Writer 1978: I Need to Give the Literary World a Lesson

Chapter 316 Vietnamese Protest

Two groups of people surrounded the apartment entrance, but their skin colors were clearly distinct, and there were also some American police officers maintaining order nearby.

Paul, Nie Hualing's husband, was the first to see the words on the signs. One group had written "Love and Equality" on their signs, while another group had written "Get Out of America" ​​and "Defend Vietnam."

“Liu, these are Black people and some other minorities supporting you in the US, and there are also Vietnamese people protesting,” Paul said helplessly.

Because Liu Yimin's photo had already been published in the American media, these demonstrators and supporters immediately recognized him from among a group of Asian faces.

His supporters enthusiastically surrounded Liu Yimin, extending their hands and shouting slogans like "love and equality." Some even stood on the roof of the car and chanted Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream."

Seeing this scene, the Vietnamese protested even louder, but they only shouted slogans from a distance and did not approach them at all.

Police were watching nearby, and some Americans who supported Liu Yimin were hurling insults at the Vietnamese, saying that Liu Yimin was speaking out for all ethnic minorities, including the Vietnamese.

Upon arriving at the apartment entrance, Liu Yimin received two bouquets of flowers, along with more than a dozen warm hugs and kisses.

Upon entering the apartment, the police immediately blocked the entrance.

Then Nikki Noyce and several employees from the Chinese publishing house appeared at the stairwell. Nikki's expression was rather unpleasant.

Entering the apartment, Niki Noyce said, "We originally planned to hold the book signing at Columbia University's gymnasium, but we heard that there would be a lot of protests from Vietnamese students, so we're thinking of changing it!"

"I never expected the Vietnamese to cause trouble!" Zhang Guangnian said sullenly.

Nichinoyes said, "It's a normal thing, and there's no need to worry too much."

“Ms. Niki, I think we shouldn’t change the location lightly. Now that the Vietnamese have stepped forward, I believe they can find it no matter where they go. If we change the location, we will be the ones who suffer losses.”

"We've already done the publicity, and changing things at the last minute won't notify all our readers, which will be very detrimental to the sale of our new book!" Liu Yimin said firmly.

After thinking it over, Niki finally decided to follow Liu Yimin's advice and continue the book signing event at Columbia University tomorrow.

However, at Nikki's suggestion, everyone finally decided to move out of the apartment. They packed their belongings, and the bookstore staff helped them move.

In the evening, Edward led the delegation away first. The crowd at the entrance had long since dispersed, leaving only a mess.

Protest and support signs lay scattered on the ground, along with many fast food wrappers, disheveled in the New York cold wind.

While driving, Edward joked to Liu Yimin, "Liu, you're practically a racial fighter now!"

"I can't help it, I always want to speak out when I encounter injustice," Liu Yimin said with a smile.

Edward smiled noncommittally and then began to tell his father's story: "Veterans often live lonely lives in their later years, and I try my best to keep my father from being lonely. He was a tank soldier whose tank drove into Tokyo before getting stuck in a North Korean swamp. After that, he retired!"

Xu Chi said with a smile, "If I had gone to the POW camp to interview back then, we might have known each other for decades sooner."

"Oh? You've been to the front lines?"

“Not just once, but twice!” Xu Chi made a gesture to indicate that it was twice.

"Looks like we'll have a lot to talk about today!" Edward said with a smile.

Edward's father lived in a wooden country house with a garage next to it and a small farm behind it, where Edward's father usually worked.

Edward and his wife have an apartment in New York, which they only return to when they are resting.

The villa was lit up, and many figures could be seen inside from the outside. Edward smiled and said, "My father's old friends have arrived!"

After a knock on the door, Edward's father, wearing a tall cowboy hat and looking playful, opened it and said in a strange voice, "Is it our Chinese guest?"

“Dad, this is Yimin Liu, and this is…” Edward shook his head and introduced his father with a sigh when he saw his father’s attire.

"Oh, please come in, please come in!"

There were more than a dozen people sitting in the living room. Some were able-bodied, some were in wheelchairs, and some were relatively young.

“Young man, thank you for your ability. These old guys are all WWII veterans. Only this old buddy and I have been to North Korea; the rest of them haven’t. The fathers of these young men participated in aid to China. Hall’s father was a member of the Flying Tigers and was even rescued by the Chinese when he parachuted.”

Through the introduction of Edward's father, Mond, young Hall became the most popular person among the delegation members.

Hall said, "After my father was shot down by the Japanese fighter jets, he immediately parachuted and was rescued by the Chinese. There were many Japanese chasing him at the time, and many militiamen were killed. After recuperating for three months, he was sent back to base, but eventually returned to the United States because he was too wounded to continue fighting."

My father passed away last year, and one of his biggest regrets was that he hadn't properly thanked the Chinese people who saved him.

“No, we should thank your father and the contributions they have made to our country,” Zhang Guangnian said.

Inside the living room, everyone was eating barbecue together.

Edward's father, Mond, said, "Back in the POW camp, our food was better than that of the Chinese soldiers. At that time, I was thinking, why didn't I surrender sooner? I was captured by the military, put in a car, and thrown into a training camp. After five months of training, I started fighting. I was already tired of war."

Xu Chi talked to him about what he had seen on the battlefield, and when he mentioned the South Korean soldiers...

Mondl said sarcastically, "The South Korean army is made of sand and has no fighting power at all. It's hard to imagine that North and South Korea, who are of the same race, have such different fighting capabilities. However, the North Korean army is also not very strong; they were driven into the sea before they even had a chance to fight."

"There are only two countries in the world whose armies can stop the American war machine: China and the Soviet Union! However, the most powerful is China. Because the Chinese weapons are far inferior to those of the United States and the Soviet Union, but they are incredibly strong, and their tanks and artillery are hard to shake!" another veteran interjected.

After saying that, he muttered to himself, "We can't understand why the bald man's soldiers could unleash such formidable fighting power on the front lines after surrendering!"

"Perhaps even the bald guy himself doesn't know, hahaha!" Liu Yimin laughed as he chimed in.

From North Korea to the front lines in southern Xinjiang, Liu Yimin told them stories of the soldiers, recounting how they collected rainwater on the front lines and ate compressed biscuits.

Several American veterans exchanged glances and said, "If we let American soldiers hold out on the battlefield for months like this, I believe they will definitely mutiny! We suffered greatly in the rainforest. Soldiers who returned from the Vietnam War told us that sometimes they couldn't even see Vietnamese people in the rainforest." "Come on, let's toast to Sino-US friendship. We also hope that you can visit China sometime. China has many famous mountains and historical sites worth visiting."

Mond sang Chinese songs he had learned in the prisoner-of-war camp, holding a wine bottle as a weapon.

"We are all air force personnel, no matter how high the mountains or how deep the waters."
We are all sharpshooters; one bullet, one enemy.

As the song played, the delegation members left. Edward smiled and said he would be there for the book signing tomorrow.

The next morning, Liu Yimin finished washing up early. The hotel chosen by the China Book and Periodical Publishing House had huge floor-to-ceiling windows; by drawing back the curtains, one could see most of New York City.

The streets of New York were bustling with traffic in the early morning, and the constant honking of horns gave Liu Yimin a headache.

Niki called the room to ask if Liu Yimin was awake.

"Liu, let's go have breakfast together, then head to Columbia University."

"it is good!"

When Liu Yimin saw Xu Chi outside, he asked with a grin, "Old Xu, how much more money do you need for the refrigerator?"

Xu Chi glanced at the other delegation members: "Almost there, almost there. A few more articles about refrigerators and washing machines will be enough!"

"Look how happy you are! A few articles aren't enough. When we get back, we'll have to buy some clothes and gifts. There's still one more article to finish!" Liu Yimin said in a low voice.

Xu Chi chuckled: "Understood!"

Upon reaching the eighth floor of the hotel, the sight of the breakfast in the restaurant made everyone's throats tingle, especially a few of the older folks, who frowned deeply.

"Liu, in addition to readers, there are also some professors from Columbia University's Faculty of Arts who will be attending the book signing. They will ask questions and exchange ideas."

“Okay, no problem!” Liu Yimin said confidently.

Niki Noyce expects around 800 readers to attend this book signing.

"This number is quite good. We invited reporters to promote it, and as soon as our book signing ended, bookstores across the country started selling it simultaneously. This is our latest sample book, with an added dust jacket!"

Liu Yimin accepted the jersey, which read "First Prize Winner of the 1982 O. Henry Literary Award - Yimin Liu".

Besides this line of large characters, there are many smaller characters, such as "This book sold 500 million copies in China in six months."

"This design is exquisite!" Chen Yuan said, holding the waist belt.

"We can use this method for our books in the future!"

Xu Chi said, "This is a bit wasteful for our country. It would be better to use more paper for content!"

Waistbands were widely used in Japan, and began to be widely used in the Chinese market around the 1990s.

When they arrived outside the stadium, the road was already blocked off. Vietnamese students, hearing the commotion, came running, holding up protest signs.

Most of these Vietnamese students are descendants of South Vietnamese officials who came to the United States after the end of the South Vietnamese regime, and some are descendants of Vietnamese who served the U.S. military at the time.

Besides them, some other ethnic minorities also chanted slogans of support.

Amidst protests, the delegation entered the stadium. The stadium was already quite full, and Liu Yimin, led by Niki, sat in the front row.

This is an indoor stadium. Stacks of copies of "Triumphant at Midnight" are displayed in the front row, and huge promotional posters are placed on both sides of the stadium. The sounds of protests from outside can be heard from time to time.

When the book signing started, the seats around the room were already full. Niki took the stage first to introduce Liu Yimin and the book "Triumph at Midnight".

"Let's welcome Yimin Liu, author of 'The Green Book' and associate professor of Chinese Language and Literature at Yenching University!" Niki Noyce extended her right hand to Liu Yimin, warmly inviting him to the stage.

Amid applause, Liu Yimin walked onto the stage, picked up the microphone, and began his opening remarks.

"Hello everyone, I am the 'young man from the East' mentioned in the American newspapers. The inspiration for writing the book 'Green Book' came from my American classmate at Yenching University. He had served in the military, was a white man, and believed in racial equality."

We learn from each other and exchange our national histories and cultures.

After finishing his lecture on "The Green Book," Liu Yimin began discussing "Triumph at Midnight." He didn't start directly with "Triumph at Midnight," but rather began by recounting the reactions of international students from Vietnam to Cambodia.

The cultures of China and the United States are different. If we simply talk about "Triumph at Midnight," many Americans probably wouldn't be able to understand this kind of Chinese heroism.

So, starting from the perspective of internationalism and peace volunteers, we then talked about Hemingway, his internationalism and heroism.

"While Chinese and American cultures differ, their shared veneration of heroes is consistent. The US values ​​individualism and individual heroism, while the Chinese emphasize collective heroism. However, I believe that collectivism also exists in the US; Columbia University's football team's success relies on teamwork. Similarly, individual heroism exists in China."

The example of the rugby team immediately brought everyone closer together.

After Liu Yimin finished speaking, enthusiastic applause erupted from the audience. Among them were Mond and several American veterans whom I had met yesterday; they were wearing WWII uniforms and medals.

Upon seeing this, Liu Yimin invited Mond to the stage to say a few words.

"The Chinese army is the most formidable army in the world. The United States withdrew from Vietnam, but they forgot how they won. The Chinese have been neighbors with Vietnam for thousands of years and were once Vietnam's suzerain state. They know better than we do how to deal with the Vietnamese."

After Mond finished speaking, a few scattered laughs rang out from the audience. Some professors wanted to laugh, but considering their status, they rested their chins on their hands and suppressed their laughter.

Next, Liu Yimin was to answer some questions about literature. A Columbia University professor, holding a newspaper, said, "Professor Liu, this is today's American newspaper. An American writer believes that Chinese literature has been detached from world literature for a long time and has fallen far behind the world by a century. What do you think?"

"I acknowledge that Chinese and Western literature have been isolated for decades, but I do not believe that Chinese literature has been detached from world literature for too long. Chinese literature is also a part of world literature. As a major power, China's literature is as indispensable to world literature as China is to the world!"

(End of this chapter)