College Entrance Examination Modern Prose Reading - Selected Passage 64

Author: Li Feng
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-04-01
Features: The golden sentence for those elements that have not formed a human being, we are truly fortunate, we should celebrate. Looking back five thousand years, Mo Yan From now on, a thousand years back, in the year 1000 AD, was the third year of Xianping in the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty, the Gengzi calendar. At that time, Europeans should have been celebrating their millennium with great fanfare; but this grand celebration had nothing to do with the Chinese. During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong, the founding of the Great Song Dynasty had not yet been four decades, with the previous two emperors, Taizu and Taizong, working diligently to govern the country, and the nation was at its peak. Corruption certainly existed, but it had not yet reached its worst point. The of northern nomads occurred from time to time, but it had not yet become a mortal threat. At that time, the capital Kaifeng, though not as prosperous as depicted in Zhang Zeduan's Qingming River Scene a hundred years later, was likely already quite impressive. This year was the third year of Emperor Zhenzong's reign, and he probably still wanted to govern diligently and honestly, striving to be a sage and wise emperor. How the common people in Kaifeng and across the country lived that year, I do not know, nor do I care to verify. Did the scholars of that time consider the issue of time? I don’t know. But from the Spring River Flower Moon Night by the Tang scholar Zhang Ruoyu, we already know that intellectuals a thousand years ago had deeply and profoundly pondered the issue of time. The scholars of Emperor Zhenzong’s time likely reflected no less deeply on this issue than the Tang scholars. But I estimate that in the minds of the people of the Great Song, this year held no special significance, because the birth of Jesus Christ a thousand years earlier had nothing to do with their lives. It was only because we also adopted the Christian Anno Domini calendar that this 2,000-year period became so fervently celebrated, as if it were a grand festival for all of humanity. If we did not adopt this Western calendar system, then this year would be no different from last year, with the only distinction being that the children born this year are the Year of the Dragon, while those born last year are the Year of the Rabbit. Going back another thousand years, to the year before the birth of Jesus, was the second year of the reign of Emperor Yuan Shou of the Great Han Dynasty—the Han Dynasty—here involving another issue of time: should the third millennium AD start from the year 2000 or 2001? The year was Gengshen. In April of that year, a solar eclipse occurred, causing widespread panic. The ministers in the court took advantage of the solar eclipse to scare the emperor, claiming it was a warning from heaven, the reason being that the emperor was indulging in same-sex relationships. Emperor Liu Xin reigned for less than six years, doing almost nothing except for his passionate same-sex relationship. In the first month of that year, the Xiongnu Khan visited the court, and Emperor Xin hosted a banquet for him, with the ministers accompanying in the hall. The most prominent minister was Dong Xian, the Grand Marshal and General of the Guards, who was only twenty-two years old and held immense power. The Xiongnu Khan found this unbelievable. Liu Xin explained that despite Dong Xian’s youth, his contributions were great. Dong Xian’s greatest achievement was making the emperor happy. He was naturally a handsome young man, and Emperor Xin loved him to an extreme degree, even offering to abdicate the throne to him in front of the ministers. Wang Hong, the eunuch, jumped up in protest, and the plan was abandoned. The famous historical anecdote of "breaking the sleeves" in same-sex love history was created by Emperor Xin and Dong Xian. In June of that year, Emperor Xin may have contracted AIDS and died in the Weiyang Palace. After his death, young Dong Xian suffered misfortune, committing suicide and being buried. Wang Mang had his corpse dug up and displayed publicly. By then, the country had been thrown into chaos by this same-sex relationship—showing that the issue of who an emperor sleeps with is first and foremost a political issue, then a physiological one—while the common people struggled to survive, of course, none of them knew that the following year would be the year 1 AD. In September of that year, Liu Yan, aged nine, ascended the throne as Emperor Ping of Han. The next year, he changed the era to "Yuan Shi," which, literally speaking, can be interpreted as the beginning of the Anno Domini calendar. If this was not a coincidence, it was the work of God. Going back another thousand years, which king of the Zhou Dynasty was reigning at that time is already lost to history, and the political and economic conditions of that time are unclear even to historians. Going back another thousand years? It’s basically a mess. Historical facts are mixed with myths and legends. "Da Yu controlling the floods" likely happened around that time. Going back another thousand years, we can only speculate based on the pots and pans dug up from the ground. China claims to have a five-thousand-year history of civilization, which it takes pride in worldwide. Five thousand years, compared to a human life, are indeed long, but compared to the history of biological evolution, the formation of the Earth, or the changes in the universe, it is merely an instant. Thinking about this makes one feel discouraged. Thinking about the brevity of life, the irreproducibility of life, and even the eventual demise of the Earth and the loss of the sun’s light, one suddenly feels lost. Is the year 1000 AD worth celebrating? What special significance does the year 2000 hold? How about being an emperor? How about being wealthy? How about leaving a legacy that lasts through the ages? How about being cursed for all eternity? These questions have long existed, and to prevent people from committing suicide or rebelling, both the West and the East created their own heavens and hells. With heavens and hells, a person’s life is not a one-time event, meaning you can possess time in different ways—you not only have this life but also a future life, and the quality of that future life is closely tied to your actions in this life. Modern science is destroying heaven and hell, and while progress is progress, it has also brought many problems. The fatal problem is that it has made people realize that life is irreproducible, magnifying the age-old question of the meaning of life in front of humanity. I believe the meaning of life lies in the fact that you are human, that you are an individual produced from ordinary inanimate elements according to a strange recipe, one that gives you life, thought, and the ability to recognize yourself and your surroundings. Compared to those elements that have not formed a human being, we are truly fortunate, and we should celebrate. So let us open our arms and embrace the next millennium rushing toward us, even though when we think about the year 3000, we will still sigh in exasperation. (Excerpted from Essays, Overseas Edition, Issue 3, 2001)