Chapter 96 Section 3 The impact of the first encounter between cross-strait literature

At the end of teaching in San Francisco, I was invited to participate in a seminar on modern Chinese literature chaired by Jin Jiefu at St. John’s University in New York. It was the first time I met Chinese writers from the mainland. There were about three or four of them. I knew of Le Daiyun, a professor at Peking University. and the famous writer Wang Meng. Since the English translation of the anthology, I have held many large-scale literary conferences around the world. At St. John’s University, this real gathering of heroes, I saw for the first time how the heat of politics transferred to the heat of literature, and for the first time. Once I saw the intensity of the Cultural Revolution, which prompted me to reflect on the positioning and naming of "Taiwanese Literature" from a macro perspective.

It was such a big event... All excited, all eyes, all ears curious, focused on the Iron Curtain writer making his first appearance in the West.At noon, I was arranged to sit at the same table with them, which probably symbolizes cross-strait exchanges, and I seem to be the person with the least fighting spirit! When I first met people on the other side, I didn’t know where to ask questions. They knew My hometown is in the three northeastern provinces, and I said: "Go back to the motherland and have a look:" Everyone had to giggle.Xia Zhiqing was very interested, he said: "When you come to the United States, you should see more,"

Returning to the venue after lunch, I was listening to a report on the current situation of the literary world by a mainland writer. Suddenly, there was a commotion at the entrance of the venue. Amidst the unstoppable chaos of a large group of people pushing and pulling, a tall and beautiful young Chinese man rushed in. He headed straight for the mainland. The writer rushed and shouted: "How dare you speak on behalf of that tyranny?" and then occupied the podium.Roaring and shouting to accuse the cruelty of the Cultural Revolution.The host teachers and students managed to drag him outside the door, and he scolded him for a while before being persuaded to leave.It was only when everyone was shocked that they realized that this young man was the author of "Son of the Revolution" (Son of the Revolution), which was a bestseller in the Western world at that time and exposed the tragedy of the Cultural Revolution in mainland China-Liang Heng.He married his co-author Xia Zhuli and was granted political asylum in the United States, so he was able to finish and publish the book in English. "Sons of Revolution" narrates all kinds of atrocities during the Cultural Revolution, making the Western world see that the mainland is almost a hell on earth, and the ferocity and inhumanity of those Red Guards make readers shudder and blood run.When I read it, I thought with grief and indignation: Is this the motherland I never forget?

The noisy people were driven away, and the atmosphere of the venue has changed. The initial pure excitement and curiosity were destroyed, and the speeches from various positions in the morning and the superficial calm created by them disappeared.Although the thesis reading and commentary were carried out according to the procedure on the podium, most people in the audience were quietly discussing the background of the rioter and his accusations.Everyone's curiosity about the embarrassing mainland representative was even more complicated.At that time, almost all the new generation of "sinologists" in the United States who studied modern Chinese literature after the Second World War were present. Agitated, as if seeing a piece of historical truth, it is not the truth that any movie or text can present.sad.

I stayed in New York for a few days after the meeting.One night, my student at National Taiwan University and China Times reporter Lin Xinqin invited me to dinner. There were six people present, and two of them were the authors of "Son of Revolution".Invited to their small apartment after dinner and talked late into the night.He turned from quiet narration to excitement, and there are some scenes that are not recorded in the book.The unspeakable betrayal and cruelty of man to man makes the listeners more than horrified and weeps.What kind of vigilant force made these red guards in their twenties swim to the shore of humanity in such a bloody tide, and lodge complaints against the atrocities they participated in? What kind of political charm drove generations of youth, From the student movement to the Cultural Revolution.Believe that only overthrow and destruction can build a new China? The hearts of these people.If it is not really numb and ruthless, it must be scarred. How can it be calmed down and return to a normal life?What kind of country will it be when they grow up and rule China?

Walking on the streets of New York on a summer night, I really don’t know where the world is! I clearly remember when I was twenty years old At that time, I was lying in the small room in the attic of the female dormitory of Wuhan University, looking up at the stars in the sky, and in the sound of the confluence of the three rivers, I shed tears for Sister Hou calling me soulless, just because I didn’t want to follow her to go to the reading club, read those Books on class struggle in Russia, singing those naive "Dongfanghong, Mao Zedong came out of the east..." I remember the hateful slogans and distorted faces in the ranks of the student riots in the narrow streets of Leshan.In 1947, if I hadn't come to National Taiwan University to see those two rooms of books and stayed, what would my life be like?

In the West in those years, equally shocking masterpieces of the truth about the Cultural Revolution included Simon Leys's "Shadows of Mainland China" and Richard Bernstein's "From the Center of the Earth", etc. Mainland "scar literature" was published in Taiwan, It is many years later.