Chapter 49 Cao Juren: A Thinking Reed

Cao Juren (1900-1972) was born in Jinhua, Zhejiang, a writer, reporter, scholar, and a legendary figure. Cao Juren stepped on the Luohu Bridge, turning his head every step of the way.With Hong Kong in front and the mainland in the back, he "has nostalgia and reluctance like Qu Yuan, and he can't bear to go." In 1950, on the fourth day in Hong Kong, Cao Juren published his first article in the column "Lai Lai Pian" of "Sing Tao Daily".The first sentence is "I come from the light!" He praised "the CCP is very successful in governing the world", but he also regarded himself as an impartial "central faction" and raised objections to some practices in the work of eliminating counter-revolutionaries and land reform.

Such a voice from such a person who has attracted the attention of all parties immediately caused a public outcry.Those who opposed the new regime of the Communist Party accused him of "helping the CCP vigorously and sincerely, but actually accomplices, and doing work that the CCP's Wente Cultural Industry cannot do", saying that ""Southern Chapter" is a hypocritical work... ...calling the mainland a place of light, but they themselves abandon the light and move away.” On the other hand, leftist literati regard Cao Juren as a "reactionary literati" and believe that his articles "scatter a series of toxins, we can no longer be silent, as a Chinese, we have the full right to criticize these toxins, point out these toxins, Raise the vigilance of readers, as journalists in New China, we have these full rights.”

This "encirclement and suppression" lasted for 20 months, and more than 800 articles criticizing Cao were cut and saved. In fact, Cao Juren did have hidden inner contradictions while adhering to the principles of neutrality and independence. In June 1950, one month before he went to Hong Kong, Ai Siqi said in a speech at Peking University: "If a brick is built into the wall, it cannot be pushed. If it falls to the side of the wall, if it is not built in , then I will be kicked away!" Cao Juren was deeply touched after reading it, and he wrote: "...like me, I left the position of a gear and came to the circle of liberalism, which has a great relationship with my future destiny. Big one. I, like Qu Yuan, have nostalgia for turning back, reluctant to go, but I finally made it, and this is also my psychological contradiction."

Some researchers have defined Cao Juren as a "free reporter" and pointed out that his "freedom" does not originate from modern Western liberalism, but more like the Chinese literati tradition that emphasizes freedom. As he himself said: "I This man has never led others, nor let others lead me." Because of this "free" choice in 1950, Cao Juren was almost obliterated in the mainland and Taiwan.Although, when he was 22 years old, he transcribed the profound lectures of Zhang Taiyan, a master of Chinese studies, and published "Introduction to Chinese Studies" based on them, and he was regarded as Zhang Taiyan's closed disciple; although he only graduated from a 5-year normal school, but However, he boldly stepped onto the forums of Fudan University, Jinan University and other universities, and has been a professor for more than 20 years.

During the Anti-Japanese War, he joined the army and went to the front line. He was the first to report the Taierzhuang victory and the first to disclose the truth of the "Southern Anhui Incident" to overseas. Taiwanese writers recalled that Cao was regarded as a poisonous snake and beast on the island. His books were listed as banned books, and he dared to sneak into Taiwan. On the mainland side, a small number of Cao's works were not published until after the 1980s.To this day, when referring to Cao Juren, the best attributive is not any other identity, but "the father of Cao Jingxing, a famous commentator on Phoenix Satellite TV"-more people know the son of a "famous talker", but few know the father of a "famous artist".

Cao Jingxing said: "After coming to Hong Kong, I read several articles. The authors all talked about how to benefit from my father's teachings in the early years. For me, this is a luxury that is difficult to achieve. In fact, I even read my father's books. I have never read it, because the mainland does not publish it. I only saw his works when I was in Hong Kong." At the end of 1969, Cao Juren wrote a letter to his daughter Cao Lei in Shanghai. In the letter, he confided: "In the past 19 years, my lonely life has only been known outside the window. If I don't know how to write articles, I will become a Crazy."

Fortunately, Cao Juren can write.He wrote more than 40 million words in his life, and the titles of these articles alone have 30,000 to 40,000 words.He can write with all kinds of pens and on all kinds of paper. He "seems to be able to write at any time." Articles come.He doesn't like to wear a hat, because it will "affect the thinking of writing articles". Cao Juren once wrote the book "Floating Over the Sea of ​​Life" when he was hospitalized for a serious illness. He talked about his enlightenment during his illness: "Man is just a reed, the most fragile thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed."