Selected Prose Works of Huang Chang

Author: Xu Baorong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-09-01
Features: Huang Tang's literary career began during his student days when he was studying at the Department of Electrical Engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. As an engineering student, he developed an interest in literature and wrote and submitted articles alongside his coursework. According to the author's own recollection: "The target was the《》 of the《》 on the 'Island,' and the works were small essays and 'palm-sized novels,' which are similar to the currently popular 'micro-fiction.' The motivation for writing was imitation—I think this is quite similar to how children enjoy imitating adults' speech and actions." It is clear that Huang Tang's literary beginnings were closely tied to his early love for literature and his familiarity with literary works. Huang Tang came from an intellectual family, with his father being an expert in mining. Huang Tang was taught by his older uncle, who was the last imperial scholar of the Qing Dynasty and used the textbook 《》 published by Shanghai's Chengzhong School. After learning a few characters, he began reading the "Four Books," starting with the teachings and sayings of Confucius and Mencius compiled by Zhu Bi. However, Huang Tang preferred reading works like 《》, 《》, and 《》, except for 《》, which were all banned by his father. Huang Tang "voluntarily" read this book, 《》. 《》 was read later, but it provided Huang Tang with the greatest benefit. The author recalls: 'I feel this is the best textbook that helped me develop the ability to read classical Chinese—almost all the grammar and sentence structures of classical Chinese were deduced from 《》, and it wasn’t difficult to read older books afterward.' In addition, Huang Tang enjoyed the poems of Du Fu, Li Shangyin, and others. It can be imagined that these readings during his childhood not only laid the foundation for his classical Chinese skills but also inspired his artistic imagination and critical thinking. Huang Tang particularly admired the "direct method" of English teaching he experienced at Nankai Middle School. In this teaching method, students didn’t have to rigidly memorize rules but could directly engage with the texts to "guess" the grammatical patterns. This training and habit, from a negative perspective, may lack systematic and solid foundational training, but the advantage is that it allows for easy absorption of knowledge and the ability to read anything encountered, making his reading extremely broad and convenient. Especially in the turbulent years that followed, this self-learning and self-cultivation ability brought him great benefits, unknowingly shaping his open-minded and knowledgeable nature.
Excerpt: Today, Xiangguo Temple no longer has this characteristic. As we wandered inside the temple, we only visited the ancient corpse exhibition and the weapon exhibition in the side pavilions before heading to the to rest. While sipping weak tea, we naturally thought about the recent restoration and reconstruction of tourist attractions in various places. If it is said to be restored, it should retain its original characteristics. What is the characteristic of Xiangguo Temple? It should be the people's recreational market mentioned earlier. However, whether today’s Xiangguo Temple should be converted into a market is hard to say. In any case, restoring some of the old atmosphere, appropriately decorating it, and allowing visitors to breathe more of the spirit of life and enjoy richer secular pleasures beyond the solemn Buddha statues would undoubtedly be a desirable future prospect. Longting, located in the northwest corner of Kaifeng, is a magnificent and majestic hall towering high on a seventy-two-step white stone platform. The surrounding city towers are uniformly painted in dark red, with a somber and dignified tone. Originally built as the Ten Thousand Years Pavilion in 1692 on the ruins of the Northern Song Dynasty imperial palace and the Ming Dynasty Prince Zhou’s palace foundation, it has long been mistaken by people as the Song Dynasty imperial palace, as if the emperor once held court here. Some of the exquisite dragon carvings in the stone platform have crumbled, and it is said that they were damaged when the first emperor rode a dragon to the palace. In the center of the hall, there is a wax figure of the Song Dynasty’s first emperor meeting his ministers. It is indeed too narrow. There is no place for retreat, making it hard to imagine it being the court of that time. Of course, all of this is due to misunderstandings caused by legends. Looking out from Longting, there are two ponds underfoot, the Panyang Lakes. Today, the lake water is clear as a mirror, but in legends, it was also described as being clear in one place and murky in another. People pour their impressions and emotions from 《》 into the lake, expressing their unambiguous love and hatred for loyalty and treachery. In the distant shade of trees, there is the famous site of Tianbo Yang’s Mansion, but no traces remain, only an automatic water gate that still retains the name Tianbo Gate. There is also Bao Zheng’s former residence in the Nanye Bao’s pit, where the recently completed "Kaifeng" can be seen in the distance. It is probably part of the reconstruction project for the Song City.