Chapter 10 Mourning Ding Ling

On the afternoon of March 4, I called Ding Ling's home again to inquire about her condition.The person who answered the phone was a comrade from out of town. She told me that "Ding Ling passed away at ten o'clock this morning." The scenes after Ding Ling and I got acquainted passed before my eyes one by one: In the summer of 1928, she, Hu Yepin and Shen Congwen came to see me at my home in Shanghai. In 1931, she edited Beidou magazine, and I wrote for her. At that time, we used only the word Bing in our correspondence, because her real name was Jiang Bingzhi. In 1931 or 1932, she came to visit me at my home in Yenching University in Beijing, just as I was bathing my son Wu Ping. She sighed and said: She doesn’t often have this kind of opportunity to be with her child.

In the late summer of 1936, Wen Zao and I went to the United States again and passed by Nanjing. We heard that Ding Ling lived in the suburbs of Nanjing, so we went to visit her.That night she came back and forth to see us, rowing a boat on Xuanwu Lake and talking. I knew she had arrived in Yan'an during the Anti-Japanese War.At the political participation meeting in Chongqing, I happened to sit with Comrade Dong Biwu, and I asked him about Ding Ling's recent situation. When I came back from Japan after 1951, she was devoted to the work of leading literature and art in New China.I remember that she and Lao She introduced me to join the National Writers Association.

After 1955, she suddenly said that she was someone from an anti-party group. At the criticism meeting, I only saw her sitting on the small table on the right side of the chairman's seat, taking notes with her head down, and it has been more than 20 years since then! She came back in 1979 and lived in Muxidi. When the Writers Association held a meeting, the car that picked me up also picked her up. We had a lot of conversations in the car. After the autumn of 1980, I broke my leg and was unable to move around, so I couldn't participate in social activities. She was the one who came to see me.

In February 1984, she came to see me and brought her "Recent Work Collection". In June 1985, she brought "Selected Works of Ding Ling" and "China" literary magazine edited by her.I also mentioned that she has kidney disease, but she is still so talkative. I didn't expect that it would be the last time. Writing a memorial text, my hands are soft!Over the years, Zhenduo, Lao She, Guo Lao, Mao Gong, Dr. Lin Qiaozhi, President Wu Yifang... Recently, they are my wife, my second brother, and now Ding Ling! There may be many joyful reunions in death with knowledge, and in death with ignorance, it is also free from the pain of the body.

It is their relatives and friends who are sad. We can only take solace in the immortal work they left behind, and we will continue to strive to inherit their work for the people in our lifetime! March 7, 1986