Bo Yang and Zhang Xianghua
Although today’s young people may not be familiar with Bo Yang, but in the 1970s, Bo Yang’s name was well known among literary youths. He was listed as one of the top ten best-selling writers in Taiwan Some people say that wherever there are Chinese, Bo Yang's works are handed down.
There is a saying that "articles hate fate". Bo Yang seems to be practicing this sentence all his life. He writes well, but his fate is very rough.
Half of life was rough
Bo Yang, whose real name was Guo Dingsheng , was probably born in 1920. The reason for saying this is because he doesn't remember his own birthday, he calls himself a "wild animal" in his memoirs. Regarding his birth, he only remembered one year, but in his later years, even this year was blurred, so let's count it as 1920.
Bo Yang
Bo Yang lost his mother when he was young, and Bo Yang has no memory of his biological mother. He doesn't know who his mother was, when she died, or why she died.
After his father reunited, Bo Yang once regarded the new wife as his mother, but under the stepmother's insults and beatings, he gradually realized that he was a child without a mother.
"Everyone has a mother, but I am alone" Bo Yang still can't let go of his life experience in his later years.
Historian Tang Degang once said: "Bo Yang's life, from the day he was born, formed a standardized image in traditional Chinese society—he was a little orphan abused by the 'wanniang'."
For Bo Yang, his childhood background was dark. His father worked outside the house all year round, which gave his stepmother unlimited opportunities to abuse him. At that time, Bo Yang said: "The stepmother doesn't beat me, I'm already living a happy life."
When he was in the sixth grade of primary school, his stepmother's mistreatment of him finally made his father unbearable, so he sent Bo Yang back to his hometown —— in Hui County, Henan Province, where Bo Yang continued his schooling career.
Bo Yang's journey to study was not smooth. In 1937, he had just entered the second grade of high school. After the July 7th Incident , Bo Yang decided to join the army, So he didn't get his high school diploma.
Later, he wanted to go to university, in order to obtain the entrance examination qualification, Bo Yang spent 5 silver dollars forged a graduation certificate. With this certificate, he was admitted to Gansu University. But the fake ones can't be real, and within a year, Bo Yang was discovered and fired.
Afterwards, Bo Yang moved to Chongqing, planning to try to get into Central University , but due to poor math and English, Bo Yang lost his name in Sun Shan.
As the saying goes, will not give up until the Yellow River. Two times his dreams were broken, Bo Yang felt that he had reached the Yellow River, but he still did not give up.
Bo Yang found a clerical job in Chongqing, mainly to register exiled college students, and then distribute them to other universities to continue their studies.
At that time, Bo Yang suddenly thought why he couldn't distribute himself. After having this idea, Bo Yang repeated the old incident and gave another false testimony. This time he was lucky, he was assigned to Northeastern University and studied for 4 years, and he was discovered before receiving his diploma.
In 1948, the Ministry of Education checked the student files and found that his documents were forged. Not only did he be expelled from Northeastern University, but also notified the whole country that no institution was allowed to accept him.
Bo Yang studied in many places all his life, but never obtained a diploma. In his later years, he admitted in his memoirs that his actions violated the law and should indeed be punished.
Northeast University is the end of his study, so far, Bo Yang's student days come to an endparagraph.
Although Bo Yang experienced ups and downs in his early years, he did not learn to submit to the situation. Instead, cultivated his spirit of resisting "authority". When he joined the army in high school, Bo Yang was sent to Chongqing for training because of his outstanding performance in the army.
At that time, Chongqing would be bombed by the Japanese army from time to time, and running the air-raid shelter became a routine. Once, he and Jiang Zhongzheng hid in an air-raid shelter.
At that time, Jiang sent his own photo to each soldier, and personally called them one by one. The soldiers were so excited that they couldn't help themselves. During the meal, some people muttered to themselves: "After the roll call, the leader has an impression of me."
Hearing this, Bo Yang immediately answered: "Don't worry! The leader won't have an impression of you, the roll call is called You have an impression of the leader." As soon as
said this, the whole table fell silent. One of the sub-captains broke the silence first, and said to him with a half-smile: "Your mouth is too fast, it is fast enough to ruin yourself." Instead of changing his personality, he wrote it out with a pen, and almost killed himself.
In 1949, Bo Yang came to Taiwan with the Kuomintang. In 1968, Bo Yang translated the American cartoon "Popeye" in the newspaper. The content of this cartoon is that a father and son established an independent kingdom on the island, and the two fought openly and secretly to run for president.
Moreover, Bo Yang also translated the word "fellows" into Jiang Zhongzheng's often used opening remarks - fellow soldiers and civilians all over the country. At that time, Taiwan's political arena was dominated by the Jiang family and his son, so the satirical content of 's cartoon inevitably became sensitive.
On March 7th of the same year, Bo Yang was arrested by the Taiwan authorities on charges of "insulting the head of state" and other charges. He was initially sentenced to death, but after mediation by his wife and friends, the sentence was changed to 12 years.
After several commutations, After 9 years and 26 days in captivity, Bo Yang was released on April 1, 1977. After
was released from prison, Bo Yang still did not change his scholarly spirit, and wrote a preface in "Bo Yang: The Revelation of Zizhi Tongjian": "I don't sing praises for the king, but speak human words for the common people."
These two sentences Later, it was engraved next to Bo Yang's cemetery. This is not only Bo Yang's request for himself, but also a portrayal of his life.
married again
spent nine years in prison, and when he was released from prison, Bo Yang was 57 years old and very old. Not only that, he also faces the plight of being homeless.
It turned out that before Bai Yang was imprisoned, he was married to Ni Minghua and had a daughter. However, after he was imprisoned, Ni Minghua filed for divorce and had already found a new love.
Seeing that Bo Yang was going to sleep on the street, at this time, a friend helped him renovate a garage, so that he barely had a shelter. Since Bo Yang had no possessions at the time, all daily necessities depended on the generosity of his friends.
Bai Yang during this period can be said to be in the trough of his life, was nearly sixty years old, and was destitute. But at this moment, he met someone who would accompany him for the rest of his life.
It was at a party that Bo Yang met Zhang Xianghua, a beautiful female poet.
From left to right: Bo Yang, Zhang Xianghua, Ni Kuang and his wife
Zhang Xianghua was born in 1939, fully 19 years younger than Bo Yang. Before they met, she had heard of this literati who was convicted for his speech, and imagined that he was probably a man with fierce speech and unstoppable force.
But after they met, Zhang Xianghua discovered that he was actually a gentle and polite person.
at the party, Bo Yang to Zhang XianghuaIt was love at first sight, and politely asked for her contact information when we parted. But Zhang Xianghua didn't have a phone, so he couldn't answer for a while.
Later, Bo Yang took a telephone application form for Zhang Chunhua, intending to apply for a telephone line for her. He wrote in a letter: "Thank God for granting us a meeting. To apply for a telephone call, you need to go to the General Administration of Telecommunications. Here is an application form for you. Please fill it out and send it to me, and I will handle the registration on your behalf... If there is no line, you will be in the front line and have priority.”
At that time, Zhang Chunhua, as a poet, was already in the The poetry world became famous. published his poems in "Wenxing Magazine" when he was a freshman. Before he met Bo Yang, he had already served as the executive editor of "Grass Roots" poetry magazine.
Famous Taiwanese writer Nie Hualing once commented on Zhang Xianghua’s poems: “Xianghua is very emotional. Poetry is the poet’s ‘feeling’ for people, things, scenery, and objects. A shirt, a A piece of blotting paper...Xianghua felt something, and expressed all kinds of feelings—love, nostalgia, the world, the country, people, family."
It may be because of Zhang Xianghua's casual and romantic side of the poet, in getting along with Bo Yang In the movie, she quickly fell in love, and before long, the two planned to get married.
At this time, someone advised Zhang Xianghua, Bo Yang had been in prison, and he was nearly 20 years older than you, why did you marry him?
Zhang Xianghua was very determined, she said that she was going to marry this "old, poor and ugly". In this way, on February 4, 1978, the two entered the palace of marriage. After
got married, Zhang Xianghua took Bo Yang for a full body checkup. She was very worried that nine years of prison life would damage Bo Yang's body.
To her surprise, Bo Yang's body was basically fine, but life in prison did harm to his spirit. When
was just married, Zhang Xianghua often heard Bo Yang screaming or sighing in his dreams, sometimes even crying like a child. Zhang Xianghua's friends warned her that almost all people who have been in prison for ten years have become mentally ill.
But she was not intimidated by Bo Yang's situation. In Zhang Xianghua's view, Bo Yang is a passionate and warm person with a bookish spirit, which is why he cannot get out of the complicated and treacherous current situation.
With Zhang Xianghua's careful care, Bo Yang's awakening from his dream gradually eased, and he was finally able to sleep peacefully at night.
Once Bo Yang was working at his desk and heard the sound of rain outside the window. He raised his head and listened for a moment, then said to Zhang Xianghua, This was the most peaceful moment in his life.
In addition to being romantic and graceful, the lives of the two are also busy. Bo Yang worked as a librarian when he was in prison, and he read all the nearly 2,000 books in the library in nine years. Among so many books, he only prefers " Zi Zhi Tong Jian ", which he has read several times. After
was released from prison, he decided to translate "Zi Zhi Tong Jian" into vernacular Chinese, and this translation took ten years.
Bo Yang is an extremely diligent and prolific writer. When he made up his mind to write history, on the one hand, he felt that the project was huge, and on the other hand, he feared that his time was running out, so he worked harder.
"Our home is like a printing factory." Zhang Chunhua couldn't help but sigh when he thought of that time.
Bo Yang’s friend and Taiwanese artist Xu Rongchang also said: “At that time, when I went to their house, everyone seemed to be on the production line.” Completed in March 1993, has a total of 72 volumes . Such a heavy workload is not easy for 63-year-old Bo Yang.
Hard work pays off, and "Bo Yang's Edition of Zi Zhi Tong Jian" was rated as the most valuable and best-selling book in Taiwan at that time.
Visiting relatives in mainland China
Bo Yang was married twice, which is well known in Taiwan, Zhang Xianghua also always thought that she was Bo Yang's third wife, but after 8 years of marriage, he found that this was not the case.
That night, Zhang Xianghua helped Bo Yang tidy up the desk, and she found several letters from mainland China on the desk, one was written "Dear Dad", and the other was written "Father".
Zhang Xianghua was stunned for a long time after seeing it, before realizing that the letter might be from Bo Yang's children in mainland China.
This guess made her a little sad. When Bo Yang asked about it at night, Zhang Xianghua said half-threateningly: "I think you will have a fifth wife."
But she never expected that Bo Yang actually replied : "But you are the fifth one." It turned out that Bo Yang had been married twice in mainland China, and the two letters were sent by two different children.
Regarding this matter, Zhang Xianghua found it funny, but also inevitably sad.
But Bo Yang confessed his experience in the mainland during the war, In the troubled times, there are too many people who cannot help themselves. After hearing about his rough experience, Zhang Xianghua felt relieved.
In July 1986, Bo Yang invited his two daughters in mainland China to Hong Kong for a reunion. After more than thirty years of separation, finally saw his own flesh and blood again.
At that time, Bo Yang's eldest daughter was in poor health. Zhang Xianghua personally accompanied her to the hospital to see a doctor and took good care of her.
In 1988, the two sides of the Taiwan Strait were allowed to visit relatives, and Bo Yang returned to his hometown accompanied by his wife Zhang Xianghua. This was the first time he returned to his hometown after nearly 40 years. Very authentic, able to communicate fluently with people from home.
Regarding that family visit, Zhang Xianghua recalled: "He was both rational and emotional. Speaking of emotional, one time, a friend came to shoot and asked Bo Yang to sing, and he sang without hesitation: 'Big knife to the devils' heads...', while Weeping while singing."
Later, Bo Yang returned to his hometown twice, but he was in a hurry each time, perhaps because of his emotional distress.
What happened after his death
Since 1994, Bo Yang’s heart problems have gradually appeared. At that time, he said: “When I recover from illness, I will go back to the mainland.” Unfortunately, this wish did not come true.
In 2007, Bo Yang was plagued by various diseases and frequently went in and out of the hospital, but he was still very concerned about politics, and even dragged his sick body to protest the authorities on hunger strike.
And in order to express his patriotism, Bo Yang donated more than 10,000 pieces of cultural relics in his possession to Museum of Modern Chinese Literature , and wrote the inscription "It's good to return to the mainland".
On April 29, 2008, 89-year-old Bo Yang died of illness in Gengshen Hospital in Xindian, Taiwan. According to Bo Yang's last wish, some of the ashes were sprinkled on the sea of Huoshao Island where he was once imprisoned.
Under the efforts of Zhang Xianghua, took another part of the ashes back to Bo Yang's hometown Henan for burial, and fulfilled his last wish of "returning to the roots and hometown when the leaves fall".
In addition, Zhang Xiuhua also invited Bai Yangyuan's children in mainland China to attend the funeral, so that they could send their father off for the last time. Bo Yang's life was full of ups and downs, and he became stable in his later years with the company of his wife Zhang Xiuhua.
Zhang Xiuhua once commented on him like this: "Ten years of novels, ten years in prison, ten years of essays, and ten years of writing history."
inOn the second day of his death, "Yangcheng Evening News" highly praised him: "Bo Yang's meaning is infinitely far-reaching! I dare not say that Bo Yang's spirit is immortal, but I dare say that Bo Yang's articles are immortal!"
No matter how far-reaching it is and how far-reaching the influence is, for Zhang Xianghua, the most direct result is that she lost her partner of thirty years.
After Bo Yang passed away, she lived alone in the original house for several years, and then moved to Hsinchu , where she lived a secluded life, reading, walking, and writing poems.
Later, Zhang Xianghua's eyes gradually lost sight, so he stopped writing poems. In this regard, her attitude is very open-minded, and she teased herself: "How can you be emotional if you can't touch the scenery?" Take me early to fly across the three rivers and five lakes, across the seven seas, to the heights of the blue sky, to the darkness of the underworld. Please don’t miss me, don’t let me struggle and wait for a long time.” The strong emotions described in the
poem moved many people Few people.
Zhang Xianghua also wrote a poem to Bo Yang - "The One I Love Is on the Burning Island", which expresses more passionate emotions. The poem says: "We bend our arms to form a safe haven, and we use warm The wink ignites the hope of the flame, and we will sing magnificent poems together."
Huoshao Island is the place where Bo Yang was imprisoned, and Zhang Xianghua wrote this poem with emotion about his experience at that time. Bo Yang once admitted that he doesn't really like 's new poem , but he also emphasized that this is Zhang Xianghua's favorite work of his.
Bo Yang once said that the luckiest thing for him was to marry Zhang Xianghua. Zhang Xianghua also said that living with Bo Yang made his character stronger. The two people love, appreciate and appreciate each other, and that's why they have been together for thirty years.
Among Bo Yang's many works, "The Ugly Chinese" is the most widely circulated, and at the same time, this book is also the most controversial.
Bo Yang wrote this book with the attitude of "hating iron but not steel", hoping to expose the shortcomings of the Chinese people in the book, and encourage the Chinese people to change what they have and reflect on themselves.
He has repeatedly told Zhang Xianghua that when Chinese civilization has progressed, the publication of this book will be abolished.
However, since 2016, Taiwan has repeatedly wanted to include "The Ugly Chinese" in local textbooks. Zhang Xianghua believes that this is an ulterior motive of the Taiwan authorities.
In order to protect Bo Yang's works from being misused and to prevent Bo Yang's books from being misread, she refused such invitations one by one.
Zhang Xianghua said that he and Bo Yang were born in a time when the motherland was in turmoil, so they cherish peace very much. No matter where they are, "Patriotism is a beautiful nature!" Zhang Xianghua repeatedly refused to include "The Ugly Chinese" in the textbook.
Recently, Zhang Xianghua even issued a statement: After the contract for this book expires in 2024 with the Cross-Strait Publishing House, the contract will not be renewed, and at the same time, all publishing houses are requested not to publish this book.
Zhang Xianghua's obedience to Bo Yang's last wish and the couple's love for the motherland are evident from this.
References
[1] "International Press", No. 1, 1994, "Popeye Gets Bo Yang into Trouble"
[2] "China Culture News", May 24, 2003, "In Zhang Xianghua’s Eyes Bo Yang",
[3] "Cross-Strait Relations", Issue 9, 2010, "Bai Yang's Soul Returns to His Hometown"
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