Chapter 39 "Yanzhicao" ① Preface

"Yanzhicao" ① Preface ① Yu Pingbo's collection of essays. There is a lot of emotion or regret in the case of "thinking about the past", and this book is also like this. The name of "Swallows Knowing Grass" comes from the author's poem "Now that the flowers on Moshang are blooming in the sun, you should know the young and old swallows"; will see.What is written in the book is all about Hangzhou; if you have been to Hangzhou, you can get a rough idea just by reading the catalogue. Hangzhou is a famous capital in history, and the West Lake is even more acclaimed both at home and abroad;So if this book can be said to have a certain poetic flavor, that is also very natural.The place of West Lake, spring, summer, autumn and winter, cloudy, sunny, rainy and snowy, windy morning, moonlit night, each has its own appearance, each has its own taste, inexhaustible, and endlessly useful; The wonders are enough to teach you to linger.

No wonder Ping Bo thinks about it in the ocean, and thinks about it in his sleep!But "Hangzhou City", in our opinion, apart from Wushan, there is no place to be nostalgic for.Like Qinghefang, Chengzhan, the noisy city sounds all day long, just thinking about it will only make you dizzy; at first glance, it seems incredible that they can also elicit such melancholy words as Pingbo's. In fact, it is not surprising. If you read the whole book carefully, you will know that he is writing about Hangzhou everywhere, but he is not focusing on Hangzhou everywhere.It is true that he is thinking about Hangzhou; but why is he thinking about Hangzhou so stickily?He also briefly mentioned it in "Qinghefang"; it is because of Hangzhou that there are still a few people in his mind—mostly because of these people, Hangzhou feels lovely.Good scenery can certainly move people's hearts, but if you have a few like-minded people, it will be really interesting to spend time with each other; at this time, the scenery feels even better. ——To be honest, even if the scenery is not very good or it is actually a bad place, as long as there are traces of people with the same heart, they will always miss it so much.They can also mention the benefits of this kind of place unexpectedly; such words as "Hangzhou City Station" and "Qinghefang" in the book are like this.Besides, I also stayed in Hangzhou for a long time, about the same time as Uncle Ping, and I have been to most of the places he has been to; now I only have weak memories, not as fascinating as him.There are naturally many reasons for this, but the most important thing is the difference in the people who are with me, right?There are not many such people, nor will there be many.You can see that what is written in this book is almost only Mr. H's family who has several relatives with Uncle Ping-bo - Mrs. Pingbo is also included; just these few people give him a warm and rich atmosphere.The root of his attachment to Hangzhou is here, and his interest in writing this book is actually also here.That is, "Tazhuan Song" and "Dharani Sutra Song", although they seem to be playing "historical obsession and textual research obsession", they are still centered on Mr. H.

Recently someone talked to me about Ping Bo, saying that his temperament and behavior are a bit like people from the Ming Dynasty.I know that the so-called "Ming Dynasty people" refer to Mingmo Zhang Dai, Wang Siren and other famous people.I'm ashamed that I haven't quite figured out the characteristics of this group of people; borrowing the current popular words, it can be said that they are "focused on fun", right?As long as they make good use of it, they don't care about etiquette or sophistication.Their words are also like their own people, with a "free and easy" atmosphere.I don’t know exactly whether Ping Bo looks like this group of people from the Ming Dynasty, but there are a few things I can explain to him. Didn’t you read the postscript that two gentlemen guessed that the article was written by people from the Ming Dynasty? of?Ping Bo's joy was revealed between the lines.This is a self-defeating confession, which can be ironclad evidence.The punctuation, and the longing for Zhang Dai in that epilogue can be circumstantial evidence.In the preface of Mr. Zhou Qiming's "Miscellaneous Children", he compared the current prose with the articles of the Ming Dynasty, which is also a powerful reference.But I know that Pingbo didn't intend to imitate those people, it's just that their sexual habits are somewhat similar, so it's just a coincidence; he himself didn't expect this at first; , without revealing the true feelings, it's not like the people of the Ming Dynasty.As for whether this kind of celebrity style is good or bad, whether it is suitable for the time or not, it depends on how you look at it; different people have different opinions - like "Farewell on a Winter Evening" and "Selling Letter Paper", I think it is too "sentimental".Ping Boyuan didn't care about those things, and we don't have to; we just need to understand his character, his writing, and especially this book from this point of view.

This book has poems, ballads, songs, and prose, which can be called colorful.I'm afraid this is the first time that a person has used various types of words to describe a topic in this way?I have seen a book "On the Water", which is a collection of new poems with the theme of West Lake, but it is just a collection of new poems; this book is a strange synthesis.The text in the book is quite different. The subsequent works of "Returning to the Boat in the Snowy Evening", and "Small Collection of Lake Towers" and "Story of Dreams in Zhitian", etc., are obviously in two realms.Ping Bo has the ability to describe, but he has never paid attention to description.Although I don't pay attention to it, I don't get tired of it, so there are also texts such as "Small Collection of Lake Towers".In recent years he has found the descriptions too stilted, too elaborate, too reserved, and he has grown tired of them; he says he has simple tastes. Things like "Returning to the Boat in a Snowy Evening" were written with this attitude.This system of "narratives and discussions" has not fallen into a rut; because it is said simply and kindly, it is neither "scratching the itch" nor "hanging eight feet in the air."This kind of reasoning is actually a method of lyricism; we know that the criteria of "abstract" and "concrete" are sometimes not enough.As for my joy, it's hard to say for sure, let's use the case of Hangzhou as an example: the first type of characters in the book are like the Jade Buddha in Zhaoxian Temple, finely carved, smooth and white; as for the latter type, please forgive me Yu Lun, like the famous shortbread in Wushan Four Views Garden-the cake melts in the mouth without leaving any residue, and the tea shop is said to have existed in the "Ming Dynasty".

The article "Recrossing the West Garden Wharf" can probably be called a "strange essay".Although Ping Bo is an old friend of mine, Zhao Xinyu is definitely not, so I have no way of knowing who he is.His writing is really "thousands of words and thousands of miles away from the topic".The one who likes it can turn back from a somersault thousands of miles away; it is not surprising that "Zhao" and "Sun" are separated by only one room.The strange thing is that his writing style is the same as that of Uncle Ping; don't he be his private disciple?In fact, not only is it "the same", but sometimes his places where he understands the truth and expresses his feelings through twists and turns, sometimes it is Lan Shenglan.The most amazing thing is how many of his experiences are the same as those of Ping Bolei!The connotation of this can be said to be "unique and unique" between heaven and earth.

Alas!How can we ask Mr. Zhao in Jiuyuan and ask him in detail? On the evening of July 31, 1928, at Tsinghua University in Peking. (Originally published in "Yusi" Volume 4 Issue 36 on September 3, 1928)