Old paper wind and snow

Author: Wu Liyang
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-06-01
Features: The topic of writers becoming scholars and scholars becoming writers is an old one. But as the saying goes, "Seeing the mountain, the horse dies of exhaustion," how easy is it to put it into practice? Within my limited observation, in the literary and academic circles, there are indeed people who are chasing in this direction, but upon reading their works, one feels quite far from the mountain and even hesitates, or even feels like "drawing a tiger but ending up resembling a dog." However, in the literary world, the young prose writer Wu Liyang is a successful example.
In the winter of 1999, I was invited by Guangdong People's Publishing House to edit a series of books titled "Speak and Argue," which was later renamed "Nan Qiang Bei Diao Series." I invited my literary friends to join, and each book's title was limited to three characters. I have always believed that whether it's scholars or writers, their titles should reflect their talent and intellectual level. I clearly remember that Mr. He Manzi, Mr. Mu Hui, and Mr. Shao Yanxiang all immediately came up with titles on the spot without hesitation—《Millennium Bug》, 《Beach Sheep》, and 《Who Cares》—which impressed me greatly. I called my friend, the literary critic Yan Gang, and he also immediately came up with the title 《Seat Right Chant》, which made me even more delighted. Changing the common "seat right motto" to 《Seat Right Chant》 is truly ingenious. The ingenuity lies in its subtle charm. This "chant" word has much to say. According to Wang Yinglin, a famous scholar from the Song Dynasty in his work 《Kun Xue Ji Wen》 (Volume 17), Fan Zhongyan wrote in 《The Spirit Bird Ode》 a profound line, "Better to die in a song than to live in silence." It should be noted that the "bird" in 《The Spirit Bird Ode》 refers to "the black bird platform," which is the censor's office. Clearly, Fan Zhongyan advocated the fearless spirit of advising the emperor, which was already rare in ancient times. During his lifetime, Mr. Hu Shi highly praised these eight characters and even published a collection titled 《Better to Die in a Song than to Live in Silence》. He also wrote these eight characters on several scrolls and gifted them to friends.
I still remember in the summer of 1992, when I visited Professor Jin Chengyi at the University of Melbourne in Australia, he was a descendant of the Qing Dynasty Prince Dorgon and the descendant of Lin Zexu, truly "royal kin." Chengyi had once served as Hu Shi's secretary and had long treasured a scroll gifted by Hu Shi, which also read 《Better to Die in a Song than to Live in Silence》. At that time, he and I spread out the scroll together, admiring Hu's calligraphy, and my son Yu Lun took a photo of the moment. Time flies, and Chengyi has passed away many years ago. This photo has become a precious memento for me, every time I look at it, it brings back endless thoughts of my dear friend.
Of course, Mr. Hu Shi used 《Better to Die in a Song than to Live in Silence》 to encourage himself and others, advocating the spirit of shouting for democracy and freedom at the cost of sacrifice, which was very different from Fan Zhongyan's era—this is progress with the times.
This series consists of six books: 《Literary Miscellany》 by He Zhenbang, 《So to Speak》 by Shan Sanya, 《Words from the Depths of Life》 by Xu Huaiqian, 《Old Paper Snow》 by Wu Liyang, 《Spring Dawn Reflections》 by Yang Xuewu, and 《Feeling Outside the Door》 by Gao Wei. After much deliberation, I named this series of essays from the Cultural and Art Press "Seat Right Chant Series."
Indeed, it is a peaceful era now, and we do not need to follow the example of young Lu Xun, who "dashed about with wind extinguishing candles and wild hair shouting," nor do we need to sing like in the Anti-Japanese War era, "The wind roars, the horse neighs, the Yellow River roars." However, facing all the false, ugly, and evil social phenomena—whether from the political, cultural, or business sectors—how can we turn a blind eye and remain silent? Writers are the conscience of society and must always speak out when they are unjust. In fact, most of the essays by the six writers in this series are the products of "better to die in a song than to live in silence."