Literary Master 1983

Chapter 125 When Yu Xuanfeng Ends (Big Chapter , the plot of the writing meeting is over)

The University of Tokyo, Chinese Philosophy and Literature Society, abbreviated as "Tokyo University Chinese Philosophy Society".

This is where Yu Qie was invited to share.

This place was related to invasion during World War II, but it has now gradually evolved into a pure research institution. Researchers from various Asian countries can be absorbed in, and Chinese people themselves can also enter.

The master of Chinese studies, Ji Xianlin, has conducted joint research with professors from the Association of Chinese Philosophy at the University of Tokyo.

Having learned that a young Chinese writer had been "invited", a group of students and teachers had gathered at the entrance of the Chinese Philosophical Society.

They lined up at the door, and when Yu Qie got off the car, they applauded warmly and brought him a ginkgo leaf.

"Mr. Yu, ginkgo leaf means 'school' in our University of Tokyo, because our school emblem is the ginkgo leaf, and the ginkgo leaf is also the most noticeable thing in the whole school."

"Every November and December, the University of Tokyo is covered with fallen ginkgo leaves, which is very beautiful!"

Good, the ginkgo leaf represents the University of Tokyo. Yu Qie said: "Yenching University is most beautiful in autumn. One of our writers wrote "Autumn in the Ancient Capital", which means that for writers, autumn is the most beautiful time in Yenching."

A student asked: "What is the emblem of Yanda?"

"It is the two seal characters '北' and '大' stacked one above the other. You must be very familiar with the person who created this school emblem - Lu Xun."

The students were immediately excited. Lu Xun was a well-known figure in the literary circles of both China and Japan. But the Japanese did not know that Lu Xun was also a cover designer. They asked Yu Qie what Lu Xun's design of the school emblem represented.
Yu Qie kept it a secret: “This is what I’m going to share next.”

"Aren't you going to talk about literature in the nuclear age? What does this have to do with Lu Xun?"

Yu Qie said: "Literature is about nationality. The differences in these school emblems just reflect the nationality of different countries, even in the nuclear age."

What does the nuclear age have to do with nationality?
This was a good start. Many people came to listen to this sharing session, and the number was increasing.

Some researchers from the Chinese Philosophical Society came: Michio Matsumaru, who studied oracle bone inscriptions; Kunio Hachio, who studied Chinese etiquette; Atsushi Ikeda, who, like Yasushi Inoue, also studied Dunhuang studies; and there was Kanehide Onoue, who specialized in Chinese left-wing literature and modern literature.

In the research field, novels written by Yu Qie and others are called "contemporary literature", while the literature of the Republic of China is called "modern literature".

Ikeda Atsushi is 50 years old this year. He has met Ji Xianlin and said: "The last time I came to China, I had not heard Ji Xianlin say that Yanda had such a student."

Kanehide Onoue has always looked down on young people: "I think he was hyped up. I don't know why the media in this country chose him, but if he loses himself because of these propaganda, then he's finished."

Ikeda Atsushi said, "Yu Qie must have something genuine since he was able to do an interview with Inoue Yasushi (Dunhuang Studies). It's just that he was on a TV show, and in that kind of setting, he couldn't say anything more profound."

"——Is that so?" Onoue Kaneie shook his head. "There have been many writers in Chinese history, but there has never been one so young and so famous abroad. This Yu Qie hasn't even published a single work in Japan. He hasn't written a novel, so he was probably promoted."

"The University of Tokyo, like Yanjing University, is an ideological front of domestic universities. If Yu Qie can't say anything, people will be disappointed in him, and the popularity created by the media will eventually disappear quickly."

Ikeda On said, "What if he says something good?"

Onoue Kanehide has already become a pioneer in opposing "Yu": "You still don't know why he is so popular? This is not just because of literature."

In fact, Yu Qie himself also understands this truth.

The popularity he received was abnormal, and was a product of Japan's developed media. Before this, there was no foreign young man who knew Japanese, had a good image, and had an influence, and he just happened to occupy this niche now.

Yu Qie's experience was almost a one-to-one mirror image of what happened to a young Japanese man named "Kato Yoshikazu" who came to China twenty years later.

Both Li Xiaolin and Chen Xiru thought that Yu Qie was liked by the Japanese because of his outspokenness and literature. In fact, his appearance and identity were more popular than his literature.

The media played a greater role in this.

Ba Lao understood this, so he immediately contacted a publisher for him, hoping that he could use his works to turn these false reputations into real fame.

The Chinese Philosophy Association had a tiered classroom specifically for exchanges among foreign scholars. Yu Qie stood inside it, surrounded by hundreds of Japanese. There was a blackboard behind him. If he spoke well, he would be applauded, and if he spoke poorly, he would be immediately criticized.

He felt like he was back to defending his thesis in his previous life.

But Yu Qie was actually a top scorer in his previous life.

"What do you want to ask me?"

“Nuclear Age Literature!”

"That's not enough!" After hearing Yu Qie's views on "nationality", Onoue Kanehide immediately asked: "I want to know what the relationship is between Lu Xun, nuclear age literature, and the nationality you mentioned. Don't be so mysterious!"

What exactly can the Chinese say about “Nuclear Age Literature”?
Yu Qie took out the ginkgo leaf and said, "Let's start with this leaf. Do we admit that when designing these school emblems, they essentially reflect the different aesthetic preferences of our country's elites?"

They agreed for the time being.

"Then why is the emblem of the University of Tokyo a ginkgo leaf, while the emblem designed by Lu Xun has two seal characters? How many people have seen the emblem of Yenching University?"

Students and teachers, raise your hands, but not many.

Yu Qie turned around and drew the emblem of Yenching University on the blackboard. He was extremely solemn and dignified, but not nervous at all, which made people present suddenly feel that there were some things they had never heard of before and that he was about to say.

Matsunaga from Asahi Shimbun is overwhelmed with emotion at this moment!

He graduated from the University of Tokyo and came to Yu Qie's literary sharing as an alumnus. He is one of the creators of the "Yu whirlwind" in Japan. Six years ago, he was sent to China to visit a microelectronics factory in Shanghai, and then found that "nine out of ten workers in this place were playing beside the production line", and the passive sabotage had reached an extremely exaggerated level.

Matsunaga therefore calmly judged in his report after returning to China: "China will definitely reform and open up. They have reached the point where they have no choice but to reform and open up!"

As an elite of the University of Tokyo, he originally thought that the writer Yu Qie was a media “whirlwind” he created, but now he suddenly began to look forward to it: maybe he was genuine!
Could he be real?

Yu Qie was a good speaker, Lu Xun was the most famous Chinese writer, and Yenching University was also a top institution of higher learning similar to the University of Tokyo. There is no better example than this. The two seal characters "北" (North) and "大" (Great) are stacked on top.

"The two seal characters represent people-oriented, which is the original concept of the university. Secondly, China was poor and weak at that time. The logo looks like a person carrying something. Lu Xun called on students to shoulder their responsibilities... But the most intuitive thing is that it looks like 'three people'."

"Three means 'many' in Chinese, so three means countless. Why do three people gather together? It represents unity, it represents unity. But we can't just say that the Chinese national character is 'unity' from a school emblem. It's too obvious and far-fetched, and it has a literal subjective meaning. What is the purpose of unity? Who can tell me?"

“I need a neutral word that has no subjective meaning and describes a state.”

There are many experts in the Chinese Philosophy Association who understand Chinese culture, and perhaps Yu Qie can give his speeches in Chinese.

Immediately there are some answers:
Ikeda Atsushi believed that the goal was to achieve universal peace and harmony.

Kanehide Onoue said that the goal was to overcome difficulties and defeat strong enemies, which was simply to fight against Japan.

Kunio Beezoo believes that unity is the result, the result of norms and systems.

Michio Matsumaru studied oracle bone inscriptions. In oracle bone inscriptions, "tuan" means building a fence to enclose people inside, and "jie" means a group of people going out to collect things and bringing them back. He believed that this was acting for the common good.

They are all right, but Yu Qie's answer is different from theirs. Yu Qie said, "Behind unity is order."

order?

It seems to be the case, but it also seems not entirely so.

The world, etiquette, foreign enemies, and norms...they are inextricably linked to order.

Yu Qie went on to explain: "If there is no order, we will recreate it. If the order is not good, we will overthrow it and start over. This pursuit of order is not passive obedience, but violent in nature. We call those who pacify the world and finally restore order to society true heroes and great men. Our nation praises such people."

"Please note that this is different from Japan. Although the pursuit of order exists in different ethnic groups, it is particularly evident in the Chinese."

He also introduced the results of Michio Matsumaru's research on oracle bone inscriptions: "When the ancient Chinese created oracle bone inscriptions, they tried their best to carve these characters on the smooth back of a turtle, and wrote them in rows and columns, neatly and squarely. From that time on, they showed their pursuit of order."

The people nowadays are all real experts who have been engaged in this field for many years and do not completely agree with Yu Qie’s ideas.

Apart from bullets, no opinion can make them bow down and prostrate themselves.

But as soon as these few words came out, you could tell that Yu Qie was really capable.

As an expert in left-wing literature, Onoue Kanehira agrees with this statement, at least it is a key aspect of Chinese national character.

The goal of achieving universal peace, or rising to the top of the world and liberating all mankind was of course the common wish of the Chinese left-wing writers at the time. Any nation would think so, but all these were still too far away.

Their initial desire was to "restore order" and stop the nation from being in such chaos.

When all the writers of a country think this way, it is not an exaggeration to regard it as a national character.

So, what is the national character of the Japanese?

Onoue Kanehide stood up and asked this question. He bowed his head slightly to greet Yu Qie.

Yu Qie gave the leading keyword: "mono no aware culture."

The Japanese did not object, and of course they would not object.

Is "order" the national character of the Japanese? They have been at war for thousands of years and were only unified in modern times. How can this be related to "order"?

"It's not me who defined mono no aware, it's you Japanese who said so. Before the 18th century, Japanese researchers discovered that there was a certain universal quality in Japanese literature, and the pinnacle of literature with this quality was also created by you Japanese..."

Yu Qie glanced at the people in the audience: "What do you think is the pinnacle of literature?"

The answer is unanimously "The Tale of Genji". The "mono no aware" in this book is not just sadness, but "the true feelings are revealed". Being moved by the changes in the outside world is called "sorrow".

Yu Qie said: "Although Chinese people also have the idea of ​​'mono no aware' and empathy for the outside world, they are more proactive. We want to transform the outside world. In terms of the myths and legends passed down in our nation, we have many stories like 'Dayu controlling floods', 'Yugong moving mountains', and 'Jingwei filling the sea'... while Japanese stories are more about the interactions and conflicts between gods and the disasters they caused."

Japanese mythology is not only about disasters, but also about the worship of the sun, ancestor worship, and political characteristics. If it were not for the current good relationship between China and Japan, I would really like to say one thing: please oppose the emperor, because they forged your mythology.

They forged him as a descendant of the sun god and the royal family as the bloodline of the gods.

He then asked, "Is there anyone here who studies Marxism-Leninism?"

How could there not be? Onoue Kanehide himself had dabbled in Marxist philosophy, and Yu Qie told him about the whole “matter determines consciousness” thing. “Japan’s natural environment is full of disasters, and frequent earthquakes, tsunamis and other natural disasters have made the Japanese have a deep sense of the fragility and impermanence of life.”

But Yu Qie added, "The source of Chinese culture is the Yellow River civilization. The necessity of productivity development has prompted us to form the natural basis for the need for 'order'. However, the Yellow River, the mother river, is not always so gentle. In history, it has changed its course and flooded many times, causing tragic events... But despite this, China has not produced a large-scale culture of mono no aware."

"We can say that in terms of order, the Chinese desire the world to run in a rational way, while the Japanese do not; in terms of mono no aware, the Chinese are more positive and want to change the sky and the earth, while the Japanese do not show this kind of culture. They believe that this is the business of the gods and is done by those with bloodlines, and has nothing to do with ordinary people."

"So what is the national character of the Japanese? We derive order from unity, and what do we derive from mono no aware? Who can tell me that word?"

The lecture hall had become completely quiet, with only the sound of Yu Qie.

Some people have the answer in their hearts, but they dare not say it out loud.

Because the answer is "obey".

The Japanese do not have the courage to change the world; they focus on their own emotions.

But what does this have to do with literature in the nuclear age?

(End of this chapter)