Chapter 11 Brother Yu

The female painter Yu Feng is Yu Dafu's niece, and her father Du Hua is Dafu's brother.Yu Hua, also known as Man Tuo, is a veteran of the Chinese judiciary. During the Anti-Japanese War, he served as the chief judge of the Shanghai High Court.This justice is not only proficient in law and politics, but also good at poetry and painting, and he is also an elegant person.For a while, we were still neighbors, living together in Gongyuanfang on Jiangwan Road in Shanghai, and we didn’t move out until his new house in the French Concession was completed. That was back in 1935, when many intellectuals lived in Gongyuanfang, the scene was very lively.

At that time, Yu Feng was still studying in Nanjing, and when he returned to Shanghai for vacation, he also came to visit us, but since we were all her uncle's friends, she had to take the position of her niece.However, the grand occasion was not always there. Because the Japanese warlords invaded China more and more quickly, and were agitated by the current situation, everyone could no longer live in that small world, so they went their separate ways soon after. When Yu Hua lived in Gongyuanfang, Duff’s thatched hut in Hangzhou had already been completed, and he didn’t often come to Shanghai, so we rarely saw him in Gongyuanfang.At this time, it was the period when Duff began to make a big change in writing and life, and all he wrote were prose such as travel diaries.It was also published in Lin Yutang's "Cosmic Wind" and "Human World" and other publications.The people he made friends with were also high-ranking officials and nobles, which were all influenced by Wang Yingxia.He himself probably didn't expect that with the completion of the Fengyu thatched cottage, the root of the family's ruin has already been laid down.

It was also during this period that Duff began publishing many of his older poems.Some people say that the foundation of Duff's old learning was completely taught by his brother. This may not be true, because Duff is a very talented person, and according to his autobiography, he has never engaged in new literary and artistic writing. Previously, he was already trying to write old poems. In terms of skill, Dafu's old poems are of course not as good as his brother's, but when it comes to talent and charm, Dafu has his own characteristics.In 1935, Duff published "Qiu Lin's Diary" on "Cosmic Wind", which recorded the singing and harmony works of the two brothers, which can be seen, which is recorded below.

The original work of brother Man Yihai Zhongfu summer and Guling: "The world is full of flames and suffering, and here Xiaoshuang is like autumn; the generations of the time and sages share the same worries and joys, and they live and stay as they please. The day is cold and rainy, and the green forest The clouds break the mountain towers; move the plan to mock the world, and take a ten-day leisurely tour." There is a small preface to Dafu's poems: "Waiting for Brother Man at sea, I will go back to Hangzhou to get Guling's summer and summer poems, and I will answer them in the original rhyme. I will go to Fuyang together on Chongjiu."

The poem goes: "The words are not amazing and death is endless, and Du Ling's poems can only relieve the sorrow of autumn; I have lived in Kui's mansion for three years, but I have not stayed in Pengcheng for a hundred days. I am sad for the love of the lake and the mountains, and I am worried about the wind and rain. A night tour along the Huae River." After Yu Hua died in the line of duty, Yu Feng asked someone to print a commemorative book of her father's poems and paintings, but it was a pity that the time was in disarray, and it was not widely circulated, and few people had seen it.