Between "I" and "World": A Study of the Language Society

Author: Chen Li / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: Unlike Guo Jiegang, among the important writers of the Yushi Society, Fei Ming can be said to be a relatively "pure" scholar. Before the establishment of Yushi, Fei Ming had already made a name for himself in the literary world (starting in 1922, he began publishing works in The Struggle Weekly, edited by Hu Shi). However, he truly rose to prominence in the literary world and became one of the pillars of the Beijing School, largely thanks to Yushi and Zhou Zuoren, who was then the editor of the Beijing edition of Yushi. In 1921, when Fei Ming was still a primary school teacher in Wuchang, he began corresponding with Zhou Zuoren. In 1922, he enrolled in the preparatory division of Peking University, and in 1924, he officially entered the Department of English at Peking University, deepening his connection with Zhou Zuoren. In August 1934, when Zhou Zuoren visited Japan, he told Japanese journalist Inoue Komei that Fei Ming was one of his "most promising students who had made a name for themselves in the literary world." After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Fei Ming left Beijing and returned to his hometown, Huangmei, in Hubei. Zhou Zuoren, who remained in Beijing, wrote two articles in 1938 and 1943ing Fei Ming, demonstrating his deep affection for him. In the last article, he said, "Fei Ming is one of the few who truly understands my meaning." Fei Ming also regarded Zhou Zuoren as his mentor and greatly praised him in his 1934 work Mr. Zhichang, admiring both his character and writing.
When discussing Zhou Zuoren's writing, Fei Ming said, "The Confucian classics and the teachings of the sages have always been regarded since ancient times as the duty of governing the state and bringing peace to the world. There is little else one can do besides this; only the issues of women and children have troubled many refined scholars. I often, from the silence of Mr. Zhichang, subconsciously recall all these matters, and it makes me quite uneasy. It is easy to fall into conventions without realizing it, and the distance between us and barbarism is sometimes hard to define. Mr. Zhichang, however, governs his family and cultivates himself with a natural spirit, to the point where I cannot help but praise him." When discussing Zhou Zuoren's writing, Fei Ming said, "Modern Chinese prose, from its inception to the present, according to some idle chatter, is most readable in Mr. Zhichang."
A preliminary count shows that Fei Ming wrote 29 articles in the Beijing edition of Yushi, ranking third in quantity after Zhou Zuoren and Liu Banong. Among the articles he published in Yushi are the short story "The Story of the Bamboo Grove" (published in Issue 14, signed "Feng Wenbing"), "Monks of the Fire God Temple" (published in Issue 18, signed "Wenbing"), and "Untitled" (published in Issue 73), which is part of his novel The Bridge (signed "Feng Wenbing"). The pen name "Fei Ming" first appeared in Yushi in Issue 89, with an "Untitled III" signed "Fei Ming." In "The Forgotten Diary" (published in Issue 128), there is an entry dated June 10, 1926, which says, "Since yesterday, I no longer want my name. I have taken a new name and called it Fei Ming. In the past four years, I have truly shed many shells, especially in the past year, which has been particularly strange. Let yesterday be a day." This diary entry reveals the origin of the name "Fei Ming."
In "The Forgotten Diary," there is an entry dated June 11, 1926, which discusses both Lu Xun and Zhou Zuoren and is quite interesting: "I have recently decided not to go out, and if I do, I will just casually visit some places for fun. Yesterday, I read Lu Xun's "Diary on the Horseback" in Issue 87 of Yushi, and I really felt his laughter was bitter. What made me particularly sad and pained was that the stories I had written recently were all about the tales, while he, like a joke, was barefoot on this thorny path. I also had a strange thought: if he were shot, I would definitely go to care for his corpse and shoot him. Thus, I thought of going to visit him, but I was afraid he might be sleeping and that my visit would disturb him, so I turned to Baodaowan." This diary entry is somewhat like a fable, showing that Fei Ming initially held Lu Xun in great respect but ultimately sided with Zhou Zuoren.
Fei Ming's "breakthrough" with Lu Xun occurred after the founding of The Camel Grass in 1929. Before Lu Xun took over the Yushi magazine and moved it to Shanghai, Fei Ming still published many articles in it (Fei Ming's first article in the Shanghai edition of Yushi appeared in Volume 4, Issue 9, titled "Untitled XIV," his "Untitled XVIII" in Issue 44, and his "Professor Li" in Issue 50). P254-255