The Complete Works of Xu Zhimo's Classical Prose

Chapter 49 Laughing at Life's Hibiscus Bird (21)
So I say that this kind of invisible hindrance is sometimes stronger than the tangible one.What I just said is nothing more than a ready-made example.Today, a woman has to have great determination and effort to take a step forward, otherwise, instead of stepping forward, you can hardly say that you will retreat. Roots, habits, and environmental forces all hold you back and hold you back. you.But each of you achieves or loses in the fulfillment of the New Woman of future totality.The more effort you put in and the more obstacles you break, the more you will help and facilitate the birth of new women.To put it simply, the difference between new women and old women is in a degree, not necessarily in kind.To be a new woman, to be an artist or a businessman, to fully develop your talents and realize your individuality, it is not necessary for you not to be a good daughter to your parents, a good wife to your husband, or a good mother to your children This doesn't have to be in conflict (I say not necessarily because there will inevitably be various sacrifices necessary at this initial stage, and that's all up to you to decide for yourself if you have judged the pros and cons).The difference is that the old concept requires you to be a flat person, like paper scissors, with no thickness and no activity of blood circulation, while the new concept requires you to be a real living person, with blood, vitality, muscles, life and integrity!Here's a personal that matters entirely.That's a big enough difference, even if it doesn't sound surprising.The old concept tells you to prepare to be a wife and mother, but the new concept does not prevent you from preparing to be a wife and mother, but first you must prepare to be a human being, to be yourself.From this point of view, of course everything else has a different perspective.I see an interesting phenomenon among female writers handed down from ancient times.Most of them know how to write poetry, which means to write their thoughts into recited sentences.According to legend, at least one woman's literary talent is mostly used for self-defense, such as the iron vests worn by wealthy people in Shanghai today.From the three chapters written by Cai Ren's wife in Southern Zhou, the three chapters of Zhao Nanshen's women's deeds, the Wei Gong Jiang Baizhou's poems, Chen Feng's tomb gate, Tao Ying's Huanghu song, Song Han's wife Nanshan Youwuju and even Luofu Nu Moshangsang, They all survived male abuse by compiling a few lines of poetry.In addition, Zhuo Wenjun wrote Baitouyin and Sima Xiangru didn't marry his concubine, and Su Ruolan made a palindrome poem Fufeng Dou Tao and gave up his concubine.In the Tang Dynasty, several concubines wrote poems on the red leaves and released them from the imperial ditch, so they got husbands and sons-in-law (once they entered the deep palace, they couldn't help but see spring inscribed poems on the flowers and leaves to send and receive people).In addition, how many women's works are either admiration or resentment.It seems that literature was more or less closely related to the marriage problems of ancient women.This is originally, some people may say, isn’t it true that girls are studying now to prepare for writing love letters, and the reason why many people send girls to school is to raise her selling price in the marriage market?This kind of situation should of course be read like a book, if we look forward to the birth of a new woman as soon as possible.

This change in attitude and purpose is important.The old women's writing and ink is more or less an unnecessary decoration; the new women's learning and learning is a necessary process of discovering their individuality.The poems written by the old women are more or less about expressing their private experiences and occasional emotions; the ambition of the new women should be to inherit and continue to produce all the cultural industries of mankind together with men.The old woman’s career is to admit that women’s ignorance is a major condition for virtue, and then do it with a blushing face, so I make a first-class apology; An undeniable counter-proof for men.The ideal of an old woman who is talented and learned is Li Yi'an's early life. Of course, it does not necessarily refer to her lustful thoughts of "being turned into a red wave and combing her hair lazily". For a new woman, of course, we cannot prevent her from privately expecting a romantic lover (it is easy to find a priceless treasure and rare to have a lover), but at the same time we expect her Although the tenderness of body and heart are all given to her husband, her genius and her abilities have to be contributed to society and human beings.

December [-]
Originally published in "New Moon", Volume 1929, Issue 10, October 2

youth movement

These days I am a living Don Quixote, although I have never put a breastplate on my chest, and I have never planted pheasant feathers on my head. My wide-brimmed "basin hat" and a black and shiny stick, The country people already find it novel and ridiculous; I also have my Sancho Panza, he is a character who can laugh silly, talk crazy, swear, climb trees, climb cliffs, recite "University", ride a bull, As soon as he returned to the country or the mountains, he would show off his astonishing knowledge. He knew every tree and every grass was famous.Planting rice and beans, raising silkworms and planting mulberry, not to mention, he knows everything, he enjoys talking, and he talks when he talks, like the melon vines in their fields, thin, long, winding and stretching (he surname Lu, first name is Bingsheng or Bingshen, but everyone calls him Robinson); these days I went on an adventure in the four townships, with me in front and him in the back, I plucked flower branches, picked red leaves, or After checking the stones (we have pumice stones on the mountain, stones that float when thrown in the water, how amazing are you!) let him resist, it is his job to ask the way, he called uncle, everyone in the country Willing to answer with him; it is also his job to be a dog. When you go to the countryside, you are most afraid of dogs. They are all guards who do not hide. They are suspicious when they see people in coats. It is civilized to howl at you. Cross-examination, the hero will stare at you without opening his mouth, that will be troublesome, but he has a way, he will recite the dog-subduing mantra, according to him, it will be frightened when he recites the dog, but in fact it is not necessarily effective, maybe the dog Maybe there is a secret way to break the law, so every time he meets a strong enemy, he will inevitably be in a hurry. His strength is howling or scolding at the dog, and some of them are Wang Langzhong, and sometimes he scolds vigorously. , the dog has softened.But I can't do it. I feel guilty when I see the shadow of a dog. I am Fu Jian after the Feishui War. Straw yards and bamboo fences are enough to scare me. Sometimes I also imitate Don Quixote and dance my hands The pear blossom stick in the pot, it's so bold to drink it, it looks great!Sure enough, there were a few catastrophes that made me feel unrestrained.

I believe that our usual faces are stretched too long like a mule; worries, longings, calculations, suspicions, resentments, regrets, and fears all press down on our originally lively and natural hearts like nightmares. Most of the smiling faces in the crowd are pretending, and most of the laughter is empty, so why bother.So every time we get rid of the trouble-based life and get closer to nature, facing the wide sky and flowing water, we feel much more relaxed and comfortable.Every time I see a countryman carrying a heavy burden in the pavilion by the roadside, put down his burden, sit on a stone bench, take out a fire knife and flint from his pocket, spark a few clusters of sparks, light an old cigarette, The wind blowing the fragrance of pea sprouts in the green fields blows away his smoke, and also dries the sweat on his forehead; I feel the influence of nature to adjust my life; How many suicidal thoughts disappeared in the blue sky, among the white clouds, or were like the hot sweat of a bearer, all let the cool wind blow away.This is acknowledged by everyone, but in reality it is not so easy.Even if you have the opportunity to smoke a stick of tidal cigarettes in the Xiliang Pavilion, after you finish smoking, you still have to pick up a heavy burden. No one knows how many roads are ahead, and no one knows if there is a ready-made Xiliang Pavilion. Maybe you can’t reach the second pavilion, your energy has reached its limit, and the weight of the burden is increasing every moment. At that time, it will be too late for you to regret that you shouldn’t try such a heavy burden. !
I was in the country at this time, and I often pondered the life of the peasants. Although they seem to be constantly exhausted on the surface, they have a kind of reserved fun inside. Life is primitive and simple, but this primitiveness is their health. Simplicity is the guarantee of their happiness. The civilization of modern so-called civilized people is separated from them by an incommunicable air circle. Our competition, troubles, problems, consumption, etc., they have never done in their dreams, and our downfall , Hidden diseases, crimes, dangers, etc., they don't understand after listening to it, it's like listening to a foreigner's conversation.God bless the world with no more ignorant idiots who want to improve, rescue, and educate them. That would indirectly destroy their safety, disrupt their balance, and choke their vitality!

It is our over-civilized civilized people who need to be improved, educated and rescued, not them.It is our civilization that needs first aid and fundamental adjustments. The civilization of the twentieth century is not a prehistoric custom. Life has never been subjected to such a common curse as modern times, has never experienced such desolate horrors, and has never tasted it. I have never found such misanthropy and suspicion in modern times.It's a heavy wait, the doctor said.

Life has really become a deadly burden, conflicts between habit and conscience, responsibility and personality, education and instinct, body and soul, reality and ideals, and society, politics, religion, morality, business, diplomacy, etc. Just chaos, let alone.This is obviously not something that can be healed and adjusted by the influence of a blue sky, a cool breeze, first-rate water, or a few white clouds; it is not something that can be cured and rescued by religious sermons, educational speeches, or political propaganda. of.We may sometimes see a ray or two of sunshine in this narrow and desolate place, or listen to fresh bird songs as described by Bailun in Chilion's poem, but this is irony, not Comfort is the pain of Tantalus, not the grace of God; life is not necessarily a hell of torment.Ours is the exception of the exception.A Dionysian madness that sings and dances among the vines is already buried in the ashes of time, the circulation of the living blood of true life is stagnated by the poison of civilization, and we seem It is the father and mother of orphans who cry out in the forest of night, and there is no trace of light or comfort, so what we ask for is as much as we still have the courage to ask for something that is not partial and one-sided.It is by no means a negative consolation, it is by no means a husband's reform, and it is by no means a trick of a puppet... What we want is to "come through to the bottom"; we want to create a new clean body for our new clean soul, and for Our new clean body creates a new clean soul; we also want to create a new clean life for this new clean soul and body. We require a "full regeneration".

We do not recognize everything that has been done, do not recognize all reality; do not recognize the existing society, politics, law, family, religion, entertainment, education; do not recognize all sovereignty and power.We want to start all over again: instead of arranging national histories on the desk, or revaluing values ​​​​in empty theories, we want to start over in life, we want to return to the natural womb Re-absorb some support, but we say that we don’t recognize what has been done, but we don’t mean that we are not bound by everything, and we don’t mean to declare war on reality, which is the least economical and too trivial way; we believe in the infinite blue sky and the vast The mountains and forests are all areas where our young men and women can soar freely; we are not asking to usurp the world already made, which we think is incurable.Nor do we intend to test new villages or new societies, to prepare for probation or to make improved specimens for the old society, that is the pedantic dreamland of the nineteenth century, and we do not intend to go there to waste time; and that is the nature of training boy scouts , sacrificed the majority for the experimentation of one's fantasies.As much as ours is a movement, it is by no means a movement for the youth, but a movement of the youth's own initiative, a movement of the youth themselves, and it is only a movement to seek salvation.

What do you say, friend, this is a grotesque fantasy, an absurd dream, isn't it?True, this may be the ideal of modern youth rebelling against material civilization, and I dare say that most young people are more sympathetic in theory; Be patient.

One winter 11 years ago, in a place called Cassel near Hanover, Germany, more than 2000 people held a conference to discuss the purpose of their movement and their attitudes towards social, political, and religious issues. Since that conference The influence of this movement has gradually expanded, and now more than 100 million young men and women have joined. This is called the Jugendbewegung "Youth Movement", although few people outside Germany understand their nature. I think this is not only German, but perhaps the whole of Europe. A new life.We deserve special attention. "There is only one way to save the fall of Western civilization, which is to generate new spiritual and life forces in the succeeding age." This is what Dr. Faust, a leader of this youth movement, wrote a book The book is called "Jugendsee1e" and is devoted to this movement.

Now there are often a large group of young men and women in the German countryside, lined up, playing the six-stringed lute and singing. They parade from one town to another, singing and dancing at night in exchange for their accommodation. They are the parades of the youth movement. Foreigners see it as a boy scout organization, or a new type of Gipsy, but this is only for appearances.

The youth movement in Germany was a revolutionary movement of healthy young men and women against modern decadence and materialism. The restriction of the human body must create a new life nakedly.It was originally initiated by Karl Fischer of Steglitz, but soon it burned like wildfire. Now there are more than ten kinds of magazines alone, and the first one is called Wandervogel.

(End of this chapter)