Chapter 45 "Sublimation, my line of poetry"

Chen Mingyuan, the author of "Unpublished Poems of Chairman Mao", was born in a family of employees. His parents were both employees of the post office.He belongs to the new generation that grew up with the new China.When the author was in the first year of junior high school, he wrote a letter to Guo Moruo and attached a few poems he had learned to write at the beginning.These poems show the life of the red scarves in the 1950s. Like the bird at the window, My heart also wakes up early. The eyelashes have not yet opened, Singing and laughing flew out of the chest and throat—— "early morning"

Soon Chen Mingyuan received a reply from Guo Moruo.Encourage him and teach him: "First of all, you must be a real newcomer before you can write a real new poem.... Expressing your feelings in life will naturally reveal itself as poetry..." The author's first A batch of poems were written in exercise books, and after they were sent to Guo Moruo one after another, Guo Moruo took the trouble to revise and review them.Later, Chen Mingyuan collected these poems together and named them "Etude Collection".He called mathematics and poetry the two wings of his life. When he was in high school, Chen Mingyuan began to learn to write classical poetry.One summer vacation, he went to Beijing and often went to Guo Moruo's house to play, and met Tian Han and Lao She at Guo's house.From then on, he had two more teachers and became their little friends.Tian Han said to him: "As long as you learn to write lyrics with me, you will be able to learn it as soon as you learn it." Tian Han specially gave him a copy of "Baixiang Ci Pu", and introduced him to read Wang Li's "Poetry Metrics" as a textbook.From then on, Chen Mingyuan learned to write poems in order to lay down the basic skills of writing new poems.He kept sending his learning to write ancient poems to two teachers, Guo and Tian, ​​and got their advice.

Poetry exercises that were praised by Guo and Tian for the first time: Recalling Qin'e·Learning to Draw Horses new learning painting, Can you not be afraid of all kinds of hardships? Don't be afraid!Someday, tame the fierce horse! Grab the fire with the mane, and be careful across the high walls and wide streams. Take it easy—— Handy, long ride the world! After learning to a certain extent, Tian Han made a further request to him: to rewrite the old poems he wrote into new style poems.It's like expressing the same picture in two forms of ink painting and oil painting, from which we can understand the samadhi of poetry.

In the summer of 1957, with the support of Guo Moruo, Chen Mingyuan began to translate Guo Moruo's old style poems into vernacular style poems.From 1957 to 1962, under the personal guidance of Guo Moruo, he completed about 300 new translations of old poems.Tian Han, Lao She, Ye Yiqun, Bai Yang and other old seniors were invited to review and correct the poem draft.However, Guo Moruo did not agree to publish it, and it was not until 1964 that Guo Moruo finally wrote the "Following Preface to the New Wave" for the collection of translated poems "Xin Chao".At this time, Chen Mingyuan had graduated from university a year ago and was assigned to the Institute of Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences to engage in research work on speech and acoustics. When the manuscript of "Xin Chao" was edited by Ye Yiqun for publication, the rectification movement of "Four Cleanups" in the literary and art circles began, so "Xin Chao" was thrown into the cold palace.

In the first two years of the "Cultural Revolution", under the guidance of the gentlemen, Chen Mingyuan wrote three long narrative poems with the theme of the struggle history of overseas Chinese laborers: "Children of Chinese Laborers in Malaya", "Chinese in Cuba", "Messenger from the East". The storyline of the first long poem was provided by Mr. Tian Han, who repeatedly polished and deliberated on the theme song of this poem: I was born in the cradle, Deep in the Malayan jungle. Mother's tears on my brow, It is the scorching star shower in the southern country——

"Song of the Children of Chinese Laborers in Malaya" In 1964, several of the author's teachers believed that the author had been studying for more than ten years and should be full of teachers.May wish to publish some poems one after another.Ye Yiqun planned to arrange magazines to publish the author's poetry anthology, and began to write a reportage, introducing Guo Moruo and other teachers' process of cultivating new poets.Just when a new poetry star was about to be officially launched, Tian Han was brutally criticized during the "Siqing" rectification.So this time Poetry Nova failed to launch again.

In 1964, during the viewing and emulation of modern dramas in East China, Tian Han was hit by Ke Qingshi, Zhang Chunqiao and others.Before the performance ended, Tian Han left Shanghai angrily.Tian Han's house used to be full of friends and guests, but at this moment, it suddenly became deserted, desolate and desolate.However, Chen Mingyuan, who was engaged in scientific research, still rode his bicycle to visit Tian Han on Sundays.Tian Han showed him the Qijue "Untitled" written after the "Performance": Broken waist and thin skin left, The new branches still hang green,

Jingzhong cypress in Situ Temple, Storms and winds never move. Chen Mingyuan also wrote poems and chants: Who lifts the clear green into the clouds?I like the big and small pines in Huashan the most. Seedlings have been upright when they were young, and people meet only when they are dying. Rooted rocks are sharper than swords, rocks with thick roots are stronger than copper. The turbid fog rushed to the body and bit the bone, and I screamed in the sky. Soon the "Cultural Revolution" broke out.Originally, Chen Mingyuan could escape this catastrophe, or he was destined to be buried by the movement.However, this "new star", which has been cultivated by many mentors for more than ten years, was launched into the sky above the land of China in an unexpected way. Chairman Mao's Poems" event.The "new poetry poets" cultivated by Guo Moruo and others played a huge role in enlightening, popularizing and promoting the old style poetry movement.

In October 1966, after seeing the "Unpublished Poems of Chairman Mao" pamphlet mimeographed by the Red Guards for the first time, Chen Mingyuan immediately wrote to Premier Zhou to explain the truth.The same letter, in duplicate, was also submitted to the Central Cultural Revolution.When Mao Zedong's birthday was approaching in mid-December, he found that "Unpublished Poems of Chairman Mao" was being reprinted more widely, and the printing became more and more refined.Afraid of making the misunderstanding worse, he publicly posted a statement to clarify the matter.He believes that misunderstandings caused by similar styles and tones of poems are not uncommon in history, as long as they are explained, they can be easily clarified.However, Chen Mingyuan obviously thought of the problem too simply, and a statement immediately brought disaster to him.He was immediately detained and interrogated by the rebels.

Chen Mingyuan was imprisoned in an underground confinement room, suffered from belts and fists, and was beaten and paraded through the streets.Since the argument was useless, the author finally decided to go on a hunger strike.At that time, he still had a glimmer of hope that maybe Premier Zhou would send someone to rescue him. Several days after the hunger strike, Chen Mingyuan fell into a coma.The mind is dizzy, and all kinds of illusions appear in front of my eyes.In the summer of this year, one after another, his "private school" teachers appeared in front of him one by one: Mr. Yi Qun who was forced to jump off a building to commit suicide, Mr. Lao She who died by throwing himself into Taiping Lake, and Mr. Tian Han who was imprisoned in death row. .In the darkness, he heard the boundless waves calling violently in his ears, saw Mr. Guo and Mr. Tian Han coming to him, walking hand in hand with him to the beach, and the sea roared earth-shatteringly.At this moment, he was hovering on the verge of death, with only a trace of life remaining. At this moment, a verse burst out from his heart, which is a song facing the abyss of death:

O sea—my soul! How long has it been since I left you... The monotonous hourglass of the cave, The stagnant mist in the valley, Backlog between the wrinkles of the rock head anxious sweat, And deep in the eyes of a loving mother pierced by day and night longing The spring that is almost dry, It's been such a long time since I left you! But no matter the wings of colorful clouds Broken by the blast of the wind, Bitter waves on the beach Withered by the scorching sun, Every strand of white hair imprisoned by the peak, Every grain of dew lurking in the grass roots And I, suffocated in chains, chained to death Filled with the blood of Chinese descendants, They will gather into a trickle, creeks, rapids, waterfalls into roaring rivers, Be like a soldier running to the banner of the army One after another, at all costs, across the wilderness of death, all the time, dreaming to rumble run back into your arms, My soul - the sea! This "Soul of the Sea" is the first poem written by Chen Mingyuan with his life.Because Premier Zhou sent someone to rescue him in time, his life was saved. On December 25, the Liaison Officer of the Premier (an old Red Army cadre) came to the Chinese Academy of Sciences to convey Premier Zhou's instructions to Chen Mingyuan: "First, it is good to take the initiative to explain the situation, and in the future, do not misrepresent the "Unpublished Chairman Mao's Speech "; second, this is not a political issue, just clarify it, don't hold the misinformation accountable; third, don't engage in any more 'fighting'." As a result, Chen Mingyuan gained temporary freedom. In the spring of 1968, Chen Mingyuan married Guan Tinglu.Guan Tinglu was born in a cadre family and was a research intern at the Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.According to national regulations, they took a one-month marriage leave and traveled around Hangzhou and Guangzhou.On the road, he had another bonanza of poetry. In May 1968, Guangzhou was full of fighting and chaos.He saw a "milking flower" and had a new inspiration.He wrote "Mixiaohua" in two forms, the old style and the new style.It is very interesting to compare these two poems in old and new styles: But Jing Fangyu is unknown, and thousands of red lips want to speak. The crescent moon endows Tong Tong with beauty, and the sun shines through the shadow more vividly. Mo Tongfengye is sad and old, and he is also ashamed of Yanghua's charming bones. Despise the cold wave but not thank you, laughing and talking in the wind. Here is the new style of the same poem: Surprised by your fragrance But it's too late to ask Fang Ming Countless red lips with a gentle smile unbroken new moon Leaving a beautiful appearance The sunset uses its last brilliance shine brightly Unlike the late autumn yellow leaves Shake off life in the bleak I don't bother to follow Yang Hua up and down left and right erratic despise the cold waves it can't wither you in the gloomy air pass me a kind laugh It is not difficult to see that this poem "Smiling Flowers" contains the poet's praise of the beautiful and firm character of his new wife Guan Tinglu. When Chen Mingyuan and his lover Guan Tinglu returned to Beijing from Guangzhou, it happened to coincide with the second anniversary of the publication of the "May 16" notice. In another "cleaning up the class ranks", he and his lover were locked up in the "cowshed" respectively.Dozens of new poems by the authors found in the search became "counter-revolutionary evidence" for "viciously attacking the great standard-bearer" Jiang Qing. At that time, dozens of "capitalist roaders", "reactionary bourgeois academic authorities", and "counter-revolutionary revisionists" were detained together in the "cowshed", including senior scientists and senior cadres in their 70s.Chen Mingyuan is the youngest among them, because he "has never pleaded guilty" and "has no repentance" and is under extraordinarily strict surveillance.Due to heavy corporal punishment and forced labor reform under the scorching sun, Chen Mingyuan's wounds from lynching and torture became inflamed and swollen. After vomiting blood several times, he fell into a coma. Chen Mingyuan was escorted by two members of the dictatorship to the Third Affiliated Hospital of Beijing Medical College, where he presented a letter of introduction stating that "this person is a class enemy" and asked a doctor who specializes in operating on "gangsters" to treat him.Diagnosis results at that time: high blood pressure, arrhythmia, spinal strain, arthritis, high fever of 39 degrees... When the members of the dictatorship went to get the medicine, suddenly a group of people wearing red armbands, green military uniforms and armed belts rushed in.A black cloth blindfolded him, and amidst chants of "Down with him", he was kidnapped out of the hospital and stuffed into an off-road jeep parked in front of the outpatient department. As soon as he got into the car, the jeep sped away . When the jeep drove into Hepingli, the black cloth on his head was removed, and there was a burst of laughter in the car. It turned out that these kidnappers were all his good friends.When he returned to his friends, his tense nerves relaxed, and his whole body immediately went limp. He felt that his whole body was being burnt, and he fell into a coma again.When his friends carefully carried him into the room, put him on the bed, and applied a cool wet wool cloth to his hot forehead, a line of poetry suddenly appeared in his mind: Just to break free from the shackles on the feet, tearing off both feet, The severe pain finally turned into numbness, Break through the sky in one fell swoop. The wind howled in my ears, The rain of blood swayed behind me. i understand there will be no more The "Nest of Comfort" was built for me! Abandoning flesh and blood, throwing away troubles, There is no escape route, I smiled slightly: from now on, Only fly higher, higher! —— "Song to the Sky" Chen Mingyuan hid in friends' homes.However, with the development of the movement, someone in almost everyone’s home has been harassed and censored. In order to avoid being exposed at any time, friends discussed it and thought it was too dangerous to stay in Beijing, so they chipped in and bought a ticket for the author to go to Chongqing. Train ticket, let him go to the Sichuan countryside to take refuge temporarily.For the sake of safety, he was specially arranged to go to the remote Nankou Station in the morning. On the way to Nankou Station, he saw many "wanted warrants" for the rebels chasing him on the roadside wall and bulletin board one after another, and a large photo of him was printed on the notice.He felt that no matter where he went, he would implicate others and bring disaster to those who cared about him. He made up his mind to go back.Go back to the "cowshed" by yourself.One person does things and one person is responsible, and never involves friends. So, he rejected his friend's kindness, changed into the clothes he had when he came out of the "cowshed" according to the clothes detailed in the "wanted warrant", and walked back to Zhongguancun calmly.At this time, the author has no nostalgia for this upside-down world.He is willing to follow in the footsteps of Mr. Lao She, and would rather be broken than whole: he wants to express his protest against the atrocities of fascism by dying!He calmly stepped into the gate of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the courtyard was full of big slogans telling him to kill him and wanted him. He walked towards the "cowshed" calmly... The rebels were dumbfounded at first, and after a while, they swarmed up and killed him. He passed out from the beating... He was escorted back to the "cowshed", and he dragged his body stubbornly to greet the fellow sufferers with a smile.The whistle outside the confinement room was loud, shouts, and footsteps rang together, and an unprecedented and cruel criticism meeting was being prepared.The author put a death letter in his pocket - "History will acquit me" and then took a bottle of "Dichlorvos" and drank it calmly.I just felt the stars bursting out in front of me, and I lost consciousness... When he opened his eyes again, he found that he was not dead, he was resurrected from the dead for the second time.Several nurses in white coats and hats were bending over his pillow, looking at him with great sympathy and sorrow.He was dizzy for a while, and the white hospital bed was drifting in the sea like a small boat.He secretly recited Li Bai's "Dying Song" over and over again.In a semi-comatose state, a line of poetry emerged: God broke one of my wings, I was thrown from the clouds into the ocean. The white feathers and blood flower fragments roared, Bogu couldn't bear to bury me The crest of the waves supported my single wing, Set up a sail, Lingfeng sails far away. And the other part of the remaining wing is hidden under the water, The stern of the ship swayed with twists and turns of the sun. The iceberg brushes past in the cold air, An octopus stretches its tentacles under the reef. I run silently, knowing in my heart: Once you stay there is only death. A lone sail seeks the east in the mist, Let the shadow of hope grow in the dark. Stay till the end of the day, always catch A white cloud heals my wounds! …—— "Song of the Roc" After this poem, Chen Mingyuan entered into a period of explosive poetry creation. Waves of inspiration kept coming to him, and unexpected good lines popped up in his mind from time to time.He used pinyin, "password" - symbols and abbreviations that only he could understand to record his painstaking poems.Poetry is the lighthouse in the ocean of his life, the hope in the adversity, and he finally started a new life again. At this time, "Unpublished Poems of Chairman Mao" is still being copied and reprinted all over the country.Every time the rebels found a reprint, they would create an unjust prison.The task force has been transferred from all over the country.Every time he was transferred outside, Chen Mingyuan was criticized as the culprit.Every time the foreign transfer task force produced a batch of "current counter-revolutionaries", Chen Mingyuan was required to confess his "black relations".Chen Mingyuan refused all of them, and felt uneasy that his poems involved so many poetry lovers who had never met before. In April 1969, the Mao Zedong Thought Propaganda Team of the Workers’ Liberation Army stationed at the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced its handling of him: "Determine him as an active counter-revolutionary, don't wear a hat, and submit it to the masses for supervision and reform, so as to see the aftermath." Since then, the monthly author You can get 15 yuan for living expenses.Later, with children, it was increased to 30 yuan. At the beginning of 1970, he was sent to a reform-through-labor farm by the Bohai Sea.His wife, Guan Tinglu, was "notified" and "persuaded" to divorce her, but she was firmly rejected.Because Guan Tinglu "did not draw a clear political line", she was forcibly sent down to the "May 7th Cadre School" of Hubei Qianjiang Academy of Sciences during her pregnancy.When Guan Tinglu gave birth to her son Xiao Dongdong, she had to be fostered in a stranger's home, and the young mother had to undergo "reform through labor". Chen Mingyuan was tortured in the Bohai Labor Camp.As an exile, he trudged through the mud in rainy days and plowed in the hardened fields in sunny days. In the early spring, he pulled the plow in the paddy fields full of ice and clam shells, always leaving a long dark red blood trail behind him.His every move was monitored, and all his letters were opened and inspected. After the National Day in 1971, the cadres of the labor reform farms were suddenly and urgently called for a meeting.Chen Mingyuan and many "counter-revolutionaries" were locked in the room and kept under strict supervision.Soon, the truth was revealed, and Lin Biao fell to his death in Undur Khan.The superior ordered all the "prisoners" to go out to scrape off the red-painted slogans and large portraits on the wall.The attitude of the controllers towards the "counter-revolutionaries" has also improved significantly. At the end of 1971, after some comrades from the Institute of Acoustics of the Academy of Sciences negotiated, he returned to Zhongguancun, Beijing from the labor reform farm.Although he is no longer a prisoner, he is still a "class enemy". Guan Tinglu greeted her returning husband with her 3-year-old child in her arms.During the long 12 years, Chen Mingyuan has been withholding his wages and receiving only a small amount of living expenses every month.This living cost is not even enough for child care.Guan Tinglu has no complaints, bears the burden of humiliation, not only uses her meager salary to support her children, but also often finds time to help her husband copy and revise poems.In order to cope with possible house raids at any time, she used a few small diaries to copy her husband's poems densely in delicate handwriting and concealed them. At this time, Chen Mingyuan completed the Western European loop poem "Garland", and repeatedly polished the translations of ancient poems such as "Li Sao", "Nine Chapters", Cai Wenji's "Poetry of Sadness and Anger", and "Eighteen Beats of Hu Jia".It is a pity that the teachers Tian Han and Lao She passed away during the "Cultural Revolution", and they can no longer see these translated poems by their students. With the relaxation of the dictatorship, Chen Mingyuan quietly went to Peking University to learn modern linguistics from Wang Li, a famous professor of phonetics.Together, the two translated the latest foreign academic literature, including poetry theories.He also learned "Chinese Poetry" from Mr. Wang Li. Some people advised Professor Wang Li not to associate with Chen Mingyuan, because the author was "a well-known stubborn counter-revolutionary in Zhongguancun".Professor Wang Li replied: "Okay! I am a famous and unrepentant reactionary authority at Peking University! Birds of a feather flock together and people are divided into groups. It is justifiable for a reactionary authority to teach a counter-revolutionary!" Professor Wang Li told the story to When he heard it, in Wang Li's cramped and narrow room, hearty laughter broke out between the two of them. During the Bingchen Qingming period, Chen Mingyuan composed dozens of poems during the entire Tiananmen incident, and compiled a collection of poems "Blood Blood Flower".Several poetry lovers from the Experimental Factory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences engraved wax plates and mimeographed them into books overnight, and distributed them secretly. On April 5, when the "Gang of Four" was fighting in Tiananmen Square, Chen Mingyuan, surrounded by friends and guarding him, broke out from the sticks of the "Capital Workers' Militia" and returned to Zhongguancun.Back at the Institute of Acoustics of the Academy of Sciences, the rebels put him under "isolation review" and asked him to confess his counter-revolutionary crimes since the prime minister's death on January 8.The author wrote such a long poem full of grief and indignation: In dark dreams, I walked to the duel field in thought. with a scornful smile, Facing the cold gun of the executioner. Vicious flames swept across. Explosions will break this heart— Ah, from the crimson pool of blood sublime My lines! When dark news of bad news, And presses upon the wanderer's head, A storm of fury, smashed the sculls in his hand. The boat has just sailed out of the harbour, The whirlpool wants to bury it— Ah, from the steep crest emerge My lines! broken statue, Watching over the beds of exiles, charred stele, Guards the mourning hall of the pioneers. Thousands of running stars surround me, Hear the echo of the last cry— Ah, from the desolate grave come back to life My lines! After the "Cultural Revolution", Chen Mingyuan compiled hundreds of poems in old and new styles he wrote during the ten-year "Cultural Revolution" into a collection, titled "Underground Poetry Grass", and left it for future generations.Through these poems, he wants to show that despite the catastrophe of ten years, under the pressure of fascism, and the flowers withering, the poetry tradition of the Chinese nation cannot be killed by any force!