Literary Master 1983

Chapter 292 War of words
The international writing exchange program, represented by Nie Hualing, immediately published a statement in defense:

"We did not intend to destroy; even a grain of sand in the long river of time is precious."

In the article, Nie Hualing described his writing project at the University of Iowa as a "pure land of literature" that "absorbs any writer in the world who yearns for freedom," but remained silent about who funded the project.

Upon seeing the article, Yu Qie quickly responded with a sharp rebuttal: "Where does your money come from? What kind of literature do you create? Abortion, infidelity... this is not literature."

This is a stain on "international writing exchange".

The former refers to a "writing exchange" where some writers formed a brief "project romance," but after leaving the United States, they went their separate ways, leaving behind a child without anyone to care for them, or simply aborting the child.

The latter is a stain on Nie Hualing's own record. This writing exchange she founded relied on her white husband, Paul Engle, who worked at the University of Iowa.

In 1964, without going through divorce proceedings and with two daughters, Nie Hualing went to the United States to be with Paul Angel, who was seventeen years her senior. They lived together for three years. However, Paul Angel was also not divorced. This white professor was married at the time, and Paul was not legally single until 1971.

What role did Nie Hualing play from 64 to 71?
She had no legal marriage, neglected her children, and interfered in other people's marriages... None of her novels were read by Americans, and in order to earn some money, she had to use the guise of "cultural exchange" to get money from American foundations.

Iowa, where Nie Hualing lives, is a typical conservative state that still superficially follows the Puritan way of life, which is completely different from the America depicted in Hollywood blockbusters—whether it is abortion, giving birth but not raising children, or interfering in marriage, it is all a complete scandal.

Nie Hualing was furious when she saw Yu Qie's response!

Yu Qie's handsome face has now been transformed into Satan and the devil!

How did he know this information?
How did he know that these things were slides that you couldn't even touch in Iowa?

Nie Hualing was naturally unable to answer this question. Then, she tried to find some well-known literary works produced in the "International Writing Exchange" to refute Yu Qie.

However, Yu Qie had already thought of this before her. In the United Times, Yu Qie raised the question: "What kind of literature was actually created during this writing project?"

"Literature needs at least a certain readership. Are you targeting Chinese readers, Western readers... or do you simply have no readers at all? Are you just a money-making machine, a troublemaker?"

At this moment, the entire Chinese-speaking world's media was drawn to this debate.

American television stations also began interviewing both sides. At the Omni Parker Hotel in downtown Boston, a television reporter from New York gave a lengthy report on the debate, describing it as "a duel between European and American writers in the last century, now happening to crazy Asians."

Once upon a time, under the watchful eyes of numerous dignitaries and journalists, writers would draw their guns at the slightest disagreement, even going so far as to resort to execution rather than engage in verbal sparring. But now, we have entered the harmonious new era of the 1980s.

No, this era is too boring!
These Asians really have an ancient tradition!

The Omni Parker Hotel, where the delegation stayed, is a symbol of Boston culture, where many literary giants and political figures have left their mark. Today, writers from both sides of the Taiwan Strait are engaging in a valuable exchange on a wide range of topics.

To ensure fairness, these topics were selected by drawing lots, and this time the topic was "the debate between simplified and traditional Chinese characters".

Yu Qie got up early, ate the breakfast provided by the hotel, and went to the lobby. In the hotel's basement corridor, there were many posters and sculptures. A reporter hired by the *United Times* introduced him to the exhibits, saying that Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, David Thoreau, and others had all left their mark on the hotel.

Those were all world-class literary giants.

They were originally supposed to stay at a hotel near Boston University, which was arranged by an American bookseller (through Márquez's connections).

Upon hearing this, the United Times specially applied for funding to arrange for everyone to stay here.

Upon seeing Yu Qie, Yu Guangzhong joked, "I wonder which of us will have our names engraved on this hotel in the future."

Everyone was drawn to that future.

In modern literature, no Chinese writer has truly achieved worldwide fame, while foreigners have accomplished this effortlessly. Which textbook doesn't feature a foreign author?
“Me!” Li Ao said. “Today, it’s not that I’m fortunate enough to stay at this hotel, but rather that this hotel is fortunate enough to welcome me.”

Everyone burst into laughter, but Li Ao said, "Am I funny?"

This made even Yu Qie laugh.

You, Li Ao, boast that you're very capable, but you're really not at that level.

Qian Zhongshu didn't want to appear too sarcastic. In his opinion, Li Aolian was far inferior to him, but he couldn't say it directly, so he kept quiet.

Then Li Ao said, "But Emerson also stayed at this hotel."

Emerson was an American poet and thinker of the last century, and his reputation has grown even more, with titles such as "the Confucius of America," "the Saint of Concord," "the Teacher of Mankind," and "the Prophet of New England."

Li Ao said, "According to my research, although Emerson supported the emancipation of slaves, like the American president Lincoln, he was a complete white supremacist. His so-called emancipation of blacks meant treating them like animals, absolutely forbidding any intermarriage between them and whites, and denying them rights such as voting and education!"

"If Emer were alive today and saw us, I'm sure she would say something offensive. Because we're not white either."

"So instead of respecting him, you should respect me. Otherwise, you'll end up like Nie Hualing, suffering from white rickets."

This is a show of force!

The people on the mainland were speechless for a moment, and they all instinctively looked at Yu Qie.

As Yu Qie spoke, he thought to himself: "I believe that all people in the world are equal in terms of personality, but I also acknowledge that there are indeed differences among individuals. Let literature be literature, and let self-cultivation be self-cultivation."

"Then what would you do if you met Emerson? Would you say that to him?" Li Ao asked.

Did I meet him?
Yu Qie made a shooting gesture: "Bang!"

“I have no manners towards these people,” Yu Qie said.

This little incident made the subsequent discussion a bit more tense.

Thinking about it again, the first topic was "simplified and traditional Chinese characters," which shows how clever scholars are!
The simplified and traditional characters can be seen as new and old, or as modern and traditional, but because simplified characters are used in mainland China while traditional characters are used in other places, it seems to carry some other meanings as well...

Yu Qie firmly stood on the side of simplified Chinese characters.

The debate over simplified versus traditional Chinese characters is an old one that has occurred in both mainland China and Taiwan, and it is still frequently the subject of arguments on online forums.

This debate first occurred before the New Culture Movement, with extreme opinions advocating the abandonment of Chinese characters and the complete adoption of Western languages. Later, it evolved into Romanization or the Latinization of Chinese characters.

Writers in Taiwan generally support traditional Chinese characters. Their opinions differ. Yu Guangzhong mentioned, "The simplification of Chinese characters has also simplified traditional culture!" He cited a passage: "Relatives cannot see each other, love has no heart, production cannot be born, the factory is empty..." Qian Zhongshu immediately replied, "There is talent in the group, the nation contains precious jade, love exists because of friendship..."

Subsequently, Li Ao joined the fray, stating bluntly that he believed the simplified character movement was itself a cultural movement, and could not be said to be completely unrelated to politics. From then on, we had two different writing systems.

Yu Qie couldn't help but interrupt Li Ao: "Don't judge a gentleman by the standards of a petty person."

Yu Qie mentioned the "Spring Rain Project" sugar pills he was working on in mainland China: At that time, the research team in mainland China faced two routes, the American route and the Soviet route. In the end, Gu Fangzhou, the head of the research team, further reduced the production cost of the sugar pills based on the Soviet route.

Despite the technical costs and the slightly reduced effectiveness of the sugar pill, all newborns can now benefit from this achievement.

Yu Qie said, "Simplifying Chinese characters is like a sugar pill that suits us. We first need to eradicate illiteracy before we can talk about anything else."

The essence of debate is that you say your piece, I say mine, I misinterpret yours, and I refute your misinterpretation.

After resigning from the poetry journal "Stars", Liu Shahe happened to be studying ancient characters. He said, "The simplification of Chinese characters first occurred in the Republic of China, but it was not widely promoted. We are the inheritors."

The meaning is clear: to deny me is to deny you. Because I learned from you.

Qian Zhongshu continued: "Simplified characters were not created out of thin air. Many characters originated from cursive and semi-cursive scripts, and they already existed. You say we have created two writing systems, but in fact we have had many writing systems throughout history."

"Do people today not understand classical Chinese because of simplified characters? I believe they can generally recognize it."

Yu Qie couldn't help but say, "In our history, the right to use Chinese characters has never belonged to the general public. It only truly entered the homes of ordinary people a few decades ago! We have enabled a billion people to become literate, and this should be our achievement!"

There was a moment of silence on the other end, but the atmosphere eased. The debate then veered off-topic for a while, discussing the evolution of other languages ​​in the world, because many of the world's mainstream languages ​​have undergone significant changes over the past few centuries... English, for example, has undergone a tremendous evolution.

Shakespeare's sonnets, written in the 16th century, require expert decipherment today due to significant changes in word choice...

So, Qian Zhongshu's wife, Yang Jiang, actually retranslated the Greek poem using an English translation... How incredibly audacious!

Li Ao again talked about how, after the introduction of computers, "simplified Chinese characters have become a countercurrent" in the context of computer output, because computer input is very fast, and there is almost no difference in input speed between simplified and traditional Chinese characters.

However, simplified characters may cause misreading, while traditional characters are better in this regard.

Indeed...

Yu Qieze talked about the laser typesetting of Chinese characters being researched in mainland China—an invention by researcher Wang Xuan that won a major award at last year's National Invention Exhibition.

Yu Qie said, "Although the input speed is almost the same, how to input is the problem. Simplified Chinese characters do not prevent us from entering the computer age."

So, people on the island also started talking about their technology, and eventually they came back to the idea of ​​"losing traditional culture". Qian Zhongshu, who studies oracle bone script, cited many ancient books to prove that simplified characters can at least be seen in oracle bone script.

……

The first discussion has now concluded.

Everyone was very satisfied; they demonstrated their authority and stance in the debate, without losing their friendship.

There is a local American newspaper called the World Journal that is specifically distributed to Chinese people. This newspaper sent a reporter to observe the game and immediately wrote a news article titled "Millions of Chinese Americans Should Pay Attention to Boston".

"Chinese people are the most numerous in the world, but in the United States, they are an absolute minority. They not only face language and cultural barriers, but also have to struggle to make a living here... Today I know that writing Chinese characters is an honor, and speaking Chinese is an honor. I am absolutely certain of this."

Yu Qie specifically sought out this reporter from the World Journal and asked him, "What's your name?"

“My surname is Hua, Mr. Yu. Although I have spoken Chinese since I was a child, I have never had a Chinese name because my father is white and my mother always doted on me! But from now on, my surname is Hua, and I am Chinese,” the reporter said.

“Okay, Mr. Hua.” Yu Qie smiled at the curly-haired, high-nosed mixed-race man.

Meanwhile, Nie Hualing of Iowa is preparing for a new round of verbal sparring.

Boston's Yuche is like the core of the team, handling both offense and defense. While discussing with the writer from the other side of the strait, he also takes time to engage in verbal battles with Nie Hualing from Iowa.

He's like a Hall of Fame superstar; while other players are still trying to jump and shoot, Yu Qie has already arrived, his massive shadow looming over the sky. And when it's his turn to attack, you never know where he'll be next.

Nie Hualing was indeed unable to answer the question, "What literature did they create?"

She was unlucky; many writers participated in the "writing exchange," but few produced great works during the program. No writer mentioned in their articles, "It was because of Nie Hualing's program that I was able to write xxx..." or anything like that.

International student literature? Travel diary?

Those things are not fit for polite society!

Their weakness lies in directly comparing their literary achievements with those of Yu Qie and others.

Although Yu Qie is not very old, he has shown a clear trend of surpassing others.

No, he has caught up with and surpassed it.

Although "2666" is a novel in the Latin American literary genre, to be honest, Latin American novels are more mainstream in the United States than Chinese novels.

Therefore, Nie Hualing published a short article titled "We Don't Want the Rise of Great Powers, We Only Want the Dignity of Ordinary People" through the University of Iowa's student newspaper. Since she couldn't win by writing articles, she had to talk about values.

Upon seeing this, Yu Qie did not respond, but instead publicly replied: "There are neither great powers nor common people here, I only see shamelessness and traitors."

Subsequently, Yu Guangzhong and others also wrote articles in support of Yu Qie and condemned Nie Hualing. Li Ao even went so far as to describe Nie Hualing as "a dog without bones would still guard the door for its master," spraying saliva all over her face, and she didn't even have time to wipe it clean.

Nie Hua was stunned for a moment. After several exchanges, she had run out of ideas and urged Gu Hua to speak as well.

Nie Hualing's protection was no longer sufficient to safeguard Gu Hua. Gu Hua simply hadn't expected this moment to unfold so quickly.

Gu Hua said, "I am not as famous as Yu Qie in mainland China, and I could never beat him in the United States! Asking me to fight him in public is tantamount to sending me to my death."

At this point, Gu Hua couldn't help but burst into tears.

(End of this chapter)