He is a great leader and a great poet, and his work "Qinyuan Spring". Snow and other primary and secondary school textbooks are included, and its broad vision and romantic brushstrokes outline a magnificent snow scene for countless students.
In addition, his other poems are also highly regarded in the literary world, and many writers are full of praise for his works. However, Hu Shi, a famous modern writer in China, has a very low evaluation of his poetry, and even devalues his "Butterfly Love Flower" as worthless, thinking that its sentences are incomprehensible.
So, what is the story between Hu Shi and ***, and why does he belittle ***'s poetry so much?
As soon as the "Poems" was published, it caused a rush to buy, and the publishing house had to urgently reprint it to meet the demand of the market. This collection of poems was not only widely popular in the mainland, but also spread to Taiwan, and was highly praised by the Taiwanese literary circles.
On March 11, 1959, the famous writer Hu Shi read this book on the recommendation of a friend, and unlike others, he couldn't help but laugh after reading it.
My friend was puzzled by this and immediately asked why. Hu Shi said bluntly: "It's so funny, this highly acclaimed collection of poems has made mistakes even in rhyme."
Especially the butterfly love flower, every sentence is not very smooth. My friend was surprised by Hu Shi's words, because he had read the book before and did not expect such a problem at all.
However, before he could refute, Hu Shi continued: "The last word of this butterfly love flower, none of the rhymes match, how can it be called a good poem?"
In fact, Hu Shi is right, Butterfly Love Flower is a kind of word card, this kind of word card has a strict battle format, and the rhyme of each word is exquisite. And the butterfly love flower created by *** does have a few words that do not match the rhyme.
But this just reflects the pursuit of artistic conception, he gave up the rhyme and pursued a higher artistic conception, isn't this a success?
Hu Shi, a literary master of the older generation, whose generation valued the format the most, believed that poetry was completely different from vernacular literature. The vernacular text should be simple and easy to understand, and the poems should strictly adhere to the rhyme and format, otherwise it will not be a good poem.
Therefore, when Hu Shi saw ***'s butterfly love flower, he didn't understand why such a poetry collection was so popular. The conversation was kept very private until Hu Shih published his own interview diary.
**After hearing it, he didn't refute it, but just said that Hu Shi was a very "stubborn" person. He has repeatedly said that Hu Shi should return to the mainland, but Hu Shi stubbornly refused to come back, so that the two did not see each other for many years.
What is the relationship with Hu Shi, so that *** not only does not get angry in the face of Hu Shi's criticism, but invites him back to the interior? In fact, the relationship between these two people can be called deep.
Their origins can be traced back to 1918, when China had not yet completely broken away from feudal society and was devastated. At that time, *** was still a poor scholar who was penniless and had no talent.
Fortunately, his mentor couldn't bear to let his talent be buried in the troubled times, so he found him a job as a librarian at Peking University, where he taught.
Although the salary of this job is meager, only three silver dollars per month, *** cherishes it very much. What he pursued here was not the improvement of material life, but a strong literary atmosphere.
Here he feels that he is still a cultural person, not a low-level person struggling in troubled times. ”
After returning from studying abroad, Hu Shi single-handedly promoted the development of the New Culture Movement, and his magazine "New Youth" published a number of literary works, opening up a new path for vernacular writing.
**I was deeply attracted by Hu Shi's articles, and admired his profound writing skills and broad world view.
After years of education in the feudal tradition, Hu Shi and others began to advocate vernacular writing and the simplicity of daily communication. Despite pressure from their opponents, they stuck to their ideals and succeeded in making vernacular Chinese popular in the capital, eventually replacing classical Chinese as the basic mode of daily communication.
By chance, ** met Hu Shi, and asked Hu Shi about the literary problems that had plagued him for a long time, saying that he would definitely go to audit Hu Shi's class if he had time.
After the two met, ** admitted that he was a student of Hu Shi until the founding of New China.
In the deep friendship between *** and Hu Shi, the two used to be close and respected each other. **Regarded Hu Shi as his literary mentor, he often asked him all kinds of questions, and Hu Shi would answer them patiently.
However, a twist of fate caused a rift in this friendship. One of these incidents occurred in March 1945, when Hu Shih, as a key member of the Chinese Embassy in the United States, was invited to a Chinese gathering.
At this gathering, the outcome of the war was already apparent, and the division of power in the country became an inevitable topic. The Comintern recognized the character traits of Chiang Kai-shek, who believed that there could be no two regimes in one country and that war would inevitably break out.
This incident made *** feel disappointed in Hu Shi, and their relationship became estranged because of it. Despite this, the experience of this friendship still made *** and Hu Shi maintain respect for each other.
Before the war, it became crucial to enlist the support of a giant like Hu Shih, who enjoyed a reputation, prestige, and influence at home. Dong Biwu expressed his thoughts with a modest attitude, thinking that Hu Shi would support the work of our party because of his friendship with ***, but the result was unexpected.
Hu Shi resolutely rejected Dong Biwu's overtures, and openly stated that domestic power should be elected by the people's vote, not by co-opting and provoking war. This was a short-sighted idea, as Chiang Kai-shek could not have done so.
After Dong Biwu learned that persuasion was hopeless, he turned to communication with others. When the matter was reported back to China, ** was also very disappointed. Although he lost the support of his old friends, he still adhered to the basic principle of peace and fought for the greatest rights and interests of the communist organization.
Hu Shi supported the Kuomintang and called on the Communist Party not to use force, so that *** was disappointed in Hu Shih. Hu Shih chose to stay in the United States to further his literary career, and then became an academician of the Taiwan Institute of Chinese Studies, and the contact between the two was severed.
After Hu Shi read ***'s "** Poetry Collection" and made relevant remarks, the two had a short exchange. It can be seen from ***'s remarks about Hu Shi that although he is still haunted by Hu Shi's choice back then, he has forgiven his old friend and misses him very much.