Chapter 25 Past events in Tokyo and "God, Ghost and Man"

The 330-meter-tallest building, the symbol of modern Tokyo, Tokyo Tower, is hidden in the morning mist of early spring. The 76-year-old writer Ba Jin stood on the balcony of the hotel building where he was staying, overlooking the tallest TV tower in Asia, full of excitement.Today is April 1980, and Tokyo in early spring is very different from Shanghai.The weather seems to be a bit colder than Shanghai, but he found that the layers of cherry blossom forests hidden in the suburbs in the distance have spit out a touch of green.The cherry blossoms are about to bloom, and he and the Chinese writer delegation led by him chose this season of growing spring to visit the country that fascinated him since his youth.

In the past year, the first volume of Ba Jin's translation "My Past and Thoughts" was published. In October, he flew from the Huangpu River to Beijing again to attend the Fourth Congress of Chinese Literary and Artistic Workers held there.The prestige of the old man is quietly increasing, and Ba Jin was elected as the vice chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the first vice chairman of the Chinese Writers Association at the same time.Also at the closing meeting of this conference.He heard Zhou Yang say something like this in his report: "Ba Jin is one of the literary giants represented by Lu Xun in the history of modern literature..." Ba Jin was a little surprised by such an evaluation, although he knew that Zhou Yang's speech did not represent An individual, but a representative organization, but the old man still feels a little afraid to accept the title of "master".However, such an evaluation is a reality after all, a reality that no one can admit and accept.

It was such a happy event. After Ba Jin returned to Shanghai, he found a bundle of new books just sent from Hong Kong on the desk in the study on the second floor.The old man hastily opened it, and it turned out to be the first collection of his "Capricious Thoughts", which was published by the Hong Kong branch of Joint Publishing.In Ba Jin's view, this collection is more important than a thousand titles.Because this is one of his favorite projects in his later years.At the end of the year, Ba Jin's "爝火集" was also published.There are so many new books in his study room, adding a touch of joy to the second floor, which was originally lined with books and periodicals.

After the Spring Festival in 1980, Ba Jin visited Japan. Of course, Japan left Ba Jin with not all good impressions.Before the war, he learned about this neighboring country with a strip of water from books and his elders.Later, Ba Jin, who was in full bloom, finally came to Japan. Why did he leave wartime Shanghai alone and appear in this strange Japan? Ba Jin recalled the past in this way: "I arrived in Yokohama in late November 1934. How I got to Japan has been described in the recently revised article "About the Tower of Longevity". As for why you want to go to Japan? The only reason is to learn Japanese. When I was sixteen or seventeen years old, I learned Japanese in Chengdu. My two uncles studied in Japan during the Guangxu period. After returning to China, they often talked about life there. I was also very interested in some novel things. Later, I read Japanese novels translated by Lu Xun and Xia Yuzun, and I became interested in Japanese literature. Conversations, drop out from time to time, not even getting started...”

Yokohama is the city that Ba Jin came into contact with for the first time in Japan.After more than 40 years, he still has a deep impression in his mind: Yokohama is very similar to the seaport in northern China.During the war, Yokohama was in chaos. There was no scenery on the seaside in winter, and the sea was cloudy and yellow.A large number of Japanese soldiers are waiting to cross the sea there.Ba Jin never dreamed that the Japan he fantasized about when he was a child turned out to be like this.At that time, he really wanted to go back to Shanghai immediately, but when he remembered that this trip was for an ideal and pursuit, Ba Jin gritted his teeth resolutely and persisted here.

"I write, one is not to make a living, and the other is not to be famous... I started writing novels, just to find a way out. I write to fight the enemy!" This is the second time that Ba Jin led the representative of Chinese writers Group visit.He has indeed come out of the shadows now. This trip is not so much a cultural exchange between China and Japan as it is a spiritual sustenance for Ba Jin in his later years.He knows that he also has many readers in Japan. Although these people understand his works through Japanese translations, Ba Jin knows that literature has no borders. When he first came to Japan 40 years ago, his novels had not yet spread to the country of Fusang.Now the old and young readers here already know about China’s Ba Jin. He came to Tokyo in early spring and April, and was welcomed by young Japanese as soon as he came out of Haneda Airport.With so many strange smiling faces and so many gorgeous flowers, Ba Jin suddenly found that he was in a sea of ​​friendship.

After experiencing inhuman torture yesterday, Ba Jin suddenly feels that his life is going through a new turning point.He didn't understand why people's fate had such twists and turns.He likes to show dramatic turns in his works, but he never thought that he would one day become the protagonist of human drama.The Japanese showed so much enthusiasm for Ba Jin from Shanghai, and he saw that Japanese readers' feelings for him were not deliberately pretended. "I am a person who is not good at speaking, and I rarely give speeches. I made an exception to speak here today, just to repay the friendship of my Japanese friends. When I talk about friendship, I definitely do not use diplomatic rhetoric. I pour deep feelings into this word. Friendship It is not an empty word, it is like a belt that binds our hearts firmly to the hearts of our Japanese friends. Thinking of my Japanese friends, I cannot stop my excitement. I owe you a debt of friendship. I will never forget When the "Gang of Four" persecuted me and wanted me to "destroy myself", my Japanese friends often asked me about my situation and cared about my safety. And I often thought of being with you during the ten years of being isolated from the world The happy days I have spent, I am comforted by these memories. Today we are together again, and you can imagine my excitement and joy." Ba Jin stepped onto the podium.He delivers his opening remarks with this peculiar bluntness.All the Japanese readers in the hall listened attentively. They thought that the great writer Ba Jinding would make a grand speech in a mysterious manner, but they didn't expect his speech to be so simple and clear, and so humble and peaceful.Perhaps because of Ba Jin's honesty, the hall suddenly burst into applause.

"I am not a writer, but I have been writing for more than fifty years. Everyone approaches literature in a different way. I have loved reading novels since I was a child, sometimes even forgetting to eat and sleep, but not for learning, but for entertainment. I never dreamed I'll be a novelist myself. I started writing novels just to find a way out. In my forthcoming Anthology, the first volume includes a short story I wrote in Japan called Ghost, which reminds me of something, I found my collection of short stories "Gods, Ghosts and People" and read the other two. These three short stories were all written by me in Japan. The first two were written in Yokohama, and the last one was moved Personal experience on a certain day in early April after arriving in Tokyo." After Ba Jin arrived in Tokyo, he attended numerous welcome activities and readers' symposiums.What made him particularly excited and unforgettable was that when he attended the speech at the Asahi Lecture Hall in Tokyo, he published "Fifty Years of Literary Life" in front of Japanese readers for the first time.With sincerity and candor, Ba Jin talked to Japanese readers about the long literary journey he has traveled.Facing the dark audience, he said: "Before I came to Japan, I lived in Beiping for several months. I was a guest at Shen Congwen's house first. Later, Zhang Jinyi rented a house to run the "Literary Quarterly" and invited me to live with me. I moved to the third house." I went to No. 14 Men Street. I know Cao Yu, who was introduced by Jin Yi. Cao Yu is a graduate student at Tsinghua University. During the spring break, he and his classmates traveled to Japan. When he came back, he talked about some situations in Japan on San Zuo Men Street, which aroused I am interested in visiting Japan. I returned to Shanghai from Beiping in July of this year, and talked with Wu Langxi and Wu Chan. They suggested that I live in a Japanese friend’s house, and they thought it would be more convenient to learn Japanese. It happened that they used to live in Japan. When I was studying in Tokyo, an acquaintance surnamed Takeda was teaching Chinese at the Yokohama Higher Commercial School. He might be able to receive me. So Wu Langxi wrote a letter to Takeda, asking him if he would like to host a man named Li Derui at home. He also said that Li is a bookstore clerk and wanted to study Japanese in Japan, and soon he wrote back, welcoming me to their home as a guest. So I went to Yokohama in November.”

Ruyan's past has long settled in Ba Jin's mind.He seems to be trying his best to search for bits and pieces of Yokohama, Japan from the deep well of memory.He remembered that when he set foot on this strange land under the pseudonym of Li Derui, the Japanese Takeda who was introduced by Wu Langxi personally took him to his home from Yokohama Port.The voices and smiles of the Takeda family are still vivid in my mind today.There is not only a smiling face in Ba Jin's mind, but also lingering gloom. The Japanese police are always eyeing his arrival, sometimes breaking into Takeda's house early in the morning to examine and interrogate him.The terrifying eyes of the Japanese police left an imprint on Ba Jin's heart. He often associated the Yokohama police with the Kwantung Army that was rampaging in Northeast China.Perhaps it was these two impressions that played a role in Ba Jin's mind, which prompted this Chinese writer who wanted to learn Japanese to reproduce the hateful Japanese scum in his first short story "God" written in Yokohama.Of course, Ba Jin's writing is not entirely to expose the dark side of the world, all his works are to show the light of human beings.So he also described the life of the Takeda family and his "exquisite log cabin" built on the hill of Honmokucho, Yokohama.

"As you may all know, the Hasegawa-kun in my novel "God" is the Takeda-kun in real life. I wrote Hasegawa as 'a company employee who does things with pen and ink'. The only reason is: Wan Once Takeda-kun saw my novel, he would not believe that Hasegawa was himself. This shows that Takeda-kun is a very honest person. When my friend met Takeda, he was not a Buddhist chanting man. Such a discovery It was a surprise to me.” In another readers’ symposium, Ba Jin recalled his writing situation in Japan: “I was very disgusted with his superstition, so I used his words and deeds as the subject matter of the novel. On the one hand, I observe. I live in his house to observe him and describe him. There is no difficulty. It is just that I have to be careful not to let him know that I am a writer. But I can't let the child notice it. So I sit at the writing desk and always keep a book at hand. If someone pushes the door and enters the room, I immediately cover the manuscript paper with the book. But at night when he is chanting sutras endlessly, I'm not afraid of someone coming in and disturbing me."

Applause from Japanese readers interrupted Ba Jin's speech several times.The old man found that Japanese readers, male and female, old and young, all gave his speeches sincere approval. Perhaps this has something to do with his experience in Japan.Ba Jin is not so much giving a speech, as he is exchanging experience with readers in the way of family life.He talked about his short time in Japan, and when he talked about writing "God, Ghost, Man", Ba Jin seemed to have returned to his youth.He said: "At that time, I wrote very quickly. Short stories like "God" were written in a few days. I was living in my own life, and the environment in the novel was around me. I just followed my own way. I will write down what I have seen and heard and this experience. I live in Mr. Takeda’s study. The furnishings of the study are just like what I described in the novel. I flipped through it. These books can illustrate one fact: he changed from an atheist to a believer in God. As for the "Nichiren sect" he believed in and the "Lotus Sutra" he read, I don't understand at all. I wrote He said it all by himself. That was enough for me. I wrote about the man I saw in my eyes, supplemented by his own words. I didn't need to write about him. The details of life are not lacking. I live and eat with him, and I don’t have to avoid him when he has guests. I also go to friends’ houses nearby with his family. For people like him I have a little understanding of the daily life of Japanese intellectuals. In the novel, I may have made mistakes in my analysis, but I don’t need to make up anything. My short-term experience constitutes a complete story in itself. In the novel, I said: "I have seen through the tragedy of a person's life in more than a week." This is the truth. There are often such things in life. Sometimes it only takes a day or half a day to write a story. It violates the truth, no matter how you write it, it is creation anyway, and you don’t have to follow the old path of others, and you don’t need any authority to approve it. …” The symposium had a lively atmosphere, and Japanese readers asked him various questions, most of which were difficult writing problems, and Ba Jin answered them patiently.He finally said: "I once said: I embarked on the road of literature from the exploration of life. In the past fifty years, I also gave up exploration; if I stopped exploring, I would not be able to write works. I started reading novels for entertainment , but I never started writing novels to entertain readers. I am not a writer, I just regard writing as part of my life. My thinking has various limitations, but my attitude is serious. Rousseau is my Enlightenment teacher, I never want to lie in my works. I often dissect myself. My life is full of contradictions, and so are my works. The conflict between love and hatred, the conflict between thought and behavior, the conflict between reason and emotion, The conflict between the ideal and the reality...all of these are woven into a net, covering up all my life and all my works. Every piece of my work is my voice to pursue the light. I said: readers’ expectations are my expectations Whip." The applause sounded like a tidal wave again, and the readers in the hall were all moved by Ba Jin's brilliant speech. Ba Jin's speech was over, but those fascinated Japanese readers swarmed up and surrounded the old man.They hoped to continue communicating with Ba Jin, eager to get a business card of Ba Jin or his signature on his notebook.In Ba Jin's eyes, this is the most real picture in the world. These readers who come here for fame are not instigated by an official to complete the listening task. They are all admirers and bosom friends of Ba Jin's novels and "Caprice".Among those enthusiastic bosom friends, there are not only ordinary Japanese civilians, students and clerks, but even senior officials of the Japanese government, such as Prime Minister Masahiro Ohira, who has visited China many times, who likes Ba Jin's works.In the tense state affairs, he still took the time to sit down with Ba Jin to exchange Chinese literature.And to Ba Jin's surprise, his novels were once the favorite foreign literary works of the Japanese state affairs activist in his youth.No wonder Masaoyo Ohira said to Ba Jin: "Mr.'s works have influenced a generation in Japan!"