Why is Bing a poet, and he is cooled below zero?

"A poet who is cold below zero" is a sentence that Liang Shiqiu commented on Bing Xin:

When reading Bing Xin's poems, the biggest disappointment is that she is completely short of female writers, not long-term female writers. Ms. Bing Xin, whom I know from Stars and Spring Water, is a poet with sub-zero cold.

This is based on the social environment at that time. Liang Shiqiu thinks that Bing Xin's poems are not full of emotion, so she is "a poet who is cold below zero".

The acquaintance between Liang Shiqiu and Bing Xin is a kind of fate.

1July, 923, on the eve of studying in the United States, Liang Shiqiu published an article "Stars and Springs" in Creation Weekly, criticizing Bing Xin's two short poems "Stars and Springs". At that time, Liang Shiqiu emphasized in Romantic Youth that poetry must be full of emotion. Bing Xin's short poems are influenced by Tagore, an Indian poet, in style, and capture the micro waves with philosophical significance in the stream of life. In this kind of poems, the poet's feelings are not expressive but internal, and its charm lies not in the surging passion, but in the philosophical thinking that flashes between the lines in an ordinary way.

But in Liang Shiqiu's view, "Poetry is not without emotion, poetry without emotion is not good, people are not without emotion, and poets are not without emotion." He thinks that Bing Xin in these two short poems is a female writer whose temperature is below zero. After reading the poems, people only get "chills". Liang Shiqiu told the readers: "Ms. Bing Xin is a prose writer and a novel writer, and is not suitable for poetry; The genres of "star" and "spring water" are not worth emulating and become fashionable. "Liang Shiqiu's poetics is of course a school of thought, but it is a striking anti-tune article in the literary world. Of course Bing Xin did. At this time, Bing Xin's reputation in the national literary world was much higher than Liang Shiqiu's, but his poems, which were criticized by Liang Shiqiu for nothing, became popular in the literary world at that time and became the objects of imitation by many young artists. It is conceivable that Liang Shiqiu's grand theory is difficult to convince her.

But what they didn't expect was that this unpleasant prelude brought them decades of friendship.

A few days after the article was published, Liang Shiqiu set foot on a ship to the United States. On this ship, Xu Dishan introduced him to Bing Xin, the author of a short poem he just criticized. Bing Xin's initial impression of him is "a person who is not very approachable, as if to keep people away from him." They had a brief talk. Liang Shiqiu asked her what she studied in the United States, and she said it was literature. Then she politely asked Liang Shiqiu what major he studied, and he replied, "Literary criticism." Their conversation ends here.

In fact, in the literary world, people who are engaged in literary creation often dislike those literary critics the least. In their view, most people who criticize literature are self-righteous people, always pointing at people's stomachs. Between them and those literary writers, it seems that they are born with resentment, and they can always create some bumpy and unpleasant problems, and it seems that they will never have the same language, otherwise how can there be criticism?

However, Bing Xin and Liang Shiqiu gradually developed the same language. After all, both of them are literary lovers, and Liang Shiqiu was also keen on writing poetry at that time. After they spent a few days at sea, like-minded Xu Dishan, Gu, Bing Xin and Liang Shiqiu posted a poster on the cabin door. Later, they selected 14 poems, sent them to the novel monthly, and made a picture album with the theme of "tsunami". After some communication, the original prejudice was eliminated and the two became good friends. Liang Shiqiu even confided to Bing Xin about his girlfriend Cheng, telling her that she had a good cry when she broke up with her girlfriend in Shanghai.

After arriving in the United States, Liang Shiqiu first went to Colorado, got a bachelor's degree, and entered Harvard University the next year. Bingxin's school is Wellesley Women's College, all in the Boston area, about an hour by train. Every weekend or American holiday, Liang Shiqiu invites several students to visit Bing Xin, because among the China students who go to the United States together, Bing Xin is the only one who is alone in Wellesley Women's College without company. They also organized a "Lake Society", similar to an academic organization. Because everyone has different majors, they agreed to have a boating picnic on Weibing Lake once a month. Every time, a classmate gives a speech on his major, and others can ask questions and participate in the discussion. Sometimes, Bing Xin and Liang Shiqiu will go to the Xinghualou in Boston to eat Cantonese food. With the deepening of friendship, Liang Shiqiu found that Bing Xin was "not a snob, but a little reserved to people." As for her superb mind, keen sense and delicate temperament, it is beyond the reach of ordinary people. "

1925 In the spring, China students in Boston suddenly decided to perform an English China play, and the responsibility for planning fell to Liang Shiqiu and Gu. After some discussion, they decided to use the pipa. This drama needs a man to play Cai Zhonglang, a woman to play Zhao Dancer, Cai Zhonglang's first wife, and a woman to play Miss Niu, Cai Zhonglang's new wife and the daughter of Prime Minister Niu. Among this group of international students, Liang Shiqiu has performed in Tsinghua before, so the hero belongs to him. The two heroines are played by Xie from Shanghai as Zhao Dancer and Bing Xin as Miss Niu. It was a bold move for the two ladies to agree to play the role of wives in the play, which would never be done in China. 1923 In the summer, when Liang Shiqiu was rehearsing a drama for the graduation ceremony in Tsinghua University, he and his classmate Wu Wenzao had to dress up as men because no young lady wanted to be the heroine. Although they don't know much about traditional drama, after a period of arrangement, they actually achieved great success on the opening day.

After learning the news, Xu Dishan, who is studying for a degree at Oxford University, immediately wrote to congratulate them. The letter also ridiculed Liang Shiqiu and said: "Shi Qiu is really blessed. She became a wife on the stage first. " Because they are all young people and live in the open atmosphere of the United States, friends make fun of these people after the rehearsal performance of the play. And because we are both single men and women, some people are serious while joking. After reading Xu Dishan's letter at that time, Gu specially showed this passage to Bing Xin, who knew their intentions and just laughed it off. Because people often joke about Liang Shiqiu and Xie, and Xie has the unique characteristics of Shanghai women's liveliness and eloquence, and Liang Shiqiu, who loves to laugh and tease, is very congenial. Therefore, when Bing Xin was engaged to his classmate Mr. Zhu Shiming, he teased Liang Shiqiu and said, "When Zhu Men entered the sea, Qiu Lang was a passerby." Liang Shiqiu likes the word "autumn waves" very much. After returning home, he wrote many articles under the pseudonym of Qiulang, and was later included in The Art of Swearing, which once became a bestseller.

Bing Xin is famous for her elegant and gentle personality. When she went to America, she was 22 years old and had her own views on marriage and love. According to her ideal, she doesn't want to marry a person in the literary circle, because she always thinks that most people who engage in literature and art are romantic and unstable. In her later years, she still insisted on this view. She said: "There are many people in the literary and art circles among our friends, some of whom are very romantic. They often show a very casual and not serious attitude and behavior towards female readers who admire them." She has always had a bad impression on Xu Zhimo, and thinks that his divorce and remarriage are "inhuman and shameful acts". Her wish is to have a stable family, a trustworthy husband, a well-informed wife and mother, and an ideal job. Her ideal is neither conservative nor radical, peaceful and simple. Later, she really met such an ideal man, that is, the aforementioned Wu Wenzao. He is engaged in sociological research and has an extraordinary understanding of literature. Although he and Bing Xin are not in the same professional field, they have many languages and eventually become a pair of happy lovers.

1926, Liang Shiqiu and Bing Xin both returned from the United States and found a foothold in the university respectively. Later, due to the turmoil in the domestic situation, both of them were busy with their careers and families and had little contact with each other.

It was not until after 1930 that Liang Shiqiu applied to teach at Qingdao University that they got in touch. Liang Shiqiu knows that Bing Xin likes the sea, because she grew up by the sea and has an indissoluble bond with the vast ocean. He understands her feelings for the sea and knows that "what she is looking forward to is not stormy sea water, not a wandering sailor's career, but picking up shells on the beach and watching the ice wheel surge on the calm sea." He wrote to her again and again, telling her how beautiful the seaside scenery in Qingdao is, telling her how to lead his wife and children to catch crabs, dig sand, pick jellyfish, listen to the whistle of the lighthouse and watch the ships curl away in the sky, in order to "tease" her to come to Qingdao. Bing Xin really yearns for Qingdao. After discussing with her husband, she wrote to Liang Shiqiu and said, "We plan to stay for two months, because I can't get up, so Haitao had better be closer to some seats." Wenzao wants to go for a walk and swim in the mountains with you. I can lean on the pillow and listen to you. ..... I've been much better recently. The doctor allowed me to take the train, and I've probably been making progress. "

But Bing Xin didn't survive in the end, because she had been in poor health and often vomited blood periodically. During her three years in the United States, she spent almost half of her time in a hospital bed, where she wrote the famous "To a Little Reader". I thought I could meet friends, but I ran aground halfway, which made her very sorry. This regret caused by illness almost accompanied her life and seriously affected her creative career. In a letter to Liang Shiqiu, she said helplessly, "I have nothing to say, it's true!" " Later, Wu Wenzao went to Zouping, Shandong Province for a meeting, and stopped by Liang Shiqiu's home in Qingdao to enjoy the seaside customs.

1934, at the invitation of Hu Shizhi, Liang Shiqiu went to Peking University as the director of the Foreign Languages Department. At this time, Liang Shiqiu had a successful career and enjoyed the reputation of "contemporary critic" and "English literature expert", and his attention to politics when editing New Moon in the late 1920s also won him extraordinary influence. In order to have his own free speech space, he founded Free Comment magazine in Beijing on 1935. At that time, Bing Xin was teaching in yenching university, and Liang Shiqiu often drove to find Bing Xin and "forced" her to contribute.

After the outbreak of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Liang Shiqiu abandoned his wife and children and went to Kunming, and then came to Chongqing. Bing Xin and Wu Wenzao soon arrived in Chongqing, met in the chaos and cared more about each other. Liang Shiqiu lived in Beibei at that time, and Bing Xin and his wife lived in Geleshan, just on the hill near the roadside where he passed into the city. The three were classmates and friends, and they were also members of the National Political Council at that time. Under the background of war, they have more time to communicate. When Liang Shiqiu went to see Bing Xin for the first time, she found that her life was not "pampered" as most people said. Although the house is a villa, the walls are made of earth, the windows are small, and the inside is dark and damp. The only thing that can make people happy is dozens of pine trees outside. However, such a house is still borrowed. This couple's life is really bad. The most valuable property is a spring bed that they have worked so hard to move from Beiping. This is indeed a rare luxury in the days of displacement.

Beibei, where Liang Shiqiu lives, is much more lively than Bingxin's residence, where many fleeing intellectuals gather. Liang Shiqiu and his classmate Wu Jingchao jointly bought a house called "Yashe" here. Because Liang Shiqiu lives alone and has no family fatigue, plus he is cheerful, talented and humorous, Yashe has become a good place for friends to get together and is very popular. Bing Xin also comes here when he is free. Everyone talked and laughed. Often late at night, Bing Xin and Gong Yeya, Wu Jingchao's wife, squeezed into a bed. They finally slept for one night and rushed back to Geleshan the next day.

At that time, there was a female writer Zhao Qingge living in Beibei. In her later years, she recalled the gathering of friends at that time and said, "Jiugu (female poet Fang Lingru) and Bingxin are several years older than him. He respects them very much, especially for Bing Xin. "

Because Liang Shiqiu is alone in Beibei, he is a "temporary" bachelor. He often takes a poem given to his wife by former Xu Lizhi as an example. Among them, there are two sentences, "Laugh at Feng Gui's old age, and the guest will pity the fan." He often said to Bing Xin. Actually, there is an allusion. Xu Lizhi lived in another country for a year. By the end of the year, he wanted to go home, but the resources were insufficient. So he wrote this poem and gave it to his wife. Fortunately, this poem was later seen by the wife of one of his fellow villagers. This wife probably knows the pain of separation between husband and wife. After reading the poem, she felt great pity and took off her hairpin as a gift to help him return to China as soon as possible. Liang Shiqiu later mentioned these two sentences in his letter to Bing Xin. Besides being really homesick, it also means a joke between friends, hoping to win her attention like Xu Lizhi. Liang Shiqiu took these two poems as the first couplet and asked Bing Xin for the second couplet. Bing Xin replied, "But the wind and dust refused me and my brother across the sea, and I couldn't stop crying." And said in the letter that he had told her the two poems twice, "It's really beside the point, it's time to play! It's time to fight! Just homesick, worthy of sympathy! "

Scholars together, there are many pen and ink games. On one occasion, everyone held a "birthday banquet" for Liang Shiqiu's birthday. After the party, his interest remained undiminished. Bing Xin must write an inscription on the album. Bing Xin drank a little wine that day, just thinking, wrote:

A person should be like a flower, whether it is a man or a woman. Flowers are colorful, fragrant and fragrant, and people are talented, affectionate and interesting. You can't be good friends without the three. Among my friends, only Shi Qiu is the most flower-like man.

At this time, the other men around the table were very dissatisfied and shouted, "Autumn is the most like flowers. Aren't we friends enough?" So Bing Xin said, "Don't worry, I haven't finished writing yet." Then turn sharply and continue to write:

Although it is a cockscomb flower, it has not been cultivated successfully, and it needs to work hard in autumn!

Chen Geng's Laba Book is really in Yashe, and Bing Xin lives in autumn.

Liang Shiqiu is really a talented, emotional and interesting person. It can be seen from this passage of Bing Xin that she appreciates Liang Shiqiu very much, although there is a little banter in it. However, a person's request for friends is not only talent, but also affection and interest. Not even more so for his lover, even more demanding?

Bing Xin's evaluation of her husband, Wu Wenzao, is "clumsy and dumb". In his later years, Bing Xin remembered his dead wife and said, "Speaking of Wenzao and me, we are separated by a mountain. I don't know what he writes in the study all day, chatting with students endlessly. His "indomitable spirit" bookshelf is full of books on sociology and anthropology in Chinese and foreign languages, and it has not aroused my courage to read. ..... His autobiography, an autobiography of nearly 9,000 words, tells about: what school I went to, what classes I studied, what teachers I studied with, what articles I wrote, what friends I made, what classes I taught, and what students I trained ... Only two places mentioned me: when we met, when we got married, just a few words! As for the birth date and name of the child, it was actually not mentioned. " Bing Xin once cooperated with Mei Yiqi, the former president of Tsinghua University, and wrote a poem about Wu Wenzao Pagoda:

horse

Xiang Ding

Feather yarn

Everything is poor.

Stupid uncle has arrived home.

Speaking of it, it's just a joke.

Education was originally in Tsinghua.

Ms. Bing Xin has poor eyesight.

How can a bookworm deserve a social butterfly?

The last two sentences were added by Mei Yiqi, and the first seven sentences were written by Bing Xin. Wu Wenzao is a person who has no distractions about his career, so he often has no time to take care of him in his life and often makes some jokes. For example, Bing Xin dragged him from his study to the yard to enjoy flowers and stood in front of lilacs. Because his mind is still immersed in books, his eyes are just blank. He asked Bing Xin what kind of flower it was. Bing Xin deliberately said it was "Xiang Ding", so he nodded solemnly and replied: Oh, it's Xiang Ding. There are many such things, and Bing Xin often jokingly calls him "silly uncle".

Fang Lingru, a poetess, lived not far from Yashe at that time. She was a colleague of Liang Shiqiu when she was teaching at Qingdao University. Once she was chatting in Yashe, when she saw Bing Xin's inscription, she not only began to write:

I went to Beibei with Shiqiu for nearly two years, and I was amused by his humor. Therefore, I know that Shi Qiu is "charming outside and kind inside." In autumn, I live in an elegant house, and the rest live in an ordinary house. The two houses look at each other from a distance. There are several pear flowers in front of Yashe, which were praised by pedestrians when they opened. Ms. Bing Xin is more cockscomb than Shi Qiu, and the rest are pears, which is similar to Meng Dongye's indifferent romantic style. However, the pear blossom lasts for a short time, but autumn is really good for people.

The winter night in Chen Geng reminds my mother.

Among friends, Liang Shiqiu is not only outstanding in literary talent, but also the "top grade" among men. Coupled with his humorous talk, he is very popular with his friends. Fang Lingru called him "indifferent romance" and Bing Xin called him "romantic genius". The word "romantic" not only refers to his outstanding literary talent, but also refers to his popularity with female friends. There are often letters and calligraphy exchanges between Liang Shiqiu and Bing Xin. Once Liang Shiqiu drew a plum blossom for Bing Xin, and Bing Xin wrote back: "What's the big deal about drawing plum blossoms? Dogs can be drawn. " The banter between friends can be seen.

After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Wu Wenzao was stationed in Japan, and Bing Xin went with her. Knowing that Liang Shiqiu liked Du Fu's poems and was collecting various versions, she helped him buy Japanese versions at a high price. In the vicissitudes of emotion, the friendship between old friends, like a gentle breeze, gave each other great spiritual encouragement. After the Anti-Japanese War, Liang Shiqiu always had a feeling that he was in a panic and didn't know what to do. Sometimes he simply puts all his troubles aside and only cares about eating and sleeping in front of him. Bing Xin understood his lonely mood and told him in the letter: "You can eat and sleep, and there is no shortage of tea and rice. These eight words are not easy! " Let him regain his courage in negativity.

Later, Bing Xin knew that Liang Shiqiu had gone to Taiwan Province Province, Japan, and immediately wrote to him, asking him to go to Japan at once. She and Wu Wenzao will settle down in Japan. This friendship deeply touched Liang Shiqiu, who was down and out. This is a kind of friend in need, which is precious. Although he didn't go in the end, he was grateful for it all his life. But what he didn't expect was that since then, they have broken the news. This is because shortly after this, Bing Xin and his wife could not give up their yearning for the motherland and both returned to China. The antagonism between the two sides of the Taiwan Province Strait made their friendship impossible to pass on. By the time the situation eased, both of them were old.

During the Cultural Revolution in Chinese mainland, Liang Shiqiu heard in Taiwan Province that "Bing Xin and her husband Wu Wenzao both committed suicide by taking poison". The news made him very sad. He wrote "Bing Xin" and recalled their decades-long friendship with delicate and plain brushwork. After the article was published, Ling Shuhua wrote to Liang Shiqiu, telling him that the news was wrong and that Bing Xin and his wife were still alive. Although he regretted his excitement, he finally turned from sadness to joy. He said, "Now I know that Bing Xin is not dead, and I am very happy. Since Bing Xin read the article I wrote to mourn her, she certainly knew that I was not dead. It is not easy to know that the other party is still alive these days. " After reading this article, Bing Xin is full of endless regrets. She wrote back to Liang Shiqiu and asked him to take it to Taiwan Province Province from the United States. Since then, although Bing Xin and Liang Shiqiu did not write directly, their situation was conveyed by Liang Shiqiu's eldest daughter in Beijing, and the old friends were able to face each other across the sea.

1985 In the first half of the year, when Liang Shiqiu's collection of essays "Looking Back on the Past-Remembering an Old Friend" (that is, some articles in "Meet Me Suddenly") was to be published by China Friendship Publishing Company, Bing Xin gladly started writing a preface for this book. In the preface, when talking about facing each other across the sea for 40 years since the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, he said affectionately: "Thank you for your attachment to us. I haven't been to Taiwan Province Province, and I can't imagine life in Taiwan Province Province, but the situation in Beijing is really endless. I hope Shi Qiu will come back and have a look. ……"

1986, Bing Xin wrote in an article entitled "Talking about Dreams" that he had extremely cheerful and gorgeous dreams almost every night in his later years. In his dreams, he often sees dead or long-lost relatives and friends roaming around the world. She said:

In these dreams, there are scenery I like and people I love. When I wake up, I always wake up with a clear head and tears. Of course, I was happy in my dream, but I woke up bitter. But my soul has found a vast free world that my body can't find. I would like to dedicate my "strange tears" and a ray of emotion to my overseas dream figures!

Liang Shiqiu was deeply homesick for his native Beijing in his later years, and "homesickness" became a very prominent complex in his works. In the late 1980s, cross-strait relations eased, and Taiwan Province compatriots could go back to the mainland to visit their relatives. Regrettably, however, homesick Liang Shiqiu did not set foot in Beijing before his death. 1987165438+1On October 3rd, Liang Shiqiu died in Taipei. His second wife, Han Jingqing, made a special trip to Beijing to fulfill his unfinished wish of returning home after handling the funeral. She visited Bing Xin, who is nearly 90 years old. Bing Xin wrote "Mourning Mr. Liang Shiqiu" in grief. The article said: "How can I not be sad? The friendship between us is unusual! "

1 987 65438+February1day, in the North Hall of the European and American Alumni Association along the South River not far from the square, the Beijing literary and art circles held a memorial service for Liang Shiqiu, where Liang Shiqiu married his wife Cheng. Bing Xin was unable to attend the meeting due to physical reasons, but she wrote a eulogy for Liang Shiqiu, which was read by Lao She's wife Hu Jieqing. After the meeting, Liang hung the photo of his father at the memorial service as a souvenir.

The friendship between Bing Xin and Liang Shiqiu is not only based on the common literary pursuit, but also on the appreciation of each other's personality. Bing Xin first came to the literary world with his poetry creation and became famous at one fell swoop. But after Liang Shiqiu criticized that she was not suitable for writing poetry but for writing prose and novels, she really stopped writing poetry and often told others that she could not write poetry. But Bing Xin also criticized Liang Shiqiu. 1984, Mr. Hu Baihua, a student of Liang Shiqiu, visited Liang in the mainland. They visited Bing Xin together. When they sent a photo of Liang Shiqiu and his second wife, Han Jingqing, to Bing Xin, she excitedly pointed to Han Jingqing in the photo and said, "He just can't pass this test in his life. He just can't pass this level in his life! " The most dramatic thing is that when Mr. Hu Baihua visited Liang Shiqiu before returning to Taipei from Beijing, he said something strange to Liang Shiqiu. Liang Shiqiu's reaction is intriguing. He responded without hesitation: "I, I passed her safely." Very similar to this situation, in the Interview Record of Lao She's Death written by Fu Guangming in 1999, the author recorded Bing Xin's conversation. During the conversation, Bing Xin thought of some friends and spoke highly of Ba because of "his serious attitude towards marriage". She said with emotion: "I have more literati friends, like Liang Shiqiu, and I want to be talented. Obviously, Bing Xin appreciates Liang Shiqiu's knowledge and talent, but he can't accept his second marriage and thinks that he is not "single-minded" emotionally. In contrast, she admired Ba Jin, because after Xiao Shan's death, he still maintained his true feelings for his wife, and he never forgot to feel the same way. Liang Shiqiu's remarriage after widowhood just confirmed her views on literary and art circles when she was young in Bing Xin's eyes. Perhaps because of this, she can only take Liang Shiqiu as a friend.