Writer 1978: I Need to Give the Literary World a Lesson

Chapter 585 Initial Disagreements Emerge Among the Island Delegations

On one side of the tarmac, after Liu Yimin finished speaking, reporters from various newspapers couldn't help but begin interviewing him. Some interviewed writers from the island, while others interviewed Xia Yan, Ba Jin, Cao Yu, Wang Meng, and others.

In front of reporters, Chen Yingzhen and Li Ao were the most active, discussing the nation and cross-strait literature. The others either spoke little or talked about unsensitive topics such as their hometowns and homesickness.

After the interview, the convoy returned to the city and settled them in the Yanjing Hotel. Li Ao held Qi Bangyuan's hand and told her about Yanjing and the Yanjing Hotel today:

"The current Yanjing is not the Yanjing of our time. We always say that the mainland is developing slowly, but in reality, the mainland is developing quite slowly. It's just that the area is too big, and development needs to be carried out in all directions. The island is small, about the size of a city on the mainland. With so many resources concentrated on developing one city, it can naturally develop."

"A large country has many responsibilities, but also many advantages. It has abundant resources, depth, great potential, and ample room for future development. You might say Singapore is well-developed, but it's just a tiny place. No matter how much it develops, it can't become a world power unless it can annex Malaysia and Indonesia," Li Ao said rather boldly.

Upon hearing this, Chi Pang-yuan frowned slightly, but knowing Li Ao's personality, she immediately relaxed her brows and did not respond.

"Distinguished delegates, we are fortunate to be here at the Yanjing Hotel, enjoying such high-class hospitality. Tiananmen Square is not far away. If you are interested, you can go to the square and take a look. It truly exudes the grandeur of a great nation. I am increasingly convinced that if our Chinese nation wants to stand up, we must rely on the mainland."

Li Ao spoke eloquently, his eyes brimming with pride, making the island's writers feel as if he were the one sent by the mainland to receive them.

At this time, Cao Yu, Ba Jin, Xia Yan and others had already returned to the Ministry of Culture. Only Liu Yimin and the people from the Institute of Literature and Art escorted them to the Yanjing Hotel.

"Distinguished delegates, there are no activities scheduled during the day, so you can all get some rest. Tonight, we have reserved seats for you at the Beijing People's Art Theatre. You can go and watch a play. Today's performance is 'The Battle of Taierzhuang.' We also have a series of classic domestic and international plays being performed recently, including 'The Birth of a Hero,' 'The Smoke of War in Beiping,' 'Deng Jiaxian,' 'Beloved,' 'Death of a Salesman,' 'The Stage,' and 'The First Restaurant Under Heaven.' Tickets are available for you. Delegates who are interested can contact the conference organizing committee for tickets."

Yan Zhenxian distributed the tickets for tonight's play "The Battle of Taierzhuang" to the representatives. Those who wanted to watch the play were to gather in the hall after dinner and go together.

Pai Hsien-yung asked with interest, "I want to go. The whole world knows that China has Cao Yu and the Yenching People's Art Theatre, and every play they stage is a masterpiece. I just don't know which is better, the stage version of 'The Battle of Taierzhuang' or the film version?"

“Two different performance styles look naturally different, and I believe the Beijing People’s Art Theatre’s plays will not disappoint everyone’s expectations,” Liu Yimin said with a smile.

Li Ao said with a smile, "Apart from Arthur Miller's 'Death of a Salesman,' all the other plays here are Professor Liu's works."

“I’ve read some of the original novels for these plays, and they’re all excellent articles. I’m sure the adapted plays will be just as good.” Qi Bangyuan nodded slightly. Compared to Li Ao’s bold and unrestrained style, she appeared quite knowledgeable and refined, like a young lady from a prominent family who had been raised according to various etiquette rules.

"The Flames of War in Beiping" are all scripts that Liu Yimin wrote at the beginning, and they are rarely performed now. The recent performances are to let them see them properly, to see the past of the country, to see the present of the country, and hopefully to understand the future of the country from them.

"I hadn't noticed until Lao Li pointed it out. Now that I think about it, it's true. They were all my notebooks. To outsiders, it looks like I was using my position for personal gain!" Liu Yimin joked to himself.

Chen Yingzhen said in his distinctive island accent, "Mr. Liu, you're too modest. It's your writing that's good. I definitely have to go tonight. There's nothing worth watching on the island; war and love are too petty. I heard that 'Beloved' has already run for hundreds of performances on Broadway in America?"

Liu Yimin smiled and said, "This number is not exaggerated!"

"Is the location far? Can we walk there tonight and take a look at the night view of Yanjing, and see if Li Ao exaggerated?" Qi Bangyuan suddenly said.

"Sure, the Yanjing Hotel is on Chang'an Avenue. If you walk north, you'll reach the Beijing People's Art Theatre. The street where the theatre is located happens to be the north wall of the Forbidden City. In other words, this stretch of road is equivalent to walking from the south gate to the north gate of the Forbidden City, which is about two kilometers away and takes about half an hour to walk. If you're willing to walk, of course you can."

Upon hearing this, Chi Pang-yuan decided to walk. Pai Hsien-yung greatly admired Chi Pang-yuan, and as soon as she spoke, he immediately agreed, leaving the others with no reason to object.

"Alright, I'll bring everyone over then," Liu Yimin said with a smile.

Go see whatever you want; there's nothing to hide.

After everyone had settled into their hotel rooms, Yan Zhen came over and said, "Teacher Liu, the lunch arranged by the restaurant is ready."

"Go and inform them that if anyone is too tired to eat together, they can be given meal tickets so they can eat after they've rested," Liu Yimin said.

Yan Zhen immediately led his men to take care of it. Fortunately, the representatives on the island all wanted to try the old Beijing cuisine, so no one went back to rest.

Li Ao introduced the food at the Yanjing Hotel to everyone: "The Sichuan cuisine in this hotel is exceptional. Many of the chefs here are either chefs from famous restaurants in Yanjing or are carrying on the tradition here."

When the food arrived, the aroma immediately whetted the appetites of the island's representatives. Qi Bangyuan looked at the food on the table and said, "When I visited Beiping years ago, the aroma of the restaurants there is unforgettable. This is the taste."

"Everyone, start eating! Try it and see if it's good!" Liu Yimin urged them to start eating quickly.

After hearing this, Qi Bangyuan, Chen Yingzhen, and others immediately started eating without any restraint. However, since Bai Xianyong is not Han Chinese, he needed to have a separate meal prepared for him.

Pai Hsien-yung said with emotion, "Thank you for the Institute of Literature and Art's thoughtful consideration, Mr. Liu, thank you!"

"You're welcome. Once you're on the mainland, you're at home. Everything will be prepared for you here."

"It smells so good!" Chen Yingzhen said, wiping her mouth. "The flavor is rich and complex, with a long aftertaste. Although there are Sichuan and Henan restaurants on the island, none of them taste this good. I wish I could live on the mainland someday."

Chen Yingzhen spoke without any reservations, which surprised the others. Only Li Ao chimed in, "Then you can keep Professor Liu company, drinking soy milk and eating fried dough rings every day."

"Old Li, you should spare Mr. Chen. How could someone whose ancestral home is in the south possibly be able to drink this stuff?" Liu Yimin said with a smile.

Others only thought Chen Yingzhen's words were outrageous, but Liu Yimin understood that Chen Yingzhen might already be preparing to live on the mainland for a long time.

After 90, Chen Yingzhen frequently traveled to and from Beijing, eventually settling there permanently. He was later elected as the honorary vice chairman of the China Writers Association.

Pai Hsien-yung said with a hint of sarcasm, "Editor-in-Chief Chen, if you came to the mainland, who would fight on the island?"

"Editor-in-Chief Chen isn't here, but I'm still here, Sister Qi. Even though you're here, I still maintain that I will fight to the end against the island's rural literature! I, Li Ao, am an army all by myself!" Li Ao solemnly declared, then added a second later:

"Of course, if Editor-in-Chief Chen were on the island, our fighting strength would be even greater."

Chen Yingzhen founded the magazine "Renjian" in 1985, so people who are not very familiar with him will call him "Editor-in-Chief Chen".

Upon hearing Li Ao speak in such a manner, Chen Yingzhen felt as if he had found a comrade-in-arms, and his confidence swelled even more: "I will fight against this trend. As long as I want to do work, I can do it no matter where I am!"

During the meal, the differences between the two groups of people with differing opinions gradually became apparent.

After they finished eating, on their way back alone, Qi Bangyuan suddenly turned around and whispered to Chen Yingzhen, "What do you mean by 'fighting'? Literature can use criticism and communication. The word 'fighting' is far too serious."

“Sister Qi, it’s not obvious now, but wait and see. Someone might want to wipe us out!” Li Ao stepped forward again.

Qi Bangyuan didn't say anything more. Li Ao stretched and said, "Everyone has just arrived in Yanjing, so please get some rest. I'm a little sleepy too."

During his exchange at Yenching University, Liu Yimin stayed at the Yenching Hotel most of the time, just in case of any unexpected events.

After entering the room, Liu Yimin gave Yan Zhen a few more instructions before lying down on the bed to rest.

Liu Yimin was woken up by Li Ao around 1 a.m. It turned out that the guy had been thinking about today's manuscript and hadn't taken a nap at all at noon.

When Li Ao saw the manuscript handed to him by Liu Yimin, he said with a smile, "Professor Liu, I won't disturb your rest. I'll return the manuscript after I've finished reading it."

“Okay, Lao Li, they’ve just arrived. If there’s anything they’re embarrassed to say, just tell me,” Liu Yimin said. “Alright!” Li Ao paused and added, “Writers get together to compete on their writing. Professor Liu, your writing is better than theirs. Even if you fart, they’ll analyze what it tastes like.”

Liu Yimin was amused by Li Ao's words, but still said, "Old Li, you can't think like that. We're here for an exchange, not to discuss the Spring and Autumn Period's feudal lords and kings."

"If only you were the chosen king, then I, Li Ao, could be a prince, and everyone else could only watch and applaud," Li Ao said shamelessly.

After Li Ao left, Liu Yimin slept for about half an hour. Chen Yingzhen and his group were all exhausted and didn't wake up until after 3 p.m.

At 5 p.m., everyone went to the restaurant for a meal. Around 5:40 p.m., the group left the Yanjing Hotel after they had finished eating and drinking.

Around six o'clock in late April, the weather wasn't too hot, perfect for a walk. As they strolled along, the delegation from the island frequently asked questions about the streets, showing great curiosity about things that weren't available on the island.

Instead of taking the main road, Liu Yimin detoured through Wangfujing. Seeing the massive crowds at the Wangfujing shopping mall, Qi Bangyuan asked, "Does the mainland still require commodity coupons?"

"With the reform and opening up, production capacity has been greatly improved. Many items no longer need to be purchased with coupons, but some scarce items still do."

Qi Bangyuan frowned and said, "I really don't understand why we need a ticket?"

"Because of the shortage of supplies."

“Even when supplies are scarce, restrictions can be lifted. During the Republic of China era, all kinds of supplies were scarce, but there was no system of requiring ration coupons to purchase them. I think this is a problem with the system,” Qi Bangyuan said.

Liu Yimin said calmly, "That's the difference. Because of the shortage of supplies, without ration coupons, all the supplies would have been bought up by the wealthy. Now that ration coupons are in place, at least everyone has the opportunity to buy basic necessities. Ms. Qi, I know you grew up in a wealthy family and never lacked supplies. But from the perspective of ordinary people, they also need to survive!"
If the country can only produce one zhang (approximately 3.3 meters) of cloth, the wealthy can buy eight chi (approximately 3 feet), leaving the remaining two chi for ordinary people. However, the number of ordinary people far exceeds that of the wealthy.

Of course, once our production catches up, we won't need to use this method for overall planning anymore.

Chi Pang-yuan didn't respond; she really hadn't experienced the lives of impoverished people much.

When they passed Lishi Hutong, Liu Yimin said to Bai Xianyong, "Mr. Zheng Dongguo lives here. If you want to visit him, you can come and pay him a visit. Mr. Cheng Siyuan, who once served as your father's secretary, lives in Dongzongbu Hutong. He was very excited to hear that you were coming back."

Cheng Siyuan first served as Bai Chongxi's secretary, but for less than a year; he was mainly Li Zongren's secretary.

“I must visit Uncle Cheng this time. Back when I was on the mainland, although I was young, I still remember the time I spent with Uncle Cheng. Later, when we came to the island, Uncle Cheng and Uncle Li returned to China. After that, the mainland began its reform and opening up, and Uncle Cheng wrote me many letters,” Pai Hsien-yung said with certainty.

When they arrived at the Beijing People's Art Theatre, the group looked at the long queues that had already formed and were amazed at how many people in mainland China love watching plays. When they inquired about the ticket prices, they found them to be quite affordable.

So Yuzhi was standing upstairs when he saw them arrive and quickly came down: "Yimin, these must be our representatives from the island, right?"

"Yes, let me introduce you. This is Yu Shizhi, the executive vice president of Beijing People's Art Theatre. He is a veteran artist, and the characters he portrays can be described as lifelike."

Yu Zhi said happily, "Fellow countrymen, please come in. Compared with you all, you are all better writers."

Qi Bangyuan and the others looked them over a few times, and then stepped forward one by one to shake hands and introduce themselves.

"Fellow countrymen, please come inside. The performance won't start for a while, so please sit down inside first." Yu Shizhi gestured for everyone to follow.

The group was positioned at the very front. After a short while, Ouyang Shanzun and Lan Tianye came over and talked to everyone about the current state of development of domestic drama and their directing philosophies.

"Currently, domestic drama is forging a new path through its interaction with Western drama. This path involves not abandoning realism, but finding new forms of theatrical expression, techniques, and skills within realism, striving to combine content and form to create popular works for the audience," Ouyang Shanzun explained.

Pai Hsien-yung was the most active in the discussion. He not only writes novels, but also loves stage plays and writes some scripts himself, but the results are not good.

"As for the script, Mr. Bai, you'll have to consult Yimin. We're not good at writing scripts, but we're good at directing them," Lan Tianye said cheerfully.

Pai Hsien-yung wanted to say something more, but the bell for the play's performance rang, and everyone stopped discussing and focused their attention on the opening curtain.

The spotlight focused on the center of the stage; Han Fuqu was about to be executed.
When the play was halfway through, Li Ao remarked, "The movie was well-made, and this play was also well-choreographed. The actors' mastery of dialogue can be glimpsed from this one scene, which is quite remarkable."

The moment Pai Hsien-yung saw Bai Chongxi appear, his eyes welled up with tears: "In history, success and failure are intertwined with merit and demerit, but at this moment on the battlefield of Taierzhuang, there is only merit and no demerit."

"The Battle of Taierzhuang" is not a new play, but the tickets were still snapped up by the audience as soon as they were released.

When the play ended, Pai Hsien-yung and others applauded enthusiastically during the curtain call and asked Liu Yi-min if they could meet the actors.

The island's writers had slightly red eyes, with Chi Pang-yuan and Pai Hsien-yung being the most emotional. Once most of the audience had left, Liu Yi-min led them backstage to meet the actors.

Ouyang Shanzun and Lan Tianye introduced the situation, and Bai Xianyong and others wanted to take photos with the actors. Fortunately, Yan Zhen had prepared a camera and gave them instructions on how to pose for the photos.

As they walked out of the Beijing People's Art Theatre, a gentle evening breeze blew. Their spirits remained high, and they wanted to walk back again.

"Okay, let's walk back together then."

In the 1980s, you could still see countless stars in the night sky over Yanjing. When we went back, everyone was very happy and talked about interesting things that happened around us or in the past on the mainland.

When they arrived at the entrance of the Yanjing Hotel, Qi Bangyuan said sadly, "Walking on the roads of my hometown, I feel that time flies by so quickly."

“Sister Qi, there’s still plenty of time. I think you should go back and rest. There are exchange activities tomorrow,” Li Ao said.

Seeing everyone return to their rooms, Liu Yimin and Yan Zhen went back to rest. Liu Yimin glanced at Yan Zhen: "What's wrong? Are you nervous?"

"Teacher, I am indeed nervous, afraid that even the slightest problem might occur. If it hinders the communication, I would be in a terrible situation," Yan Zhen nodded and said.

"Haha, don't worry, I'm here for you. Go back and rest."

The next morning at eight o'clock, everyone was supposed to have lunch at the Yanjing Hotel, but under Li Ao's persuasion, a group of people insisted on going outside to drink douzhi (fermented mung bean juice) and eat jiaoquan (fried dough rings).

Besides wanting to drink douzhi (fermented mung bean juice), I also want to see the lives of ordinary people in Yanjing (Beijing).

In a snack shop on the streets of Yanjing, customers and the owner stared blankly at a group of people dressed in suits.

"Comrade, give them all a bowl of soy milk with fried dough rings, and I'll have a bowl of millet porridge."

“I’ll have millet porridge too,” Yan Zhen said hurriedly.

"Alright, comrades, who are you people? Hong Kong businessmen? Overseas Chinese businessmen? Or are you government officials on a clandestine inspection?"

"They are neither Hong Kong businessmen nor overseas Chinese businessmen, but writers from the island who came here for a visit."

"From the island?" The shop owner's eyes widened, and after a moment he hurriedly called inside, "Get the douzhi (fermented mung bean juice) and jiaoquan (deep-fried dough rings) ready, it's on me today!"

(End of this chapter)