Strong Grass -- An Autobiography of Feng Yingzi

Author: Feng Yingzi
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1998-08-01
Features: In the autumn of 1993, I had already retired. To discuss the publication of From the Beibu Gulf to the Bohai Gulf, Editor Wang Weisong came to visit me, accompanied by Mr. Ji Guibao from Wenhui Publishing House. During our conversation, Mr. Ji suggested that I write an autobiography. My background was quite humble—I attended primary school for only five years, intermittently, and worked as an apprentice and a small shop assistant. Later, I became the chief editor for ten newspapers and rose to become an advanced intellectual. The path I took was truly legendary, and my journey reflects the changes of the times, the development of society, and the pace of historical movement.
I was deeply moved by their enthusiasm. Although Zhejiang People's Publishing House had published a book titled The Path I Have Taken for me in 1986, that book focused on several newspapers, each section separate and unrelated, making it unsuitable as an autobiography. In the current cultural circles, my experiences are indeed quite unique. Therefore, I accepted Mr. Ji's suggestion and agreed to write Feng Yingzi's Autobiography, covering my life from birth to retirement.
When the Cultural Revolution began, I had started writing an autobiography, which was over 100,000 words long. This manuscript was confiscated by the "Red Guards" and was never returned to me. This time, I still used a straightforward, descriptive style, simply recounting events as they happened—no fictional stories, no fabricated accounts. It was just the ordinary footprints of an ordinary person walking an ordinary path.
Of course, a person's history also reflects the twists and turns of an era. How did someone like me, who had sunk to the lower rungs of society, rise from a small apprentice to become a professional journalist? Was it a coincidence of the times? Or was it fate? Moreover, I held such reverence for this profession. As a reporter, I once braved danger to venture into "tiger's dens" to gather firsthand materials. As an editor, I could run a newspaper amid the rumble of gunfire. I could deduce the trends of a city from intercepted telegrams. Even now, though I am aging and have joined the ranks of retirees, I remain undeterred in my resolve to fight forward. I can write articles like Comrade Minister, You Are Wrong for those who disregard the law and act recklessly, or How Remarkable Is Xi Hong! for those who, traveling thousands of miles and enduring countless hardships, fight for the rule of law. For a stranger, someone I had never met, who stood firm for justice and faced 11 accusations without fear or regret, I would write to comfort him, no matter how far.
Of course, these articles may not achieve much. Some might even see them as nothing more than venting frustrations. My children have criticized me for my greatest mistake being "patriotism." Yet, as an intellectual like me, from the moment I gained some knowledge, I witnessed our country in disarray, prey to the strong, and I lived a life of hardship and deprivation. How could I not love our country? How could I not dedicate myself to her, body and soul? Li Yishan's poem says, "A silkworm spins until its death, its silk never ends; a candle burns until it turns to ash, its tears dry only then." For our country, for our nation, can we abandon this spirit?
Because of this, even though I am retired, I remain "retired but not resting." I may have left my post, but I continue to write—am I not still on my own path? Life is finite, but history is endless. An individual's path is limited, yet they serve as witnesses to a part of history. Therefore, in this book, I have simply used a straightforward style to narrate my journey, hoping that readers can see, in these seemingly insignificant activities, a glimpse of our society's historical development.