why do they want to kidnap the Hong Kong literary world and future talents to go with them? …]

[If they want to surrender, they can do it themselves. I and the Hong Kong writers with backbone will not surrender! ]

After reading it, Zhang Chao keenly discovered the problem. He pointed to a term in the newspaper, "Southern intellectuals," and asked, "Zhong Weiming kept talking about 'Southern intellectuals', as if he had a deep grudge against this group. I feel like there's something else going on here, not just about subsidies."

Pan Yaoming's face turned strange, and he said awkwardly: "It's not easy for me to answer this question... But you can understand the literati from the south as the literati who came to Hong Kong from the mainland."

Zhang Chao said "Oh" and understood a little bit. He also knew the reason why Pan Yaoming said that it was "not easy to answer" - his boss, Mr. Jin Yong, was actually a typical representative of the "Southern Literary Men".

And strictly speaking, he himself was also a part of it. So due to his position, both publicly and privately, he couldn't explain it to Zhang Chao.

However, Pan Yaoming did not intend to hide anything from Zhang Chao, and said frankly: "It is difficult for me to answer, but I know a writer who is very knowledgeable about this. If you really want to understand it clearly, I can help you make an appointment with him."

Zhang Chao nodded and said, "Okay, please make an appointment for me. I hope to understand the situation more comprehensively. As I said before, I am not here to engage in a war of words - I have been vomiting from wars of words recently. And trying to get Hong Kong students to participate in the competition is not just about my personal gains and losses.

If it is not handled properly, these students will be caught in the middle and suffer. How innocent are they? So this matter is not something that can be resolved by me winning a fight with someone and taking the students to the mainland. They still have to return to Hong Kong and study and live here. I don’t want them to bear any burden! ”

Pan Yaoming said, "I understand. I want to do the same, so I always want to use a soft way to resolve differences..." He took out his cell phone and dialed a number: "Hello, is this Jiahui? I'm Pan Yaoming... Oh, are you in Hong Kong? That's good. If you're free in the evening, I'd like to invite you to chat with someone... Who else could it be? Of course, it's Zhang Chao. OK, see you then."

After that, he put down the phone and said to Zhang Chao, "We have an appointment. Ma Jiahui, the editor of the "Century" humanities supplement of our Ming Pao, has pioneered the practice in Hong Kong of not publishing "small pieces" in newspaper supplements, but only publishing "big articles."

Zhang Chao suddenly realized that it was him. So he laughed and said, "It should be Ma Jiahui who wrote "Eliminate Li Ao, or Be Eliminated by Li Ao"? Li Ao called him "knowing Li Ao better than Li Ao."

Pan Yaoming said: "It's him, he's a wonderful man too. But he's not free until after 9 o'clock tonight."

Zhang Chao looked at his phone and said, "It's only 4 o'clock. I'll go find a hotel first. I came here in a hurry and my schedule is uncertain, so I didn't book it in advance. Does President Pan have any good recommendations?"

Pan Yaoming said: "You are an important person, of course you should stay in a five-star hotel when you come here, just follow me."

Although Zhang Chao didn't have to stay in a five-star hotel, but thinking about the terrible experience of staying in an affordable hotel in Hong Kong in his previous life, where he walked into a room with walls on all four sides and a bed in the room against the four walls, he didn't act pretentiously and got into Pan Yaoming's car.

As an old Hong Konger, Pan Yaoming brought Zhang Chao to the Peninsula Hotel. Now is the peak tourist season. After the opening of free travel in 03, it has always been difficult to find a room in Hong Kong during the summer vacation if there is no reservation.

Sure enough, Zhang Chao asked at the front desk if there was any room available, and the front desk said, "Sorry, if you don't have a reservation, our rooms are full today."

Zhang Chao thought about changing hotels, but Pan Yaoming stopped him with his hand and said with a smile, "Wait until I finish a phone call."

After that, he took out his cell phone and dialed a number, but this time he spoke in Cantonese, a mixture of Chinese and English slang that Zhang Chao couldn't understand. But soon he put down the phone and said to Zhang Chao, "Wait a moment."

After a while, the front desk received a call. After listening to it, he quickly said to Zhang Chao: "Sir, there is a room now. You can check in."

Zhang Chao handed his credit card and ID to the front desk, and turned around to thank him with a smile: "I am grateful to you for this time!" Pan Yaoming said with a little pride: "How could I let my friends have no room in the hotel?"

The room Zhang Chao booked was a deluxe sea view room, which cost nearly 8000 Hong Kong dollars a night. He was so distressed that he felt it was a waste to live alone. He almost called Song Jia to ask if he could fly over...

But the check-in experience was indeed first-class. As soon as he finished the formalities, a waiter came to help him carry his luggage and guided Zhang Chao all the way to the room. The large window of the room faces Victoria Harbor, and many Hong Kong landmarks can be seen.

Zhang Chao simply washed up and went to try the Peninsula Hotel’s famous English afternoon tea.

Then, he was sick of the macarons that were so sweet that they choked his throat, and another British dessert that was so sweet that it tasted bitter, and he canceled his dinner plan. After returning to his room, Zhang Chao brushed his teeth again, not because he was going to meet Ma Jiahui in the evening, but because he felt that his teeth were rotting.

However, this also saved Zhang Chao a lot of time thinking and looking up information.

In the context of Hong Kong, "Southern Literati" or "Southern Literati" generally refers to the writers and cultural groups who came to Hong Kong from the mainland from the late Qing Dynasty to before the return of Hong Kong in 97. But in fact, the situation is more complicated:
In the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China, the “literati from the south” were mostly passing through or staying for a short time, and Lu Xun was one of the most influential. However, because they were just “dragonflies touching the water”, they did not fundamentally change the local cultural ecology.

Things were different during the Anti-Japanese War. Especially in the early days of the war, the country was quickly occupied and there seemed to be no place to stay for a long time on the mainland, so a large number of cultural figures fled to Hong Kong, and there were more than 200 well-known people. Guo Moruo, Mao Dun, Xiao Qian, Xia Yan, Dai Wangshu, etc., although they were also passers-by and did not stay for long, their stay time ranged from a few months to several years, and they inevitably became part of Hong Kong's cultural soil.

The third group is from the founding of New China to the closure of the mainland-Hong Kong port in 1954. Representative figures include Zhang Ailing, Louis Cha, Liu Yichang, Liang Yusheng, Cao Juren, etc. These people basically lived in Hong Kong for a long time, and most of them became Hong Kong people. They were deeply involved in the cultural construction of Hong Kong and laid the cultural foundation of Hong Kong.

The fourth group is the cultural figures who came to Hong Kong from the mainland after the reform and opening up to 97, such as Xu Zidong. However, after these people came to Hong Kong, the cultural characteristics of Hong Kong had already been formed, and they were more influenced by Hong Kong than influencing Hong Kong.

……

These materials were relatively new to Zhang Chao. Although he studied Chinese twice, no matter which time, the records and descriptions of Hong Kong literature in literary history were very thin, with only a few names, and they were not the focus of the exam.

This time, I was able to fill in the gaps in my knowledge. But at the same time, Zhang Chao also had a huge doubt: "Such a small place has been receiving cultural nourishment from the mainland wave after wave, coupled with a developed economy and education. It should be said that for a long time, the 'density' of intellectuals far exceeded that of cities other than Beijing and Shanghai. Why are Hong Kong people still regarded as representatives of 'no culture'?"

Moreover, this “lack of culture” does not come from Zhang Chao’s prejudice, but is said by Hong Kong cultural people themselves. For example, TVB senior director and producer Lee Tim-shing said very bluntly: “Hong Kong people are uncultured. If the lines in a drama are not straightforward, no one will understand it…”

In addition to the economic factors that Xu Zidong mentioned today, which prevent Hong Kong people from improving their cultural quality and aesthetic standards, there must be other reasons...

"You have a very sharp intuition!" Ma Jiahui sat opposite Zhang Chao, sipped his tea, and praised Zhang Chao leisurely. Then he asked Zhang Chao another question: "You have read so much information about the 'Southern Literati', and you must have known something about their works. What do you think is missing from their works?"

The two were sitting in a tea room on the upper floor of the Eslite Bookstore in Victoria Harbour. Now it was just the two of them, and it was quiet and peaceful.

Zhang Chao knew that Ma Jiahui was not asking him to evaluate the lack of literary techniques of these writers, but some kind of spiritual core. After thinking for a long time, he still had no clue, so he shook his head and said, "I can't think of it, please enlighten me."

Ma Jiahui smiled slightly, quite pleased but not arrogant. He replied: "Their works are all missing 'Hong Kong'!"

Zhang Chao asked in surprise: "Huh?"

Ma Jiahui continued: "The mainstream writers of the 'Southern Literati' were all educated in the mainland and were deeply influenced by the mainland culture. They came to Hong Kong either out of helplessness, or to fulfill a mission, or to wander around... They were not 'attracted' to Hong Kong.

So in their writings, there is Shanghai, such as Zhang Ailing and Liu Yichang; there is Jiangnan, such as Jin Yong and Xu Jing; there is Northeast China, such as Li Huiying and Sima Changfeng; there is also Beijing, Yangcheng, Hangzhou... but there is no Hong Kong - maybe it's a bit too much, but it's quite appropriate to say 'almost no'. "

Zhang Chao thought about it and realized that it was true. For example, in Jin Yong's 15 martial arts novels, the hero and heroine have been to all over the world, but let alone Hong Kong, Guangdong is rarely mentioned.

Ma Jiahui said: "These 'literati from the south' often write about China as a whole, or their own hometowns, rather than Hong Kong. For example, in Liu Yichang's novel "Double Opposition", the hero spends his days looking at the streets and people of Hong Kong, but his mind is filled with memories of Shanghai.

They write prose and essays in the same way. One paragraph is about drinking coffee in a Hong Kong cafe, but the next paragraph is about which cafe in Shanghai had delicious dim sum many years ago.

Before the 70s, this kind of literature existed because the first generation of mainland immigrants in Hong Kong had a demographic advantage, especially monopolizing the cultural and intellectual discourse power, and of course there was still some market for it.

But when the second and third generations of immigrants grow up, they do not have the memories and experiences of the mainland that their parents had, so they naturally become confused: Can’t Hong Kong have its own literature?

Zhang Chao asked sensitively: "What about the local writers and cultural figures in Hong Kong during this period?"

Ma Jiahui said: "The 'literati from the south' not only brought their works, but also brought with them the mature literary traditions of the mainland, and organizations such as the Writers' Union and Writers' Association were formed very early. However, local literati are often seen as 'lazy', who only write but do not organize, or it is not easy for them to join organizations."

Zhang Chao asked, "So, during that period, local writers were suppressed by the 'literati from the south'?"

Ma Jiahui laughed and said: "It can't be considered suppression, 'depending on others' is more accurate. After all, most newspapers and literary journals are run by 'literati from the south'. They rely on 'literati from the south' for their livelihood, so it's normal for them to suffer a little bit of bullying.

For example, in the 50s, Shanghainese was the common language of Hong Kong’s upper class. ”

Zhang Chao asked: "Are there any other factors?"

Ma Jiahui hesitated for a moment and said, "Indeed there is... Do you know Ni Kuang?"

Zhang Chao nodded and said, "Master of science fiction, of course I know him."

Ma Jiahui asked mysteriously: "Do you really think the story about him coming to Hong Kong is true?"

(Two chapters in one)

(End of this chapter)