The literary era since 1979

Chapter 269: Who is General Fang?

The next day, early in the morning.

The staff of the "International Writing Program" parked the car in front of the "Mayflower" apartment and picked up Fangyan and others to go to the supermarket.

Wang Anyi was dazzled by the abundance of merchandise on the shelves and was overwhelmed. He didn't know what to buy.

Fangyan's goal was very clear. He first went to buy a hamburger to fill his stomach. There was nothing in the refrigerator. No one had eaten breakfast, so they all went out on an empty stomach and drank some water at most.

Seeing this, Pan Yaoming, Liu Wuxiong and others followed suit.

"how do you feel?"

Fang Yan turned his head and glanced at Bai Ruoxue.

“The packaging is very nice, but the taste is not that great.”

Bai Ruoxue said: "I still like fried liver with fried dough sticks."

"I think so too."

Fangyan said: "It's still the Chinese way of eating breakfast."

After a quick bite, I went shopping for tofu, eggs, meat, vegetables, milk, bread...

I bought a week's worth of food, drinks and daily necessities, and when I paid the bill, I used the checkbook given to me by Nie Hualing.

"An Yi, stop looking."

Ru Zhijuan saw that Wang Anyi was motionless and reminded him.

Fangyan followed her gaze and saw a sign hanging on the door of a small shop next to the supermarket, which read "Five dollars off each item within five days." He couldn't help but shake his head and laugh.

"Would you like to go in and take a look?"

"Forget it."

Wang Anyi waved his hand, "I'm afraid that I'll be impulsive and buy a bunch of things I don't need at all, wasting money."

"You're smart."

Ru Zhijuan said that we should be careful of the sugar-coated bullets of capitalism.

Fang Yan saw that Wang Anyi bought a lot of things, but Bai Ruoxue was the opposite. She was very frugal, which made him think of the "stingy" Gong Xing, who was also very frugal.

"You're going to live on this for a week?"

"enough."

Bai Ruoxue said: "Use it sparingly, it should be enough."

“No need to save money like that.”

Fang Yan said: "I think the royalties from Saving Private Ryan will be credited to your account soon, and you will get your share of the profits then."

Bai Ruoxue said truthfully: "Teacher Fang, I want to save more foreign exchange, then buy something big and bring it back to China."

"What big item do you want to buy?"

Dialects are very curious.

At that time, there were quotas in China. No matter what you were going abroad for, when you returned home, everyone could bring a large item, such as a color TV, a tape recorder, a refrigerator...

“I want to buy a computer.”

Bai Ruoxue said in a serious tone.

"Computer? What is a computer?"

Wang Anyi blinked in confusion.

Looking at Bai Ruoxue's explanation, Fang Yan was very surprised.

In the 80s, there was basically no popular computer education. Except for a few scientific research departments that had computer application development, universities did not even have computer majors, let alone computer courses.

It’s just that Yenching University happens to have a computer department.

"So you bought it for Yenching University?"

"You are absolutely right."

Bai Ruoxue said that since the establishment of the Computer Science Department of Yenching University, they have tried every means to get computers, but have only managed to get three. This time, when the school leaders heard that she was going to the United States, they set their sights on this.

“So what can this computer do?”

Wang Anyi talked as he walked.

"Computers have many uses. For example, for you writers, you can type on the computer, so you don't have to write by hand anymore."

Bai Ruoxue smiled.

"Nowadays, computers can't type Chinese characters, right?"

Fangyan frowned.

Bai Ruoxue said that it would not be enough to rely on IBM computers alone. It would have to be paired with a Japanese OKI-1570 printer and the CCDOS in a 5-inch floppy disk to print Chinese characters.

"How much does this set cost?"

Fangyan couldn't help but be moved.

Bai Ruoxue said: "It will probably cost more than 2 yuan."

Wang Anyi and Ru Zhijuan looked at each other in shock.

Bai Ruoxue explained that this was the price for importing from abroad to China. If you buy an IBM computer directly in the United States, it would only cost about US$599 to US$1399, which is several times the price difference.

Fangyan was thinking to himself, should I try something new?
In this way, I can say goodbye to handwritten novels in the future!
…………

After walking around for more than an hour, we returned to the university town.

Carrying large and small bags, I saw groups of women, blacks, and minorities giving speeches on the lawns along the way. They kept talking about "civil rights" and "equal rights". "Why do you white people make so many goods and ship them to New Guinea, but we black people have almost no goods of our own?"

"........."

According to the staff, every weekend, students would carry out equal rights movements and activities against racial discrimination here.

Liu Wuxiong, Pan Yaoming and others had no interest at all. They just wanted to prepare for the discussion topic after purchasing daily necessities.

In the coming days, more than 30 writers invited by the International Writing Project will frequently organize discussions to exchange ideas on Eastern European literature, Chinese literature, Indian literature, Latin American literature, etc.

The speakers are generally determined by region and country. There can be one or more speakers who share the literature of their own country.

In addition to them, the audience also included students from the university town, especially overseas Chinese. The atmosphere was harmonious and there was no conflict.

These days, in addition to attending seminars in a low-key manner, Fangyan has been conceiving new creations.

"Yanzi, it's our Chinese writer's turn to give a report soon." Pan Yaoming walked into the kitchen, "Have you thought about what you want to say?"

"No, I'm worried about that too."

Fangyan took out a tissue and wiped his mouth.

"Why worry about that? Just pick what you are best at." Liu Wuxiong said, "Every writer has his or her strengths. What are you best at?"

Fang Yan smiled and said, "I know a little bit of each."

Liu Wuxiong was stunned. "You know a little bit?"

"More than just a little bit!"

Wang Anyi said: "Novels, poems, essays, dramas, Yanzi is very good at all literary fields!"

"Hiss, I didn't realize that Yanzi is such an all-rounder."

Liu Wuxiong looked him up and down as if he was reacquainted with the dialect.

Pan Yaoming, like Bo Yang and the others, cast a curious look, "Yanzi, do you also understand poetry and prose?"

Without waiting for Fangyan to speak, Bai Ruoxue highly praised his collections of poetry and prose, especially his poetry, for which she was full of praise.

Liu Wuxiong took a breath and said, "You are really amazing!"

Writers from Hong Kong and Taiwan were all surprised that Fangyan was so knowledgeable at such a young age, and they all showed great respect for him.

Pan Yaoming said: "No wonder you are so conflicted."

"In my opinion, Yanzi, why don't you also talk about the topic of 'reflection'?" Wang Anyi turned to look at Bo Yang and said that he voluntarily joined the mother-daughter speech group and also wanted to talk about reflection.

"Mr. Bai is also interested in reflective literature?"

Dialects are very curious.

Bo Yang nodded, "It's not just about reflection on literature. I think everything is worth reflecting on, especially ourselves. Just like Zengzi said, I reflect on myself three times a day."

I always feel that there is something wrong with Fangyan's words, but I can't tell what's wrong.

"Yanzi, you don't have to say 'reflection' like us." Ru Zhijuan suggested: "You can choose to talk about the direction and changes of our Chinese literature in recent years."

"I actually prefer to talk about nationality and the world."

Fangyan pondered for a moment, "After all, only what belongs to a nation is global."

"This is good!"

Pan Yaoming clapped his hands and said, "It's a good opportunity to talk to you about Lingnan literature and traditional Chinese culture."

Bo Yang frowned: "Is the Chinese culture really that good?"

"Why do you say this?"

Fang Yan said: "Our Chinese civilization is the only ancient civilization that has not been interrupted and continues to this day."

Then he looked around, "Let's not talk about the ancient Greek civilization. Just talking about the Indian civilization, it has flourished on this American land for thousands of years. But look at it now. Apart from some museums and tribes, there is not even a trace of it on this land..."

Suddenly, the whole audience fell silent.

Iowa was originally an Indian settlement, but was later gradually occupied by European colonists.

In the early 19th century, the United States regarded this place as a place of exile for Indians, also known as the "Hawkeye State" to commemorate the local Indian tribal chief Black Hawk, who led the tribe to launch the Black Hawk War against invasion.

"Speaking of this, I thought of a question that has been bothering me for a long time."

Bo Yang said: "I heard this not long ago. A black student said, 'Why do you white people make so many goods and ship them to Africa, but we black people have almost no goods of our own?'"

After a pause, he said, "I think this problem also applies to Indians. Why is it so? Is it because of genetic differences? Are the people in those primitive tribes just weaker?"

"Ahem, Mr. Bai, we can talk about this in private, but you must not say it in public."

Pan Yaoming warned: "It's easy to be regarded as a racist."

Bo Yang disagreed and looked at Fang Yan, "From what you have seen, do you think blacks and Indians are inferior to Westerners?"

Fang Yan shook his head: "I believe that all people are equal, and no one is superior to anyone else."

Bo Yang said: "There are always differences. Can black people and Indians be equal to yellow people and white people?"

"I don't agree with this view!"

Fangyan said righteously, "Not to mention black people, even the Inuit people in the Arctic who eat raw meat and drink blood, as long as they are human beings, I think they are equal." Then he asked, "Mr. Bai, what do you think?"

"I don't know whether they are equal or not." Bo Yang changed the subject, "I only know that the ugliest people are definitely the Chinese!"

As soon as these words came out, the whole hall was in an uproar.

Fangyan narrowed his eyes. Why did it sound so much like the remarks of a reflective monster?

(End of this chapter)