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

Chapter 573 Receive the Award
The title of honorary professor is merely a name; the professor neither participates in teaching nor research. Visiting professors might occasionally attend classes, but honorary professors typically don't attend at all. Furthermore, whether or not they attend is also related to an agreement between the two parties.

The University of Buenos Aires hopes that Liu Yimin can provide guidance and specific suggestions on the development of the Oriental Languages ​​and Literature major in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Buenos Aires.

Upon hearing this, Qian Zhongshu turned around and whispered to Cao Yu, "These people are quite snobbish. They didn't say anything yesterday, but waited until the list of literary award winners was released. It's obvious they only came to invite us because we won the award."

“Hehe, Zhongshu, this is a good thing. The establishment of the Oriental Literature major will benefit the students of the University of Buenos Aires in learning Chinese literature and culture.” Cao Yu laughed, but upon closer thought, he realized that Qian Zhongshu’s words made some sense.

Liu Yimin received the document from the dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Buenos Aires. The document contained the invitation and a list of things the dean wanted Liu Yimin to do for him.

“If you really want to build a solid Oriental Literature program, I can help.” After reading the document, Liu Yimin handed it back to the Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Buenos Aires.

"Professor Liu, thank you very much, and welcome to the University of Buenos Aires!" the rector of the University of Buenos Aires said happily.

The Dean of the School of Literature said, "Liu, I hope we can work together to promote literary exchanges between the two sides and facilitate international literary cooperation and discipline development."

"Definitely! Definitely!" Liu Yimin said politely.

The University of Buenos Aires tactfully suggested that Liu Yimin could conduct a two-week teaching activity in Argentina, but Liu Yimin quickly declined.

The dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Buenos Aires looked disappointed when he heard Liu Yimin decline. Chilean writer José, standing nearby, remarked, "Liu has other matters to attend to back in China; they are organizing a forum for Chinese literature writers."

"Mr. José, how did you know?" Liu Yimin asked curiously.

Jose winked at Liu Yimin: "This matter has already spread in the newspapers in the West, but the newspapers in South America haven't paid attention to it."

"Is that so?" Liu Yimin smiled and looked at Cao Yu and Qian Zhongshu.

Jose generously said, "I'll have someone send you a few English newspapers in a bit. You'll see that The New York Times believes this is a united front effort by mainland writers against writers on the island. It has also published some comments from radical elements on the island, who believe that the island authorities should prevent these writers from going to the mainland to participate in exchanges."

"Hmph!" Cao Yu couldn't help but snort coldly: "We are doing this entirely for the purpose of exchanging Chinese culture. Moreover, any Chinese person with a conscience should support cross-strait exchanges."

“There will always be some people with ulterior motives, but we are not afraid. Justice can never defeat evil,” Qian Zhongshu said with a smile.

Marquez shrugged helplessly: "Unfortunately, in Colombia, drug lords have triumphed over the government. I wonder if this counts as evil triumphing over justice."

Everyone wanted to laugh when they heard Márquez's words, but they also felt a sense of sorrow.

Liu Yimin said, "The government should not only crack down on drug lords, but also take measures to prevent drug lords from emerging. If this is not done, drug lords will never be eradicated. The only possibility is that one group will be replaced by another."

The topic quickly returned to the matter of the honorary professorship. The University of Buenos Aires awarded Liu Yimin a lifetime honorary professorship, and the awarding ceremony is scheduled for tomorrow.

So the delegation changed their itinerary. Today they will visit the Pampas grasslands of Argentina, return tomorrow to attend the awarding ceremony, and fly to Brazil in the afternoon to visit the Amazon rainforest.

After returning from the Amazon rainforest, they went to Chile to see the stone statues.

The Pampas grasslands are only a little over 100 kilometers from the University of Buenos Aires, a drive of just over two hours.

The word "Pampas" means "land without trees" in the indigenous language. The Pampas grasslands are the breadbasket of Argentina. The grasslands are vast and boundless, and Argentinians grow corn and soybeans and engage in intensive livestock farming here.

Thanks to the Pampas grasslands, Argentina has become a major exporter of beef in the world.

After they arrived at the Pampas, Cao Yu gently stomped his foot on the soft ground, comparing the Pampas to the grasslands of Inner Mongolia:
“This grassland is similar to the grasslands in our country, the only difference is the climate. Our grasslands are cold in winter, but the temperature here is high.” Cao Yu asked the Argentine writer next to him if they encountered desertification problems here.

The Argentine writer shook his head: "The desertification of the Pampas is not high, but if there is a drought, the desertification will accelerate rapidly."

When Márquez inquired about the progress of afforestation in China, Liu Yimin replied, "China has experienced a long period of war, and ecological restoration requires a long process. Of course, we have also achieved very good results. I believe that we will definitely succeed in the near future."

Chilean writer José asked the Saihanba Forest Farm in "Hachiko": "Are there really people who live optimistically in the snow and sandstorms?"

“Mr. José, it’s not just that there are, it’s that there are many.”

"I've found that once people embrace socialism, the overall morale of society improves significantly. Why is that, exemplified by Pavel Korchagin and Che Guevara in the Soviet Union, and Deng Jiaxian and Qian Xuesen in China?" José inquired.

Liu Yimin said, “Mr. José, don’t you know? You know a lot about communist parties and you are a left-wing writer yourself.”

"I feel like all I know is theory."

Liu Yimin said, "Once the power of collectivism is unleashed, it is more powerful than an atomic bomb."

Liu Yimin and his group entered the Pampas grasslands, but did not venture deep into them. They observed the cattle and sheep on the Pampas grasslands and interacted with Argentine ranchers.

Argentine ranchers looked at their cattle and sheep everywhere with a worried expression. Although they had many cattle and sheep, they did not earn much income at the end of the year.

With Argentina currently burdened by severe debt and the international market showing signs of contraction, life is even more difficult for these ranchers.

"Disgraceful military government! They ruined Argentina's economy and almost left us starving!" The rancher kept cursing the ousted military government members.

After the military junta fell from power in Argentina, the democratically elected government blamed everything on it. Furthermore, the military junta was indeed unpopular in Argentina, with even members of the same political party engaging in assassinations against each other.

Argentine writer Sabato, who debated nuclear weapons with Liu Yimin, said: "I participated in the Argentine military government's investigation committee on crimes. They were a group of despicable terrorists who killed people without restraint. Killing a person was easier than slaughtering cattle and sheep on the Pampas."

As Sabato explained, the Chinese writers' delegation was astonished by the crimes committed by the military government.

Wang Zengqi and Ma Shitu never imagined that Argentinians had suffered so much in the past, with a corrupt and oppressive political system that was almost on the verge of large-scale genocide like in Africa.

Ah Cheng remarked with emotion: "No wonder that when talking about the defeat in the Falklands War, many Argentinians are not only not angry, but even happy about the defeat."

Liu Yimin and his group stayed on the grassland until nightfall, and the next day, feeling refreshed, they went to attend the ceremony for awarding honorary professorships to the University of Buenos Aires.

At the Academic Conference Center of the University of Buenos Aires, renowned Argentine literature professors and writers sat in the audience. The award ceremony attracted much attention from students, but no students from the University of Buenos Aires were invited to attend.

The president of the University of Buenos Aires recounted Liu Yimin's works and literary achievements on stage:

Professor Liu, a multiple recipient of the Lu Xun Literary Prize and Mao Dun Literary Prize, is a shining star in Chinese literature, having won the Chinese Literature Prize last year. In the international literary world, he has received the Italian Nonino Literary Prize, the US National Book Award, and the soon-to-be-awarded Romulo Galagos Literary Prize.

In recognition of his contributions to Chinese and world literature, the University of Buenos Aires formally invited Liu Yimin to join the university as a lifetime honorary professor. Liu Yimin received the certificate symbolizing his honorary professorship from the president of the University of Buenos Aires and gave a brief thank-you speech to the guests in the audience.

"I am grateful to the University of Buenos Aires for bestowing this honor upon me; this is the first time I have become an honorary professor at a university. Latin American literature has produced a constant stream of literary giants, and I have high hopes for its future development. I am also grateful to the University of Buenos Aires and Mr. Márquez for the invitation, which has given us this invaluable opportunity for exchange."

I hope that in the future development of literature, I can make significant contributions to the exchange between Chinese and Latin American literature, as well as academic exchanges between universities.

After Liu Yimin stepped down, university professors and Cao Yu gave speeches, and the honorary professor conferment ceremony officially ended at 10:30 a.m.

Under the reluctant gazes of the faculty and students of the University of Buenos Aires, Liu Yimin and his entourage walked out of the university.

In the afternoon, the plane flew directly to Brazil, landing at the airport closest to the Amazon rainforest.

Officials from the Brazilian Ministry of Environment and Culture accompanied the Chinese writers' delegation, who repeatedly inquired about the Amazon rainforest.

Seeing that the environmental protection officials were evasive, Liu Yimin joked, "Don't worry, we are not investigators from international environmental organizations."

The Amazon rainforest is known as the lungs of the Earth. Brazil's economic development depends on the export of its timber, and agriculture requires land from the rainforest. As a result, Brazilians are cutting down the rainforest again and again!

Many public intellectuals claim that Chinese people's consumption of meat harms the environment, which is to link Chinese people's consumption of meat with the Amazon rainforest.

[For every piece of meat a Chinese person eats, one more wisp of smoke rises from the Amazon rainforest], thus concluding that Chinese people should not eat meat.

Chinese people's meat consumption harms the Amazon rainforest, but Westerners' meat consumption doesn't?
Jose said, "Liu, aren't you an environmentalist writer? Shouldn't you be vehemently opposed to this?"

The environmental official looked at Liu Yimin, wondering if Liu Yimin was trying to trick him into revealing information, and if he would ask questions today and then go to the United States tomorrow to denounce the Brazilians for deforestation.

Liu Yimin frankly stated, "I believe the environment needs protection, but the Brazilian people also have the right to development, and the right to sit in their rooms and enjoy air conditioning and refrigerators."

"If Americans and Westerners eat one less piece of meat, there will be one less wisp of smoke rising from the Amazon rainforest. They know this, but they haven't stopped eating less!"

Liu Yimin's words sparked reflection among those present, especially the Brazilian officials, who nodded vigorously in agreement.

Marquez agreed, saying, "Yes, the environment should be protected, but the people here are people too! Liu, your point of view is very novel. We can't only consider Brazilians as people when the Amazon rainforest needs protection!"

However, despite Liu Yimin's statement, Brazilian environmental officials did not tell the truth. Liu Yimin's silence does not mean that others think the same way.

They toured the area around the Amazon rainforest but didn't dare venture too far. However, when the topic turned to the depths of the Amazon rainforest, Brazilian officials became much more open and enthusiastically provided educational information.

As we were about to leave the Amazon rainforest, an official from the Brazilian environmental department asked, "Professor Liu, how do you think we should balance protection and development?"

"I think there should be international cooperation, based on the principle of 'whoever benefits is responsible.' Protecting the rainforest is not just the responsibility of Brazilians. Westerners can't just criticize; they should also contribute. We can't let Brazilians suffer poverty while we're living a life of luxury."

On April 13th, I visited Iguazu National Park and saw the widest waterfall in the world. Then I headed north to Colombia, visited the birthplace of Gabriel García Márquez, and toured the Simón Bolívar Memorial Site in Colombia.

They did not stay in Colombia for long; the Latin American writers appeared tense as soon as they entered the country.

The Chinese writer, looking at the natural scenery of Colombia, thought it was a pretty good place. But then he saw a street gang fight, drug addicts lying on the ground convulsing, and drunkards lying on the ground clutching their buttocks, looking utterly incredulous.

“Gunfights often break out here, and I generally won’t come back unless it’s absolutely necessary.” Márquez stood upstairs, painfully watching the gangsters fighting for territory below.

“Liu, aren’t you afraid?” Jose asked.

"I've been to the battlefield."

Acheng quickly said, "My teacher once fought wolves on the plateau and ungrateful wolves on the frontier."

"Wolf? Ungrateful wolf?" José asked, puzzled.

"An ingrate is a despicable person who repays kindness with enmity."

Vargas Llosa gave Liu Yimin a thumbs-up and said, "Liu, I didn't expect you to be such a tough guy!"

"Of course, it's rock hard!"

After leaving Colombia, they headed straight to Venezuela to prepare for the upcoming international literary prize.

Some cultural centers in Venezuela have already displayed portraits of award-winning authors such as Liu Yimin.

They checked directly into a hotel arranged by the Venezuelan Romulo Galagos Literature Prize committee, although the hotel was not as upscale as the one arranged by Márquez.

Upon arriving in Venezuela, Márquez immediately began preparing for the Romulo Galagos Literature Award ceremony.

As the chairman of the Romulo Galagos Literature Prize committee this year, Márquez has also added much glory to Romulo Galagos literature.

On the morning of April 15, Liu Yimin and other award-winning Spanish-language writers attended a press event at the Central University of Venezuela, where Venezuelan journalists followed Liu Yimin and filmed the entire event.

"Liu, are you happy to receive the Romulo Galagos International Literary Prize?"

"Of course, we originally intended to attend the Romulo Galagos Prize for Literature ceremony as audience members, but we never expected to become winners instead. I would like to thank the Romulo Galagos Prize for Literature judging committee for their encouragement."

What are your thoughts on the Romulo Galagos Prize for Literature?

"How do you view this? That's a very good question. The Romulo Galagos Prize is one of the most prestigious literary awards in the Spanish-speaking world, and I hope that in the future, there will be similar prestigious awards in the Chinese literary world."

Liu Yimin said with a smile, and his words were met with enthusiastic agreement from the writers in the Chinese writers' delegation.

"Liu, would you be willing to contribute to the Chinese International Literature Award?"

"Of course, Mr. Reporter."

When Liu Yimin spoke to reporters about his vision for the Chinese International Literature Prize, he said, “Mainland China is the main body of Chinese literature, and the establishment of the Chinese International Literature Prize is the dream of every Chinese writer. Writers from mainland China will play a vital role in it.”

(End of this chapter)