Since writing, people I know and don’t know often ask me why you write. I had different answers at different times, but now overall, my answer is very simple. I have something to say, but if it sticks in my throat, I will spit it out quickly, so I write. If you have something to say but don't say it, how can you be worthy of me as a human being?
I don’t know why, but I have noticed the word “人” since I was a teenager. I remember when I was in junior high school, I wrote a couplet to myself: "Simple things don't hinder things like admiring flowers and looking at the moon, and ordinary people can stand up to heaven and earth." That was a young man's very naive understanding of "people". As age increases, awareness naturally increases. But I still love my little work.
Man is the spirit of all things. Human beings have a special status in nature, which has been obtained through hundreds of millions of years of evolution. Chinese culture has a very clear understanding of "people". "The Doctrine of the Mean" says: People "can praise the transformation and education of heaven and earth, and then they can participate in it." "Xunzi" said: "Heaven has its own time, the earth has its wealth, and human beings have their own governance. This is called being able to participate." This means that heaven, earth, and humans each have their own contributions to this universe. The "Three Talents" in the "Three Character Classic" also clearly illustrates that humans and heaven and earth are on the same level. People in the Song Dynasty also said, "If heaven does not give birth to Zhongni, eternity will be like a long night." I understand this to mean that if there are no people in heaven and earth, there will never be wisdom.
People have wisdom, the ability to think, and the ability to speak. This is their natural talent. Thinking freely and speaking freely should not be a problem. I am a human being, I have wisdom, I have experienced and thought about it, and I want to express what I see and think. I only write when I have something to say. Throughout my long writing career, I have always been an amateur writer with a very clear purpose, which is to say only when I have something to say.
As time goes by, my writing has achieved some success. My lost life mainly remains in my works. For a work to stand up and for the characters in the book to come alive, it must have the author's spirit of integrity, and hypocrisy will not do. "Sincerity is the foundation of poetry, and elegance is the quality of poetry." "Sincerity" and "elegance" are the creative ideas of the ancient Yuan Haowen. Modern Professor Guo Shaoyu extended them to the cross formula. I have always regarded it as a guideline in my writing.
When I opened this collection, the first two articles I saw were the unknown and chronological prefaces to my first collection of novels and essays in the early 1980s. I have only asked one person to write a preface to my book in my life, and that is my father, Mr. Feng Youlan. He readily agreed and wrote a short article, but it failed to pass the publisher's inspection and could not be published. At that time, Mr. Sun Li happened to comment on my novel "Lulu" with his article "The Cry of Man". My father suggested that it should be used as a preface, and Mr. Sun Li agreed. When the book was published, the title of the article was changed to "From the Heart". These two articles guided me and encouraged me to move forward on the rugged road of writing.
My writing career is like a mountain stream. The stream is gentle, sometimes fast and sometimes slow. The sound of the water is changeable, sometimes high and sometimes low. It always comes from my life. I know that the rest of my life is limited, and I only have a little hope. In short, that is freedom. Being able to get the freedom that a person should enjoy - freedom of thought and freedom of expression. It's actually quite simple, isn't it? Hope will not remain hope forever.
(the author is a contemporary writer)
