Chapter 138 The Doom of "Xu Jie's Minion"

After it was published, the author received a letter from Yili, Xinjiang, whose name was Yang Wancai.He learned that I had written it from a letter from his teacher, Professor Shao Jialing of Fudan University in Shanghai.He paid attention to this book as a matter of course, because it was the political disaster in 1957 that brought him infinite sadness... In his letter he said: "Life is short, and I am over sixty years old. The ancients said: It is enough to die in the morning and evening! I hope that after reading it, I will know why. Then when I die, I can safely close this pair. More eyes."

He sent me his "Reply Letter After 29 Years—To Teacher Xu Jie" and the article "Me and Yang Wancai" written by Professor Xu Jie.After reading it carefully, I am amazed! Mr. Yang Wancai was labeled as a "rightist", which can be described as "inexplicable", or can be summarized as "disaster from heaven". In 1957, Yang Wancai, like Xu Chengmiao, was also a student of the Journalism Department of Fudan University in Shanghai.Xu Chengmiao was labeled as a "rightist" because of a small poem, and he was classified as a "rightist" just because he wrote a letter to Professor Xu Jie, whom he had never met at East China Normal University in Shanghai!

Although Yang Wancai's letter had nothing to do with politics; Professor Xu Jie sent him a letter back—this letter also had nothing to do with politics.However, during the "Anti-Rightist Movement", Professor Xu Jie became a "big rightist" and implicated this young student who had never met.Therefore, Yang Wancai was also labeled as a "little rightist"! Yang Wancai recalled: Twenty-nine years ago, in 1956, I was a student in the Journalism Department of Fudan University.One day in September, after listening to Mr. Jiang Kongyang's "Introduction to Literature and Art" class, I returned to the 205th dormitory of the tenth dormitory. My roommates were competing to read a lot of letters—the students of the Journalism Department communicated well and contributed a lot. There are also many.Yang Kaimin held up a letter and said to me: "Commissioner (I was an organization member of the Youth League Branch at the time), here is your letter, from East China Normal University." I opened it and saw that the letter was signed "Xu Jie".The students all gathered around and looked curiously at the autographed letter of this famous writer, professor, and head of the Chinese Department of East China Normal University, and asked me how I knew Professor Xu.

In fact, I have never met Professor Xu. In the early days of liberation, when I was still a middle school student at the age of fifteen or sixteen, I wrote newsletters for Shanghai's "Yibao", "Tongbao", and "Xinmin Evening News", and later wrote essays for "Wen Wei Po"; All kinds of books, I want to be a reporter and a writer... I wandered around the old bookstall next to the Jiuqu Bridge in the Old Town God's Temple all day long, flipping through all kinds of old books at will, and just threw down one I couldn't understand, and then Picking up a copy of "Winter Solstice Collection", one of the articles said: Guilin's mountains and rivers are the most beautiful in the world, but artists see the beauty of the pictures, musicians hear the beauty of water, birdsong, and folk songs, and farmers focus on the fertilization of the fields. The businessman is planning how to take advantage of the victory... This discussion was something I had never thought of when I was a teenager, and I seem to understand it.Instinctively turned to the cover and saw the writer "Xu Jie".

Later, when I was admitted to the Journalism Department of Fudan University, and my knowledge increased, I realized that it was about "aesthetics".After class, I collected works by Chen Wangdao, Zhu Guangqian, Hegel, Croce, Burke, and Chernyshevsky, and read them eagerly.At that time, there were inherent gains, but more problems.So I thought of "Xu Jie". At this time, I already knew from the history of modern literature that he was a well-known writer and professor, and I also knew that he was the head of the Chinese Department of East China Normal University.So, a fur doll actually picked up a pen and wrote a letter to Professor Xu, talking about his experience and asking questions.Unexpectedly, this famous modern writer returned me a long letter in less than a week: affirming some of my ideas, solving my difficult problems, introducing what and how to read; at the end, telling me I, he have an aesthetics paper, which will be published in the next issue of "Academic Monthly", if you are interested, you can find it and read it...

The vigorous font, plain tone, profound knowledge, and profound insights made me and all my classmates admire.Of course, my colleagues are more envious that I can get the guidance of such a famous teacher. It should be noted that Yang Wancai received Xu Jie's letter in September 1956, nine months before leaving the "anti-rightist movement"! However, as Xu Jie became a "big rightist", Yang Wancai was also called "Xu Jie's minion": Just as I was concentrating on studying "Natural Beauty", "Artificial Beauty", Marshall, and Hume's "Contemplation of Beauty", before I had time to send my thesis and reply letter to Mr. Xu, in 1957, that The famous "Editorial" that decided the fate of tens of millions of people was published.Teacher Xu became the "top man" in Shanghai and the "No. 1 Great Rightist" at East China Normal University. I was also "exposed" by those envious companions at first, and became a typical "Baizhuan" and "Xu Jie's minions."The big-character posters and the Criticism Committee forced me to hand over Teacher Xu's letter and expose "Xu Jie's crimes" in order to atone for the crime and strive for leniency.

I was stunned, at a loss. From the lines in the "revealing" article and the intermittent news from East China Normal University, I know that Teacher Xu is also in pain and incomprehensible, but he is unyielding. I know in my heart that Mr. Xu is innocent; from his literary works and aesthetics papers, and from his letter to a young man who has never met, I am sure that Mr. Xu has been pursuing truth, goodness and beauty all his life! The harsh reality and ruthless life forced me to think intensely and make a choice. Xu Jie, how did he become a "big rightist"?Even Xu Jie himself couldn't think of it or figure it out!

Xu Jie is the dean of the Chinese Department of East China Normal University, the vice chairman of the Shanghai Branch of the Chinese Writers Association, and the chairman of the East China Normal University of the China Democratic League. On March 12, 1957, Xu Jie, Fu Lei and other representatives of the Shanghai literary circle listened to Mao Zedong's speech at the National Propaganda Work Conference in Huairen Hall, Zhongnanhai, Beijing.After the speech, Mao Zedong received the representatives.Mao Zedong saw Xu Jie, held his hand, and said humorously: "A long time, a long time, you are the Xu Jie who wrote the novel; oh, there is also a geographer from Anhui Province named Xu Jie. You democrats are welcome to give us opinions. Those who speak are innocent, and those who hear it are warnings!"

After hearing these few words from Mao Zedong himself, Xu Jie was greatly encouraged.After returning to school, I posted the first big-character poster of the Chinese Department... Unexpectedly, "the one who speaks is innocent" later evolved into "convict with words", and Xu Jie became the "number one rightist" of East China Normal University. Professor Xu Zhongyu of the Chinese Department spoke out for Xu Jie and was also labeled a "rightist". As a result, Xu Jie, Shi Zhecun, Dai Jiaxiang, and Xu Zhongyu became the targets of East China Normal University's "thousand bombardments".

Even though Yang Wancai was at Fudan University, the leaders wanted him to "expose" Xu Jie.Xu Jie is the teacher he respects in his heart, what can he "expose" against his will? ! Yang Wancai did not betray his conscience.He turned out to be an "extreme rightist" because of this, and he was also a "stubborn extreme rightist": Gradually, I gained a firm belief from the pain: To be a human being, one must be "truthful", not to say or do things against one's will; to be "kind", to love and care for others, and to solve their problems as much as possible.

Big-character posters, criticism meetings...but I kept silent. Therefore, I was considered a stubborn extreme rightist and sent to Yili, the westernmost region of the motherland.He suffered far more than the protagonists in "The Wrangler" and "Return of the Swallow", and suffered worse than them: the father died because of missing his only son too much, and the mother passed away because she was desperate for her son to return home. But I don't regret it.I am grateful to Mr. Xu, he not only passed on knowledge to me, but also taught me how to behave. It was not until 1985 that Yang Wancai finally wrote "Reply Letter Twenty-Nine Years Later - To Mr. Xu Jie", which was published in the Journal of Yili Institute of Education.Yang Wancai sent the article to Xu Jie. Xu Jie was deeply shocked and moved after reading Yang Wancai's article.Xu Jie published the article "Yang Wancai and Me" in the eighth issue of "Wenhui Monthly" in 1988 as a response. Xu Jie wrote: In 1985, I was already eighty-five years old.One day, I received a publication—Journal of Yili Institute of Education sent from Xinjiang. There was an article in it titled "Reply Letter After 29 Years—To Teacher Xu Jie", and the author's name was Yang Wancai. I didn't know the name of the sender. I didn't know until after reading the article that he was a student of the Journalism Department of Fudan University.He wrote to me before I was "exposed" as a "Rightist" in 1957.At that time, I was the same as treating ordinary young people. Since I received a letter, I must write a reply to him.Of course I forgot about this matter, and I didn’t know that there was such a young man who was “wrongly classified” as a “rightist” because he received my letter.Because he was very loyal, he refused to distort the facts casually, fabricated facts, refused to talk to others, and could not explain his relationship with me, so he became a stubborn "extreme rightist".When he graduated, he went to Yili, Xinjiang, where Lin Zexu served as an army for reform through labor. He described how he received my reply letter one day when he was studying in Fudan, and how his classmates in the same dormitory envied his correspondence with me.But soon, I was criticized in the newspapers, and my classmates asked him to expose his relationship with me, a "big rightist".But he has never met me, and he also said that he does not know me, and has never met me.In his letter, he talked about the inhuman treatment and hard life he had suffered for twenty-nine years.It is said that he is also a teacher of the people now, and has been respected by students for twenty years, so he thinks of me.Twenty-nine years later, they still write back to me. After reading this "Reply Letter Twenty-Nine Years Later", Xu Jie felt a lot.He wrote: After I read this letter, my heart was really touched.I read him talking about the situation of labor and suffering in Xinjiang, especially the situation where his parents died and his family was ruined because he was reformed through labor in Xinjiang. I really don't know what to say.I replied to his letter immediately.I said, I read your letter and I was very excited.I seem to feel that his suffering is just a relationship with me through a letter.Also because of the correspondence with me, he was "exiled" to Yili.Hard work, parents died, family ruined.However, in fact, we have never met, and we don't know each other at all.His suffering and the destruction of his family have nothing to do with me.At that time, I replied to him with this mentality, which finally connected our correspondence relationship.After that, he wrote me another letter.Describe the circumstances of his father's death and his mother's death in detail.It turned out that his father was a rickshaw driver, and later learned to drive a car and was a transport worker.Mother is a housewife.They are all working people, illiterate, and sufferers.They trained their son to study in college, and originally hoped that after he graduated from college, he would revitalize his family business and shine in his family, so that his parents could enjoy some blessings.How did he know that he suffered such a fate. Because of this, Yang Wancai, who is in his sixtieth year, still sighs that he doesn't understand why he suffered bad luck!Mr. Yang Wancai wrote another letter to the author on July 14, 1996: The book has been received for a few days, but I couldn't send a letter and thank you immediately because I couldn't wait to read the book after receiving it.I think it would be better to talk about my feelings after reading the letter when I write the letter. After reading the thick book (some chapters have been re-read many times), I am full of emotions. In short: In the process of reading, I seem to have returned to the era nearly forty years ago: overnight, I changed from a member of the branch organization, an excellent student (all examination subjects are five points), a highly prestigious transfer student, Become an isolated rightist.This is something I never dreamed of.I recalled the past around that year, which was the "past" of nearly forty years, a painful experience that I didn't want to think about but came to my heart from time to time. "Reading history makes people wise." After reading it, I became clearer in my heart. This was a catastrophe that could have been avoided but was really unavoidable in China at that time. Thank you, not only for sending me the book, but also for spending a lot of energy and time, collecting and interviewing so many materials and people at the time, and leaving a record of that disaster. The writing is objective and detailed, and there are not many comments, but all the facts are the best comments. The ins and outs are very clear, and even a person like me who was muddle-headedly labeled as a rightist at the time would feel confused if he didn't read this book, let alone the young people and "outsiders" at that time. It and the catastrophe that lasted for ten years later showed that the system in which hundreds of millions of people follow the will of one person is the root of all evil. Forty years have passed.Most of the "big rightists and famous rightists" at that time had passed away, and even a "little rightist" like me was over sixty years old and had gray hair all over his head.Fortunately, I am still tenaciously alive. I have witnessed these forty years of great changes, and I can still read them. Not to be a fool. I still want to live for a few more years and see how the earth rotates and how the world changes, because there are still many problems that are still sealed. Thank you - for your book and the abundance of words you have written. I did not send the money for the books as instructed, but sent a recent photo of my family to take a special photo as a souvenir. It can be regarded as such an impression of the two poles of China. Life is easy to get old, and I pray to God to bless my husband with health and safety, so that I can have more time and write more works. Staring at the photos taken by Yang Wancai in Kuitun City, Xinjiang, the three generations of his family sat in front of the fountain with smiles, enjoying themselves.It's just that his white hair has recorded the vicissitudes of the years. What if Yang Wancai hadn't written to Professor Xu Jie back then?What if Professor Xu Jie hadn't written back to this young college student?What if Professor Xu Jie hadn't been labeled a "rightist"? ... If it is said that the correspondence with Professor Xu Jie was just an accidental factor that caused Yang Wancai to be labeled as a "rightist", then there is no "if" for thousands of intellectuals who suffered in the "anti-rightist struggle". The inevitable result of this—either Yang Wancai was criticized, or Zhang Wancai was struggled.