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  A GARDEN OF ONE’S OWN

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  A Garden of One’s Own

  A Collection of Modern Chinese Essays,

  1919–1949

  Edited and translated by

  Tam King-fai

  The Chinese University Press

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  A Garden of One’s Own:

  A Collection of Modern Chinese Essays, 1919–1949

  Edited and translated by Tam King-fai

  © The Chinese University of Hong Kong 2012

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may

  be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any

  means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,

  recording, or any information storage and retrieval

  system, without permission in writing from

  The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

  The Press has made all possible efforts to identify

  the copyright holders for the original Chinese essays

  in this book and has sought non-exclusive permission

  to translate the essays into English accordingly.

  In cases of omission, please contact the Press. For further query,

  please approach the Copyright Agency Center of China,

  which applied for the non-exclusive English translation permission

  on behalf of the Press.

  ISBN: 978-962-996-423-8

  THE CHINESE UNIVERSITY PRESS

  The Chinese University of Hong Kong

  Sha Tin, N.T., Hong Kong

  Fax: +852 2603 7355

  E-mail: [email protected]

  Website: www.chineseupress.com

  Printed in Hong Kong

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  qr

  Table of Contents

  Introduction

  1

  Essays 39

  Lu Xun 41

  The

  Kite

  42

  Xia Mianzun 45

  A

  Memory

  46

  Winter at White Horse Lake

  49

  Zhou Zuoren 51

  Black-Canopied

  Boats

  52

  First

  Love

  55

  Bitter

  Rain

  57

  Xu Dishan 61

  Undelivered Letters (Three Selections)

  62

  Ye Shengtao 67

  Random Reminiscences (Two Selections)

  68

  Moon-watching

  73

  Lin Yutang 75

  Ah

  Fang

  76

  Buying

  Birds

  80

  Zhang Henshui 85

  Checkers

  86

  Mao Dun 89

  Before

  the

  Storm

  90

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  vi

  Table of Contents

  Xu Zhimo 93

  Idle Talk About Life in the Mountains of Florence

  94

  Thoughts of Flying

  97

  Yu Dafu 103

  My Humble Shelter from Wind and Rain: A Chronicle

  104

  Su Xuelin 107

  In My Moments of Dejection (Two Selections)

  108

  Feng Zikai 115

  Children

  116

  A Mean Alleyway

  121

  Seeking Shelter from the Rain in the Mountains

  126

  Lu Yin 129

  Thorns

  on

  the

  Rosebush

  130

  Zheng Zhenduo 133

  The Pleasures of Food and Wine

  134

  Zhu Ziqing 139

  Looking for a Mate

  140

  Random Notes on Sea Travel

  143

  Lao She 151

  Winter

  in

  Jinan

  152

  Bing Xin 155

  The

  Smile

  156

  The Treasure That Will Always Be with Us

  158

  Yu Pingbo 163

  West Lake on the Evening of the Eighteenth Day

  of the Sixth Month

  164

  Going to the City

  171

  Fang Lingru 173

  Home

  174

  Liang Shiqiu 177

  Middle

  Age

  178

  The

  Send-off

  182

  Travel

  186

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  Table of Contents

  vii

  Zhu Xiang 191

  Books

  192

  Ba Jin 195

  Outside the Garden Ruins

  196

  Ye Lingfeng 199

  The Weary Sound of the Fiddle

  200

  Li Guangtian 203

  Mountains and Water

  204

  Two

  Thoughts

  209

  Liang Yuchun 213

  Tears and Laughter

  214

  On

  the

  Road

  218

  Wu Boxiao 225

  Conversations

  at

  Night

  226

  Lu Li 233

  The Water Pestle

  234

  Greenery

  Imprisoned

  237

  Qian Zhongshu 241

  Windows

  242

  He Qifang 247

  Old

  Men

  248

  Hunger

  254

  Su Qing 261

  Sweet

  Bean

  Cakes

  262

  My

  Hand

  268

  Zhang Ailing 271

  Love

  272

  My

  Little

  Brother

  273

  Works Cited 275

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  qr

  Introduction

  Names

  The time is around the New Year. The chilly wind outside is still blowing

  strong, discouraging people from venturing out. The paper windows of the study are tightly closed, and the doors are carefully locked up. Works of calligraphy and paintings by ancient artists hang on the wall of the study, and a pot of narcissus in full bloom sits on the table. Fragrant incense comes wafting from the golden burner shaped like the mythic animal ni
on the desk. The master takes a snuffbox from his pocket; after taking a few sniffs, he caresses the jade ring on his thumb. All of the sudden, he seems to think of something, gets up, and walks toward the pot of narcissus to see whether the few buds that have remained unopened have bloomed. He stands there and looks at the plant for a while. Then, holding his hands behind him, he begins to pace back and forth in the study.

  The day feels as long as a year. Not knowing how to pass the time, he

  walks up to the bookshelf and picks out a book at random. He lies down on a couch and begins to read. Thus does he come to enjoy a conversation with the ancients, as his spirit roams in a realm of timeless enjoyment, forgetting the frigid wind outside and the hustle and bustle of the city. By the time he puts down his book, he feels as if, in this world of turmoil, only he has remained unsullied.

  And what is the book that he reads, one might ask? It is not Dream of

  the Red Chamber or The Western Chamber, but a volume of Ming essays.

  Qian Gechuan (1935, 200)

  Like the essays that the man of leisure in this passage picks up to while

  away a long wintry day, the works introduced in this anthology are

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  2

  A Garden of One’s Own

  known in Chinese by the name xiaopin wen. 1 Having a common name

  is but one of the resemblances between essays of the Ming and those

  of the modern period, which echo each other in many significant

  ways across a time span of three centuries. Modern scholars of

  xiaopin wen of either period have often felt obliged to include in their studies speculations on their similar aesthetic orientations and cultural

  underpinnings, as well as the social and intellectual climates that account

  for their emergence.2 Indeed, our understanding of essays from both

  XMZQWL[PI[JMVMÅMLNZWUUIVa[]KPQV[IVKM[WN U]]ITQTT]UQVIQWV

  Unlike the majority of essays found in the West nowadays, xiaopin

  essays are almost always meditative, casual, and intimate in tone.3

  1

  While the meaning of xiaopin PM ÅZ[ KWUXWVMV WN PM MZU xiaopin wen, will be the subject of this introduction, it should be noted here that the other component, wen, in the present context simply means either writings or essays.

  The traditional philosophical connotations of the concept of wen or wenxue, so crucial in the investigation of prose writings up to the late Qing period

  (see Huters 1987 and 1988), have very little relevance here. For all intents and purposes, xiaopin wen simply means the kind of prose known as xiaopin; in other words, xiaopin essays. Sanwen, which means prose as opposed to verse, is also sometimes paired with xiaopin in the place of wen, in which case it has the same meaning as the latter.

  2

  See Chen Shaotang (1981) and Gong Pengcheng (1994) for examples of

  scholarship on late Ming xiaopin wen that also touch on modern xiaopin wen.

  Even though Chen thinks that modern xiaopin wen should not be confused with

  PM SQVL NW]VL QV PM TIM 5QVO PM LMMU[ Q VMKM[[IZa W LM^WM Å^M XIOM[ W

  comparing the two. Gong’s topic is a late Ming xiaopin collection, Caigentan. In accounting for its popularity in present-day Taiwan, he goes to considerable

  length in discussing the different ways in which Lu Xun and Zhou Zuoren

  interpreted late Ming xiaopin.

  Early twentieth-century writers and critics of xiaopin wen were just as obsessed, if not more so, with late Ming xiaopin wen, betraying no doubt an anxi-Ma WN QVÆ]MVKM ;MM PM [MKQWV WV ¹,Q[X]M[º JMTW_ NWZ I LQ[K][[QWV WN PMQZ

  interminable arguments over the relationship between the two periods.

  3

  ) _WZL WN Y]ITQÅKIQWV Q[ KITTML NWZ PMZM ;]ZMTa I[ Ua IKKW]V JMTW_ _QTT

  show, Chinese essayists have often regarded the tradition of the familiar essay in the West as addressing the same aesthetic concerns as their own works. Yet,

  PM XZM[MVLIa ?M[MZV ]VLMZ[IVLQVO WN PM _WZL ¹M[[Iaº Q[ XZMLWUQVIVTa

  ¹M`XW[QWZaM[[IaºW_PQKPPM+PQVM[MM[[Ia[QVKT]LMLQVPQ[IVPWTWOaJMIZ

  little resemblance, if any at all. See, for example, William Zeiger, 1985.

  There are, however, indications that the tradition of the familiar essay

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  Introduction 3

  Argumentation is not their forte, but philosophizing is. They tend to shy

  I_Ia NZWU WXQK[ KPIZOML _QP XWTQQKIT IVL [WKQIT [QOVQÅKIVKM J] IZM

  inclined instead to explore ethical and interpersonal situations. Their

  scope ranges widely, from ruminations on large existential issues to

  contemplation of mundane daily objects and activities. And though their

  medium is prose, they more often recall the characteristics of poetry.

 
  early twentieth-century China had been expecting. New poetry, yes, and

  VM_ ÅKQWV IVL VM_ LZIUI WW ITT WN _PQKP PMa [W]OP W XZWUWM

  in their ambitious cultural agenda; but modern xiaopin wen, so new in its sensibilities and yet so old in its associations, so unmindful of social issues and yet so in tune with the expression of individuality that the search

  NWZ UWLMZVQa [MMUML W KITT NWZ VW ) ÅZ[ KZQQK[ _MZM XMZXTM`ML

  Although they were quite ready to acknowledge the remarkable success

  of these essays, they could not help but register a note of surprise and,

  QV[WUMKI[M[LQ[UIa1VWNNMZQVOPMÅZ[[]UUIQWVWN PM[]KKM[[WN

  modern Chinese literature, Hu Shi (1922, 149–150) wrote:

  Vernacular prose has made remarkable improvement. There is no need

  for us to go into the progress made in the genre of long argumentative

  essays here; rather, in recent years, the most notable development in prose

  PI[ JMMV PM ¹ xiaopin sanwenº XZWUWML Ja _ZQMZ[ []KP I[ BPW] B]WZMV

  This kind of essay [is able to express] profound meanings in plain and

  casual language. At times these essays appear awkward, but in fact they are

  quite witty ( huaji). The success of this type of writing has once and for all M`XTWLMLPMUaPPI¹IM[PMQK_ZQQVOKIVVWJMLWVMQVPM^MZVIK]TIZ

  TIVO]IOMº

  Similarly, Zhong Jingwen (1927, 33) also had this to say:

  Since the beginning of the New Literature Movement, most of us have seemed

  W Z][P QV LZW^M[ W PM UIRWZ PWZW]OPNIZM[ WN ÅKQWV XWMZa IVL LZIUI

  Prose—the xiaopin wen—has seemed to remain a path in the wilderness

  covered with thorny bushes. Few have been willing to blaze that path.

  is experiencing a revival in the West. For example, two publications in recent

  years are devoted to such essays. See Phillip Lopate, 1994, and Joseph Epstein, 1997.

  1 PI^M ][ML PM -VOTQ[P _WZL ¹M[[Iaº NWZ PM KWV^MVQMVKM WN -VOTQ[P

  readers, in much the same way as Martin Woesler (2000a, 2000b) and David

  8WTTIZL =VTM[[ [XMKQÅML Ja PM KWVM` PM MZU ¹UWLMZV +PQVM[M

  M[[Ia[ºQVUaLQ[K][[QWV[PW]TLJMISMVWZMNMZWUWLMZV+PQVM[M xiaopin wen.

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  4

  A Garden of One’s Own

  Despite the general lack of interest in this form of writing, however,

  Zhong went on to point out that the very few who had ventured down

  this path had produced impressive results. Zhou Zuoren, Yu Pingbo,

  Zhu Ziqing, Ye Shengtao, and Xu Zhimo were the few t
hat he held up

  as models of success.

  )TPW]OP 0] ;PQ IVL BPWVO 2QVO_MV ][ML PM VIUM[ ¹ xiaopin

  sanwenº IVL ¹ xiaopin wen, º ZM[XMKQ^MTa QV PMQZ IKKW]V[ PM[M _MZM

  by no means commonly accepted terms. Instead, until at least the late

  1920s, a plethora of names were used, a few of which will be discussed

  below. The proliferation of terms went even further due to the many

  sub-genres of this type of essay: kexue xiaopin ( xiaopin about science) , lishi xiaopin ( xiaopin about history) , shuqing xiaopin (lyrical xiaopin) , and so on. Understandably, these terms have proved as confusing for general

  readers as for professional critics, indicating as they do the multifaceted

  nature of this genre of writing on the one hand, and the entrenched

  positions from which critics have chosen to articulate their understanding

  WN Q[ IM[PMQK[ IVL [WKQIT [QOVQÅKIVKM WV PM WPMZ +PQVM[M TQMZIZa

  critics have been well known for their contentiousness throughout the

  ages, but in the period covered in this anthology, encompassing what

  are generally called the May Fourth and post-May Fourth generations,

  literary disagreements were further fueled by political convictions. In

  this context, literature was but one of the many venues for people to air

  their thoughts about the future of China. Whether and how one wrote

  or read essays, and what brand one chose, very often became a litmus

  test of one’s political stance, whereby more than one’s literary reputation

  was at stake. An exercise in naming thus soon descended into a battle of

  name-calling. One recalls, for instance, the utter contempt with which

  Liang Shiqiu and Zhou Zuoren were viewed in some quarters.4 In this

  regard, the polemics surrounding xiaopin wen were not too much different from other debates in the history of modern Chinese literature.

  4

  See Gaylord Kai Loh Leung (1990) for a discussion of the ostracism that Liang

  Shiqiu suffered at the hands of writers of the All-China Federation of Literary and Art Workers for the War of Resistance. Liang’s essay collection, Yashe xiaopin, moreover, had often been singled out for criticism for its pointed silence on anti-Japanese themes that pervaded writing of the time. See also Chen Suyu

  (1989) for a description of Liang Shiqiu’s antagonistic reception in the Yan’an area during the 1940s.