Chapter 22 1978 "Goldbach's conjecture"

Genre: Reportage Author: Xu Chi Original publication: "People's Literature" Published: Issue 1, 1978 In the first issue of "People's Literature" in 1978, a reportage of about 20,000 words was published, namely Xu Chi's "Goldbach's Conjecture".Among the documentary works with high literary value in the late 1970s, apart from Liu Binyan's "Between Humans and Monsters", Xu Chi's work can cause great repercussions and general resonance in a short length. Although "Goldbach's Conjecture" was written at the invitation of the editorial department of "People's Literature", although it belongs to the nature of "social order" writing, it is an extraordinary work with unusual significance.It responds to the spirit of the times in the "new era" of bringing order out of chaos and bringing out the new, conveying a strong appeal for respect for knowledge and intellectuals, and a passionate call for loving and researching science.For Chinese scientists who have gone through the long winter of obscurantism, it is the first swallow to deliver the news of spring; The first ray of south wind that is not cold.Although it only wrote about Chen Jingrun, it is actually a hymn to all scientists and intellectuals.

After "Goldbach's Conjecture" was published, "Guangming Daily" responded most quickly. It reprinted the full text on February 16, 1978, and immediately "caused great repercussions among the readers. For a month, readers have sent letters to this newspaper"; in 1978 On March 15, "Guangming Daily" published four articles titled "Let Science Grow Wings and Fly", "Continuing the past and ushering in the future, the future is bright", "Continuous struggle, continuous research" and "Great encouragement, profound inspiration" letters from readers.In fact, such an impact is not limited to individual regions and fields, but affects almost all regions and fields across the country. On March 19, 1978, a review article entitled "The Times Needs Such a Magnificent Poem" published in "Heilongjiang Daily" provided people with accurate information on the situation at that time: "The grand reportage "Goldbach "Conjecture" was published! People rushed to circulate it and recommend it to each other, and it became the center of public opinion in no time! How many laymen also showed a magical interest in extremely abstract mathematical theorems, which is a rare situation for the majority of readers in recent years! "On March 26, 1978, "Sichuan Daily" published a signed article entitled "A Provocative Poem to Climb to the Peak of Science", which also described the same situation: "The reportage "Goldbach's Conjecture" was published in After it was published in newspapers and magazines, it aroused strong repercussions in the society, and people rushed to read it. No matter in schools, factories, or even on buses, people can hear people talking about this excellent article. There is a moving name——Chen Jingrun!" Zhang Jiong also said in an article: "Once the "Goldbach Conjecture" describing the mathematician Chen Jingrun was published, it shocked the literary world and the whole country. People spread the word, Over the years, few reportage works have aroused such strong repercussions among readers, won so many praises, and attracted such wide-ranging discussions." ("New Development of Reportage- —Reading "Goldbach's Conjecture", "Literary Review" No. 4, 1978) Almost at the same time, "Guizhou Daily", "Dazhong Daily", "Fujian Daily", "Wen Wei Po", "Liberation Army Daily", "Hebei Daily", "People's Daily", "Literary Review", "Yangtze River Literature and Art", "Journal of Xinjiang University" and other magazines have published post-reading or review articles.The people of the whole country, regardless of gender, gender, age or age, are so excited and excited about a literary work praising intellectuals. Looking at it today, it is really unbelievable. In the era of the long winter of communism, it is extremely normal.

So, why did Xu Chi's reportage arouse such great social repercussions?Why does it resonate so strongly with so many people? The late 1970s was both the end of an old historical period and the beginning of a new historical period.On the one hand, people bid farewell to the terrible era of "obscurantism" "with lingering fears", and on the other hand welcome the arrival of a new era of "ideological liberation" with eager anticipation.In the past few decades, due to complicated reasons, China's social development and cultural progress have been in a chaotic and blind "state of freedom", and subjective "utopianism" and "blind actionism" eager to get ahead have prevailed , Bringing huge disasters and losses to our country.After experiencing a series of "catastrophes" and disasters, the Chinese nation has finally realized the following truth: If a society wants to develop healthily, it must respect science, love knowledge, and cultivate its citizens to be rational through learning cultural knowledge. modern citizen.Xu Chi's reportage writing conforms to the era's requirement of breaking superstition and getting rid of ignorance, enthusiastically affirms the significance and value of science, and is full of humanistic passion calling for science.Xu Chi's reportage, including "Goldbach's Conjecture", takes intellectuals as the protagonists and affirms the value of knowledge and science as the theme, showing a keen perception of the emotions of the times and a deep understanding of the spirit of the times, which greatly Satisfied the strong needs of the "era of ideological emancipation" - this is the fundamental reason why they have gained people's recognition and aroused great repercussions.

Literature must be written with people as the object of description, and only when a person who makes people feel sad or loved is written, a work can be accepted by readers.Xu Chi's reportage truly reveals Chen Jingrun's difficult and humiliating living conditions, and restores him from a demonized "ghost and snake spirit" who has no dignity to a real person with personality and feelings, and to an ambitious man. , a unique scientist with pursuit, and created an image of an intellectual that has never been seen in previous contemporary literary works. It is a well-known fact that due to serious prejudice and mistrust, Chinese intellectuals have been classified as a separate book since the early 1950s, not only losing the conditions for work and research, but also losing their ability to contribute their talents to society. Moreover, they were treated as targets of "reform", were humiliated and persecuted, and generally fell into a deplorable situation of losing their dignity. Many people even paid the price with their lives.Chen Jingrun, who has nothing to do with the world, was not spared. In "Goldbach's Conjecture", although Xu Chi mentioned several times that he had suffered "vicious slander" and "malicious slander", he did not describe him in detail. The plot of committing suicide by jumping from the third floor because of "cruel persecution" was only briefly described in an article about the creation of "Goldbach's Conjecture" and how Chen Jingrun was beaten and how he jumped from the building.It was under such a historical background that Xu Chi wrote about Chen Jingrun's love for science and his dedication to scientific research, and he wrote about an almost pure scientific spirit and a true intellectual temperament.

Einstein said in an essay on Planck that scientists "are mostly rather eccentric, taciturn, and solitary beings, always trying to escape the hideous, embarrassing vulgarity of private life; shackles; the desire to escape from personal life and enter the world of objective perception and thought".This passage not only conforms to Chen Jingrun's spiritual temperament and lifestyle, but also inspires Xu Chi's writing.What Xu Chi highlights in this reportage is Chen Jingrun's true scientist character, and his dedication to pursue science.He has no friends, walks alone, lonely and lonely, "Since entering high school, he has become more and more lonely. His classmates think he is weird, dirty, and sick, so they ignore him. They use contempt He looked at him with sarcasm. He became a solitary grotesque walking alone, talking to himself. In the sky, a lone goose." This is a man who lives almost purely in the world of science.What he thinks about day and night are only those math problems that make him sleepless.In "Goldbach's Conjecture", Xu Chi revealed this point with a large number of typical detailed descriptions: "He forgot to eat and sleep, stayed around day and night, devoted himself to thinking, explored the essence, and performed a lot of calculations. He devoted himself to mathematics and made He was in a daze. Once, he bumped into a tree and asked who hit him? He devoted all his mind and rationality to solving this difficult problem, and he paid a high price for it. His eye sockets were sunken. His cheeks were flushed with tuberculosis. The laryngitis was severe, and he coughed constantly. The abdominal distension and abdominal pain were unbearable. Sometimes people are unknown, but they still remember numbers and symbols." If a nation If you want to progress and become an educated and respectable nation, you must have such pure intellectuals who are dedicated to the pursuit of scientific truth; if a nation is rational and far-sighted, it must respect and respect To protect such intellectuals - not only to provide them with a reliable guarantee of life materially, but also to allow them to enjoy a full sense of freedom and security spiritually.

However, Chen Jingrun was in a completely different living situation.His room is really too small, "Small room, only six square meters in size. This room is missing a corner. It turns out that the second floor below is a boiler room. A large rectangular chimney flows from his room on the third floor. Passed in the middle and cut off one-sixth of the room. The room is knife handle shaped. Obviously its owner has just cleaned and cleaned the room. But it is still not very tidy. The window is three bars, and the newspaper is stuck. Strict. Although the autumn sun is very bright, the light in the house is very dim. Above the screen window is a rolled up window screen like a sheep's tail. The window is wrapped with a rope and cannot be closed tightly. Insects can fly in and out." Poverty in China is accompanied by mental fear and torture. "There are always some people who refuse to let him go. Every day, they knock on the door and check the household registration, which made him terrified and unable to settle down. Once, they brought Kesi pliers; The light in his room was unhooked and taken away. Not enough, the switch cord was cut. Then darkness fell on his heart. But he still had to live in the dark, so he bought a kerosene lamp. And Fearing that the kerosene light would be exposed, he pasted newspapers on the windows. He struggled to live, and he was in a bad shape. For those who engaged in work, their wages were deducted; He was often blamed, and his nerves were extremely weak. He couldn't do his work, and he didn't dare to read books. The work propaganda team came to ask: Why did 1+1=2 and 1+2=3? He couldn't laugh or cry, he was flustered. , I don’t know how to explain to the masters to explain clearly. Comrade workers think this person is strange.” He lived in an extremely humble life, and he respected everyone he met. Thank you" and "very happy".Reading such details is like reading Chekhov's novels, and there is an indescribable sense of sadness—it is such heart-wrenching details that have touched the hearts of countless readers and aroused their sympathy and resonance.

The elegant and poetic language is another factor that attracts readers of "Goldbach's Conjecture".Xu Chi is a writer with a high level of accomplishment in both classical literature and foreign literature.His language is elegant and fresh, his sentence structure is flexible but he dares to use symmetrical and strict parallel style, and he can quote ancient sayings with a touch of gold, thus creating a rhetorical effect with unique charm.For example, "Everyone holds the Pearl of the Spirit Snake, and every family holds the Jade of Jingshan Mountain. The popularity is rising, and the lineup is neat." It cleverly and naturally borrowed the words from Cao Zhi's "Book with Yang Dezu" to strengthen the literary talent of the work and beauty.For example, "The 'Cultural Revolution' has begun. A civil war broke out in China. There is organized agitation everywhere, battles between leaders, and orderly chaos. I can only see scenes one after another, flashing back and forth, flying like lightning, and earth-shattering. One drama after another is rehearsed, full of joys, sorrows, sorrows and joys; joys and sorrows, touching the hearts of the people. One by one, the characters appear on the stage. Some are smashed into the sand, and there is no reason to die; the four big families, a dream of the Red Chamber; some are short-lived , Withered so fast. There are green pines and green cypresses, even though they are dead, they are still alive, and they are more important than Mount Tai, and their majesty will last forever! Some are heroes of the country, outstanding people; Mo Xie, a capable general, has been tempered thousands of times; the clock is silent, and the iron is like mud."In this highly acclaimed text, the author well combines the imposing parallelism with the "beautiful words" of "the superior and the inferior, and a natural pair", so as to achieve what Liu Xie affirmed as the "jade". Run Shuangliu, like Bi Heng Pei" rhetorical realm.Of course, on the other hand, too strong lyricism sometimes seems to lack rational restraint, which to some extent caused the shortcomings of "exposed to the prose" and "lacking in the text" criticized by Liu Xie.

Just like many writers of that era, Xu Chi had the passion of a poet but lacked a mature thought; he simply expressed life according to the external scale, rather than discovering and expressing life according to his highly conscious rational cognition. Reveal life.He lacks a deep rational understanding of the era he lives in, and also lacks a deep understanding of the society in which the characters live. The issue of "class struggle" lacks proper understanding. In this way, in "Goldbach's Conjecture", Xu Chi accused the "Cultural Revolution" of persecuting intellectuals on the one hand, but on the other hand sang praises to the "Cultural Revolution": "The Great Cultural Revolution launched by the proletariat was also a great political revolution. The cunning and changeable bourgeoisie had to resist and struggle to the death. There has never been such a great mass movement in human history. A quarter of the entire human race, regardless of gender Young and old, mobilize together. The magnificent revolution involved workers, peasants, soldiers, working people and intellectuals, as well as saints and devils. Report and be reported, expose and be exposed, criticize and Anti-criticism, criticism and self-criticism. Everyone touches the soul; three thousand years of filth must be washed away. Our life is full of vigor; a lot of dark things in life are exposed by themselves. The scum rises to the surface; it is easy to get rid of them. Our society The main aspect of socialist society, the bright side, shines brightly; the danger of the dark things becomes more and more obvious." Because when writing "Goldbach's Conjecture", he completely negated the politics of the "Cultural Revolution" The resolution has not yet been announced, so Xu Chi is still singing the praises of the "Cultural Revolution" habitually.His remarks on the "Cultural Revolution" seem to be dialectical, but they are actually vague and contradictory, and do not conform to the actual situation.This obviously belongs to the "scars" left on this work by the old times.Here are the problems and flaws that should be pointed out.

(Written by Li Jianjun) Xu Chi: "Goldbach's Conjecture", People's Literature Publishing House, 1978 Edition Xu Chi: "Small Town in the South of the Yangtze River", No. 2, 1990 Zhang Jiong: "New Exploitation of Reportage - Reading "Goldbach's Conjecture"", "Literary Review", No. 4, 1978 Lei Maokui: "On "Goldbach's Conjecture" and others", "Journal of Xinjiang University", 1979, 1-2 Jiang Xin: "The Creation Process and Artistic Style of Xu Chi's Reportage", "Journal of Soochow University", No. 1, 1982