Selected Prose Works of Guo Feng

Author: Guo Feng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-09-01
Features: Guo Feng's original name was Guo Jiagui, and he was born in 1918 in Putian City, Putian County①, a "scholarly family." Putian is known for its beautiful scenery, hardworking and simple people, and well-developed cultural and educational institutions. Putian Opera is famous nationwide. Kong Shangren once said: "‘The landscape and customs of a place reflect the temperament of a poet.’② This insight is profound. The beautiful and lovely mountains, landscapes, and culture of his hometown nurtured Guo Feng's spirit, becoming an inexhaustible source for his prose creation. Guo Feng had the enviable legacy of his family's scholarly traditions. His sixth-generation ancestor, Guo Shangxian, was a jinshi (imperial scholar) during the Jiaqing era of the Qing Dynasty, serving as the Education Commissioner of Sichuan and the Vice Minister of the Imperial Court of Justice. He was skilled in calligraphy, painting, seal carving, and wrote a diary-style prose titled Diary of My Journey to Sichuan. His fifth-generation ancestor, Guo Zishou, was an expert in the I Ching (Book of Changes) and wrote a titled Notes of a Mountain Folk. His fourth-generation ancestor, Guo Shixing, was a renowned calligrapher and seal carver during the Qing Dynasty. Guo Feng grew up in the Laojian Hall, which was built by his great-grandfather Guo Shangxian. The hall was adorned with numerous rare flowers and grasses, artificial hills and rocks, and a small lake. Guo Feng's grandfather and father passed away early, so he lived a difficult life as an orphan from the age of three. However, the artistic and academic achievements of his ancestors, their free creation in prose forms, always inspired and guided Guo Feng. The poetic and picturesque fairyland of Laojian Hall became a pigment that contributed to the fairy-tale-like quality of Guo Feng's prose. Guo Feng was diligent, intelligent, and loved nature from a young age, showing early literary talent. Before the liberation, he published a large number of poems, short stories, reports, fairy tale poems, children's prose, prose poems, and prose. Only his fairy tale poems were collected and published as Puppet Show. Li Liewen praised them, saying: "Guo Feng's fairy tale poems have opened up a new realm for Chinese new poetry, becoming a new flower in the field of new poetry." Excerpt: "It is not only our guide, but also a strong guarantee for the development of science. Our motherland, the society in which we live, is so free, happy, and radiant because of the leadership of the Party, because it is illuminated by the scientific Marxist philosophy, and because it is protected by the socialist system." He looked at his students with wise and clear eyes. There was a firm belief and a humble light shining from his heart in his eyes. His eyes reflected the love of this forestry professor for our society. He took his students into the forest. The wrinkles on his forehead were like the rings of a great tree in the forest. He wore a white canvas sun hat. His white hair was like snow on the mountain peak. He took his students into the forest. He knew every path in the entire forest. He looked at his students with wise and clear eyes. His eyes reflected the love and admiration of this forestry professor for the forest, shining with the kindness of a grandfather and the full trust he had in his heart. What made the old professor happy was the feeling that his students were living in a free environment where they could fully develop their talents. He took his students into the forest. He watched his students with wise and clear eyes. They were lively, energetic, and endlessly eager to seek truth. Their flowers of wisdom were yet to bloom. He asked himself: "When have I ever relaxed my supervision and guidance?" Never, at any moment, could he relax his sense of educational responsibility. He took his students into this forest. He knew every path in the forest. He wore a white canvas sun hat. Like the old manager of the forest, he walked ahead. His eyes, filled with strict self-demand and a sense of responsibility to the people, showed both kindness and severity, wisdom and rigor. Ah, a white canvas sun hat-wearing old forestry professor came to the forest, leading his students. The entire forest surrounded him, and his students guarded him with the songs of youth, with all the passion inspired by the forest's richness, singing these songs with such passion. His face shone with radiance. On a clear summer morning, ah, the sun in the sky of the great forest, brilliantly illuminated him and his students.