The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

Peking University, Department of Politics.

Ma Jue walked into the classroom with a textbook in his hand, instantly attracting the attention of all the male students. When she found a seat to sit down, there were seven or eight more people in the vacant seat next to her. It wasn't for any other reason, those boys just wanted to get closer to the school girl.

Perhaps because of self-pity, nearly 10 male classmates sat around Ma Yu, but none of them dared to strike up a conversation, and at most they just sneaked a few glances at her.

There were also a few male students who were chatting, and they also deliberately raised their volumes, trying to attract Ma Jue's attention by talking loudly.

Ma Jue was quite annoyed by this, took out a literary magazine, bowed her head and read it quietly. But those chatters were too loud, she couldn't even listen if she didn't want to—

"I heard that Teacher Wei has also resigned. If this continues, I'm afraid we will have to suspend classes."

"Is there any way? There is no principal, no funding, teachers can't give lectures on an empty stomach, can they?"

"It's all the fault of their senior students who insisted on electrifying the whole country to reopen the school, drove the principal away, and made the Ministry of Education turn a blind eye to Peking University."

"That is, look at those schools in Beijing University of Technology. If they don't resume school, they still have classes." It lasted until after the Anti-Japanese War, and moved to the northwest to form the Northwest Associated University, which was the predecessor of Northwest University in New China)

"Hey, the old students are messing around, and we new students will suffer along with it."

"How can you say nonsense? If old students don't insist on returning to school, there is no Peking University now."

"I heard that Mr. Cai Yuanpei will come back to be the principal?"

"He didn't care about Peking University for a long time. It seems that Mr. Zhou Hexuan is going back to Peking University."

"It doesn't matter who is the principal. The Ministry of Education can send any principal here. We have worked so hard to get into college, so we can't give up halfway and go home to farm, right?"

"..."

This topic is obviously the most concerned by the students, and more and more students joined the discussion.

Ma Jue is also very worried about this. Her father is the director of the Chinese Department of Peking University, and she often hears her father and uncles talking about the difficulties of the school. Nearly half of the teachers of the Chinese Department have resigned in the past six months.

While the students were discussing, suddenly a boy came in, waving the magazine in his hand and said: "Good thing, good thing, "Sprouting Monthly", the group publication of the Shanghai Left-wing Writers Union!"

"Really? Show me!"

"Okay, where did you get it, kid?"

"I heard that many great writers have joined the Left League."

"..."

Ma Yu had also heard about the Left Alliance, so she looked up curiously, wondering if she should ask that boy to borrow a book to read.

The boy said proudly: "This is the latest issue of "Sprouting". I asked my uncle to bring it from Shanghai. You can't buy it in bookstores in the north."

"Don't talk nonsense, bring it to everyone to watch together!" Someone said eagerly.

The boy opened the catalog page of the magazine and said: "Too many people are very troublesome, so let me read to everyone. This issue of "Sprout" has published articles by Lu Xun, Rou Shi, Yin Fu, Wei Jinzhi, etc., students. Who do you want to listen to first?"

"Lu Xun, Lu Xun!" Everyone shouted in unison.

"Then I'll start reading," the boy said with a smile, "The title of Mr. Lu Xun's essay is "The Tasks of the Critics of the Crescent Society": Critics in the Crescent Society hate and ridicule, but they only One kind of person is someone who makes ridicule articles... From then on, I am afraid that I will be dissatisfied with the two status quo."

Lu Xun's article is not long, not even 800 words, and points will be deducted for taking the college entrance examination. He didn't include a word of profanity in the whole article, but he satirized the critics of the Crescent Society to the death, and satirized the Crescent School literati who opposed the Nationalist Party on the surface, but secretly servile and begged for mercy.

After the students listened to the essay, some people couldn't help asking: "I really like the New Moon Society, who is Mr. Lu Xun scolding this time?"

"Yeah, why did Mr. Lu Xun clash with the Crescent Society again?"

"It should be Hu Shi. I heard that Mr. Lu Xun and Mr. Hu Shi have always had a bad relationship."

"How could it be Hu Shi? Hu Shi has been forced to go overseas because of his resistance to the oppressive ideology of the Nationalist Party."

"..."

The students discussed for a long time without a clue, and finally someone asked Ma Jue: "Student Ma Jue, you seem to know Mr. Lu Xun very well. Who is he scolding in this article?"

Ma Jue really knew, because she had already read the article, and immediately replied, "It's Mr. Liang Shiqiu who scolded."

"I remembered, the two of them really have conflicts." Someone shouted immediately.

The Lu-Liang scolding war began in 1926. Liang Shiqiu said that the description of rickshaw pullers in May 4th literature was superficial humanitarianism. Lu Xun immediately wrote an article, not only criticizing Liang Shiqiu, but also scolding the entire Crescent Society.

By 1927, Liang Shiqiu satirized Lu Xun and Zhou Zuoren as the overlords in the literary world, and could not allow others to think differently from them. At that time, it was the peak period of the "anti-redist movement". Liang Shiqiu alluded to Lu Xun as the Red Party. Lu Xun responded that Liang Shiqiu had "sinister intentions", and the two really had a grudge.

Later, Liang Shiqiu scolded Lu Xun's translations for being obscure and difficult to understand, which belonged to "hard translations" without artistry at all, and were not far from "dead translations".

Lu Xun defended his translation problem, and the two quarreled.

Until last summer, Liang Shiqiu wrote an article saying that Lu Xun was dissatisfied with the status quo, but he only dared to say a few sarcastic one-liners. Lu Xun wrote this article half a year later to fight back, saying that the New Moon faction’s literati’s pursuit of freedom of thought and the quarrel with the Kuomintang was begging for mercy. Where there was a real need for resistance, they helped the Kuomintang to maintain law and order (in the literary world).

The two had never stopped their pen battle until Lu Xun passed away.

The students discussed Lu Xun and Liang Shiqiu, and the boy continued to read the magazine, and while he was reading, he suddenly said, "Hey, this poem is interesting!"

"What poem?" someone asked.

The boy said: "The title of the poem is "I Love This Land", and the author's name is 'Night Breeze'. Let me read it to everyone——

If I were a bird,

I too should sing with a hoarse throat:

This storm-beaten land,

The river of our grief and indignation is ever tossed,

The furious wind blowing endlessly,

And the very tender dawn from the woods...

—and then I died,

Even the feathers rot in the ground.

Why do I often have tears in my eyes?

Because I love this land so much..."

After reading a poem, no one in the classroom spoke, they were all immersed in the passionate emotion of the poem.

This poem does not have so many twists and turns, and expresses the heart directly, expressing a great patriotic emotion that is unforgettable and will never change until death. Its simplicity and sincerity are the ones that move people the most, especially for passionate young people, who feel more impassioned when they read it.

Why do I often have tears in my eyes?

Because I love this land deeply...

Ma Jue repeated these two poems in a low voice, and couldn't help being a little crazy.