Literary Master 1983

Chapter 441 Special Research Committee

Meanwhile, there is a lot of good news in Yuqie.

Seemingly because of losing the Nobel Prize, Chinese newspapers in mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong have recently been trying their best to speak up for Yu Qie. Some former "enemies" have even sent him their best wishes.

While Yu Qie may act domineeringly, he's not someone you can just mess with. Otherwise, what am I?
The Hong Kong-based Sing Tao Daily, which has always leaned to the right, published an article by Nie Hualing criticizing Yu Qie for being dissolute and saying that "Yu Qie slapped me." This immediately drew criticism from Hong Kong writers, who argued that at this moment, the Chinese literary world should unite to stand together against external forces.

Wuxia novelist Wen Ruian bluntly stated: "Nie Hualing has been proven to be a traitor who served three masters. Born on the mainland, raised on Taiwan, and made her fortune in the United States. She is an ignorant writer who married a white man and uses the exposure of ethnic wounds for others' amusement. She is a thoroughly American and has never truly changed the tragic situation of Chinese Americans."

“Nothing she says is worth listening to, especially her accusations against Mr. Yu. She's the kind of person who assumes every Chinese person is born with original sin! She believes our morality and culture are toxic, and she's the kind of person who systematically treats us as second-class citizens!”

Cha Liangyong donated HK$500,000, but he did not use the money for Chinese studies. Instead, he used it to support modern novels, noting that it was for Yu Qie.

Yu Qie received Cha Liangyong's apology letter, which said: "I fear that my biggest mistake was underestimating the British's intentions in the Kowloon Walled City incident... If things had gone according to plan, countless crimes would have been hidden, and the government would have been left with huge debts. Fortunately, Mr. Yu intervened, and we were able to avoid making a big mistake!"

In November, the cover of the Taiwanese magazine "United Literature" featured a Glock pistol and a pen.

They were clearly offering their silent support to Yu Qie.

Everyone knows that it's the symbol of "Yu" (余). Today, the pen and pistol design has evolved into a personal emblem like Conan Doyle's pipe or Lu Xun's long mustache. Whenever they are put together, readers will automatically associate them with Yu Qie (余切).

Furthermore, United Literature announced that Yu Qie has once again won the novella prize, with a prize of approximately one million NT dollars, roughly equivalent to 250,000 RMB. That's a considerable sum.

Yu Qie should thank Najib Mahfouz, this Arab, because it is precisely because of his Arab attributes that the sense of honor of all Chinese people has been aroused. They will not allow Yu Qie to be kicked when he is down. Because insulting him is, in effect, an insult to the Chinese people in this era in a broad sense.

Chinese people have always been proud of their literature.

In an interview with United Literature, Li Ao explained why "Yu Qie's loss of the Nobel Prize would provoke anger among the Chinese people."

He frankly stated, "In China, literature, as an art form, holds a higher status than in the West! This is because our cultural origins are different!"

“We say that the cultural origins of Westerners are in Greece, but Greece did not have a separate general theory of literature. They only had specific literary themes such as epics and tragedies. As a result, the Western philosopher Aristotle said, ‘Literature is an imitation!’ In other words, literature is a skill for making a living, just like sculpture and painting. To put it bluntly, it’s like farming and cleaning manure. It couldn’t be called ‘art’ at first.”

"Literature has not shaped the spiritual world of Westerners throughout history, at least not as a key factor."

"Think of those blind 'vagrant poets' who wandered around with a broken lyre—these were the original forms of Western writers. Meanwhile, on this continent in the East, literature was an aristocratic game. We didn't create literature to beg for food; it was a way for the aristocracy to express their emotions and aspirations. When Qu Yuan threw himself into the river, he didn't say 'Achilles led his army to attack Troy,' but rather 'The road ahead is long and arduous, I will search high and low for the truth!'"

"He said, 'I (Qu Yuan) am very angry. I will find an answer even if I die! This is fundamentally different from the West!'"

"In Chinese culture, literature entered the realm of art at least thousands of years ago. So if you deny Chinese literature, you are essentially denying 'me'. Therefore, the fact that Yu failed to win the prize makes all Chinese people angry is actually due to this cultural factor."

This is a brilliant study.

Starting with him, people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait and Hong Kong have successively published research on the "origins of literature".

After a period of time, the research on this aspect mainly focused on the two "qian" (a type of money).

In Taiwan, this person is Qian Mu. Qian Mu wrote books such as "An Outline of Chinese History", "The Spirit of Chinese History", and "A History of Chinese Thought". However, in 1988, Qian Mu was already seriously ill and was investigated by the Taiwanese authorities, which put him in trouble.

Therefore, he commissioned his disciple Yu Yingshi to write "The Source of Chinese Thought". Yu Yingshi focused on the "scholar" social class. In October of that year, he wrote a series of research papers, which were published in the Oriental Times in Taiwan and in related Sinological research papers in North America.

Yu Yingshi was a professor at Harvard University and Yale University in the United States.

This year, he switched affiliations to the East Asian Institute at Princeton. In October, he witnessed the widespread frustration among Chinese Americans across the country after Yuche lost the Nobel Prize. Even researchers who originally studied East Asian literary history felt anger.

"Yu Qie's failure to win the award has aroused great anger among the Chinese people." This is a special cultural phenomenon that transcends ordinary social events and points to the root of culture.

It can be seen that people from mainland China, other overseas regions, and even Malaysian and Thai Chinese instinctively feel a sense of injustice.

Therefore, Yu Yingshi realized the research value of this matter.

It's not a superficial outburst of anger from book fans over their idols missing out on awards; there's a deeper reason behind it.

After Li Ao's interview with *United Literature* was published, on November 4th, a foreign professor named Paul from the East Asian Institute met him and exclaimed, "This year's Nobel Prize selection is very unfair! Your motherland's 'Yu' failed to win; his works *Metro* and *2666* didn't even receive the prize!"

"This is fucking ridiculous! I thought he was sure to win! What did the Arabs write? Books? And what is this? He's a genius who can write about everything from apocalyptic nuclear war to love! He can recognize the psychological problems of Americans (American Psycho), write stories to satirize and criticize, and also rally Chinese people all over the world (The Way Out)!"

"What did this Arab write? In fact, I also prevented a decade-long border conflict... This is a complete sham award! Damn Swedes!"

My motherland?

Yu Yingshi was a little embarrassed: He is an American citizen, and he is not Chinese at all.

After grabbing Yu Yingshi, the man suddenly realized, "Yu, I'm sorry, I forgot you came here after you came of age. But I can't help but consider you Chinese."

Yu Yingshi suddenly became curious and asked the white researcher, "I know why you consider me Chinese. It's because I lived in mainland China before I became an adult, I can speak Chinese, and I conduct research related to Chinese culture..." He set a series of demanding cultural conditions, but then suddenly changed the subject: "If there were a child of mine here, born and raised in America, who couldn't speak a word of Chinese, and didn't even know about the great Chinese writer Yu Qie, whose only knowledge was of God and Hemingway, could you consider him a true American?"

“Of course not.” Paul gave a surprising answer.

"why?"

"Because a donkey born in a horse pen cannot be called a horse. Even if it doesn't realize it, the other horses will."

This means that in the 1980s, American society was still predominantly white. Yu Yingshi and his ethnic group could never truly become "Americans."

This struck Yu Yingshi as very interesting. He connected the recent Nobel Prize controversy with it and discovered that it was two sides of the same coin.

On the one hand, it's natural that Westerners don't consider you a Westerner; on the other hand, Chinese people don't consider themselves Westerners either. Therefore, these Chinese people living around the world would also feel angry because Yu Qie "lost the award".

If we follow the logic of "horses born in stables," these Chinese should not be angry. Because they do not see themselves as "donkeys," their anger shows that they know they are "donkeys" at all times, and that they see Yu Qie's failure to be elected as an offense to their culture.

This is so interesting!

It's impossible for every Chinese person to have read Yu Qie's novels, but they believe that denying Yu Qie is denying them. This is a defensive mindset ingrained in the bones of "old Chinese".

Why does this phenomenon occur?
Yu Yingshi spent a week drafting a research paper titled "The Scholar and Chinese Culture".

"The 'shi' (scholars/gentlemen) were a special class in Chinese society. After the Qin and Han dynasties, this class transformed into social representatives with a deep economic foundation. On the one hand, they had intricate connections with other Chinese people through their writings, establishing a rudimentary 'representative relationship.' On the other hand, the 'shi' themselves had the responsibility to expand the territory of the nation and lead the development of production. They were the elite of society... When they were absolutely dedicated to their duties and put them into practice, yet were insulted by outsiders, this personal grievance would escalate into a denial of the entire collective!"

"Thus, those enemies will be retaliated against by the 'soldier' ​​and the countless civilians woven behind him. I think this constitutes part of the Chinese people's underlying mindset. This phenomenon has been passed down for a long time, so much so that in 1988, we saw this phenomenon again in the selection of the Nobel Prize that year!"

……

The money in mainland China is also making its mark.

Qian Zhongshu lives in the "High-Level Building" in Nanshagou, Sanlihe. After launching the "Ice Melting Journey" with Yu Qie a few years ago, Qian Zhongshu has been living a life of almost seclusion.

He believed that "being too famous can bring misfortune," a view completely different from Qian Zhongshu's when he was young. Previously, Qian Zhongshu's only concern was his daughter's employment, as he had refused numerous interviews with foreign media, resulting in a significant loss of income for the family.

This made him feel very guilty towards his daughter, Qian Yuan, who was his only daughter.

After returning from the United States, perhaps because of Qian Zhongshu's high reputation, his daughter successfully joined the Department of Foreign Languages ​​at Yenching University, where she is currently a colleague of Yu Qie.

After settling one of his concerns, Qian Zhongshu never appeared in public again.

It was also November 4th.

Yenching University held a faculty and staff meeting, where everyone was invited to offer suggestions on how to become a world-class university. A professor from the Economics Department remarked, "Professor Yu writes such excellent novels, yet he was rejected for the Nobel Prize in Literature. This shows that foreigners are prejudiced against us!"

"If literature is like this, let alone science and engineering, not to mention the world's most advanced technologies, how can we catch up?"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a professor from the Literature Department chimed in, "Our Yenching University is Yu Qie's 'home base,' and we've benefited from Professor Yu's kindness. For example, the 'Oracle Bone Script Conference' was spearheaded by Professor Yu. We should openly express our stance: we are dissatisfied with Professor Yu's failure to be nominated for the Nobel Prize!"

This sparked a lively discussion, with everyone eager to speak, but in reality, it was almost impossible to achieve.

In literature, thanks to the success of a few individuals in recent years, it is now possible to compete with the West! Chinese writers can even appear on prime-time television programs in Japan! Modern Chinese literature has already attracted the interest of many foreign researchers.

However, in the broader fields of science and engineering, the level of domestic expertise is still quite rudimentary. It's already a favor that others invite you to collaborate and exchange ideas; to expect them to take a stand is, of course, wishful thinking!

Principal Ding Lei was quite embarrassed!
Yu Qie naturally had to speak up for him; however, the weakness in science and engineering was also a reality. Yenching University might be okay in science, but its engineering was truly lacking, even nationally it was far inferior to the neighboring Tsinghua University.

For a period after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the mainland's education system took the Soviet Union as its model, and after various adjustments, it all became specialized "small but beautiful" schools.

For example, Tsinghua University is strong in engineering, while Yenching University is strong in humanities. The former National Central University was dismantled and torn apart; its medical, teacher training, and water conservancy departments were all removed, as if a person had been hollowed out!
Now, in order to integrate into Western society and rebuild world-class universities, the previous adjustments have been at a disadvantage. Even the best universities on the mainland have significant shortcomings.

That's precisely the time to catch up; how can we afford to have a falling out with foreign scholars?

After much deliberation, Ding Leisun came up with a compromise: to have the faculty and staff of the School of Literature at Yenching University primarily conduct research on Yu Qie's literature, establishing a "Yu Qie Special Research Committee."

There has always been a saying among the common people called "Yu Xue" (余学), but of course, this kind of saying is not appropriate for formal written language.

Since we're going to speak up for Yu Qie, let's do it this way!
The Nobel Prize's refusal to award Yu Qie seems to undermine its recognition of his achievements! Let's affirm them ourselves then.

"You don't want me to be the chairman of this research committee, do you?" Qian Zhongshu was stunned when he heard what his daughter said.

(End of this chapter)