Columbia University Pres Publishers Since 1893 New York Chichester, West Sussex Copyright © 2007 Gohmibia University Press All rights reserved Library of Congress Catalogingin-Publication Data The lurnbia anthology of modern Chinese literature / Joseph SM. La and Howard Goldblatt, editors. — and ed pe. — (Modern Asian is) Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN1y: g78-0-251-14842-6 (cloth: alk. paper) ISBN-15: g78-0-251-13843-5 (pbk alk. paper) ISBNs10: 0-231-13840-7 (cloth: lk. paper) ISBN-10; 0-231-13841-5 (pbk, : alk, paper? ISBNag: 978-0-231-sn100-1 e-book} 100-0 (e-book) erature . Translations ito English 1. Lau, joseph $.M., 1934 Goldblatt, Howard, 1939 PL2658.F1C64 2006, 895.1'08005—dezz ° Columbia University Press books ate printed on permanent and Printed in the United States of America © wo 8765452 pwg8 7654328CONTENTS Preface to the Second Edition wv Acknowledgments _xix Introduction xxi Biographical Sketches _ xxix paRT ONE Fiction, 1918-1949 Lu Xun A Madman’s Diary 8 Kong Yiji_17 Ye Shaojun A Posthumous Son_23 Yu Dafu Sinking 31vi CONTENTS Mao Dun Spring Silkworms 56 Lao She An Old and Established Name _74 Shen Congwen Xiaoxiao 82 Ling Shuhua ‘The Night of Midautumn Festival _95 Lai He The Steelyard _103 Ba Jin Dog 110 Shi Zhecun ‘One Evening in the Rainy Season 16 Zhang Tianyi Midautumn Festival _ 12 Ding Ling ‘When I Was in Xia Village 132 Wu Zuxiang Young Master Gets His Tonic _147 Xiao Hong Hands_16 Zhang Ailing Sealed Off 17.Contents The Doctor's Mother _184 PART TWO Fiction, 1949-1976 Wang Ruowang A Visit to His Excellency: A Five Minute Movie 197 Chen Yingzhen My Kid Brother Kangxiong 204 Bai Xianyong Winter Nights _z10 Huang Chunming ‘The Fish 224 Wang Zhenhe An Oxeart for a Dowry 232 Hua Tong Yan’an Seeds _ 251 Li Ang Curvaceous Dolls 262 PART THREE Fiction Since 1976 Liu Yiehang Wrong Number 277 Wang Zenggi ATail 280 Small-Hands Chen 282viii CONTENTS Wang Meng ‘Tales of New Cathay 285 Disputatiasis 285 ‘The Upholder of Unity 286 Little Little Little Little Litlle... 287 Right to the Heart of the Matter 287 . . he Tunnel 289 XiXi ‘A. Woman Like Me_303 Yuan Qionggion; Tales of Taipei__314 ‘A Lovers Ear yp Empty Seat 315 Cat_3 Not Seen 8 Li Rui Electing a Thief _321 Can Xue Hut on the Mountain _ 325, Gao Xingjian The Accident 329 Han Shaogong ‘The Leader's Demise _337 AStory 34 Liu Heng Dogshit Food _366 Mo Yan Iron Child 379Contents ix Zhu Tianwen Fin de Sigcle Splendor 388 Zhang Dachun Lucky Worries About His Country 403 Zheng Qingwen Redeeming a Painting 417 Tie Ning Octday 429 Yu Hua On the Road at Eighteen 439 Su Tong Escape 445 Qiu Miaojin Letters from Montmarte 455 Wang Anyi Granny 462 Alai Fish! 470 Chun Sue bom at the wrong time __480 PART FOUR Poetry, 1918-1949 Xu Zhimo Second Farewell to Cambridge 499 Love's Inspiration _ 500 Chance _501x contents Wen Yiduo Dead Water 502 One Sentence 503 Prayer 503 Woman Abandoned _505 Never to Retum 506 Feng Zhi Sonnet 2 508 Sonnet 4 509 Sonnet 27 509 Dai Wangshu Rainy Alley 510 Written on a Prison Wall 511 With My Injured Hand _ 512 A Buddhist Monk _ 513 A Round ‘Ireasure-Box 514 Feverish Night 514 Ai Qin, Snow Falls on China's Land _516 The North 518 He Qifang Prophecy 522 ig of a Friend at 523 ‘Autumn 524 Zheng Min AGlance 525 ‘The Lotus Flower 526Contents xi PART FIVE Poetry, 1949-1976 Ji Xian Spring Dancing 529 AWolf 530 Mu Dan Self 531 Song of Wisdom 532 Zhou Mengdie Kingdom of Solitude 533 Under the Bodhi Tree 534 Yu Guangzhong If There’s a War Raging Afar 535 Nostalgia 536 The White Jade Bitter Gourd 536 Wang Xipeng A Group of Urban Youths Is on Its Way 538 Luo Fu Beyond the Fog 540 City: Saigor 1967 541 ain into the Mountains: No Rain 541 Following the Sound of Ya Xian Salt 543 Paris 544 The Colonel 545 Zheng Chouyu Pagoda 546 Grenz-Taverne 547xii CONTENTS Clear and Bright: In the Grave 547 Bai Qiu Moth 548 Vagabond 549 Ye Weilian ‘The River's Fancy 550 The Pursuit 351 Dai Tian ‘The Story of the Stone 553 Debate on Rugged Mountain 555 Yang Mu Song of Gray Hair 557 After the Snow 558 Geometry: River Goddess 559 Xiong Hong ‘The Deluded Dream _ 361 Fire on the Sea Floor 562 Chen Jinghua Our Will to Settle Here Will Never Fail 563 PART SIX Poetry Since 1976 Zhang Cuo Autumn Meditation 567 Earl Grey 569 Huang Guobin A When You Are Naked, You Have Everything 571 ight Prayer 570Contents xiii Luo Qing Six Ways of Eating Watermelons 573 Bei Dao Declaration _576 Résumé 577 Another Legend _ 578 Shu Ting When You Walk Past My Window _579 A Roadside Encounter_580 Assembly Line _580 The Cry ofa Generation 581 Wang Xiaolong When We Finally Turn Fifty 583 irgery Ward 584 Shang Qin ‘The Cat Who Walks Through the Wall 585 Yang Lian To a Nine-Year-Old Girl Killed in the Massacre 586 ‘The Dead in Exile 587 Gu Cheng ‘An Ending 589 Curriculum Vitae 590 Anonymous Madwoman 591 Chen Kehua this life cage 504 containment 595xiv CONTENTS Xia Yu ‘The Ripest Rankest Juiciest Summer Ever 596 Continuing Our Discussion of Boredom and Ennui 598 L’Empire a la Fin de la Décadence 600 Wong Man Obdurate 601 hooves of memories 602 Yip Fai Lobsters 603 Luo Zhicheng Spring 2001, Unreachable Civilization 605, PART SEVEN Essays, 1913-1949 Lu Xun Excerpts from Wild Grass 609 Epigraph 609 Autumn Night 610 Hope 61 ‘The Evolution of the Male Sex 613 Reading on the Toilet 627 Lin Yutang My Turn at Quitting Smoking 632 ‘The Monks of Hangzhou 637 Zhu Ziging Prose Selections 641 Haste 641Contents xv Spring 642 ‘The Sithouette of His Back 643 ‘The Moonlit Lotus Pond 645 Feng Zikai Bombs in Yishan 649 Liang Shigiu Sickness 655 Haireuts 659 PART FIGHT Essays, 1949-1976 Liang Shigiu: On! Snow 665 ime 665 Yu Guangzhong ‘Thus Friends Absent Speak 673 Yang Mu Nineteen Seventy-two 677 PART NINE Essays Since 1976 Ba Jin Remembering Xiao Shan 685 Wen Jieruo Living Hell (from her memoirs) 697 Xiao Wenyuan A Bizarre Kind of Robbery 704avi CONTENTS XiChuan Salute 707 Syman Rapongan A Father and Son’s Boat for the Black Current 715 Permissions 7:PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION ‘Ten years seems just about right when it comes to revising a modern anthol- ‘ogy—making it more modern, as it were. As editors we have been gratified by the ac eptance of our work by x. their enthusiastic responses. Where that enthusiasm has been tempered with criticism, most often owing to omissions, we have taken note and have filled in the blanks as best we could. svets, teachers, and readers, encouraged by ‘The beginnings remain as they were in the first edition: Lu Xun may not have been the first to write a “modern” story, but modern Chinese literature truly begins with him. From there, however, previous readers will note changes in virtually all periods and in all genres, and first-time users will benefit from a smoother, more fully inclusive overview of Chinese fiction, poetry, and prose from the twentieth, and a bit of the twenty-first, centuries. Additions have been made in colonial and post-WWII Taiwan, the first seventeen years of the Peo- ple’s Republic, the Cultural Revolution era, and, most prominently, writing of the post'Tian'anmen period. We have included an essay by a Taiwanese in- digenous writer, a story with a homosexual theme, and, for the first time, ex: cerpts from novels (both by women, one by an established stylist, the other by a counterculture teenager). New stories by Huang Chunming and Mo Yan have replaced those by these authors in the frst edition, There has been a price, of course: we have had to make the difficult decision to delete some pieces, but restrictions on length made that unavoidable, Readers are encouraged tosili PREFACE consult the first edition for selections that did not make the eut (some are listed as “missing” in the introduction, which has otherwise not been altered); per- mission is herein granted to photocopy deleted selections for classroom use without charge Finally, in order to contextualize a century of writing in the Chinese lan- guage, the reader is urged to consult Bonnie S. McDougall and Kam Louie, ‘The Literature of China in the Twentieth Century (Columbia University Press, 1999).ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. ‘The editors are grateful to friends and colleagues whose generous support made this anthology possible. ‘The greatest debt is owed to contributors whose translations have made this high-quality literature from China available to An- glophone readers. We also gratefully acknowledge financial support from the China Times Foundation; many favors from William S. Tay, Eva Hung, D. E, Pollard, and Janice K. Wickeri; and the editorial guidance of Jennifer Crewe at Columbia University Press Joseph Lau would like to thank the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for a grant for research on contemporary Chinese fiction. ‘Thanks are also due to C.T. Hsia and Leo Ou-fan Lee, co-editors of Modem Chinese Stories and Novellas: 1919-1949, for use of material that first saw print there. To Chuang Liangyu of the Ching Leng Foundation, and Lam Shan Muk of the Hong Kong Economic Journal, he owes a debt that cannot be adequately expressed in words. Their degree of interest and concer for this project since its inception is commensurate with the warmth of their friendship. As editors who admit to their own biases and limitations, we realize that some readers may be disappointed by the absence of their favorite author or selection, We hope, however, that the quantity, quality, and diversity of our selections will ease their concerns and supply them with much good reading,INTRODUCTION Anthologies of modern Chinese literature in English translation are normally restricted to specific genres, locales, or periods. Until now, no comprehensive anthology covering representative works in the major genres from all three principal venues (China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong) for the entire modem period has yet been published That this anthology makes its appearance more than a decade after the Fourth Congress of Chinese Writers (1979) has tured out to be a blessing. Back in the mid-1930s, when Edgar Snow was gathering material for his Living China: Modem Chinese Short Stories (2937). he had to allow that “ contemporary China has produced no great literature, there must be much of scientific and sociological interest, and for utilitarian purposes alone it ought to be made available to us.” If Snow were to do the selections today, he would not need to make any such allowances, for the kind of fiction and, for that matter, poetry that has emerged from China since the early 1980s needs no apologies. The new gen- eration of writers, though no less concerned about the salvation of the country than their predecessors, have identified their own genius by severing ties with the crtical-realist mode so fashionable during the 1g20s and 1930s. The Chinese writers of the post-Mao era have entered a brave new world of narrative possi- bilities that enables them to circumvent political taboos and illuminate the realities of China through forms and techniques as diverse as parable, farce, modernism, avant-gardism, and, more recently, magical realism.xxii INTRODUCTION Modem Chinese literature is very much a barometer of the social, political, and historical conditions of its times. China's defeat in the Opium War (1839 1842) has generally been regarded by historians as the beginning of the end of imperial China. For the Chinese, who thought of their nation as the Middle Kingdom, the humiliation of being vanquished by British gunboats turned out to be more than a shattering experience. They began to realize, pethaps for the fist time in their history, that their countzy was backward not only in science and technology but in social and political institutions as well. Confucianism, insofar as it was identified as China’ state religion, coterminous with the con- cepts of altruism, compassion, and benevolence, was bankrupt precisely be- cause it was perceived to be the very source of backwardness and resistance to change. Years before Lu Xun published his first sto nation had been sounded in the works of the late a note of despair and resig- ng novelists. Lin E 857- 1909), for example, ominously likened the fate of old China to a ship adrift on a turbulent sea in his novel The Travels of Lao Can (1997). Equally indicative of the temper of the times is A Flower in a Sinful Sea (1894) by Zeng Pu 0872— 1935). who published his novel under the pen name ‘The Sick Man of East Asia. China in his narrative is the Island of Happy Slavery, destined to sink into the Sea of Sin, Such apocalyptic visions are certain to have prompted Lu Xun to refer to China in 1922 as an “iron house without windows, absolutely inde- structible, with many people fast asleep inside who will soon die of suffocation.” ‘Though the Manchu empire was overthrown in 191, things did not improve much during the early Republican years, As we see in Ba Jin’s “Dog” (2931), and disgust. This tale, though artistically crude, serves as a yardstick to measure the degree of progress China made over the next decades in altering its status from a semicolonial state to the selfimage of the Chinese is one of an autonomous polity It is generally agreed that modern Chinese literature begins with Lu Xun, Appropriately, he called his first collection of stories, written between 1g18 and 1923, Cull to Arms. Burning with a zeal to expose the evils of feudal society, Lu Xun introduced an iconoclastic fervor that came to characterize the defiant spirit of May Fourth writers in “a nation afflicted with a spiritual disease and therefore unable to strengthen itself or ch the words of G. T. Hsia ‘Smarting from the fiasco of the failed Boxer Uprising (1900), leading C nese intellectuals of the May Fourth era were more convinced of the superior nature of Western civilization than were their late-Qing counterparts. They believed that China stood no chance of rejuvenation unless its hopelessly at= nge its set way of inhumanity,” in chaie political systems and social institutions were completely overhauled. In- deed, confidence in the health of traditional Chinese eulture had sunk so low that drastic calls for Westemnization, such as the Latinization of the Chinese Tanguage, were made issues of the day.Introduction xxiii In the writings of the May Fourth period, modem China is modem only because itis coeval with the modern world, for itis still plagued by the bugbears of poverty, ignorance, lethargy, cowardice, selfishness, hypocrisy, cruelly, su- perstition, and corruption. By looking China's problems squarely in the eye, May Fourth writers defined the character of modem Chinese writing by their engaged spirit and an openness to trenchant self-criticist Not all Republican-era writes, to be sure, were interested in addressing the immediate concems of the day—to the benefit of thematic diversity. Such di- versity can be seen by comparing the respective thematic concems of represen tative writers. For example, in the first period we have in Wen Yiduo a poet so despaiting of China’s stagnation that he likens it to “Dead Water” (1926). Dai Wangshu’s stirring poem “Written on a Prison Wall” (1942) evokes the patriotic sentiments of his ancient predecessor Qu Yuan (3407-278 8.c.). In contrast, Xu Zhimo's love protestations and Li Jinfa’s enigmatic ruminations strike us as otherworldly for their selfregarding propensities A similar variety of themes can be found in early fiction. Wh ¢ most of the May Fourth writers after Lu Xun tie feudalisrn to cannibalism and devote them- selves one way or another to the cause of national salvation, Xu Dishan, as is lent in “The Merchant's Wife” [missing], appears to be more concerned with the salvation of the héroine’s soul than with the glaring inequities that reduce her to her present misery. Shen Congwen, on the other hand, tests the possibilities of happiness for the woman after whom the story “Xiaoxiao” (1929) is named. She is situated in a patriarchal society governed by the nules of ex- pediency and the impulse of charity, a natural order free from established moral dogmas and assumptions Writers of the first period are relatively free to indulge in personal interpre- tations of reality. Since the establishment of the People’s Republic in 1949, however, writers have been denied the luxury of such individualist expression. ‘Their perception of reality must conform to prescriptions laid dawn by Mao Zedong in his “Falks at the Yan‘an Forum on Literature and Art” in 1942. People are divided into separate classes as antagonistic groups in society, according to Mao, and there will be no genuine love of humanity until classes are eliminated all over the world, Mao made it imperative that literature funetion in the service of politics. With politics in command, much of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) writing between the early 19308 and mid-1970s takes on a measure of the ex emplum. The positive heroes and heroines in these staple outputs are invariably fearless, sexless, selfless, and untiring, ever ready to lay down their lives for the glory of the socialist cause. In Shi Ying’s poern “The Mountain Girl Likes to “Talk” (1963) we have a paradigm: Where is the home of the mou In the office of the production team, gil?xxiv INTRODUCTION At the broadcasting station of the village, In the classroom of the village school She lives at all these places In the morning she goes home to the production team office, Picks up the phone, and star's talking into its At noon she goes home to the broadcasting station to announce ‘The approaching storm of heavy snow and high winds at night; But at night she goes home to the village school classroom, Where an advanced class listens to her talk on a new poem. A telephone messenger, a broadcaster, and a teacher, All three rolled into one is she... One who lives at all these places has no “room of her own,” and since she works three shifis respectively at the production team, the broadcasting station, and the village school, itis hard to imagine how she might have any time left for herself. She embodies all the qualities of a Chinese Communist exemplary heroine. Burdened with such ideological expectations, the literature of the Maoist era, particularly during the catastrophic years of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), cannot be expected to impress as a self-sufficient aesthetic entity, since its primary function was to celebrate the accomplishments of the new society However, one of the virtues of literature lies in its ability to create alternative worlds. But for the appearance of a number of gifted poets and fiction writers in Taiwan and Hong Kong, modem Chinese literature from the 1950s to the 1gzes would have remained a closed world in whieh indi summarily stifled. The Nationalist Goverment under Chiang Kai-shek was, of course, no model of democracy. By governmental decree, virtually all literature dual voices were of the 19308 and 1940s from the mainland was proscribed, even though such measures did not inhibit aspiring writers from reading Lu Xun and other major underground figures, at considerable personal risk, Fortunately the government did not go so far as to follow Mao in proclaiming its version of the "Com- mandments” for writers to observe. Hence the possibility of alternate worlds, so long as such worlds were insulated from Communist evangelism In such a political climate, it is easy to see why young poets on ‘Taiwan had to take a historical retumn—to the first flowering, of modernist verse in the early 1930s, exemplified in the pioneering work of such Shanghai-based poels as Ji Xian and Dai Wangshu, who were associated wi contemporains). The selfreflexivity incidental to thi assumptive indifference to history and tradition p the journal Xiandai (Les mode of writing and its liberated the Taiwan modernists 1. Kaiyu Hsu, ed, Literature of the People’s Republic of China (Bloomington: Indiana Uni- verity Pres, 1980). p. 732Introduction xxv from the burden of quotidian existence. It allowed their imaginations to soar beyond the confines of geography, nationality, race, even culture itself. What- ever their obsessions, each achieved a technical sophistication and stylistic fi nesse seldom realized in the work of their mainland counterparts during that period. By accentuating the unconscious and the mythopoeic, the Taiwan mod- ernists affirmed the primacy of individual instincts over the collective con- sciousness, which define the Everyman in PRC literature during this period Few fiction writers from the mainland are represented in the second period. As with poetry, one must turn to Taiwan writers for samples of altemative worlds in fiction. Unlike poets, however, Taiwan novelists of this period did not strive to practice the art of modemism, Modernist strains, to be sure, are evident, but by and large, it can be said that Taiwan writers of the 19508 and 1960s stayed within the bounds of realistic and satirical writing of social conscience. ‘The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution mise in 1976. Encouraged by Deng Xiaoping’s message to the Fourth Congress of Chinese Writers and Artiss in 1979, calling foran “emancipation of thought” and the “smashing of spiritual shackles,” new writing by daring young poets began to appear almost overnight. What strikes the reader more than the re- freshing absence of sociopolitical dogma is the passion in asserting the sanctity of the self in artistic creations. As Gu Cheng explains to his father, Gu Gong, “The purpose behind portraying the world is to portray ‘the self? Your genera- tion sometimes wrote about ‘the self? but this “sel?” was always described as ‘a pebble used to build roads, a ‘gear valve, or ‘a screw,’ Is this ‘self human? No, it's only machinery Refusing to be just a pebble, a gear valve, ora screw, the New Age poets cast off the service-oriented role of “cultural worker” that their immediate prede- cessors were obliged to play. For this reason, the generation of poets catapulted to national fame in the early 1980s, such as Bei Dao, Gu Cheng, Shu Ting, and Yang Lian, are bona fide artists, in that poetry for them is a medium for expressing individual visions and convictions rather than a vehiele for propa- gating certified truths, Much of their writing has been considered “mist (menglong), a euphemism for obscurity. In point of fact, “misty poetry” has been a time-honored tradition in modem Chinese literature since the May Fourth eta, as can be seen in the symbolist compositions of Li Jinfa, OF the ‘Taiwan poets selected for this anthology, it must be conceded that Ye Weilian ‘metaphysical lines are no less “misty” than those of his peers in the PRC. Obscurity denotes intense subjectivity of emotions on the part of the poet. For pioneers of the “misty art,” ambiguity may be just a form of stylistic exper= imentalism. With the post-Mao obscurists, however, “mnistiness” can be as much ume to a close with Mao's de- 2 Helen F, Siu and Zelda Stem, eds, Mao's Harvest: Voices from China's New Generation (New York: Oxford University Press, 198), p15,ww INTRODUCTION a preferred form of artistic expression as itis a measure of expedient politics to dodge the criticism of dieshard conservatives. ‘The amorphous texture of their poems lends itself to multiple interpretations, the very stuff alternative worlds are made of In the words of Leo Ou-fan Lee, postMao Chinese poetry is energized by “a diversity of extreme sensibilities, a polyphony of new voices clamoring to be heard, a raw energy and a defant spirit that can no longer be contained by any official campaigns. Given more time, China’s younger poets will surely bring out a rich and varied harvest of poetic creation, the likes of which has not been witnessed during the past forty years” (Red Azalea, xxvii) Equally impressive are the achievements of fiction writers in postMao China. Like the misty poets, the new-breed writers who attained national prom- inence in the mid-ig8os are in their late thirties or early forties. Like “misty” writing, their (exts can be just as resistant to formulaic interpretations. But what- ever label is applied to identify the genius of their att, be it modernism, surre- alism, or magical realism, they have at least one thing in common: their un- ceremonial representation of the human condition in present-day China. Can Xue's is allegorically a claustrophobic miniaturist world of depravity and bestiality in which the protagonists behave like comered animals in the heat of mutual laceration. Mo Yan, on the other hand, is noted for his unre- strained celebration of passion and his ties to the earth. Sex and violence often figure in his fiction as metaphors to reinvigorate the frayed nerves of the Chi- nese race, at times coming off paradoxically as modern agents of catharsis. In his own way, Han Shaogong is also concerned about Chinese racial quality: like Mo Yan, he believes that the mentality that spawned the atrocities of the Cultural Revolution represents a retrogression from civilization to barbarity on the part of his fellow countrymen, It isa sign of racial degeneracy. In “Woman Woman Woman,” a novella too lengthy’ to inelude in this anthology, the pu- tative heroine undergoes a cycle of counter-evolution, reduced to a fishlike “thing” in the end. Such imagination of disaster signals a disquieting departure from the ame- liorative optimism that characterizes, however grudgingly, most of the May Fourth writers. Lu Xun’s madman has undergone several generic incarnations, but in the hands of the new generation of writers, he scems to have lost his power to plead the cause of the children, However, the apparent indifference to immediate social issues by these young writers need not be construed as an instance of muted conscience. It may be thal, being brought up among the ruins of the Cultural Revolution on a steady diet of Socialist evangelism, they have now, thanks to a more tolerant political ethos, learned to live the life of the étranger, committed to no cause other than the sanctity of their art. Such unsentimental, nearly eynical, views of reality are common to their Taiwan and Hong Kong counterparts. Zhang Dachun’s performance in “Lucky Worries About His Country.” for instance, is remarkable not only for its amazingIntroduction xxvii ble at- 1 post- cobaties of sardonicism but even more significantly for its unis tempt at demythification, Sacred cows are an endangered species Chiang ‘t ‘The Chinese fictional world has never witnessed such a diversity of themes, multiplicity of perspectives, or plenitude of “defamiliarized” emotions and sen- sibilities as have surfa ul during the past few decades. Not all post-ig8o fietion is necessarily modemistic, surrealistic, or “absurd,” to be sure, In Chen Cun, for instance, the conventional storytellers social instinct and narrative style are stil alive; what appears to be missing is the wonted promise of millennium. In the hands of Qiao Dianyun (missing), humor is satirically black and savage. If illicit passion, in the memorable words of Denis de Rougemont, “means suf- fering,” it is hard to find support in Zhu ‘Tianwen’s “Fin de Sitcle Splendor.” Pethaps feminisin has redefined relationships between the sexes, or perhaps men and women are affected differently by the fin de sigcle syndrome; whatever the case, itis clear that affairs become truly “casual” and guilt-free. Tie Ning’ “Octday” does not deal with adultery, but the way the heroine takes her destiny into her own hands is a good measure of the progress Chinese women have made toward independence since the days of Ling Shuhua or Zhang Ailing, Such progress would not have been possible if the writers had not been allowed to go about their business as selfwilled individuals, ‘The existence of alternative worlds presupposes the autonomy of writers. Its gratifying to note that in the hands of the new generation, literature has finally vindicated itself as an inde- pendent artistic enterprise In their own way, the essays included in this volume abo offer glimpses into the alternative worlds of modem Chinese literature. Whether itis in the zawen iar essay) form, the essay is happily an open. form of composition, an ideal medium for transmitting personal impressions or reflections. ‘Topical essays, in the useful description of D. K. Pollard, “are a (topical essay) or xiaopinwen (fam vehicle for argument: they convey the author's reactions to (usually animad- versions on) current events, issues and pronouncements, and past and present practices, personages, creeds: anything under the sun, in fact, so long as U thing has some relevance to the here and now.” The familiar essay, on the other hand, is a natural form for the display of 1or, insight, erudition, intimate sentiments, personal quirks, and prej- udices, One practical way lo appreciate the characteristic differences between these two types of essay is to examine the “worlds” of the Zhou brothers, ac- knowledged masters of the two forms. Whatever topic Ln Xun (Zhou Shuren) elects to discuss, be it the kitchen god or the emperor, he ofien ends up using the past to “animadvert on” the present. In contrast, Zhou Zusoren’s familiar 5. DE. Pollard, “Trmslator’s Introduction: Four C Spring 1989): 148-150 Renditions 31vevili INTRODUCTION essays, such as “Reading on the Toilet” (1936), appear more leisurely and per- sonal What should be noted in this connection is that some of our essayists are crossbred. Since form is dictated by content, a topical writer is always ready to switch style when the material at hand calls for a familiar expression. Lu Xun, for example, has written a number of essays so devoid of his habitual sarcasm and acerbity that they can be more appropriately placed in the category of familiar essay. In making the selections for this anthology, we have placed a higher priority on the familiar essay, for we believe that the casual, sensible, and commonsensical nature inherent in this form will be more appealing to the general reader. Quantitatively and qualitatively, the golden age of the essay was the 19208 and 1930s. Topical essays all but disappeared in China during the Maoist era. Since these essays have a vested interest in “hostile contradictions,” as Pollard has put it, their existence would be hard to justify in a new society where all contradictions are presumably eliminated, But familiar essays did not fare much better in an era in which the entire country was engaged in Socialist construc- tion; itis hard to believe that this type of essay, which makes a virtue of wishful indulgence, would be allowed to Nourish It is small wonder, then, as with poetry and fiction, that the most successful joners ofthis genre from the 1950s to the 1970s were those who published pra in Taiwan. Among the veterans, Lin Yutang and Liang Shigiu remained active after 1949 in the United States and ‘Taiwan, respectively. For this reason, we have included their works of both the first and the second periods, with a view to demonstrating the continuum as well as the vitality of the familiaressay tradition. They have worthy successors in Yu Guangrhong and Yang Mu, who, like the May Fourth masters, not only are at home in classical Chinese but are also comfortable in Western literature. Except for Dong Qiao’s piece [missing], which further attests to the undi- minished vigor of the genre, the rest of the entries in the last period cannot formally be considered farniliar essays. Hach account confides spiritual trauma related to the calamities of the Cultural Revolution. With Ba Jin and Wen Jieruo, the suffering is all the more intense because the authors are witness to the deaths of loved ones after being savaged by Red Guards We regret that space constraints have precluded the inclusion of drama. The best dramatic works are, unfortunately, nuultiple-act plays, and excerpts of any literary piece permit no more than a fragmented experience. Since most of the major plays of this century have been translated into English, it would be a disservice to the appreciation of modern Chinese drama if they were presented in truncated form, For the same reason, we have included no excerpts from novels. Many of the best have been, and will continue to be, translated in separate volumes for Wester readers.BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES While Pinyin spellings have been used thronghout, preferred or commonly used spellings for the names of writers from" before their dates or in the text. san, Hong Kong, ete., are given At Qin (1910-1996) At nineteen, Ai Qing (Jiang Haicheng) went to France to study painting, supporting himself by painting porcelains. ‘The works of the French symbolisis and other Wester poets changed the interest of his pursuits, and he decided to become a poet rather than a painter. Retuming to Shanghai in 1932, he joined the League of Left-Wing Artists. Found to be harboring “incendiary ideas,” he was detained for a number of months in the French concession. Adopting the pen name Ai Qing, he wrote poetry in prison. His reputation has suffered in recent years for his attack on the so- called “misty” poets of the late 1970s, who have now become internationally famous ALAl (1959 ) Born in what is now Sichuan Province, Alai comes from a'Tibetan. peasant family After graduating from a normal college, he taught primary school in a rural village. His writing career began in the early 1980s as a poet, but he tumed to fiction, producing several volumes of short stories His first novel, Chenai luoding (translated into English as Red Poppies), won a major national award; he has followed that with a series of novellas set in contemporary Tibet and dealing with Tibetan history and culture.MAX BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES Ba Jun (1904-2005) Ba Jin (Li Feigan) was catapulted to national fame with the publication of his first major novel, Family (1933). However, his popularity with young readers in the i938 did not rest so much with his craft as with the humanitarian impulses that identify his writing. He once openly con- fessed that he was not an artis, since he had little patience for such matters as style and technique, He was interested in speaking for the demeaned and injured—in his own words, to “strike a blow against darkness.” The story Melodramatic in “Dog” is as historically significant as Yu Dafu’s “Sink tone, it is nonetheless a powerful allegorization of a once proud people that has gone to the dogs Bar Quu (Pai Chiu, 1937 ) Bai Qiu (He Jinrong) was a primary-school student in Taiwan under the Japanese occupation. When the island was returned to China in 1945, he was literate only in Japanese. Yet he marked his first triumph in Chinese writing with Death of the Moth (1959). Though asso- ciated with the Modernist School and the Blue Stars Society during the early slages of his career, Bai Qiu found his independent voice in the six Bamboo Hat, a magazine established to promote nativist ser wan poetry. He is now a professional interior designer. Bat X1anvonc (Pai Hsien-ytung, 1937~) Bai Xianyong's family background affords him privileged insights into the disinherited dramatis personae of Republican China that he portrays: he is the son of General Bai Chongxi After the Comm He holds a degree in Western literature from National Taiwan University and a master’s degree in fine arts from the University of lowa, Now professor emeritus of Chinese at the University of Califomia, Santa Barbara, he is considered by some to be the preeminent stylist of his generation. His novel Niezi translated into English as Crystal Boys) gained fame as a major work dealing with homosexual themes. Bei Dao (ay49~_) Though better known as a menglong, or “misty” poet, Bei Dao (Zhao Zhenkai) is also a noted story weiter whose writing is nurtured by mixed feelings of anxious anticipation and muted fury. A Red Guard at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, he began writing poetry in 1970. His poems first appeared in Taday, a typescript magazine that he cofounded in Beijing. With Gu Cheng and Yang Lian, Bei Dao is one of the most frequently translated Chinese poets. Sinee 1989 he has lived in involuntary exile in the West. He is currently a professor of ereative writing at the Uni- venity of Notre D. Biax Zat1L1N (1gi0-2000) Bian Zhilin graduated in Westem literature from Beijing University in 1933, His early poems are dense with loving images of the ancient capital. When war with Japan broke out, he worked with north- western youth groups in their Resist Japan campaigns. As the poct became more involved with the exigencies of the times, so did his poetry, He joined the Communist Party in 1956. Bian also translated from English and French literature. takeover in 1949, he moved with his family to Ta ne.Biographical Sketches xxxi CaN XUE (1953-_) Can Xue (Deng Xiaohua)'s imagination of disaster can be understood only in parabolic terms, “Hut on the Mountain,” arguably one of the most enigmatic pieces of post-Mao fiction, thrives on the nature ofits thematic indeterminacy. Can Xue, whose family was a target of the Anti- Rightist Campaign in 1957, suffered much during the Cultural Revolution, Many of her stories have been translated into English. CHEN Cun (1954-) In China, Zhang San (Zhang the Third) is often men- tioned in the same breath as Li Si (Li the Fourth) to designate the nonde- script Everyman. A dry, laconic language with deliberate repetitious lapses is used to narrate a Sisyphean existence. Though the protagonists habitually referred to as Zhang San, the tone in “A Story” differs discernibly from other Zhang San stories, if only because the subject it confronts is insufferably violent. Cun Jincuua Little is known about Chen, a commune member during the Cultural Revolution. Cun Keava (1961- ) A practicing ophthalmologist, Chen began writing po- etry in 1976 and has won several awards for his work. Cites Ruoxt (Chen Jo-hsi, 1938-_ ) Born in Taiwan into a proletarian family, Chen (Chen Xiumei) majored in Western literature at National Taiwan University. Upon graduation, she furthered her studies at Mount Holyoke College and Johns Hopkins University. In 1966, after obtaining her M.A. degree, she left for Nanjing, where she taught English until 1973, during the Cultural Revolution, “The Tunnel” offers a glimpse of Chinese life in those days. After leaving China, Chen stayed in Hong Kong for a year before ‘emigrating to Canada and later to the United States. Her stories recollecting the experiences of her years in China have been translated into English as ‘The Execution of Mayor Yin. CHEN Yinczien (Chien Ying-chen, 1936-) Chen Yingzhen (born Chen Yongshan) graduated from ‘Tamkang College in 1960. He was convicted on charges of “subversive activities” by the Nationalist government in 1968 and given a ten-year sentence. ‘The death of Chiang Kai-shek in 1975 brought about an amnesty, and Chen was released in September of that year. His fiction of the 1960s, as represented by “My Kid Brother Kangxiong,” is dom- inated by narcissism and nihil faith in the capitalist order in general and disenchantment with the Nation- alist government in particular. HUN Sue (Chun Shu, 1983- ) “Bom at the Right Time” was published as chapter 2 of the “linglei” (counterculture) novel Beijing Doll (Beijing vawa), ‘written when the author was seventeen. A best seller in China, the novel chron- icles the sexnally promiscuous rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle of a high schoo! dropout Dat Tran (Tai Ti'en, 1937~) Dai (Dai Chengyi) spent his childhood in 1 1957 to study in the Department of Western Languages and Literatures at National Taiwan University. Like many of his contemporaries, he attended the University of Iowa's International Writing . bearing testimony to the author's loss of Mauritius. He came to Taisaxii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. Program. He has served as editor of the book section of the Chinese edition of Reader's Digest. At present he is chief editor of the Hong Kong Economie Monthly Dar Wanesttu (1905-1950) Dai Wangshu (Dai Chaocai)’s earliest publication during his high school days “amount[ed] to litle more than a couple of humorous anecdotes in dialogue form” (Gregory Lee). It was only as a stu- dent at Shanghai University that he tured to writing poetry. He became so cnamored of the French language that he decided to study in France (1932— 1935). ler the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in 1937, Dai took refuge in Hong Kong, where he served as an editor of a leading newspaper. After the British Colony fell to the Japanese, Dai was imprisoned and tortured for his anticfapanese s Din Linc (1907-1986) Following the death of her father when she was four years old, Ding Ling (Jiang Bingzhi) leamed her lessons in modern Chinese womanhood from her independent mother, After spending a year at Shang- hai College, in 1924, Ding Ling left for Beijing, where she met her future husband, Hu Yepin, one of five Communist martyrs shot by the Nationalist police on February 7, 1931. The author's outspokenness about the stark re- alities of Yan’an life became the cause of her downfall during the Anti- Rightist Campaign in 1957. She was rehabilitated in the late 1970s. FENG Zit (1905-1993) Feng Zhi began writing for literary journals as a student at Beijing Ui 1930 to 1935 he was in Germany studying liter- ature and philosophy. A devotee of the sonnet form, Feng distinguished himself asa “story poet” during the early stages of his career. After his return from Germany he taught at a number of universities. He joined the Com munist Party in 1956 and was appointed director of the Foreign Literature Institute at the prestigious Academy of Social Sciences in 1964 FeNc Zikat (1898-1975) Essayist, painter, and translator, Feng's brush drawings won a large and affectionate following among children in the 1930s. After graduating from Hangzhou First Normal School, he went to Japan in 1921 to study Western painting and music. He taught at a number of universities from 1939 to 1943, then devoted most of the 1950s to writing and translating Gao XiNGpian (1940~ ) Gao was bom in 1940 in Jiangxi Province, where he went to school. He earned a university degree in French at Beijing University and began his writing career soon after, gaining fame as the author of avant. garde dramas, most notably the play Bus Stop. In 1987, he chose exile in France, where he completed his novel Soul Mountain (agg), ‘That was followed by the novel One Man's Bible (999). In 1gg2 he was named a Chevalier de POrdre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. In 2000 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. He is a playwright and painter as well as a fiction writer and critic. He lives in Paris Gu Cnenc (1956-1993) One of the well-known “misty poets,” Gu Cheng was the son of Gu Gong, also a poet. During the Cultural Revolution, the GuBiographical Sketches xxii family was sent down to the countiyside, where Gu Cheng worked as a swineherd for four years. His first poems were published in Today. A member of the Chinese Writets Association, afler the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 198g he and his wife took up residence in New Zealand, where he com- milted suicide in 1993. His poetry has been translated into many Western languages. Haw SHA0GONG (1953-_) Streaks of pessimism are evidentin Han Shaogong's works, particularly “Ba Ba Ba” (1986) and “Woman Woman Woman” (1986), in which the Chinese race is seen to be on the threshold of degeneration. Han’s narrative technique has been likened to the magical realism of Gabriel Gareia Marquez. He has lived on Hainan Island since the 1989 Tian’anmen Square crackdown, He Qtrane (1912-1977) He Qifang received a sound education in the Chinese classics at home. In 1931 he was enrolled at Beijing University as a student of philosophy, and it was during this period that he began writing poetry and cessays. In the summer of 1938, a year after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, He journeyed from Chengdu to Yan’an, became a member of the ‘Communist Party, and began teaching at the Lu Xun Arts Institute, He was sent down to a “Cadre Schoo!” for re-education in the countryside during the Cultural Revolution. Hwa Tone Hua Tong is the pen name of Lin Zhengyi, a writer attached to the military. He was several years older than the urban youth generation, and was not himself rusticated. He lives in Liaoning Province. Hvanc Crunainc (Huang Ch’unsming, 1935) Huang has been a rebel since childhood when, unable to bear the hardships of living with a step- mother, he ran away from home, He attended ‘Taipei Normal College to prepare himself for a teaching career, only to be dismissed for “unruly be- havior.” Huang's childhood experiences have nurtured his deep sympathy for the weak and downtrodden. His most memorable characters are country folk or urbanites with no intellectual pretensions. Hvanc Guostn (Wong Kwok-pun, 1946-_ ) In order to read Western poetry in the original, Huang learned French, German, Italian, and Spanish. He holds a B.A. in English from the University of Hong Kong and a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. In addition to ten collections of poetry, he is the author of three volumes of poetry criticism, He is at present a senior lecturer in translation at Hong Kong’s Lingnan College. Jt Xtaw (Chi Hsien, 1913~ ) Ji Xian (Lau Yuy's earliest pen name was Lu-yi-shi (“Louis” in transliteration). An advocate of wholesale Westernization in mod- ern Chinese poetry, he was looked upon as a high priest of modemnisra in ‘Taiwan poetry in the early fifties, after leaving Shanghai in 1948. Ji Xian taught middle school until his retirement in 1974 and now lives in California, Lat He (Lai Ho, 1894-1943) The first modern writer in ‘Taiwan, he received a traditional education in the Chinese classics before attending medicalwiv BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES school and starting a career as a doctor. He spent several years in Amoy, on the mainland, where he was influenced by the May Fourth movement. He fell afoul of the Japanese colonial administration in Taiwan, was imprisoned, and died soon afier his release. Although his published output was relatively sparse (fifleen stories, thirteen modem poems, and sixteen essays), he has been called the “Father of Taiwan's new literature.” Lao Sue (1899-1966) Lao She (Shu Qingchun) is best known to the West for his novel Camel Xiangzi (1938) (translated by Evan King as Rickshaw Boy in 1945). Born into an indigent Manchu family in Beijing and orphaned as a child, Lao She left China in 1924 to teach Chinese at the University of London. There he produced three works that distinguished him asa novelist of earthy humor and sardonic wit. He continued writing with renewed en- ergy afer his retum to China in 1930. From then until 1937, when China ‘went fo war, he wrote a number of novels that secured his position as one of the leading novelists of his time. Lao She died at the hands of the Red Guards on August 24, 1966 ANG (1952-) Considered “the most consistent, successful, and influential writer of sexual fiction in Chinese” (Howard Goldblatt 1999), Li Ang (Shi Shuduan) is the author of The Butcher's Wife (1985), a novella that “shows the influence of the modernist aesthetic in its highly sensational treatment of such primitive instincts as hunger and lust.” After graduating from the College of Chinese Culture, she eared a master’s degree in drama at Oregon State University. Li Ang, author of several influential novels, teaches at her Taiwanese alma mater. Junra (Li Shuliang, 19¢0~1976) Li Jinfa caught his Chinese readers’ atten- tion by his pen name, which is literally Li the Blond Hair. After finishing, middle school in the British system in Hong Kong, Li went to France in 1919 to study sculpture, Influenced by French symbolist poels such as Baude- Jaire and Verlaine, he began writing poetry in 1920. Regarded as an eccentric by his contemporaries, Li bequeathed a viable legacy to later poets by his pioneering experiments in modernist poetry Rut (1950- ) Like the majority of young Chinese writers who emerged onto the literary scene in the midag8os, Li Rui had no formal education beyond middle school. In 1969 he was sent down as an “educated youth” to Shanxi for a different kind of education. The material for “Electing a'Thief” is drawn from his experience and observation of life in Liangshan, where he lived for six years. His most significant work to date is the historical novel Jiuzhi (translated into English as Silver City) Liane Suigtu (Liang Shih-ch'in, 19011987) A prominent essayist, Liang Shi- giv (Liang Zhihua) was also the translator of the complete works of Shake- speare, a project that took thirtyseven years to complete, He attended the University of Colorado as a senior in the English department, then spent a year each doing research at Harvard University and Columbia University Li LiBiographical Sketches xxv He returned to China, where he served as chairman of the English depart- ments at Beijing University and Beijing Norinal University. Liang followed the Nationalist government to Taiwan in 1949 and taught at Taiwan Normal University until his retirement in 1966. Lin Yuranc (1895-1976) To Western readers Lin Yutang is the author of such popular books as My Country and My People, The Importance of Living, and The Importance of Understanding, A bilingual author, Lin graduated from Shanghai's St. John’s University. He taught at Qinghua University and Bei- jing University before pursuing graduate work at Harvard in the United States and Leipzig in Germany, where he obiained his doctorate. He came to the United States after China declared war on Japan, staying until 1954, when he was appointed chancellor al Nanyang University in Singapore. He spent the last years of his life in Taiwan and Hong Kong, Line SHUHUA (1904-1990) Ling Shubua’s father was a scholar-poct and rank= ing mandarin in the last days of the Chinese empire. Her mother was the fourth of five concubines. Ling's frst stories were published in Contemporary Review while she was a student of English literature at Yanjing University After World War I she took up residence in London with her diplomat husband, Chen Yuan. “The Night of Midautumn Festival” shows her psy- chological understanding of protagonists caught between claims of personal loyalty and marital priorities Liu HeNG (1954-) Liu Heng (Liu Guanjun) was brought up in the midst of the Cultural Revolution. After graduating from high school, he was sent as an “educated youth” to work in the countryside. He also served in the army. “Dogshit Food” was a national award-winning story in China in 1985-1986. ‘The movie Ju Dow was based on Lin's 1988 novella Fuxi Fuxi. His novels Black Snow and Green River Daydreams have been well received in the West. Liu is currently an editor of Beijing Literature. Liv Yicanc (118) A veteran editor and writer, Liu Yichang (Liu Tongyi) graduated from Shanghai’ St. John’s University. Before settling in Hong Kong in 1957, he lived and worked in Singapore. He has published several volumes of essays, short stories, and novels and is at present editor of the magazine Hong Kong Literature Lu Xun (1881-1936) Lu Xun (Zhou Shuren) is the most famous and influential of modern Chinese writers. Appalled by the practice of traditional Chinese medicine, he studied Western medicine in Japan, where he discovered that what his fellow countrymen needed was not so much physical health as spiritual awakening, Asa first step he and his younger brother, Zhou Zuoren, published a two-volume set of translations from European writings, only to be deeply distressed by its poor reception. In 1909 he returned to China, where, at the insistence of an editor friend, he resumed writing, His frst story, “The Diary of a Madman” (1gi8), was a landmark in modern Chinese fiction for its savage commentary on traditional Chinese culture and society.xuwi BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES A prolific zawen (topical essay) writer, Lu Xun was also a pioncer scholar of traditional Chinese fiction. Lo Fu (Lo Fu, 1928) Luo Fu (Mo Luofu) graduated from the Department of English of Tamkang College. He was a Navy broadcasting reporter and a liaison officer in Taiwan and in Vietnam, He is most readily identified with Death in the Stone Cell (1964), a collection of poems that puzzled as much as dazzled his contemporaries with its savage imagery and uncompromising obscurity. Luo Fu was a founder of the Epoch Poetry Quarterly, which ex- crted tremendous influence on Taiwan's young poets. Luo Qine (Lo Ching, 1948) Luo Qing (Luo Qingzhe) is a professional painter. He launched his poetic career with a collection titled Six Ways of Eating Watennelons in 1972. After college in Taiwan, he received an M.A. from the University of Washington in comparative literature, He is at present ‘on the faculty of National Taiwan Normal University. Luo ZaicHeNG (Lo Chih-cheng, 1955-_) Born in ‘Taipei, Luo studied phi- losophy at National Taiwan University, He received his Ph.D. from the Uni- versity of Wisconsin, Madison. An active figure in media business, he heads a publishing house in Taiwan, Since 1975 he has published seven collections of poetry. Mao Dun (1896-1981) Mao Dun (Shen Yanbingy’s literary career took a bu reaucratic hurn after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Appropriate to his positions in various governmental and cultural oF- ganizations, including a lengthy tenure as minister of culture (1949-1965), his postg49 output consisted mostly of speeches, reports, directives, or brief comments on literature. Yet there is no question about his place as one of modem China’s top novelists, by virtue of his pre-1949 accomplishments “Spring Silkworms” has as its theme the bankruptcy of the rural economy and the futility of individual effort in competing for survival with foreign industry. Mo Yan (1955-) Mo Yan (Guan Moye) is of peasant stock ftom Shandong, Province. Before joining the People’s Liberation Amy in 1976, he worked part-time at a linseed oil factory. He graduated from the literature depart- ‘ment of the Armed Forces Cultural Academy in 1986 and became a member ofthe Chinese Writers Association that same year. He began to win national recognition in the mid-gS0s with such stories as “The Crystal Carrot,” but it was his first novel, Red Sorghum, that established his international repu- tation. The movie version of this work was named best film at the Berlin Film Festival in 1988, In recent years, he has published a string of powerful novels, historical and contemporary, for which he has been awarded several international prizes. Mu Dan (1938-1977) Mu Dan (Zha Liangzheng) graduated from National Southwest Associated University in 1940. From 1949 to 1952 he was a grad uate student in the Department of English at the University of Chicago.Biographical Sketches xxvii Returning to China in 1953, he taught at Nankai University. Branded an “anti-tevolutionary” for publishing “Nine Schools of Thought Compete to Bloom" in People’s Daily, he suffered a salary cut and a demotion in rank. He was posthumously rehabilitated in 1979. Qiv Mraopn (Chiu Miao-chin, 1969-1995) Bom in central Taiwan, Qiu graduated from the National Taiwan University Department of Psychology and continued her studies in Paris. Though she lived a short life, she left a rich corpus of fiction that expresses a lesbian's views of love and hate. Letters from Montmartre was published a year after her suicide in France. SHEN CONGWEN (1902-1988) Born of Miao (Hmong) ancestry in West Hunan in 1go2, Shen Congwen was at once an established novelist, a university professor, and in later years, an expert on ancient Chinese costume. Yet he hhad little formal education. After serving in the army, he went to Beijing at the age of twenty to seek his fortune ina literary career. His varied experience as a soldier and his personal knowledge of the simple virtues of China’s aboriginal tribes were great assets to his writing, “Xiaoxiao” effectively dem- onstrates the author's unique style and personal conviction regarding the possibility of living a moral life on one’s own terms, After 1949 Shen gave up fiction and devoted himself to historical research. His Researches Into Ancient Chinese Costume (1981) has been acclaimed as a pioneering study. Sut ZHECUN (1905-2003) Shi Zhecun’s fictional work departs in large measure from the main current of modem Chinese fiction in that his material has litle to do with the harsh realities of his time. He is not a typical writer who, in the famous phrase of C. T. Hsia, is “obsessed with China.” In “One Eve- ning in the Rainy Season” he is obsessed, to be sure, but with the nervous manifestations of the individual psyche suffering from repressed sexuality or thwarted desire. For this he is often identified as a “decadent” writer. He studied French literature in college and edited the monthly Les contempo- rains. Shi gave up creative writing for a university career after 1937. SHU TING (1952~) Shu Ting (Gong Peiyuy’s junior high schoo! education ‘vas disrupted and she was sent to the countryside during the Cultural Rey- olution. In the early 1979s, she supported herself with a number of odd jobs, including assignments in textile and lightbulb factories. She is now a mem ber of the Chinese Writers Association and has traveled extensively in rope and the United States. Su Tone (1963~ ) Su ‘Tong (Tong Zhonggui), a graduate of Beijing Normal University, currently works asan editor in Nanjing, One of his tories, “Wives and Concubines,” was adapted for the movie Raise the Red Lantern, Rice, a novel, was awarded the 1991 Mao Dun Prize for fiction. His most recent translated work in the historical novel My Life as Emperor. Syman Raponcan (1957) Bom on ‘Taiwan's Lanyu Island as a member of the Tao tribe, he was previously known by his Chinese name, Shi Nulai, A graduate of the Department of French Literature at National Qinghuasowiii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES University, he became a schoolteacher and served as a member of the Taipei Municipal Aboriginal Affairs Committee, He began writing fiction and es- says in 1992, for which he has received important literary prizes ‘Tue NING (1957~__) Tie Ning began writing diaries when she was a second- grade student. A voracious reader, she read a great many literary classics in her childhood. She graduated from high school in 1975 and joined the Com- munist Party in the same year. She is a member of the Chinese Writers Association. Written from a feminist perspective, “Octday” lampoons an old- fashioned social attitude that automatically regards the woman as victim in a divorce Wane ANvI (1954-) Bom in Nanjing, Wang moved with her mother to Shanghai in 1955. She spent meh of the Cultural Revolution in rural Anhui Province. She has been a performer and an editor, but is now a fulltime writer, among the most prolific, popular, and respected in contemporary China, Her slories and novels, normally set in Shanghai, are known for theit keen evocation of place and lifestyle. The novel Changhen ge (A Song of Everlasting Love), which follows the life of a 1930s beauty contest winnet and makes the city of Shanghai come alive, has become a modem classic. “Nanny” is the opening chapter of her 2000 novel of Shanghai citizens, Fuping WANG MeNG (1934-) Wang became a member of the Communist Party in 1945, at the age of thirteen, An idealist, he published “A Newcomer to the Organization Department” in 1956, a story exposing bureaucratic incom- petence and corruption, “Interfering in Life and Searching for Truth” had him in deep water, and he was exiled to a Uighur peasant village for twenty years. He made a remarkable comeback after 1976: appointed minister of culture in 1986, he was dismissed after the ‘Tian’anmen Square crackdown in 1989 for his liberal views on art and polities. He continues to write Wane Ruowane (1917-2001) A native of Jiangsu Province, Wang spent several years in a KMT prison afier joining the League of Leftist Weiters in 1933 ‘Twenty years later, under the new government, he served as deputy editor in chief of Literature Monthly, which he published essays and other pieces that resulted in his being labeled a rightist. He suffered grievously during the Cultural Revolution, after which he was appointed to the board of the magazine Shanghai Literature. In 1987 he was expelled from the Communist Party 1c XIAOLONG (1954) Wang Xiaolong founded the Experimental Poetry Society in 1980. In the words of Edward Morin, “The purview he commus icates in poetry has been termed ‘non- emotionalization. With philosoph- nderpinnings in existentialism, he suggests that man has no privileged place in the universe and may be living a life no more meaningful than an insects, Ws ical Wane X1PENG Little is known about Wang, a commune member during the Cultural Revolution.Biographical Sketches xxix WANG ZENGQ! (1920-2998) Wang Zengqi studied Chinese literature with Shen Congwen at National Southwest Associated University from 1939 to 1943. His frst published work of fiction was in fact an exercise in Shen’s class. He ‘was appointed editor of Beijing Literature in 1950 and Folk Literature inag55. Wang, who has published three volumes of short stories, is also a well-known essayist. Wanc Zina (Wang Chen-ho, 1940-1992) Educated at National Taiwan University, Wang Zhenhe attended the University of lowa's Intemational Writing Program from 1972 to 1973. With “An Oxcart for a Dowty” he dis- tinguished himself from other Taiwanese writers by using a local dialect largely invented to achieve a comic effect. In the author's own translation, the characters’ names are “rendered” into English equivalents rather than transliterated. Thus, Wangfa becomes “Prosperity,” Jian becomes “Screw,” and Ahao is “Nice.” For the sake of consistency and faithfulness, in this version the personal names have been romanized and some missing tences restored. His novel Rose, Rose, ! Love You is one of the nest comic satires ever written in Chinese. Wen J1eavo (1927-) Wen Jieruo attended primary school in Tokyo from 1934 to 1936. After retuming to Beijing, she was placed in a Japanese primary school until 1940. She graduated from Qinghua University in 1950 with a degree in Wester literature. Wen and her husband, the journalist Xiao Qian (1g10-1999), suffered greatly at the hands of Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution. “Living Hell” is a chapter from her memoirs about that catas- trophe. Wen Yinvo (1899-1946) Wen Yiduo was given a solid classical Chinese edu- cation by his parents and tutors béfore being exposed to Western literature as a student at Qinghua University. From 1922 to 1925 he studied painting in the United States, an experience tempered by his impressions of racial prejudice. He retumed to China determined to sp and politi- cal changes to better the common lot of his countrymen through literature. He died a victim of political assassination for his outspokenness. Wonc Man (1971 } Born in Wuhan, Hubei, Wong came to Hong Kong in 1986 and began writing poetry two years later. Wu Zauoru (Wa Cho-lin, 1900-1976) Born into a Hakka scholargentuy far ily in Xinzhu, Taiwan, Wu graduated from a normal college and became a teacher. He resigned as a result of a futile protest against a Japanese super visor and traveled to the Chinese mainland, where he worked as a reporter. Upon his return to Taiwan, he continued working as a reporter; his short stories often have a distinctive journalistic flavor. Wa wrote fiction for more than three deeades; his panese novel Yaxiya de gu'er (1943-1945) has appeared in English as Orphan of Asia. Wo ZUxIANG (1908-1994) Wa, a professor of Chinese literature at Beijing University, was active in literary research and criticism from the early 1940s. One of the most gifted writers of the 1930s, he is remembered by a handful head soc ost famous work, the axl BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES of stories that have set a standard for excellence in modern Chinese fiction. From Lu Xun onward, many Chinese writers have dealt with the suffering of Chinese peasants at the hands of rapacious landlords and corrupt govern- ment officials. But no one comes close to Wi in his mastery of savage irony and an ability to translate ineidents of class antagonism into metaphors of cannibalism Xt Cavan (1963-) Xi Chuan (Liu Jan), born in Jiangsu Province, graduated from the English department of Beijing University in 1985. After working as an editor at Globe magazine, he became a teacher of English and classical Chinese literature at the Central Institute of Fine Arts. ‘Through his pub- lished poetry, essays, and translations in official and unofficial, mainstream and avant-garde outlets, he has become a major presence in contemporary PRC poetry. He is an editor at the New China News Agency. X1 (1938-) Ni Xi (Zhang Yan) was bom in Shanghai. After graduating from Hong Kong's Graham College of Education, she taught school until 1979, then turned to fall-time writing, Publications include a novel and a number of collections of essays, stories, and poetry: Her sensitive reading of the female psyche is acutely registered in “A Woman Like Me,” which was awarded the first prize for fiction by Taiwan's United Daily in 1982 Xia Yu (Hsta Yi, 1956-) Xia Yo was born in Taiwan, but now divides her time between Paris and Taipei. She received a B.A. in film and drama from National Arts College, and has worked in television and theater. Slie makes a living asa lyricist and translator, and is the author of four volumes of poetry X140 HoNG (191-1942) Xiao Hong (Zhang Naiying) was born to a landlord family in Heilongjiang, Northeast China, She rose to eminence by virtue of her first novel, The Field of Life and Death (1935). ‘The story “Hands’ is the most artistically accomplished of Xiao Hong's short fiction. From 1936 to 1940, the carly years of the Sino-Japanese War, she led the somewhat bo- hemian existence that characterized most of her adult life. She died in a Hong Kong hospital on January 22, 1942, slightly over a month after the British Colony fell into Japanese hands. Xiao Wenvwan (1933) Xiao Wenyuan graduated from the Chinese De- partment of Nankai University in 1956 and is at present a research fellow of ‘Tianjin’s Writers Association. His publications inchide fiction, essays, and poetry. X10NG Hoe (Hsiung Hung, 1940) Considered one of Taiwan's best Iyri- cists, Xiong Hong (Hu Meizi) published her first poems when she was fit teen, “She is the poet of the light touch and is often labeled by critics a member of the School of Elegance,” in Chi Pang-yuan’s words, She gradu. ated from National ‘Taiwan Normal University with a B.A. in fine arts and, in 1974, altended the Intemational Writing Program at the University of Iowa. Xu Zao (1895-1931) Considered by some the greatest poet of his generation, Xu Zh ‘As noted by Kai-yu Hsu, “ln Xi mo could also be the most romaBiographical Sketches xli the barely ten years of his productive (and prolific) life, he championed a total liberation of man’s soul, a complete realization of man's pursuit of Deauty, and an unreserved surrender of oneself to love.” Educated at Colum- bia and Cambridge universities, Xu died in a plane crash en route from Shanghai to Beijing Yanc Lian (3955-) Yang Lian was born in Bern, Switzerland, while his parents were at the Chinese Embassy there. Sent down to the countryside during the Cultural Revolution, he began to write “modemist” poetry in 1976. His early poems were published in the magazine Today. Some of his poetry collections were banned in early 1987. Since the 1989 ‘Tian‘anmen Square crackdown, Yang and his family have lived as selfexiles in New Zealand, Australia, and Europe. Yano Mu (1940~-__) Few poets in Yang Mu (C. H. Wang)'s generation have enjoyed his fame as an essayist. Along with Yu Guangzhong, he is considered one of the finest poetessayists in modem Chinese literature. A graduate of ‘Tunghai University in Taichung, Taiwan, he has an M.F.A. from the Uni- verity of lowa and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. He has been professor of Chinese and comparative literature at the University ‘of Washington and dean of aris at Taiwan’s Tunghua University. He is now at the Academic Sinica ‘Ye SHAOJUS (1894-2988) Known later in his career as Ye Shengiao, Ye Shaojun is noted for his characterization of the “unheroic hero” in language that appears plain and reserved, yet is taut with emotional undertones. His fond- ness for understatement belies his passionate commitment to bettering the plight of the poor and the oppressed. His was a China plagued by the bug- beats of superstition, ignorance, moral inertia, residual feudalism, and an anachronistic value system. Such legacies of his benighted country are most effectively dramatized in “A Posthumous Son.” Ye Wenutay (1937) Ye Weilian (known in the West as Waidim Yip) made a name for himself as a poet during the late 1950s when he was a student of English at National Taiwan University. After earning an M.A. at National ‘Taiwan Normal University, he continued his studies in the United States, obtaining an M.F.A. and the Ph.D. from the University of lowa and Prince- ton University, respectively, He is at present professor of comparative liter- ature at the University of California, San Diego. Yip Fat (1952) Yip Fai isthe pen name for Yip Tak Fai, He has beena freelance writer for more than thirty years and has edited several poetry journals. He is the general manager of a newspaper publisher. Yu Dar (896-1945) What sets Yu Dafu apart from his contemporaries is, as is evident in “Sinking,” a frank recognition of the extent to which human behavior can be affected by the sex drive, Among May Fourth writers, no one went further in treating sexuality as a serious matter for contemplation ‘The suicide of the autobiographical hero, to all appearances a selEpitying paranoid takes on a parabolic meaning when he attributes the cause of hisalii BLOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES suffering to the general debilities and impotence of China. In line with the fashion of the day, Yu Dafu received his college education in Japan, Co: sidered a decadent writer for escapist sentiments, he made a fresh pression when the Sino-Japanese War broke out (1937) by joining the na- tional front against Japanese aggression, working as a newspaper cditor in Singapore. When that city fell into Japanese hands in 1942 he fled to Su- matra, where he continned his patriotic activities until the Japanese military police tracked him down and killed him, Yu Guanoznone (Yu Kwang-chu |) Poet, essayist, critic, and trans- lator, Yu Guangzhong is one of the most prolific and acclaimed writers in ‘Taiwan, He went there as a refugee college student from the mainland in 1950 and completed his study in Western literature at National Taiwan Uni- versity, He holds an MLE. from the University of lowa, Twice a Fulbright Visiting professor of Chinese literature in the United $ s, Yu is at present professor of Western literature at National Sun Yatsen University in Kuo- hisiung, Taiwan Yu Ha (1g60- ) After graduation from high school in 1977, Yu Hua per- formed dental services for five years before turning to writing, His first efforts \were published in 1984, but it was only afer the appearance of “On the Road at Eighteen” in 1986 that he began to win critical acclaim. He is the author of the novel-cum-movie Huozhe (‘To Live) Yuan QIONGQIONG (Yuan Ch'iung-ch’iung, 1950) A graduate of Provin- cial Tainan Commercial and Vocational School in Taiwan, Yuan began \writing in 1967. Though she also wrote poetry under the pen name Zhu Ling in the early years, she is more established as a writer of short fiction. Her celebrated piece “A Room of One's Own” won the prestigious United Daily literary award in 19S0. She is at present a freelance TV scriptwriter in Taiwan. ZHANG AILING (1921-1995) Known to Western readers as Eileen Chang, Zhang, vwas seldom mentioned in histories of modern Chinese literature published in the 1970s. If not for G.'T, Hsia, who considers her “the most gifted Chi- nese writer to emerge i the forties” and devotes the longest chapter in his History of Modern Chinese Fiction to assessing, her accomplishments, she might have remained an obscure writer. Zhang’s work is valued for its psy- chological insights. She had a fine command of English and translated a number of her own works into English. In 1955 she emigrated to the United States, where she lived in seclusion until her death, ZManc Cvo (Chang'Ts, 1943~} Known in the West as Dominic Cheung, Zhang Cuo (Zhang Zhen’ao) graduated from National Cheng-chih Univer- sity in Taiwan and did postgraduate work at the University of Washington, where he obtained his doctorate, Zhang Cuo’s “personal life as well as his lyrics are characterized by the search for a national and personal identity, is often lost in the tragic historical experiences of China” ((Dominic}Biographical Sketches iti Cheung, Isle, 139). A leading poet of his generation, he is a professor of comparative literature at the University of Southern California, Zuanc Dacun (Chang Ta-ch’un, 1957-_) Zhang graduated from Taiwan's Fu Jen University and worked for a number of years as a reporter and editor for China Times. A skilled writer, Zhang has produced volumes of fiction for popular consumption. On the other hand, he has also written thought- provoking stories that have won critical acclaim. “Lucky Worries About His Country” shows Zhang's wr I best. Zhang now makes his living as a freelance writer and TV host ZHANC TIANY1 (1906-1985) A keen but uncynical observer of “the animal called man,” Zhang was a shortstory writer of the thirties who excelled in satire and the comic art. Though he embraced the Marxist doctrine, his best works were seldom vitiated by simplistic subscription to fashionable leftist dogmas predicated on rebellion and protest. Thus, in spite of the fact that tension exists between the classes in “Midautumn Festival,” it is not pre- sented to the reader in a tendentious fashion. Instead, the reader is invited to witness the foibles, follies, and essential meanness of which human beings are capable. Zhang also wrote children’s literature. ZaexG Coury (Cheng Ch’ou-yii, 1933- ) ‘Though a Northerner, Zheng (Zheng Wentao) entrances his readers with lyrical evocations of the South. He is one of the few poets in Taiwan whose collections of poetry have made the bestseller lists. A graduate of ‘Taiwan's Chung-hsing University, Zheng worked for a mimber of years at Keeling’s Harbor Bureau before attending Iowa's Intemational Writing Program in 1968. He now teaches Chinese at Yale University ZHENG Min (1920- ) Zheng cared a degree in philosophy from National Southwest Associated University in 1943, She did graduate work at Brown University and obtained an M.A. in English literature in 1951, She returned to China in 1959 with her husband, an engineer, only to be harassed by officials who took them to be American spies. She taught English literature at Beijing Normal University until her retirement, After giving up her ere- alive career for two decades, she resumed writing poetry in the 1980s. Zwenc QuncweN (Tzeng Ching-wen, 1932-) Bom in Taoyuan, northem Taiwan, Zheng graduated from the Department of Commerce of National ‘Taiwan University and worked for years as a banker. After retirement, he became a full-time writer, and his fiction has received many awards; a trans- lation of his short stories, The Three-Legged Horse, was a recipient of the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Prize for fiction, His work can be divided into two streams: that which takes traditional Taiwanese village life asa backdrop and that which concems life in contemporary urban society; in both it is the human psyche that concerns him the most Zxou Mencp1r (Chou Meng-tie, 1920~_) Zhou Mengdie’s personal name is as allusive as his poetry, “Mengdic” is butterfly dream, a famous parablesliv BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES by the philosopher Zhuangzi about identity. A normal-chool graduate, Zhou toyed with the idea of becoming a monk before enlisting in the Na- tionalist Army. He came to Taiwan in 1gso and has become a devout Bud- dhist Zuov ZvoREN (1885-1967) Zhou Zuoren’s works were banned in Ta mainland China until only recently, due to “Japan connections” during World War Il. He held a scrics of important posts in Beijing under Japanese ‘occupation, including a deanship of the College of Humanities of Beijing University: At the end of the war, he was sentenced to ten years in prison by wan and the Nationalists but was released by the Communists in 1949. ‘Though his repulation is overshadowed by that of his brother, Lu Xun, he is one of the most accomplished and prolific essayists of his time, Zav TiaxweN (Chu T'ien-wen, 1956~__) Zhu Tianwen is the daughter of the 1 Zu Xining, Allegedly a decadent work about the “Beautiful People” of contemporary 1 in de Sigcle Splendor” is also a muffled lament about the transience of life and the fragility of youth and beauty. Zhu holds a B.A. in English from Tamkang University. Her novel, Life of a Desolate Man, which chronicles the lives of Taiwanese caught up in the AIDS pandemic, gained an international reputation, In addition to fiction, veteran novel Zin also writes film scripts Ziv ZiQING (1896-1948) Though Zhu Ziging made his debut in the literary world as a poet in the early 19208, he is better known as a leading essayist. Educated at Beijing University, he was appointed professor of Chinese lit erature at Qinghua University in 1925. In addition to research on classical Chinese literature, he published a number of essays that were so well re- ceived they were adopted as high school texls. From 1931 to 1932 he studied linguistics and English literature in London,PART ONE Fiction, 1918-1949Lu Xun (1881-1936) PREFACE TO THE FIRST COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES, CALL TO ARMS Translated by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang ‘When I was young I, too, had many dreams, Most of them came to be forgotten, but [ see nothing in this to regret. For although recalling the past m you happy, it may sometimes also make you lonely, and there is no point in clinging in spirit to lonely bygone days. However, my trouble is that I cannot forget completely, and these stories have resulted from what I have been unable to erase from my memory. For more than four years I used to go, almost daily, to a pawnbroker’s and toa medicine shop. I cannot remember how old I was then, but the counter in the medicine shop was the same height as I, and that in the pawnbroker’s twice my height. I used to hand clothes and trinkets up to the counter twice my height, take the money proffered with contempt, then go to the counter the same height as I to bay medicine for my father, who had long been ill. On my return home I had other things to keep me busy, for since the physician who made out the prescriptions was very well known, he used unusual drugs: aloe root dug up in winter, sugarcane that had been three years exposed to frost, twin crickets, and ardisia .. all of which were diffienlt to procure. But my father’s illness went from bad to worse until he died [believe those who sink from prosperity to poverty will probably come, in the process, to understand what the world is really like, I wanted to go to the y make4 FICTION, 1918-1949 J— school in N—,' perhaps because I was in search of a change of scene and faces. There was nothing for my mother to do but to raise eight dollars for my traveling expenses, and say I might do as I pleased. That she cried was only natural, for at that time the proper thing was to study the classics and take the official examinations. Anyone who studied “foreign subjects” was looked down upon as a fellow good for nothing, who, out of desperation, was forced to sell his soul to foreign devils. Besides, she was sorry to part with me. But in spite of that, I went to N— and entered the J— school; and it was there that I heard for the first time the names of such subjects as natural science, arithmetic, geography, history, drawing, and physical training, They had no physiology course, but we saw woodblock editions of such works as A New Course on the Human Body and Essays on Chemistry and Hygiene. Recalling the talk and prescriptions of physicians I had known and comparing them with what I now knew, I came to the conclusion that those physicians must be either unwitting or deliberate charlatans, and I began to sympathize with the invalids and fam- ilies who suffered at their hands. From translated histories | also leamed that the Japanese Reformation had originated, to a great extent, with the introduc- tion of Western medical science to Japan. ‘These inklings took me to a provi sdical college in Japan. I dreamed a beautiful dream that on my return to China I would cure patients like my father, who had been wrongly treated, while if war broke ont I would serve as an army doctor, at the same time strengthening my countymen’s faith in ref ormation. 1 do not know what advanced methods are now used to teach microbiology, but at that time lantern slides were used to show the microbes, and if the lecture ended early, the instructor might show slides of natural scenery or news to fill up the time. This was during the Russo-Japanese War, so there were many war films, and I had to join in the clapping and cheering in the lecture hall along with the other students. It was a long time since I had seen any compatriots, but one day I saw a film showing some Chinese, one of whom was bound, while many others stood around him. They were all strong fellows but appeared completely apathetic. According to the commentary, the one with his hands bound was a spy working for the Russians, who was to have his head cut off by the Japanese military as a warning to others, while the Chinese beside him had come to enjoy the spectacle Before the term was over I had left for ‘Tokyo, because after this film I felt that medical science was not so important after all. The people of a weak and backward country, however strong and healthy they may be, ean only serve to be made examples of, or to witness such futile spectacles; and it doesn’t really matter how many of them die of illness. ‘The most important thing, therefore, was to change their spirit, and since at that time I felt that literature was the 1 The Jiangnan Naval Academy in NanjingLar Xun: Preface fo Call to Arms 5 best means to this end, I determined to promote a literary movement. There were many Chinese stndents in Tokyo studying law, political science, physics and chemistry, even police work and engineering, but not one studying litera- lure or art, However, even in this uncongenial atmosphere I was fortunate enough to find some kindred spirits. We gathered the few others we needed, and after discussion our first step, of course, was to publish a magazine, the ttle of which denoted that this was a new birth. As we were then rather classically inclined, we called it Xin Sheng (New Life) When the time for publication drew near, some of our contributots dropped ‘out, and then our funds were withdrawn, until finally there were only three of uslefi, and we were penniless, Since we had started our magazine at an unlucky hour, there was naturally no one to whom we could complain when we failed; but later even we three were destined to part, and our discussions of a dream future had to cease. So ended this abortive New Life. Only later did I feel the futility of it all; at that time I did not really understand anything. Later I felt ifa man’s proposals met with approval, it should encourage him; if they met with opposition, it should make him fight back; but the real tragedy for him was to lift up his voice among the living and meet with no response, neither approval nor opposition, just as if he were left helpless in a boundless desert. So I began to feel lonely And this feeling of loneliness grew day by day, huge poisonous snake. Yet in spite of my unacec dignation; for this experience had made me reflect and see that l was definitely not the heroic type who could rally multitudes at his call However, my loneliness had to be dispelled, for it was causing me agony. So L used various means to dull my senses, both by conforming to the spirit of the time and turning to the past. Later | experi sed even greater loneliness and sadness, which I do not like to recall, preferring that it should perish with me, Stil my attempt to deaden my senses was not unsuecessful— Thad lost the enthusiasm and fervor of my youth, ‘oiling about my soul like a ntable sadness, [felt no in= ed or wi In S- said a woman had lived who hanged herself on the locust tree in the courtyard. Although the tree had grown so tall that its branches could no longer be reached, the rooms remained deserted. For some years | stayed here, copying ancient. ions. | had few 10 political problems or issues in those inscriptions, and 1 only desire was that my life should slip quielly away like this. On summer nights, 2 Hostel there were three rooms where it was visitors, there wel when there were too many mosquitoes, I would sit under the locust tree, waving, my fan and looking at the specks of sky through the thick leaves, while the caterpillars which came out in the evening would fall, iey-cold, onto my neck 2 Shaoxing:6 FICTION, 1915-1949 ‘The only visitor to come for an occasional talk was my old friend Jin Xinyi He would put his big portfolio down on the broken table, take off his long gown, and sit facing me, looking as if his heart was still beating fast after braving, the dogs “What is the use of copying these?” he demanded inquisitively one night, afier looking through the inscriptions I had copied. ‘No use at all.” “Then why copy them “For no particular reason.” “L think you might write something. . Lunderstood. They were editing the magazine New Youth,’ but hitherto there seemed to have been no reaction, favorable or otherwise, and I guessed they must be feeling lonely. However, | sid: “Imagine an iron house without wi many people fast asleep inside who will soon die of suffocation. But you know since they will die in their sleep, they will not feel the pain of death. Now if you cry aloud to wake a few of the lighter sleepers, making those unfortunate few suffer the agony of irrevocable death, do you think you are doing them a good turn?” “But if a few awake, you can't say there is no hope of destroying the iron house.” True, in spite of my own conviction, I could not blot out hope, for hope lies in the future. I could not use my own evidence to refute his assertion that it might exist. So I agreed to write, and the result was my first story, “A Madman’s Diary.” From that time onward, I could not stop writing, and would write some sort of short story from time to time at the request of friends, until I had more than a dozen of them. As for myself, [ no longer feel any great urge to express myself; yet, perhaps because I have not entirely forgotten the grief of my past loneliness, [sometimes call out, to encourage those fighters who are galloping on in loneliness, so that they do not lose heart, Whether my ery is brave or sad, repellent or ridiculous, 1 do not care. However, since it is a call to arms, | must naturally obey my general’s orders, This is why I often resort to innuendoes, as when I made a wreath appear from nowhere at the son's grave in “Medicine,” while in “To- mortow” I did not say that Fourth Shan’s Wife had no dreams of her little boy, For our chiefs then were against pessimism, And f, for my part, did not want to \lows, absolutely indestructible, with infect with the loneliness | had found so bitter those young people who were still dreaming pleasant dreams, just as I had done when you Itis clear, then, that my short stories fall far short of being works of art; hence I count myself fortunate that they are still known as stories, and are even being 3. The most influential magazine in the cultural revolution ofthat timeLu Xun: Preface to Call to Arms 7 compiled in one book. Although such good fortune makes me uneasy, 1 am nevertheless pleased to think they have readers in the world of men, for the time being at least. Since these short stories of mine are being reprinted in one collection, owing to the reasons given above, [ have chosen the title Na Han (Call to Arms), 1922A MADMAN’S DIARY ‘Translated by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang ‘Two brothers, whose names I need not mention here, were both good friends of mine in high school; but after a separation of many years we gradually lost touch. Some time ago I happened to hear that one of them was seriously ill, and since I was going back to my old home, I broke my journey to call on them. I saw only one, however, who told me that the invalid was his younger brother. “L appreciate your coming such a long way to see us,” he said, “but my brother recovered some time ago and has gone elsewhere to take up an official post.” Then, laughing, he produced two volumes of his brother's diary, saying that from these the nature of his past illness could be seen and there was no harm in showing them to an old friend. | took the diary away, read it through, and found that he had suffered from a form of persecution complex.’The writing ‘was most confused and incoherent, and he had made many wild statements; moreover he had omitted to give any dates, so that only by the color of the ink and the differences in the writing could one tell that it was not all written at one time. Certain sections, however, were not altogether disconnected, and I have copied out a patt to serve as a subject for medical research. I have not altered a single illogicality in the diary and have changed only the names, even though the people referred to are all country folk, unknown to the world and of no consequence. As for the title, it was chosen by the diarist himself after his recovery, and I did not change itLu Xun: A Madman’s Diary 9 ‘Tonight the moon is very bright. have not seen it for over thirty years, so today when I sawit I felt in unusually high spirits. I begin to realize that during the past thirty-odd years I have been in the dark; but now [ must be extremely careful. Otherwise why should the Zhaos’ dog have looked at me twice? Thave reason for my fear. 2 ‘Tonight there is no moon at all, know that this isa bad omen. ‘This moming when I went out cautiously, Mr. Zhao had a strange look in his eyes, as if he were aftaid of me, as if he wanted to murder me. ‘There were seven or eight others who discussed me in a whisper. And they were afraid of my seeing them. So, indeed, were all the people I passed. The fiercest among thém grinned at me, whereupon I shivered from head to foot, knowing that their preparations were complete. 1 was not afraid, however, but contimied on my way. A group of children in front were also discussing me, while their faces too were ghastly pale. I won- dered what grudge these children could have against me to make them behave like this, I could not help calling out, “Tell me!” But then they ran away. I wonder what grudge Mr. Zhao has against me, what grudge the people on the road have against me. I can think of nothing except that bwenty years ago tod on Mr. Gu fiu’s! old ledgers, and Mr. Gu was most displeased. Although Mr. Zhao does not know him, he must have heard talk of this and decided to avenge him, thus he is conspiring against me with the people on the road. But then what of the children? At that time they were not yet bora, so why should they eye me so strangely today, as if they were aftaid of me, as if they wanted to murder me? This really frightens me, itis so bewildering and upsetting. I know. They must have leamed this from their parents! 3 I can't sleep at night. Everything requires careful consideration if one is to \derstand it. Those people, some of whom have been pilloried by the magistrate, slapped in the face by the local gentry, had their wives taken away by bailiffs or their parents driven to suicide by creditors, never looked as frightened and as fierce then as they did yesterday: 1. The characters Gu jiu mean “old.” This refers to the age-old history of feudalism in China,10 FICTION, 1918-1949 ‘The most extraordinary thing was that woman on the street yesterday who was spanking her son, “Little devil!” she cried. “I'm so angry I could eat you!” Yet all the time it was me she was looking at. I gave a start, unable to hide my alarm, Then all those long-toothed people with livid faces began to hoot with laughter. Old Chen hurried forward and dragged me home. He dragged me home. The folk at home all pretended not to know me; they had the same look in their eyes as all the others. When I went into the study, they locked me in as if cooping up a chicken or a duck. This incident left me even more bewildered A few days ago a tenant of ours from Wolf Cub Village came to report the failure of the crops and told my elder brother that a notorious character in their village had been beaten to death; then some people had taken out his heart and liver, fried them in oil, and eaten them as a means of increasing their courage. When I interrupted, the tenant and my brother both stared at me. Only today have I realized that they had exactly the same look in their eyes as those people outside. Just to think of it sets me shivering from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet. ‘They eat human beings, so they may eat me I see that the woman's “eat you,” the laughter of those long-toothed people with livid faces, and the tenant's story the other day are obviously secret signs. I realize all the poison in their speech, all the daggers in their laughter. Their tecth are white and glistening: they use these teeth to eat men Evidently, although Lam nota bad man, ever since I trod on Mr. Gu's ledgers it has been touch-and-go with me. They scem to have secrets that I cannot guess, and once they are angry they will eall anyone. bad character. [emember when my elder brother taught me to write compesitions, no matter how good aman was, if{ produced arguments to the contrary he would mark that passage to show his approval; while if | excused evildoers he would say, “Good for you, that shows originality.” How can I possibly guess their secret thoughts—espe- cially when they are ready to eat people? Everything requires careful consideration if one is to understand it. In ancient times, as I recollect, people often ate human beings, but I am rather hhazy about it. [tried to look this up, but my history has no chronology and scrawled all over each page arc the words “Confucian Virtue and Morality.” Since I could not sleep anyway, I read intently half the night until I began to see words between the lines, ‘The whole book was filled with the two words — “Fat people.” All these words written in the book, all the words spoken by our tenant, eye me quizzically with an enigmatic smile Etoo am a man, and they want to eat mie!Lar Xun: A Madman’s Diary ax 4 In the moming I sat quietly for some time. Old Chen brought in lunch: one bowl of vegetables, one bow of steamed fish. ‘The cyes of the fish were white and hard, and its mouth was open just like those people who want to eat human beings. Aftera few mouthfuls I could not tell whether the slippery morsels were fish or human flesh, so 1 brought it all up. I said, “Old Chen, tell my brother that 1 feel quite suffacated and want to have a stroll in the garden.” Ole Chen said nothing but went out, he came back and opened the gate I did not move, but watched to see how they would treat me, feeling certain that they would not let me go. Sure enough! My elder brother came slowly out, leading an old man. There was a murderous gleam in his eyes, and fearing that I would see it he lowered his head, stealing side glances at me from behind his lasses. “You seem very well today,” said my brother. "Yes," said 1. presently “Lhave invited Mr. He here today to examine you.” “All right,” I replied. Actually 1 knew quite well that this old man was the executioner in disguise! Feeling my pulse was simply a pretext for him to see how fat 1 was, for this would entitle him to a share of my esh. Still, [was not afraid, Although 1 do not cat men my courage is greater than theirs. Theeld out any two fiss to see what he would do, The old man sat down, closed his eyes, fumbled for some time, remained motionless for a while, then opened hisshifty eyes and said, “Don't let your imagination run away with you, Rest quielly for a few days, and you will be better.” Don’t let your imagination nun away with you! Rest quietly for a few days! By fattening me of cousse they'll have more to eat. But what good will it do me? How can it be “better”? The whole lot of them wanting to cat people yet stealthily lying to keep up appearances, nol daring to do it outright, was really enough to make me die of laughter. I couldn't help it, I nearly split my sides, I was so amused. I knew that this laughter voiced courage and integrity. Both the old man and my brother tumed pale, awed by my courage and integrity: But my courage just makes them all the more eager to eal me, to acquite some of my courage for themselves. The old man went out of the gate, but before he had gone far he said to my brother in a low voice, “To be eaten at once!” My brother nodded. So you ate in it too! This stupendous discovery, though it came as a shock, is no more than I might expect: the accomplice cating me is my elder brother! The eater of human flesh is my elder brother! Tam the younger brother of an eater of human flesh! 1, who will be eaten by others, am the younger brother of an eater of human Alesht12 FICTION, 1918-1949 5 “These few days I have been thinking again: suppose that old man were not an executioner in disguise, but a real doctor; he would be nonetheless an eater of human flesh, That book on herbs by his predecessor Li Shizhen’ states explicitly that men’s flesh can be boiled and eaten; how then can he still deny that he eats men? As for my elder brother, I have also good! reason to suspect him. When he ‘was teaching me, he told me himself, “People exchange their sons to eat."* And once in discussing a bad man he said that not only did the fellow deserve to be Killed, he should “have his flesh eaten and his hide slept on,” I was still young at the time, and for quite a while my heart beat faster. That story our tenant from Wolf Cub Village told the other day about eating a man’s heart and liver didn’t surprise him at all—he kept nodding his head. He is evidently just as cruel as before. Since it is possible to “exchange sons to eat,” then anything can be exchanged, anyone can be eaten. In the past | simply listened to his expla- nations and let it go at that; now I know that when he gave me these explana- tions, not only was there human fat at the comer of his lips, but his whole heart was set on eating men 6 Pitch-dark. I don’t know whether it is day or night. The Zhaos’ dog has started barking again. ‘The fierceness ofa lion, the timidity of a rabbit, the craftiness of a fox. 7 I know their way: they are not prepared to kill outright, nor would they dare, for fear of the consequences. Instead they have banded together and set traps everywhere, to force me to kill myself. The behavior of the men and women in the street a few days ago and my elder brother's attitude these last few days make it quite obvious. What they like best is for a man to take off his belt and hang himself from a beam, for then they can enjoy their hearts’ desire without being blamed for murder. Naturally that delights them and sets them rearing with laughter. On the other hand, if'a man is frightened or worried to death, though that makes him rather thin, they still nod in approval. 2. Famous pharmacologist (1518-1593) ts no slated in his Compendium of Materia Medica that human flesh eould be used as a mecicine: this was one of the delusions of the madman. 3. The ancient historical record Zuo zhuan states that dung a siege in 488 B.C. the besieged were so famished that they "exchanged their sons to eat”Lat Xun: A Madman’s Diary 13 “They only eat dead flesh! I remember reading somewhere of a hideous beast with an ugly look in its eye called “hyena,” which often eats dead flesh. Even the largest bones it erunches into fragments and swallows; the mere thought of this makes your hair stand on end, Hyenas are related to wolves, wolves belong, to the canine species. The other day the Zhaos' dog eyed me several times: it is obviously in the plot too as their accomplice. The old man’s eyes were cast down, but that did not deceive me. ‘The most deplorable is my elder brother. He's a man too, so why isn't he afraid, why is he plotting with othets to eat me? Does force of habit blind a man to what's wrong? Or is he so heartless that he will knowingly commit a crime? 8 Tn cursing man-eaters, I shall start with my brother. In dissuading man-eaters, I shall start with him too. Actually such arguments should have convinced them long ago. Suddenly someone came in, He was only about twenty years old and I did not see his features very clearly. His face was wreathed in smiles, but when he nodded to me his smile didn’t seem genuine, | asked him, “Is it right to eat human beings?” Still smiling, he replied, “When there is no famine how ean one eat human beings?” [realized at once he was one of them; but still I summoned up courage to repeat my question: “sit right?” “What makes you ask stich a thing? You really are . .. fond of a joke... It is very fine today, “Its fine, and the moon is very bright. But I want to ask you: Is it right?" He looked disconcerted and muttered, “No. ...” “No? ‘Then why do they still do it?” “What are you talking about?” “What am L talking about? They are eating men now in Wolf Cub Village, and you can see it written all over the books, in fresh red ink.” His expression changed. He grew ghastly pale. “It may be so,” he said, staring at me. “That's the way i's always been. “Does that make it right?” “I refuse to discuss it with you Anyway, you shouldn't talk about it. t's wrong for anyone to talk about it.” leaped up and opened my eyes wide, but the man had vanished. I was soaked with sweat. He was much younger than my elder brother, butt even so he was in it. He must have been taught by his parents. And | am afraid he has already taught his sons that is why even the children look at me so fiercely.ly FICTION, 1918-1949 9 Wanting to eat men, at the same time afraid of 2 eaten themselves, they all eye each other with the deepest suspicion, How comfortable life would be for them if they could rid themselves of such obsessions and go to work, walk, eat, and sleep at ease, They have only this one step to take. Yet fathers and sons, hnsbands and wives, brothers friends, teachers and students, sworn enemies, and even strangers, have all joined in this con- spiracy, discouraging, and preventing cach other from taking this step. 10 Early this morning I went to find my elder brother. He was standing outside the hall door looking at the sky when I walked up behind him, standing between and the door, and addressed him with exceptional poise and politeness: “Brother, [ have something to say to you.” “Go ahead then.” He turned quickly toward me, nodding. “Its nothing much, but I find it hard to say. Brother, probably all primitive people ate little human flesh to begin with. Later, because their views altered, some of them stopped and tried so hard to do what was right that they changed into men, into real men, But some are still eating people—just like reptiles Some have changed into fish, birds, monkeys, and finally men; but those who make no effort to do what's right are still reptiles. When those who eat men compare themselves with those who don't, how ashamed they must be. Probably auch more ashamed than the reptiles are before monkeys. “In ancient times Yi Ya boiled his son for Jie and Zhou to eat;* that is the old story. But actually since the creation of heaven and earth by Pan Gu’ men have been eating cach other, from the time of Yi Ya's son to the time of Xu. Xiling and from the time of Xu Xilin down to the man caught in Wolf Cub Village. Last year they executed a criminal in the city, and a consumptive soaked a piece of bread in his blood and sucked it “They want to eat me, and of course you can do nothing about it single- handed; but why must you join them? As man-eaters they are capable of any- thing, If they eat me, they can eat you as wells members of the same group can still eat cach other. But if you will just change your ways, change right away, then everyone will have peace. Although this has been going on since time 4.Yi Yo, a faorite of Prake Han of Qi in the seventh century B.C, was a good cook and sycophant. When the duke remarked that he had never tated the Resh of childten, Yi Ya cooked his own son for him to eat. Jie and Zhow were kings of earlier periods. This misstatement is presented asa sign of mental derangement. 5. Amsthological figure. 6. A revolutionary executed i 1997 for assusinating a Qing official. His heart and liver were eatenLu Xun: A Madman’s Diary 15 immemorial, today we could make a special effort to do what is right, and say this can’t be done! I'm sure you can say that, Brother. ‘The other day when the tenant wanted the rent reduced, you said it couldn't be done.” AL first he only smiled cynically, then a murderous gleam came into his eyes, 1n Lspoke of their secret he turned pale, Outside the gate quite a crowd had gathered, among them Mr, Zhao and his dog, all craning their necks to peer in, 1 could not see all their faces. Some of them seemed to be masked; others were the old lot, long-toothed with livid faces, concealing their laughter. knew they were one gang, all eaters of human flesh. But | also knew that they did not all think alike by amy means. Some of them thought that since it had always been so, men should be eaten. Others knew they shouldn't eat men but siill wanted to, and were aftaid people might discover their secret; so although what [said made them angry they still smiled their cynical, tight-lipped smiles Suddenly my brother's face darkened. “Clear off, the whole lot of you!” he roared. “What's the point of looking at a madman?” ‘Then | realized part of their cunning. ‘They would never be willing to change their stand, and their plans were all laid: they had labeled me a madman. In future, when I was eaten, not only would there be 10 trouble but people would probably be grateful to them. When our tenant spoke of the villagers eating a bad character, it was exactly the same device, ‘This is their old trick. Old Chen came in too in a towering temper. But they could not stop my mouth, I had to warn those people: “You should change, change from the bottom of your hearts. You must re- alize that there will be no place for man-eaters in the world in future. “IF you don’t change, you may all be eaten by each other. However many of and wh you there are, you will be wiped out by the real men, just as wolves are killed by hunters— just like reptiles!” Old Chen drove everybody away. My brother had disappeared. Old Chen advised me to go back to my room. It was pitch-dark in there, ‘The beans and rafters shook above my head. After shaking for a while they grew bigger and bigger. They piled on top of me “The weight was so great, I couldn't move. ‘They meant that 1 should die. However, knowing that the weight was false, I struggled out, dripping with sweat, But [had to warn them “You must change at once, change from the bottom of your hearts! You must know that there'll be no place for man-eaters in future, “The stn has stopped shining, the door is never opened. Just two meals day after day. ‘icking up my chopsticks, I thought of my elder brother. I know now how ny litle sister died: it was all through him. My sister was only five at the time16 FICTION, 1918-1949 I can still remember how sweet she looked, poor thing. Mother wept as if she would never stop, but he begged her not to cry, probably because he had eaten our sister himself and so this weeping made him rather ashamed. If he had any sense of shame. ‘My sister was eaten by my brother, but I don't know whether Mother realized it or not. I think Mother must have known, but when she wept she didn't say so outright, probably because she also thought it proper. I remember when I was four or five, sitting in the cool of the hall, my brother told me that if a man’s parents were ill he should cut off a piece of his flesh and boil it for them, if he wanted to be considered a good son; and Mother didn’t contradict him. If one piece could be eaten, obviously so could the whole. And yet just to think of the weeping then still makes my heart bleed; that is the extraordinary thing about it! 12 | can't bear to think of it. It has only just dawned on me that all these years I have been living in a place where for four thousand years human flesh has been eaten, My brother had just taken over the charge of the house when our sister died, and he may well have used her flesh in our food, making us eat it unwittingly I may have eaten several pieces of my sister’ flesh unwittingly, and now it is my tum How can aman like myself, after four thousand years of man-eating history — even though I knew nothing about it at first—ever hope to face real men? 13 Perhaps there are still children who haven't eaten men? Save the children. 198 7. The doctrine of filial piety used by the feudal ruling class to poison the people preached that a son should, if necessary, cut off his own flesh to feed his parents,KONG YIJI ‘Translated by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang ‘The layout of Luzhen’s taverns is unique. In each, facing you as you enter, is a bar in the shape of a carpenter's square where hot water is kept ready for warming rice wine. When men come off work at midday and in the evening they spend four coppers on a bow! of wine—or so they did twenty years ago; now it costs ten—and drink this warm, standing by the bar, taking it easy. Another copper will buy a plate of salted bamboo shoots or peas flavored with aniseed to go with the wine, while a dozen will buy a meat dish; but most of, the customers here belong to the short-coated class, few of whom can afford this. As for those in long gowns, they go into the inner room to order wine and dishes and sit drinking at their leisure. At the age of twelve I started work as a pot-boy in Prosperity Tavern at the edge of town. The boss put me to work in the outer room, saying that I looked too much of a fool to serve long-gowned customers. The short-coated customers there were easier to deal with, it is true, but among them were q persnickety ones who insisted on watching for thernselves while the yellow wine was ladled from the keg, looked for water at the bottom of the wine pot, and personally inspected the pot's immersion into the hot water. Under such strict surveillance, diluting the wine was very hard indeed. Thus it did not take my boss many days to decide that this job too was beyond me. Luckily I had been recommended by somebody influential, so he could not sack me. Instead I was transferred to the dull task of simply warming wine a few18 FICTION, 1918-1949 ‘After that I stood all day behind the bar attending to my duties. Although 1 gave satisfaction at this post, I found it somewhat boring and monotonous. Our boss was a grim-faced man, nor were the customers much more pleasant, which made the atmosphere a gloomy one. The only times when there was any laugh- ter were when Kong Yiji came to the tavern. ‘That is why I remember him. Kong Yiji was the only long-gowned customer who used to drink his wine standing. A big, pallid man whose wrinkled face often bore sears, he had a large, unkempt, and grizzled beard. And although he wore a long gown it was ditty and tattered. It had not by the look of it been washed or mended for ten years or more. He used so many archaisms in his speech that half of it was barely intelligible, And as his sumame was Kong, he was given the nickname Kong Yiji from kong, yi, ji, the fist three characters in the old-fashioned children’s copy book. Whenever he came in, everyone there would look at him and chuckle. And someone was sure to call out “Kong Yiji! What are those fresh scars on your face?” Ignoring this, he would lay nine coppers on the bar and order two bowls of heated wine with a dish of aniseed-peas, Then someone else would bal: “You must have been stealing again!” “Why sully a man’s good name for no reason at all?” Kong Yiji would ask, raising his eyebrows. “Good name? Why, the day before yesterday you were trussed up and beaten for stealing books from the He family. I saw you!” At that Kong Yiji would flush, the veins on his forchead standing out as he protested, “Taking books can’t be counted as stealing. ... Taking books ... for a scholar... . can’t be counted as stealing,” Then followed such quotations from the classics as “A gentleman keeps his integrity even in poverty,” together with a spate of archaisms that soon had everybody roaring with laughter, enlivening the whole tavern. From the gossip that I heard, it seemed that Kong Yiji had studied the classics but never passed the official examinations and, not knowing any way to make a living, he had grown steadily poorer tntil he was almost reduced to beggary Luckily he was a good calligrapher and could find enough copying work to fill his rice bowl. But unfortunately he had his failings too: laziness and a love of tippling, So after a few days he would disappear, taking with him books, paper, brushes, and inkstone. And after this had happened several times, people stopped employing him as a copyist. Then all he could do was resort to occa- sional pilfering. In our tavem, though, he was a model customer who never failed to pay up. Sometimes, itis true, when he had no ready money, his name would be chalked up on our tally-board; but in less than a month he invariably settled the bill, and the name Kong Yiji would be wiped off the board again. After Kong Yiji had drunk half a bow! of wine, his shed cheeks would stop burning, But then someone would ask “Kong Yiji, can you really read?”Lu Xun: Kong Yiji 19 When he glanced back as if such a question were not worth answering, they would continue, “How is it you never passed even the lowest official examina- tion?” Atonce a gray tinge would overspread Kong Yiji’s dejected, discomfited face, and he would mumble more of those unintelligible archaisms. ‘Then everyone there would laugh heartily again, enlivening the whole tavem Atsueh times I could join in the laughter with no danger of a dressing-down from my boss. In fact he always put such questions to Kong Yiji himself, to raise a laugh. Knowing that it was no use talking to the men, Kong Yiji would chat with us boys. Once he asked me: “Have you had any schooling?” When I nodded curtly he said, “Well then, Pl test you. How do you write the hui! in anisced-peas?” Who did this beggar think he was, testing me! [ turned away and ignored him. After waiting for some time he said earnestly “You can’t write if, eh? Fl show you. Mind you remember. You ought to remember such characters, because you'll need them to write up youraccounts when you have a shop of your own.” It seemed to me that | was still very far from having a shop of my own; in addition to which, our boss never entered aniseed-peas in his account book. Half amused and half exasperated, I drawled, “I don’t need you to show me. Isn't it the hui written with the clement for grass? Kong Yii’s face lit np. ‘Tapping two long fingernails on the bar, he nodded. “Quite correct!” he said, “There are four different ways of writing fui. Do you know them?" But ny pati c exhausted, I scowled and moved away. Kong Yiji had dipped his finger in wine to trace the characters on the bar. When he saw my utter indifference his face fell and he sighed. nies children in the neighborhood, hearing laughter, came in to join in the fun and surrounded Kong Yiji, Then he would give them aniseed-peas, one apiece. After eating the peas the children would still hang round, their eyes fixed on the dish. Growing flustered, he would cover it with his hand and, bending forward from the waist, would say, “Phere aren't many left, not many at all.” Straightening up to look at the peas again, he would shake his head and reiterate, “Not many, I do assure you, Not many, nay, not many at all.” Then the children would scamper off, shouting with laughter “That was how Kong Yiji contributed to our enjoyment, but we got along all right without him too. ‘One day, shortly before the Midautumn Festival, | think it was, my boss, who was slowly making out his accounts, took down the tally-board, “Kong Yiji 1A Chinese character meaning, “aniseed.20 FICTION, 1918-1949 hasn't shown up fora long time,” he remarked suddenly. “He still owes nineteen coppers.” That made me realize how long it was since we had seen him “How could he?” rejoined one of the customers. “His legs were broken in that last beating up.” “Ab!” said my boss “He'd been stealing again. This time he was fool enough to steal from Mr. Ding, the provincial-grade scholar. As if anybody could get away with that!” “So what happened?” “What happened? First he wrote a confession, then he was beaten. ‘The beating lasted nearly all night, and they broke both his legs.” “And then?” “Well, his legs were broken.” “Yes, but after?” “After? ... Who knows? He may be dead.” My boss asked no further questions but went on slowly making up his ac- counts After the Midautumn Festival the wind grew daily colder as winter ap- proached, and even though I spent all my time by the stove, I had to wear a padded jacket. One afternoon, when the tavern was deserted, as I sat with my eyes closed I heard the words “Warm a bowl of wine.” {t was said in a low but familiar voice. | opened my eyes. There was no one to be seen. I stood up to look out. ‘There below the bar, facing the door, sat Kong Yiji. His face was thin and grimy—he looked a wreck. He had on a ragged lined jacket and was squatting crosslegged on a mat, which was attached to his shoulders by a straw rope. When he saw me he repeated “Warm a bow! of wine.” AL this point my boss leaned over the bar to ask, “Is that Kong Yiji? You still owe nineteen coppers.” “That ... Il settle next time.” He looked up dejectedly. “Here's cash. Give me some good wine.” My boss, just as in the past, chuckled and said “Kong Yiji, you've been stealing again!” But instead of a stout denial, the answer “Don't joke with me.” “Joke? How did your legs get broken if you hadn't been stealing?” “Tell,” whispered Kong Yiji. “Broke them in a fal.” His eyes pleaded with the boss to let the matter drop. By now several people had gathered round, and they all laughed, with the boss. I warmed the wine, carried it over, and set it on the threshold, He produced four coppers from his ragged coat pocket, and as he placed them in my hand I saw that his own hands were covered with rmud— he must have crawled there on them. Presently he finished the wine and, to the accompaniment of taunts and laughter, slowly pushed himself off with his hands. ply was: