Storytelling and Arts - Joining Famous People in Storytelling and Arts (Dàjiā Cháfāng)

Author: Xia Liqun / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: At nearly eighty years old, Qiao Yu is as busy as a rising star, frequently participating in social activities. On days when he doesn’t go out, he divides his time into two parts: morning is dedicated to writing, with all visitors turned away, while the afternoon is spent at his own discretion. Qiao Yu said that among ancient writers, he adored Cao Xueqin, while in modern times, he loved the works of Mao Zedong and Lu Xun. “Their writing and achievements are no less than those of world literary giants like Balzac and Tolstoy.” Perhaps out of affection for these figures, Qiao Yu had the same smoking habit as Mao Zedong and Lu Xun, constantly smoking one cigarette after another. Amidst the smoke, Qiao Yu slowly recalled his reading experiences.
Regretting Walking on One Leg
Qiao Yu is a renowned lyricist in the modern era and a well-read individual. Despite this, he still regrets not mastering a foreign language. He said: “Knowing only Chinese is like walking on one leg. If you know a foreign language, it’s like walking on two legs. Lu Xun, Guo Moruo, and Ba Jin all walked on two legs. Lu Xun and Guo Moruo were fluent in Japanese and German, while Ba Jin knew English and Esperanto.”
Qiao Yu attended the primary school’s fifth and sixth grades at a church school run by Germans. The priests there were highly cultured, and one priest had several rooms filled with books, including almost all of the new literature published in China after the May Fourth Movement. For a studious and trustworthy student like Qiao Yu, the priest was very fond of him and lent him books to read. To this day, works deeply etched in Qiao Yu’s memory include Lao She’s Two Horses (Er Ma), Cat City Chronicle (Mao Cheng Ji), the Chinese version of the Bible, and the Old and New Testaments. At this school, Qiao Yu began learning English from the priests, which had a strong German influence. Although his English was not fluent, he could still stumble through reading some English books. When he saw that the English translation of The Golden Lotus (Jin Ping Mei) was titled Ximen Qing and His Six Wives, he found it amusing. He said, “Translated foreign novels will still have many forced and awkward parts. No matter how good the translation is, it will never be the same as the original, and it’s precisely this ‘flaw’ that ruins the original’s essence.” Therefore, Qiao Yu believed that it was absolutely insufficient to only read translated works. If you want to read, you should try your best to read the original versions. Unfortunately, in the years that followed, Qiao Yu was unable to continue learning English or properly read foreign literary works. However, when it comes to reading Chinese literature, Qiao Yu can say with no regrets. He learned to read at the age of three and began reading Three-Character Classic (San Zi Jing), Hundred Family Surnames (Bai Jia Xing), and One Thousand Character Classic (Qian Zi Wen) at four. After finishing the books at home, he would borrow from outside. At that time, he had read almost all of the classical Chinese novels available in the market.
P11-12