Beijing East and West City

Author: Pu Yimin
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2006-06-01
Features: Memory is not just remembering, nor is it mere recording. Memory is a cultural and emotionally colored recollection, the residue left after the erosion of time, and simultaneously, it has been marinated or brewed by human thought and emotion. To record is the imprint of past years and the storage of human experiences left by life, while to recall is the selective and scattered retrieval of such storage. The same people and events that one is willing and able to recall and write about are enriched with human interest and emotional value—this is what the ancients called "artistic enhancement." All memoirs, to varying degrees, contain elements of "artistic enhancement" based on the depth of memory, and it is the richness or thinness of this enhancement that gives the entire memoir its distinctive flavor. You may remember, but you may not necessarily have a memory. When I received Professor Pu Yimin's new book "Beijing East and West," I initially wasn’t in a great hurry to read it. There have been many writings about the history and scenery of Beijing, and I had read some of them. I could say I was familiar with the Beijing-style writing, which might have made me immune to it or even complacent. But I was curious: I wanted to see how the Pu teacher, whose voice was so pleasant and whose demeanor was so graceful, wrote. But once I flipped through the book, I couldn’t put it down. Reading this book often reminded me of what Mr. Zhang Zhongxing or Mr. Ye Shengtao said: What is good writing? When someone is reading a piece of writing in their room, and you pass by the door or are in the next room, you think it’s them speaking. That is good writing. The writing of Professor Pu Yimin is about the people and events of her family over the past half-century, focusing on their words, deeds, and inner thoughts. This differs from the other Beijing-style writings I was somewhat familiar with, which mostly wrote about others, public matters, and generalized praise. At the time, I thought: This is a personal history, not the official history of the court, but rather the "wild history" favored by Mr. Lu Xun. As I read "Beijing East and West," I often forgot that it was written by Ms. Pu Yimin herself. Led by the text, I stepped into the past of an old Beijing family that could be considered well-to-do, feeling the atmosphere of the traditional moral and cultural framework of the Chinese people, which was beginning to show some signs of relaxation. I entered the home of an old Chinese family, sensing the essence of that era, as if walking under the large locust tree in their yard, entering the courtyard, and seeing the furnishings and the lifestyle of the family in a dimly lit study. It was as if I could hear the coughing of the grandmother in the upper room and the footsteps of visitors at the door. The narrator, Pu Yimin’s grandfather, appeared quite imposing, yet he transformed from being subservient to his grandmother to being stern with his children. This clearly revealed the charm of traditional Chinese etiquette and ethical order. However, the narrator was not overly immersed in or exaggerated about anything beyond people and events. She did not elaborate on emotions, simply writing naturally based on the depth of her memory. She did not refine anything; she only recalled the appearances, smiles, and behaviors of her relatives. Without psychological descriptions, her writing naturally showcased the rich inner worlds of the characters, flowing smoothly without hesitation or slackness. The beginning, middle, and end were natural and simple, with a gentle and unbranched narrative, effortlessly moving from one point to another, and always finding the right balance. She was surprised by the exceptional command of language by Pu Yimin, a dancer, who wrote without any artistic pretense. Her narration had a proper womanly touch, much like her own demeanor: graceful and simple in her and speech, exuding a refined cultural charm in the familiarity of daily life. Everyone is a witness to their era, and their life journey naturally carries the flavor of the times they lived through. If this flavor is expressed truthfully, it holds meaning for others. Many "personal historical memories" come together to form the collective historical memory of a certain era. Xu Shilin