Looking back at the morning flowers and recalling the Liu Bannong Imperial House?

The full text, notes and appreciation of Lu Xun's "Remembering Liu Bannong Jun"

This is a topic given to me by Xiaofeng.

This topic is not excessive. I should mourn the death of Bannon, because he is also an old friend of mine. However, this was ten years ago. Now, it's hard to say.

I have forgotten how I met him for the first time and how he got to Beijing. I'm afraid he was invited to Beijing by Mr. Cai Yumin or Mr. Chen Duxiu after the submission of New Youth. After he arrived, of course, he was a soldier in New Youth. He is lively and brave, and has fought many big battles. For example, in response to Wang Jingxuan's double letters, the creation of the words "she" and "it" is true. Now it seems that these two things are naturally insignificant, but that was more than ten years ago. Just advocating new punctuation, a large group of people would "bereave their relatives" and yearn for "eating meat and sleeping", so it was really a "big war". Few people in their twenties know that thirty years ago, as long as they cut a braid, they would be put in prison or beheaded. However, this used to be true.

However, the liveliness of semi-peasants sometimes borders on recklessness, courage and stupidity. However, when discussing attacking the enemy, he is still a good partner. Speaking of which, his heart doesn't correspond, or secretly give you a knife. He will never. If you lose the math, it's because you didn't do it well.

Every time New Youth is published, an editorial meeting will be held to discuss the next issue. At that time, Chen Duxiu and Hu Shizhi attracted my attention most. If the military strategy is compared to a warehouse, Mr. Duxiu's purpose is to erect a banner outside, which reads: "All weapons are inside, be careful who comes!" But the door is open, and there are several guns and knives in it. It's clear at a glance, so don't be wary. Mr. Shi's purpose is to close the door tightly. There is a small note on the door: "There is no murder weapon inside, please don't doubt it." This can naturally be true, but some people-at least people like me-sometimes have to tilt their heads to think about it. Semi-peasant is a person who doesn't feel that he has an "arsenal", so I admire Chen Hu, but I am also close to semi-peasant.

The so-called closeness is nothing more than chatting. If you talk too much, you will reveal your shortcomings. For almost a year, he didn't get over the idea that talented people brought from Shanghai must have the pleasure of "reading black tea at night", and finally scolded us. But he seems to talk nonsense everywhere, which makes some "scholars" frown. Sometimes, even the contribution of New Youth is excluded. He is brave in writing, but he tries to read old newspapers. There are many problems without him. Those who criticize him are: shallow.

Yes, semi-farming is really shallow. But his shallowness, like a clear stream, is crystal clear, and no amount of sediment and rotten grass can hide its general clarity. If it is full of mud, you can't see its depth for the time being; If it is a mud pit, it will be worse than a shallow pit.

However, the criticism behind these things probably hurt the hearts of half farmers. I suspect that most of his intentions to study in France are for this reason. I am the laziest in correspondence, and we have been estranged since then. When he came back, I didn't know he was writing ancient books in a foreign country, and later he wanted to punctuate He Dian. At that time, I pretended to be an old friend and said a few words of truth in the preface I learned afterwards that Bannon was very unhappy, and there was nothing I could do. Besides, there was another time when we were unhappy with each other because of thinking. We met at a banquet in Shanghai five or six years ago. At that time, we had little to say.

In recent years and a half, the farmer has gradually stepped onto the key point, and I have gradually forgotten him; But when I read in the newspaper that he banned "miss" and so on, I was disgusted: I thought these things didn't have to be done by half a farmer. Since last year, I have seen him making doggerel and ruining ancient Chinese. I can't help but sigh every time I think back to my previous friendship. I think, if we meet, I still pretend to be an old friend and don't end up with "today's weather ... hahaha", then maybe we will fall into conflict.

However, I am still moved by the loyalty of the semi-peasants. I went to Beiping the year before last. Later, I was informed that Bannon would come to see me. He was intimidated into coming. This makes me feel ashamed, because after I arrived in Beiping, I really never thought of visiting semi-peasants.

Now that he is dead, my feelings for him have not changed since he was born. I loved that farmer ten years ago, but I hate him in recent years. This kind of hatred is the hatred of friends, because I hope that he was often a semi-peasant ten years ago, and he was a soldier, even if he was "shallow", which would be more beneficial to China. I would like to show his achievements with anger and fire, so as not to let a group of ghosts trapped in the sand drag his former glory and dead body into the abyss of mud.

August first.

After Liu Bannong's death, "some publications were very lively" at that time. Some people with ulterior motives took the opportunity to distort Liu Bannong in the name of mourning, naming this advanced figure in the May 4th period as a retro saint. The purpose is just as Lu Xun said: "Use his god to attack' fashionable' people." Lu Xun explained the trend of the times in this way: "Part of the so-called trend of the times refers to the' predecessors'" (1). In other words, they used the distorted image of Liu Bannong to achieve the goal of cracking down on innovation advocates. In order to expose these people's ulterior motives, Lu Xun wanted to return the true colors of Liu Bannong's history. This is what this article says "to avoid a group of sand-trapped ghosts dragging his former glory into the abyss of mud with dead bodies". It is the starting point of this article.

As a friend of Liu Bannong, Lu Xun introduced his brilliant achievements in the anti-feudal struggle during the May 4th Movement. One is "Double Spring Letters", which he co-starred with Qian, to refute the feudal retro school. This successful performance greatly increased the ambition of the reformists and destroyed the prestige of the quintessence school. Lu Xun said that he "jumped out of the Mandarin Duck and Butterfly School and scolded Wang Jingxuan"; ② Second, the word "she" and "it" were created, which separated men from women, enriched the expressive force of words, became more scientific and innovative, and was a blow to the feudal retro school. Lu Xun concluded: "Now it seems that these two things are naturally trivial, but that was more than a decade ago, when a large group of people just advocated new punctuation, they would be' bereaved' and eager to eat meat and sleep, so it was really a' big battle'." Lu Xun also pointed out that Liu Bannong at that time also had weaknesses, that is, "almost sloppy, brave and foolhardy". It is "shallow". But comparing this weakness with Hu Shi is an advantage, that is, frankness, sincerity and trustworthiness. Lu Xun made an analogy: "If the military strategy is compared to a warehouse, Mr. Duxiu's idea is to put up a flag outside, which says,' All weapons are inside, be careful who comes!'" "But the door is open, there are a few guns and knives, be clear at a glance, don't be wary. Mr. Shi's idea is to close the door tightly and put a small note on the door, which says,' There are no weapons in it, please don't doubt it'. This can naturally be true, but some people-at least people like me-sometimes have to tilt their heads to think about it. Semi-farmers are people who don't feel that they have an arsenal. This "truth" expressed by "shallowness" shows that Liu Bannong has a "childlike innocence". Li Zhi, an anti-feudal ideologist in the Ming Dynasty, said: "Those who are childlike are absolutely false and naive, and their original thoughts are true." In his view, "childlike innocence" cannot be "lost": "If you lose childlike innocence, you lose sincerity; If you lose your heart, you lose your real person. People are not true, and there is no longer a beginning. " (3) Li Zhi's theory of "childlike innocence" is aimed at the hypocrisy of Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism, so Lu Xun affirmed Liu Bannong's "shallowness" and spoke highly of it. In his early years, he was indeed a heroic anti-feudal warrior.

Liu Bannong does have shortcomings, especially after he followed the rules. One is "doing doggerel and destroying ancient Chinese". 1932 to 1934, published the poem Tong Hua Zhi Dou Tang and the prose Shuangfeng Brick Village in The Analects of Confucius and the World. In these poems, he shows off ancient prose and laughs at young people. Lu Xun once pointed out in After Feeling Old that his ancient prose is really shallow, and the result of showing off is often self-defeating. I can forgive this, but I think it's wrong to laugh at young people. Lu Xun said: "At that time, the vernacular movement was a victory. Some soldiers climbed up because of it, but because they climbed up, they not only stopped fighting for the vernacular, but also stepped on it and took out ancient Chinese characters to laugh at the backward youth." At this time, Liu Bannong is reversing the history. Another shortcoming of him is that he likes to kiss up to others and doesn't listen to different opinions. Lu Xun had different views on Liu Bannong's rambling novel He Dian, and he was "unhappy". He was also "unhappy" when he pointed out the historical mistakes in Lin Zexu's Note to the King of England in Yusi.

Lu Xun's evaluation of Liu Bannong's seeking truth from facts is based on his sincere love and care for his old friend and his responsibility for history. He said, "Now that he is dead, my feelings for him have not changed since he was born. I loved that farmer ten years ago, but I hate him in recent years. This kind of hatred is the hatred of friends, because I hope that he was often a semi-peasant ten years ago, and his soldiers, even if they are' shallow', are more beneficial to China. " But at that time, it was a very common social phenomenon to achieve the goal of self-interest by mourning the dead. Lu Xun always struggles with this unhealthy phenomenon. Telling the truth and restoring the true colors of history is the best way to fight. It is no wonder that Lu Xun lamented in "Remembering Wei Suyuan Jun": "Literati were not attacked and neglected when they were alive. After a period of time, their words and deeds died, so boring people trust their friends and are not bees."

After reading this essay, what impressed Liu Bannong most may be his "shallowness". It is difficult to explain this phenomenon, which is both a disadvantage and an advantage. But Lu Xun explained the problem clearly with "Bi Xing Theory". Some people think that it is actually a kind of metaphor, that is, "more than two images are organized by writers to form a metaphor system, and there is often a plot clue among many metaphors." This makes sense, for example, "semi-farmers are really shallow." But his shallowness, like a clear stream, is crystal clear, and no amount of sediment and rotten grass can hide its general clarity. If it is full of mud, you can't see its depth for the time being; If it is a mud pit abyss, it will be even worse than a shallow pit. " This is a wonderful use of metaphor.