Creeping vines adorned with pearls

Author: Chen Zaochun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-11
Features: Over ten years ago, a colleague who was quite familiar with me frankly said I was "only blooming without bearing fruit." To this day, I still don't know what he meant. In reality, I never showed off any "sharp edges," never bloomed, let alone bore fruit. I heard that a highly respected writer in China once spoke up for me to my colleague, saying that letting me do those menial tasks was a "waste of talent." If I am indeed a "talented person," then I would be even more undeserving of the title. In truth, I can only be a laborer, doing whatever job I am assigned. Writing has never been my profession, nor was it a task assigned by my superiors. That remains unchanged to this day.
I remember in 1981, on the centennial of Lu Xun's birth, an international academic conference was to be held in Beijing. As one of Beijing's "Three Lu" institutions, the Lu Xun Editorial Department of the People's Literature Publishing House, unable to provide any papers, was unable to attend. The colleagues felt somewhat unbalanced and collectively asked me to rush write an article to make a statement. Since it was a rushed job, I had to use some work time and requested leave from the publishing house leadership. The leadership approved it quite firmly: "No leave allowed!" I had to pull all-nighters for six straight nights to complete an article over 36,000 words. The article was published in the journal Social Sciences in China and was also adopted by the academic conference, thus securing a few attendance spots and proving that we had made a point for everyone. However, I nearly lost my life in the process. The moment I wrote the last character of the article, I fainted on the sofa and couldn't get up for half a day. It shows that in the field of editing, one must be content with one's role and cannot simply force one's way through.