About Bing Xin

Bing Xin is a female writer with unique style and abundant works in the history of modern Chinese literature. Mr. Bing Xin, who has a lively and cheerful personality, also wrote a humorous and unique pagoda poem called "Jiu Fu".

The poem says:

Horse

Xiangding

Feather yarn

Everything is bad

The silly old man came home

It’s a joke

Education turns out to be in Tsinghua

As for the reason for the creation of this poem, Bing Xin wrote in his "My A detailed introduction has been made in the article "My Wife Wu Wenzao". Here is a brief summary based on the article: It turns out that Mr. Wu Wenzao, a famous modern educator in my country, one of the founders of sociology and the originator of ethnology, was simple, serious and unsociable. .

Forgot the anecdotes that people heard from hearsay about "hating water that cannot turn into ice": someone fell in love with Bing Xin but failed, so he turned to hate water and hated water because it didn't turn into ice. Someone here is Zhang Henshui, the author of "The Golden Fen Family", and Bing is the modern female writer and poet, Bing Xin.

I have heard the love story of Wu Wenzao and Bing Xin for a long time. They fell in love at first sight on the ferry to study in the United States, and then they exchanged letters frequently, and finally got married after returning to China. She had made it clear that she had never known Zhang Henshui and had no connection with him. Bing Xin (1900-1999) explained his pen name: What the writer said in "The Complete Works of Bing Xin: Autograph" in 1932: "Using Bing Xin as the pen name, first of all, it is the word Bing Xin, the strokes are simple and easy to write, and it is the character Ying The second reason is that I am timid and afraid of being laughed at and criticized: the two characters "Bing Xin" are new, and when people see them, they will not think that these two characters have anything to do with Xie Wanying. "It is said to be taken from the Tang Dynasty. Wang Changling's poem "Farewell to Xin Jian at the Furong Tower" poem "Luoyang relatives and friends are like asking each other, and a heart of ice is in a jade pot." At that time, some tabloids reported that Leng Qingqiu in Zhang Henshui's "The Golden Family" was alluding to Bing Xin. Although it was made out of nothing, it seemed to be truer and truer, so that many people misunderstood it. But this rumor seems to be based on Bing Xin's cold temperament and name. According to Gu Yuxiu ("Poet Laureate", a versatile scholar in arts and sciences, knowledgeable in both ancient and modern times, and knowledgeable in both the East and the West) who has been Bing Xin's confidant for more than half a century, he commented that Bing Xin is a bit cold. , somewhat reserved. Zhang Henshui (1895-1967) explained his pen name in this way. "Hate the water" was taken from the poem "Since I grow up in life, I hate the water going eastward" written by Li Yu, the later master of the Southern Tang Dynasty. Whenever you see the words ‘hate water’, always encourage yourself and cherish the time. He adopted that pen name at the age of 17.

Zhang Henshui started using a pen name at the age of 17. There is a 77-year difference between 1919 and 1919, when Bing Xin published her first novel "Two Families" and used the pen name for the first time. Therefore, it is certain that their The pen names are irrelevant and are nothing more than gossipy gossip.

After Mr. Wu married Bing Xin in 1929, he was even more distracted. Almost all his thoughts and energy were devoted to studying knowledge and teaching (Wu was concurrently a professor at Yenching University and Tsinghua University at the time) ), so he appears "nerdy" when dealing with some daily life matters. One day, Bing Xin and Wu Wenzao went to the city to visit Bing Xin's father. After arriving at Bing Xin's father's house, Bing Xin asked Mr. Wu to go to the street to buy "Saqima" (a kind of snack) for her children, and to buy her father a double-silk jacket. At that time, Mr. Wu's children were still in the stage of babbling. When talking about "Saqima", they would not say "Saqima" and usually only said "horse". Unexpectedly, Mr. Wu only said to buy "horse" when he arrived at the dim sum shop. This is not over yet. When Mr. Wu arrived at the cloth store, he said he wanted to buy more than ten feet of feather yarn. Fortunately, the salespersons at the "Daoxiangcun" snack shop and "Dongshengxiang" cloth shop that Mr. Wu went to were very familiar with Bing Xin's family. He felt that it was puzzling, so he called Bing Xin's house to ask. Only then did Bing Xin know that Mr. Wu had made another big joke, and the whole family couldn't help laughing after hearing about it. Later, Bing Xin said to her father: "He is such a silly uncle!" After hearing this, Bing Xin's father smiled and said: "I didn't choose this silly uncle for you!" Bing Xin had no choice but to admit it. Another time, Bing Xin's family was enjoying flowers in front of the building where they lived. Mr. Wu's mother asked Bing Xin to call Mr. Wu Wenzao out of the study, who was still studying in the study, and let him rest for a while. Unexpectedly, although Mr. Wu came out in person, his heart was still in learning. He stood in front of the lilac tree and asked Bing Xin blankly and as if to entertain himself: "What kind of flower is this?" Bing Xin deliberately suppressed a smile and replied: "This is lilac." Then Mr. Wu nodded and said, "Ah, Xianting." Everyone present laughed.

After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Bing Xin's family moved to Chenggong, Yunnan. One weekend evening, the then president of Tsinghua University, Mr. Mei Yiqi, his wife, and several classmates from Tsinghua University came to Bing Xin's house as guests. During the chat, Mr. Bing Xin composed this pagoda poem on the spot, venting all his "grievance" against Mr. Wu on Tsinghua University (because from 1916 when he was admitted to Tsinghua Academy to 1923 when he went to study in the United States, Mr. Wu He studied and lived in Tsinghua Academy, the predecessor of Tsinghua University, for nearly eight years). Principal Mei, his wife and several Tsinghua students all burst out laughing after hearing this poem and related stories. Principal Mei even added two lines to Bing Xin’s poem with a smile:

Ms. Bing Xin has poor eyesight. Jia

How can a nerd be worthy of a social butterfly?

According to Bing Xin, the Tsinghua students present at the time laughed very proudly after listening to the continuation of the poem, but Bing Xin herself had to admit again that "it's my own way." shoot".