Wildfire Collection: Thirty Years Anniversary Edition

Chapter 28 Wildfire 20 Years (7)
Then we are left in the new political non-linear era of the 21st century, playing anagrams, with a pile of blue words and a pile of green words, using the collaged words to guess the name of the new paradise of democracy. pattern.The face makeup in the speech front, the color of pigs and sheep, has caught up with the new slogan of the fashion industry in a few years: new attitude is new clothes.Those who didn't catch up with the high-speed traffic got off the interchange under the guidance of the "self-healing aphasia" road sign.

Long Yingtai didn't feel in a daze, but he was still very strong, and he managed his thoughts for the whole generation.Since that day 20 years ago, I have never dared to put her on the second front line. I was somewhat inspired by the eyes of the censors. The years of their absence are not so easily forgotten. See Looking at the deep and shallow claw marks on the neighbor's wall, we can naturally imagine the harsh and unbearable tormenting voices in the middle of the night, which we have all heard.

The article she published simultaneously in the "Renjian" supplement and the "China Youth Daily" in mainland China that day awakened my long-sleeping vigilance.Perhaps many people of my generation who have deep memories of Taiwan in the [-]s and [-]s still have a keen sense of today's mainland. They hope that a more reasonable system can grow on the other side. People who live under stress.

Now, Long Yingtai is "abandoning the end and chasing the original"

—— She borrowed Sun Wen's words to ask: China has 4000 years of civilization, why is there no place like Hong Kong?
"United Daily News" consultant

Zhang Zuojin

Twenty years ago, Long Yingtai asked, "Chinese, why aren't you angry?" Then everyone became angry, and a criticized regime was replaced. People can speak with confidence and boldly, and many visible and invisible shackles have been released. , politicians are even more "angry" on the streets and in parliament.

However, that does not seem to be exactly the society Long Yingtai hoped for.The destruction of the natural environment is getting worse, medicines and food are still counterfeit and shoddy, the life of women, children and the elderly is still not safe, education has changed from one chain to another, and the code of conduct for many people still depends on power Rather than relying on the truth...Taiwan, it seems, is still Long Yingtai's "mother of syphilis".

20 years ago, Long Yingtai stepped on the land of Taiwan, ate Taiwanese rice and drank Taiwanese water. She saw Taiwan in her eyes and in her heart. Seeing the people living in Taiwan not living up to expectations, selfishness and ego, she couldn't help scolding: "Who are you? Why do you want to be the 'silent public'? After these few people have worked hard and even sacrificed, you will enjoy their achievements?"

Because of the pursuit of obvious and immediate effects, Long Yingtai's words at that time could not help but speak more directly, more strictly, and seemed more anxious.If the "wildfire" burns without pain, everyone will not feel it!
Later, I went to Germany, saw Europe, traveled to many places in the world, and experienced all kinds of great changes in the world situation. The scope of Long Yingtai's contemplation was wider and the level of thinking was deeper. The question raised in Hong Kong in 80: "The distance between Xiangshan and Hong Kong is only 4000 miles. Why are they so different? Outsiders can accomplish this feat on a deserted island in [-] years. With [-] years of civilization in China, there is no place like Hong Kong." , where is the reason?"

At this moment in [-], Long Yingtai is in Hong Kong. She is also thinking about this question that has entangled Chinese intellectuals for hundreds of years.We can see that she is "abandoning the last and chasing the original", trying to sort out a main axis that can make the country civilized from the numerous opinions.Her conclusion may be "culture"!

"Culture" is difficult to explain simply, it is difficult to define.But clean politics depends on it, a healthy society depends on it, harmonious interpersonal relationships depend on it, and the progress and development of science and technology also depend on it. Now some people even put forward that "culture is the economy of tomorrow".

In order to prove her claim, Lung Ying-tai once rolled up her sleeves and went to the sea, and served as the cultural director of Taipei, which she said was "the ugliest city I have ever seen" for three years, hoping to turn Taipei into a city with humanistic connotations.Perhaps she had more confidence in her pen, resigned, resumed her identity as a writer, and resumed her writing career.She regards culture as the ink of life, and sprays it on the Chinese in Hong Kong and Macau, the Chinese in Taiwan, the Chinese in the mainland, and the Chinese overseas.If most people can agree with and respond to her point of view, it is the collective introspection of the Chinese people, and it is a magnificent "reformation movement."

This kind of "ambition" is not unique to Long Yingtai. This is the return journey that any responsible intellectual must take.Qu Yuan opposed the fatuous and decadent politics and insisted on reform and progress. "Take a long breath to cover your tears, and mourn the hardships of the people's lives." Put the happiness of the people above their own pain.Although the blow came, "I still have good intentions, even though I died nine times, I still have no regrets."How can there be Qu Yuan who is not tortured after nine deaths?

That year Long Yingtai left Taiwan for Hong Kong, and went to Yangmingshan to say goodbye to her.It was midsummer, and the cicadas were singing all over the mountain. "Listen, how presumptuous the cicada is!" she said.This is the first time I heard someone use "presumptuous" to describe cicadas.Is this a bragging, a denunciation, or is it just an accidental realism?
Cicadas must sing.Crying is the release of its life energy, and it is also its responsibility.

If you want to call it, then call it "presumptuously"!
Overseas, leave a spark

President of Malaysia General Publishing House

Fu Chengde

Some things have been burned from 20 years ago to today; from Taiwan to Malaysia, Singapore and other Southeast Asian Chinese communities.Since "Wild Fire Collection", I have read Long Yingtai's works one after another; so have many Chinese-educated intellectuals in Malaysia. Twenty years on, readers like me are entering middle age.However, the embers were not extinguished, and the fire was still there.Long Yingtai's anger seemed to be still there. After 20 years, there must be something in her heart; there must be something in the reader's heart.Something that time and space cannot block or extinguish.

I have seen Long Yingtai several times.When she came to Malaysia to give a speech, the auditorium with a capacity of 20 people was packed, and hundreds of spectators watched the closed-circuit TV outdoors.Each time, she became a "media darling", an idol looked up to by admirers, and I hosted her speeches.In [-], when she was the director of the Taipei City Bureau of Culture, she organized the Chinese-language World Publishing Forum, and I was invited to participate.She greeted him with a smile, like an old friend for many years.However, my impression of her is still [-] years ago, the person who set fire.

When Taiwanese feel accustomed to it, when a few people feel powerless, and when more people turn a blind eye, Lung Ying-tai uses sharp thinking and writing, as a "cultural commentator", to expose and flog her "invisible" without fear. people, things and things.As cold as a knife, her gaze; as hot as fire, her words; as bright as a star, her heart.At that time, overseas Chinese readers paid attention to her because she created an issue, and because it was rare for Taiwanese society to have such a "cultural star" who dared to speak out.I may be in awe of her; however, Taiwan and overseas Chinese communities are far away after all.Knowing that there was such a person on the far side of the bank, he lit a fire.After all, this fire will not burn here.Those who follow up a little bit, from the international news page, also know that she was invited by Ma Ying-jeou to wear a black gauze hat, which is not too big or too small, and "made some troubles".Then she came to Malaysia to speak again.Last time she scolded Singaporeans!Go see who she is going to scold this time.

This tornado swept across Taiwan, and many people were awakened!Blowing through Ma, Xin, spectators came to see her, interview her and talk about her.The fire was still painless.However, Long Yingtai never "watched", but "read" and "thought".Only by going back to her words can she have her flesh and blood, her radiance and heat.Only by keeping her words in my heart can another tornado be brewed in my heart.The Malaysian Chinese society is quite advanced from some perspectives, but on the other hand, it shows the selfish, irrelevant, and even numb and dark Chinese personality.On the equator, the weather was so stuffy that the tornado hadn't blown yet.

Is there no Long Yingtai in Malaysia?Not necessarily.Chen Yacai and Pan Yongqiang are both beautiful names.They have studied in Taiwan and understand what is called "the responsibility of intellectuals", the persistence to do something and not to do something, and the courage to "shrink yourself, even if there are tens of thousands of people, I will do it".However, there are only obedient Chinese media here, and only Chinese community members who love to watch the excitement too much.Gou An is after Gou An, and Gou An is followed by Gou An.Who wants Long Yingtai?The Long Yingtai who set fire to almost everyone?

Silence is the greatest sin of intellectuals.Gao Xijun said.Engaging in criticism and maintaining a critical standpoint is a major aspect of an intellectual's life.EWSaid said.

It seems that apart from Chen, Pan and others, the Chinese community in Malaysia (or even Singapore) really lacks intellectuals.

Therefore, in the past 20 years, I have often missed Long Yingtai.

Often, keep a spark in your heart.

Check Long Yingtai
——About "Wildfire Collection" for 20 years
Editor-in-Chief of China Times Evening News

杨渡
Looking back now, "Wildfire Collection" was set ablaze in the dull situation after the Formosa incident.At that time, Dangwai magazines were already being distributed underground in full swing.As long as you are a regular customer, you can find banned party magazines, banned books, and newly reprinted literary works from the 40s and [-]s on Chongqing South Road and near National Taiwan University.

Compared with the spicy content of the Dangwai magazine, Long Yingtai's articles are actually no more courageous than the Dangwai magazine, and the content is not more direct.But it is an article that can be published in a newspaper.This is the difference between Long Yingtai and us.

She picked an angle, a shooter's target.It can make readers feel her progressive side, but it doesn't directly make those in power feel hostile and destroy it.

Dangwai magazine is a complete negation of the system, and it is anti-KMT from the bottom of its heart.On the other hand, Lung Ying-tai started from social phenomena, and the content of his criticism was not necessarily aimed at the authoritarian system, but sometimes at society and culture, so it was relatively indirect.This is actually not unique to her, but a common feature of all liberal intellectuals at that time.They put it in cultural and academic packaging, in order to break the authoritarian system and call for an atmosphere of reform.Because after the Formosa incident, Taiwanese society was too dull.But the difference between Lung Ying-tai and the old-fashioned liberal intellectuals is that she writes well, criticizes directly and neatly, and her writing is often passionate and provocative.This is the reason for her most attention, and it is also the place where the cultural control authorities are dissatisfied.

At that time, Dangwai magazines had already opened their outlets for criticism and anti-authoritarianism, and underground publications even "Song Dynasty" were selling well. Therefore, Long Yingtai's articles were still within the tolerance of the authorities.It's just that her influence is different from that of Dangwai Magazine.She influenced a large group of middle-class, ordinary citizens, and young intellectuals who usually do not read magazines outside the party, so that they had a preliminary liberal thought and embarked on the road of opposing the authoritarian system.

From this perspective, Long Yingtai knows how to be kitsch.She knows how to find the delicate balance between the taboo of authority and the limit of what is allowed.A zone where there is a somewhat dangerous height, but not enough to fall to your death.She walked among them and won the biggest applause.

Long Yingtai was not a complete critic.She never directly pointed at the Kuomintang, the authoritarian system, the control of writing, and the Jiang family, but criticized certain individual units, such as the Arts and Trade Union, the Police Headquarters, local governments, bureaucrats, and politicians.But she just won't criticize the overall system directly.

This is where she is smart.She may be banned because of her hot writing, but she can't find a reason for being banned.Because what she talks about is the common sense of modern countries and democratic politics.She walks on the edge, deftly dodging political gunfire.

So far, Long Yingtai is still a critic of this incompleteness.She said cross-strait peace, but avoided the issue of arms purchases.She has never expressed her position on the local issue and the issue of Taiwan independence and fascism.Although she has lived in Germany for many years, she knows how close Taiwan's racist and fascist atmosphere is to the Nazi Germany.Although, she should know better than anyone else that the purpose of localization is not to oppose internationalization, but to de-sinicize.But she chose to use internationalization to avoid the contradiction between localization and de-sinicization.

Long Yingtai has a brave side, a kitsch side, and a flash of her wisdom.

But it can be pointed out that 20 years ago, the era when one could dodge and moderate conflicts with a vaguely liberal stance has passed.Now is an era of polarization.It's not whether Long Yingtai thinks about it or not, but that's how those in power think.They believe that if you are not a comrade, you are an enemy, if you are not Taiwan independence, you are a reunification faction.

What Long Yingtai couldn't dodge was that her ancestry was incorrect, she was from another province.This often makes her unintentionally feel inferior.This is not unique to Long Yingtai, but a common original sin of many of my friends from other provinces.They were not overwhelmed by criticism, but they were flattened from the bottom of their hearts by the atmosphere of original sin created by the DPP.As for Long Yingtai, because of her arrogance, she is considered the person with the least self-repression, but she cannot be exempted.I know that if I say this, maybe Long Yingtai will not be convinced.But I want to say that after the [-] "election" ended, Long Yingtai's articles supporting that election were precisely the evidence that he was suppressed by that social atmosphere.Otherwise, none of the intellectuals would have agreed that an election would conform to any, even a little bit, of the basic principles of democracy and freedom.

What Lung Ying-tai cannot avoid is: as a liberal, how does she maintain her independent thinking and integrity of personality in an atmosphere of independence and polarization.You know, it wasn't such a big deal of courage before.But after the Democratic Progressive Party came to power, I watched the former liberal scholars, friends in the intellectual circles, and the pure blood of the student movement become the blood and blood cakes on the altar of power. Politicians, who can't even hold on to the principles of knowledge, feel deeply how easy it is for intellectuals to sink.Human nature is so fragile, I have a kind of tranquility to see the tragedy of the times, just like seeing the mirror of history, flashing a calm back light.

I don't know if Long Yingtai has the courage to test the DPP with the same standards used to test the KMT.Criticize with the same standard.But I know that this is the best standard to test Long Yingtai.See if she's a liberal in her own right.But this is not only true for Long Yingtai, but also for me. The times will continue to test our beliefs and character, without exception.

As the same song says, "Some things you don't have to ask, some people you never have to wait for".

But Long Yingtai is still worth waiting for.We wait to see her continue to move.

The Spirit of Liberty and the Standards of Civility

——A Letter to Long Yingtai
Vice President of "New News" Weekly
Yang Zhao
Long Yingtai:
I have a copy of "Wildfire Collection" published in February 20, which is nearly [-] years old. You should remember that this book is more than [-] pages thick, except for the first fifty or so pages. , is an article written by you, and the rest are other people's responses to "Wildfire Collection".

Some of these responses came from enthusiastic and admiring readers, but there were also many who expressed severe criticism that didn't take you seriously.The most astonishing thing is the second series of the book, which collected many articles that were published in "Youth Daily" that year. "Youth Daily" is the military's propaganda media, and the articles in "Youth Daily" represent the "tone" set by the conservative system at that time.

The tone is sometimes contemptuous and sometimes chilling.You can feel it just by looking at the title, "Ugly Salesmanship", ""Torch" and "Fire"", ""Wild" on "Wild" tune can stop! ", "Tamping Out This "Wildfire"", "The Mentality of the "Ermaozi"", "No More "Wildfire"!" ", "The Cut Throat"...

I opened the old book in my hand, and unexpectedly found the eyebrow comments scrawled in red pen by myself when I was young.Maybe it's not eyebrow criticism, it's closer to the irresistible venting in reading!The few articles that are all concentrated in the "Youth Daily" are only a few short words. I copied them for you to read and make you laugh.

(End of this chapter)