Original text of "Ji Keng Platonov"

Summary of the work

Vosev was fired from the machinery factory because he was too obsessed with thinking. He had no choice but to come outside the city and join the team digging foundation pits. Engineer Proshevsky, captain Chickering and others are working hard to destroy the ancient structure of nature and build a unique building for the entire proletariat to live in. Kozlov, who was in poor health, wanted to make achievements in organizational work and reported his personal situation to his superiors many times. Later, he quit the team of excavation workers and became the leader of the district. The disabled Zachev and the worker Safronov believed that there should be a leader of the proletarian world who appeared in the form of a child, so Chickering found Nastya, the daughter of his beloved. This girl became the favorite of Chickering, Zachev, Proshevsky and others, and the girl consciously learned many revolutionary slogans. When workers discovered a hundred coffins belonging to nearby villagers, Chickering clashed with the villagers after leaving two coffins for the little girl to sleep in and hold toys. The district leaders decided to expand the foundation pit four times, and the union chairman Pashkin cleverly announced to the workers that the foundation pit would be expanded six times. At the same time, Kozlov, Safronov, Chiklin, Voshev and others were successively sent to the village to promote collectivization. They found that horses were quite disciplined, while peasants were reluctant to join collective farms. They helped the activists build rafts to exile the rich peasants, and liberated the village's only "farmer" Xiong. However, the activists did not understand the policies of their superiors deeply enough, fell into the left-leaning quagmire of right-leaning opportunism, and died of sorrow. People eliminated him as a rich peasant and let his body float along the river to the sea. The little girl Nastya was ill. She wanted to find her mother, so Chickering found her mother's bones. When Nastya died, Chickering dug the deepest pit, carved a coffin out of the eternal rock, and buried her.

Selected Works

Chickerin and Zachev stood close to Nastya on the left and right to better protect her. The little girl turned purple all over because of the heat she had nowhere to vent, and became very obedient. She was only thinking about sad things in her mind.

"I still want to go to my mother's place!" she said with her eyes closed.

"Your mother is dead," Zachev said unhappily, "Everyone who is alive will die, and after death there is only a handful of bones left."

"Then I want her bones!" Nastya requested. "Who is this crying in the collective farm?"

Chickering listened carefully. It was quiet around, no one was crying, and there was no need to cry. It was almost noon, the pale sun was hanging in the sky, and people in the distance were walking along the horizon to attend an inter-village meeting of unknown content - nothing made a noise. Chickering walked up to the steps. From the wordless collective farm came a soft, unconscious squeak, and then it was repeated again. The voice came from somewhere nearby, facing the desolate wilderness, and its purpose was not to express sorrow.

"Who is this?" Chickering stood on the steps and shouted to the whole village, he wanted the dissatisfied man to hear.

"This is the blacksmith howling," replied the dealer lying under the arbor, "it was singing loudly last night."

Indeed, there is no one except the bear now Will cry. Maybe it buried its mouth in the ground and howled sadly at the soil below, but it didn't understand its pain.

"What is the bear thinking about there?" Chickering told Nastya after returning to the wing.

"Call him here, I'm thinking about him too," Nastya requested. "Take me to my mother, I'm too hot here."

"Let's go, Nastya. Zachev, go and ask the bear to come over. Anyway, there is no work to do now - there are no materials!"

Zachev just left and immediately came back: Xiong himself came to the organization compound with Voshev. Voshev held one of its front paws like a sick man, and the blacksmith came beside him glumly.

Upon entering the organization's compound, Xiong sniffed the activists lying on the ground, and then sat blankly in the corner.

"I captured it as a witness to prove that there is no truth," Vosev said. "It can only work, but when it stops to think about problems, it gets worried. Now Let it remain as a thing - a permanent souvenir, and I entertain you all.

"

"Just entertain the future bad guys," Zachev agreed. "You have to keep this poor thing for them! "

Voshev lowered his head and put the rags that Nastya had taken out one by one into his pocket. Chickering picked up Nastya, and she opened her eyesless, With dull, dry eyes like dead leaves, she stared at the dealers sleeping under the arbor from the window.

"Vashev, do you collect bears as junk? "Nastya asked with concern.

"Where should I put it? I even collect ashes, let alone this poor living creature. "

"What about them? " Nastya weakly stretched out her hands, as thin as sheep's feet, and pointed at the farmer lying in the yard.

Voshev looked into the yard in surprise, and then turned around The activist was still lying on the ground silently, his body lowered as he thought about the truth. Vosev bent down and shook himself out of curiosity about any loss of life. He, the activist, didn't respond. Maybe he was pretending to be dead, or maybe he had really died. Vosev knelt down next to him and looked at his expressionless face for a long time, which was deep and deep in consciousness. Face.

The bear was quiet for a while, and then roared again. Upon hearing its howl, all the farm members rushed into the house from the organization compound.

"Positive. Comrades, how will we live in the future? "The dealers asked, "You'd better think of a solution for us, otherwise we won't be able to bear it! All our farm tools are in good working order, and the seeds are picked cleanly. Now is the season of winter work, so we don’t need to be sentimental. You have to try your best to find a solution! "

"No one is worried about you anymore," Chickering said. "Your leader is lying down. ”

The collective farm members looked calmly at the activist lying on the ground, neither pitying him nor feeling happy, because what the activist said was always correct, impeccable, and fully in line with the legacy. , but he himself was so hateful that once everyone planned to marry him a wife in order to reduce his burden. As a result, even the ugly eldest girl and young daughter-in-law cried sadly after hearing the news.

"He's dead," Voshev stood up and informed everyone, "He knew everything, but he still died. "

"Maybe you are still angry? Zachev expressed doubts, "If you touch it, he hasn't tasted my fist yet." If he's not dead yet, I'll make it up to him right now! ”

Voshev lay on the corpse of the activist again. The activist was so arrogant. He took over the world’s truth and all the meaning of life, but Voshev got nothing. , you can only let your reason be tortured, drift in the river of life and obey blindly.

"Ahem, you bad guy! "Vashev said softly to the speechless corpse, "No wonder I don't know the meaning of life! You cruel guy has not only drank my blood, but also the blood of the entire class, while we wandering masses are ignorant and know nothing! "

Vosev punched the activist on the forehead - in order to kill him completely and to experience happiness for himself.

Vosev began to feel that he had Completely rational, although unable to express the raw power of reason and put it into action, he stood up and said to the dealers:

"Let me worry about you now! ”

“Welcome! ! "The collective farm members said in unison.

Voshev opened the door to the vast world of the organization compound, and suddenly wanted to live in that isolated far away. The power that makes the heart beat there is not only There's the cold air and the true joy of conquering all the fuzzy stuff in the world

"Bring the body out! "Voshev gave instructions.

"Where to carry it? "The dealers asked, "We can't bury him without music! Even with the radio on! ..."

"You eliminate him as a rich peasant and let him float along the river into the sea! "Zachev came up with this idea.

"That's okay! "The villagers agreed, "The river is still flowing. ”

Several people lifted the activists high and carried them to the river bank.

Chickering had been holding Nastya in his arms and was about to take her to the foundation pit construction site, but was delayed by what happened in front of him.

"I'm sweating all over my body," Nastya said, "You old fool, take me to my mother! I feel bad!"

" My child, let's leave now. I'll run and pick you up. Yelishei, you go and call Prosevsky and tell him that we are leaving, and Voshev will stay on behalf of everyone, otherwise the child will get sick. "

Yelishei left, but when he came back he was still alone: ??Proshevsky did not want to leave. He said that all the young people here must be taught, otherwise they will be ruined in the future. And he pitied them.

"Then let him stay," Chickering agreed, "as long as there is no problem with him."

The disabled Zachev can't walk fast; He could crawl, so Chiklin came up with this idea: let Yelishei hold Nastya while he held Zachev. In this way, they hurried towards the foundation pit on the winter road.

"You must protect Misha!" Nastya turned around and ordered, "I will be a guest at his place in a while."

"Don't worry, miss!" They promised.

As evening approached, the group saw the lights of a city in the distance. Zachev, who was being held by Chickering, had long felt tired and said it would be best to fetch a horse from the collective farm.

"Walking is faster than riding a horse," Yelishei replied. "Our horses have been standing there all the time, and they can no longer walk! Even the horses' feet are swollen, and they only move when they steal forage." Move a few steps."

After the group arrived at their destination, they found that the foundation pit was covered with a thick layer of snow, and the work shed was empty and dark. Chickering put Zachev on the ground and planned to make a bonfire to keep Nastya warm, but she said:

"I want my mother's bones, go and get them for me!" < /p>

Chiklin ordered Zachev and Yelishei to light a fire, and went to the tile factory to get the bones. The woman's body will probably not be moved away.

Chickering entered the basement of the tile factory where he and Proshevsky had been, and spent a long time removing the stones that he had placed at the door to preserve the body. Chickering didn't bring any matches with him, so he could only fumble with his hands. He first touched the woman's hair, which was still as soft and smooth as when she was alive. Then he touched it again from head to toe - she was still intact, except for the hair on her body. The meat is gone and all the moisture is gone. It was difficult to remove all the remains, and the connecting tendons had long since softened, so Chickering could only dismantle the bones one by one, put them in his shirt, and tie them up like pockets. After all the remains were packed in, there was still a lot of empty space in the shirt - the woman had become very small after her death.

Nastya was extremely happy to see her mother's remains. She put the pieces of bones against her chest, kissed them, wiped them clean with a rag, and placed them neatly on the ground.

Chickerin sat down opposite the little girl. In order to obtain light and heat, he kept stirring the bonfire and sent Zachev to find milk. Yelishei sat at the door of the work shed for a long time, observing the brightly lit city nearby. He saw something making constant noise and commotion there, and the whole atmosphere seemed depressing and panicked. After a while, he lay down on his side and fell asleep hungry.

Many people passed by the work shed, but no one came to see the sick Nastya. They all had their heads hung down and were concentrating on the matter of overall collectivization.

Sometimes it suddenly quieted down, and only the sound of Nastya playing with the bones could be heard, but after a while, the train whistle sounded again in the distance, and the pile driver made a loud roar while releasing steam. There is a loud noise, and the commandos carrying heavy loads are shouting labor chants - everyone is making unremitting contributions to society.

"Chickerin, why can I always feel rational and why can't I forget it?" Nastya asked in surprise.

"I don't know, kid. Maybe it's because you haven't seen anything good yet."

"Why don't people in the city sleep at night and work all the time?"

"They are taking care of you."

"But I am lying here sick... Chickering, put your mother's bones next to me and let me hug you Sleep on your bones.

Now I feel extremely uncomfortable! "

Chickering placed the body on Nastya's belly, covered her with two cotton-padded jackets, and said goodbye to her:

"Go to sleep, fall asleep. Maybe you will forget your reason. "

Nastya, who was already extremely weak, suddenly stood up and kissed Chiklin's beard - like her mother, she would take the initiative and kiss others unexpectedly.

The happiness that came for the second time in his life made Chickering so excited that he couldn't breathe. He stared at the child blankly until he realized again that he was responsible for this young, hot body. Only then did he wake up.

In order to protect Nastya from the wind and to keep everyone warm, Chiklin lifted Yelishei up from the threshold and put her next to the child.

"Lie here," Chiklin said to Yelishey, who woke up with fright. "Hold the child tightly with your hands and breathe more heat on her. "

Yelishe did as he was told. Chiklin lay down next to him, raised his arms, and listened drowsily to the panicked noises coming from the construction sites in the city.

Zachev came in the middle of the night. He brought a bottle of condensed milk and two cakes. He could not get more food, because the new bourgeoisie did not stay at home, but went out to show off. Zachev searched everywhere, and finally decided to punish Comrade Pashkin, the most reliable reserve force. But Pashkin was not at home - it turned out that he had taken his wife to the theater, so Zachev could only break into the theater and the audience. He was concentrating on the life-and-death performance of several actors in the dark. He loudly asked Pashkin to stop watching the show and go to the snack bar outside. Pashkin immediately walked out and bought Zachev food without saying a word. , and hurried back to the theater hall to continue to experience the waves of emotion.

"I have to go find Pashkin tomorrow," Zachev said, sitting in the corner of the shed, his mood began to calm down. "As long as he installs a stove, he will never reach socialism if he doesn't sit in this wooden carriage! ..."

Chickering woke up early the next morning. He was shivering with cold and was listening carefully to Nastya's movements. It was just dawn, and the surroundings were quiet, except for Zach. The husband expressed his worries in his sleep.

"Are you breathing in there, Ghost Zhongnong? ”

“I am breathing, Comrade Chickering, how can I not breathe?” I kept the heater on for the whole night! "

"What's the result? "

"But this girl, Comrade Chickering, is out of breath and is cold all over. "

Chickering slowly got up from the ground, stood there for a while, and then went to where Zachev slept to see if the disabled man had wiped out the condensed milk and cake, and then He found a broom and swept away the garbage that had accumulated in the shed during the period.

Chickering put the broom back to its original place and felt the desire to dig up the dirt. Chickering picked up the lock on the door of a forgotten storage room where spare tools were stored, took out a shovel, and went to the foundation pit construction site in a hurry. Chickering started digging, but the ground was frozen, so he could only dig. He could cut the soil into pieces and throw out the heavy pieces. The deeper he dug, the softer and warmer the soil became. Chickering kept shoveling down hard, and soon it was almost a person deep. Still feeling tired, he began to shovel the soil on both sides again to widen the narrow pit. The shovel hit a natural stone slab, and the shovel was bent due to excessive force - Chickering and the shovel belt. He threw the handle together on the ground under the sun, and pressed his head tightly against the clay.

He wanted to use these actions to forget his reason, but his reason continued. Thoughts: Nastya is dead

"I'll get another shovel!" "As he spoke, Chickerin crawled out of the pit.

In the work shed, Chickerin, not wanting to believe in reason, walked over and touched Nastya's head, and then put his hand on Ye Li Xieyi's forehead, trying to measure her life based on body temperature

"Why is she cold and you are hot?" "Chickerin asked, but did not hear the answer, because now his reason itself was confused.

Chickerin had been sitting on the ground. After Zacev woke up, he also sat beside him, holding his hand There was a bottle of condensed milk and two pieces of cake.

Yelishei didn't close his eyes all night, and kept breathing hot air on the girl. He was exhausted and lay beside her and fell asleep. He didn't wake up until he heard the familiar screams of the horses that had been publicized.

Vashev walked into the shed, followed by the bear and the farmhands. The horses were waiting outside.

"What are you here for?" Zachev asked Voshev directly, "Why did you leave the farm alone? Do you want our Soviet Socialist Republic to completely collapse? Or do you want to Do you want the entire proletariat to beat you? Then come here and taste the iron fist of the proletariat!"

Vashev had already walked out and reached the horses, but did not finish listening to Zach. Husband's words. He brought a bag of specially selected junk as a gift to Nastya. These were rare toys that could not be bought in the market. Each toy was an eternal memorial to a forgotten person. Although Nastya looked at Voshev, she was not happy at all, so Voshev touched her and found that her mouth was open and she had no breath, and her body was limp and had no feeling. Voshev bent over the silent child, standing there helpless - if there was no communism in the child's feelings and precise impressions, then he didn't know where there was any in the world. *Communism? What use is the meaning of life and the origin of the whole world to a young, faithful child who saw truth as joy and sport?

As long as the little girl is safe and sound and prepared for life, even if she has to suffer hardships in the future, then Vosev would rather know nothing again and live in confusion. Voshev took Nastya in his arms, kissed her open lips, and held her tightly in his arms with a strong desire for happiness. He found more than he was looking for.

"Why did you bring all the collective farm members? I ask you again!" Zachev asked Vashev, without putting down the condensed milk and cake in his hands.

"The peasants want to join the proletariat," Voshev replied, "I brought them here to collect them as insignificant waste."

"Then let them Come on," Chickering said from the ground. "Now the foundations should be dug wider and deeper so that anyone from the sheds and farmhouses can live in our buildings. You put all the Establishment and Proshevs. Kidou called here, I'm going to dig the soil."

Chickering took an iron rod and a new shovel and slowly walked to the farthest end of the pit. There he resumed digging into the hard soil. He was on the verge of tears, so he dug tirelessly until dark, all night long, and did not stop until the bones in his body cracked. He looked around and saw the villagers digging the soil behind him; all the poor and middle peasants were working hard, as if seeking eternal relief in the abyss of the foundation pit. The horses were not idle either - the villagers asked them to carry the stones. They sat on the horses, holding the stones in their hands, and the bears were pushing the stones with great force beside them.

Zachev was the only one who did not participate in any activities and just watched the digging scene sadly.

"Why are you standing by like a clerk?" Chickering asked him after returning to the work shed, "Can you sharpen the shovel?"

"Chickering, I don't want to do anything now." I believe in communism!" Zachev replied the next morning.

"Why, villain?"

"Don't you see, I am a disabled person of imperialism, and communism - that is for children, That's why I love Nastya... Now I'm going to say goodbye and kill Comrade Pashkin."

With that said, Zachev crawled into the city and never looked back. Return to the foundation pit construction site.

At noon, Chickering began to dig a special grave for Nastya. He dug continuously for fifteen hours. He wanted to make the grave so deep that insects could not penetrate, tree roots could not reach in, hot air could not penetrate, and cold wind could not blow in, so that the noise of life on the ground would never disturb the children. Chickering carved a coffin out of the eternal rock and prepared a distinctive granite slab shaped like a coffin lid to protect the little girl from the heavy soil of the cemetery.

Chickerin rested for a moment, picked up Nastya, and carefully placed her into the sarcophagus for burial.

It was dark at night, and all the farm workers were sleeping in the shed. Only the bear woke up after smelling the noise, and Chickering let it touch Nastya as a farewell.

(Translated by Xu Zhenya)

Appreciation

The novella "The Pit" was written in 1930 and is Platonov's representative work. It reflects his creative characteristics. The author depicts the fanaticism and harm of utopian communism during the agricultural collectivization period with seemingly naive language and cold writing style, showing excellent insight and profound satirical ability, while all kinds of slogans and endless slogans The numbness and blind obedience everywhere became the object of his ridicule. Only because of this, Platonov's creation lacked the high-pitched revolutionary passion and was out of tune with the main theme of the time. For this, Platonov was besieged and persecuted, and several of his masterpieces were not published until half a century later.

The novel tells an absurd, funny and gruesome story during the collectivization period. Judging from the narrative tone, he neither wants to highlight the absurdity nor exaggerate the fear, but calmly recounts each thought-provoking incident. It consists of two levels or two clues. First, on the outskirts of the city, a group of workers were organized to dig a huge foundation pit in order to build a building for all proletarians to live in. The foundation pit continued to expand, but the building was not built. Instead, it became a place where "future hopes" were buried. grave. Secondly, in the countryside, people under the leadership of activists established collective farms and eliminated the rich peasants, whose identity was sniffed out by the only "farmer" in the village - a bear. These two clues are connected through three things: workers discovered the coffin hidden by the peasants in the cave, several workers were sent to the countryside to promote collectivization, and the hungry collective farm members were forced to come to the foundation pit construction site to participate in the excavation. A project with no hope of completion. In fact, these two lines are talking about the same thing. The stormy collectivization movement was a manifestation of the infantile disease of utopian communism in real life. Farmers were afraid of this movement. They could only find peace hiding in coffins, while the work of digging foundation pits was mainly a symbolic event. Instead of building a building, the foundation pit became a real coffin. To regard the collective farms as the basis of communism is as absurd as the infinitely expanding foundation pit. Although castles in the air are the object of ridicule, on the contrary, foundation pits are also undesirable.

The protagonist Voshev is a worker who thinks about the meaning of life. He is an image of a never-ending thinker and wanderer in Russian folk culture. His life is without a solution and he is homeless, but unlike those who only know how to dig in the soil and sleep, he is still thinking about the meaning of happiness, thinking about truth, and thinking about the structure of the world. His collection of tattered luggage bags symbolizes his disregard for reality and his memory of history. This wanderer, like all kinds of pilgrims in Russian history, had nothing but the pursuit of truth. Chickering is a capable worker, but he also cannot see reality and lives in memory. He remembered a kiss given to him by the daughter of the owner of the ceramic tile factory, so he went to find this downtrodden bourgeoisie and found the orphan she left behind, Nastya, as a concrete symbol of communism. objects, so memory is connected to the future. The disabled Zachev lost his legs in the war and became cold and violent, but he was also wandering around, looking for the meaning of life, and finally saw the future of communism in Nastya, so he was very devoted to her. Love. Engineer Proshevsky designed the excavation of the foundation pit and the construction of the future building, but he himself was preparing to commit suicide, and the less desire and will to live, the more precise his designs and calculations became. This determines in advance that this building cannot be built, because a beautiful communist future must not be built on the basis of the elimination of emotions. The little girl Nastya learned about the cruelty of reality from her dead mother, and learned to tell lies, lie, and hide her origin to protect herself. However, she forgot her origin and her life ended. Before she died, she returned to her true nature, hugging her mother's bones tightly and kissing them.

Although there are many funny and humorous plots in the novel, such as the collective farm members eating up all the roosters, the hens no longer laying eggs, the bear laborers looking for rich peasants based on their sense of smell, the cold winter snow There are flies flying all over the sky, etc., but the tone of the whole novel is dull and solemn. The selected text comes from the end of the novel. It is not only the final completion of the protagonist's character, but also the key to the final integration of the two clues into one. The death of two people is written here, so it seems extremely solemn.

The activist died, "He knew everything, but he died anyway." People despised this activist who knew everything, and they accepted Zachev's suggestion to eliminate him as a kulak and let him float down the river to the sea. However, no one thought for the dealers, so Voshev took on the responsibility of thinking for them: "I will worry about you!"

Nastya's death is a symbolic plot . At the beginning of this paragraph, Nastya was shivering with cold because of a fever. Chickerin and Zachev were guarding her on the left and right. But when death was approaching, she remembered her mother and the source of life. But her mother was dead and the source of life had dried up, leaving only a handful of bones. The scene where Chickering retrieves the bones in the tile factory is quite meaningful. When a person dies, his muscles become soft and can be broken into pieces. Only his hair remains soft and smooth. In other words, for Chickering, this bourgeois woman has become a fragment of memory and has lost the heaviness that life should have. But for Nastya, the meaning is different. "Nastya was extremely happy to see her mother's remains. She put the pieces of bones against her chest, kissed them, wiped them clean with a rag, and placed them neatly on the ground." Nastya cannot forget her mother. In order to survive, she remembers her mother's "legacy", which is to forget her mother and her own origin. However, forgetting the past meant death. She could no longer sleep on her mother's belly, nor on Chickering's belly. ——Chickering first found two coffins for her to sleep in and hold her toys, and finally he chiseled a sarcophagus for her and buried her deep in her memory. "He dug continuously for fifteen hours. He wanted to make the grave so deep that insects could not penetrate, tree roots could not reach in, hot air could not penetrate, and cold wind could not blow in, so that the noise of life on the ground would never disturb the children."

Nastya's death symbolizes the destruction of utopian communism. Chiklin, Zachev and others loved her very much. They kept blowing heat on her body in the cold night, trying to protect this fragile life. Because they pinned their hopes for the future of communism on Nastya.

Voshev understood Nastya’s death from an ideological perspective. He was helpless about Nastya's death because he didn't know what else could represent truth and communism. He thought: "If there is no communism in the child's feelings and exact impressions, then he doesn't know where there is communism in the world now? If a young, loyal, and consider the truth as The child of joy and movement is dead, so what use is the meaning of life and the truth of the origin of the whole world to him? "Here is the characteristic of Vosev's drifter and wanderer. He found a pocket for waste, but It can't be said that the truth has been found. It can only collect the insensitive living people as waste. He was destined to continue wandering. He brought a bag of specially selected garbage as a gift to Nastya. What they contained here was not communism. "They were rare toys that could not be bought in the market. Each toy was a tribute to a certain person." An eternal memorial to the forgotten.”

Chickerin is numb to everything in real life. He is not good at thinking about problems and does not even want to have reason. However, Nastya's death forced him to face the problem of death. In order to forget the fact, he dug hard to "dig the foundation pit wider and deeper." The villagers followed him and dug hard, "seemingly seeking eternal relief in the abyss of the foundation pit." ".

Zachev knows that he is an "imperialist disabled person" and that his life belongs to the past, not to the communist future. Therefore, Nastya's death made him lose his communist belief, and he also lost his interest in labor, broke away from this group of diggers, and left the foundation pit construction site forever. He said he was going to kill "Comrade Pashkin," the district trade union chairman. Although this plan might not come true, his wish was sincere, because he originally planned to kill all the adults and leave only the innocent and pure ones. The orphans enter the future communist paradise. From this perspective, the eye of a needle in heaven is indeed so small that even a camel cannot fit through it. But Zachev is also a pursuer. Although his legs are disabled, he still wanders around. Like Voshev, what he pursues is complete spiritual freedom.

Why come back now that it is no longer possible to build a building on a foundation pit?

Platonov foresaw the illusion of this building when people were enthusiastically pursuing it, and sounded the alarm to the world, so he deserves to be called a great prophet.

(Tian Quanjin)