China News Service, Tianjin, March 11th: Entering the "post-80s" Feng Jicai: the experience of life is richer
China News Service reporter Zhang Daozheng
Feng Jicai, a well-known Chinese writer and former vice-chairman of the Democratic Progressive Central Committee, is 80 years old this year.
This legendary figure in contemporary Chinese literary circles does not seem to be old, and has always maintained an offensive attitude.
Literature, painting, cultural heritage protection, education, collection... have left his deep footprints in many fields and are still innovating today.
Just recently, Feng Jicai's two new works - a full-color graphic essay collection "A Cave in the Studio" and a new collection of short stories and novels "The Danube Gorge" were published, attracting attention from all parties.
A reporter from China News Agency interviewed Feng Jicai a few days ago and asked him to talk about his feelings, experiences and experiences behind these achievements, and to explore how an energetic literati "expanded territory" in multiple fields and disciplines.
In 2015, Feng Jicai introduced the museum to the guests.
Photo by Zhang Daozheng
Talking about age: the longer you live, the richer your life experience will be
March 11 is Feng Jicai's 80th birthday.
In the year of the stick, the feeling is naturally different.
Looking back on his life, Feng Jicai recalled that in the early 1980s, in the era of reform and opening up, he was full of creative passion and wrote hundreds of thousands of words a year.
Mr. Yan Wenjing, a senior writer, once wrote a letter to Feng Jicai, and he wrote a sentence in it, which impressed Feng Jicai deeply.
"What he means is: Feng Jicai, you must work hard to live longer. Only when you live for a long time will you have a deeper understanding of life. Because at different ages, you have a deep understanding of life, destiny, people, and life. The understanding of many things is different; only when you live a long life and see all aspects of life, the experience of life may be richer and deeper." Feng Jicai said.
For his 80th birthday, Feng Jicai also had two thoughts.
"One is to eat a bowl of noodles with my mother. This bowl of noodles is very meaningful. Maybe it will inspire me to write an essay. Because my mother is 105 years old this year, my 80-year-old can still look at me. My own mother is too rare. Another idea is to hold an activity in our college. This activity is not for my birthday, but to talk about my birthday and do a little research. "
Feng Jicai said that some writers were born in their hometown and flew away when they grew up. Like birds, they go into society and have a lot of life experience.
But he is different. For the past 80 years since he was born, he has been basically in Tianjin, all on a piece of land.
"I want to spark a discussion. Through my relationship with Tianjin, what kind of relationship should an intellectual have with his homeland? I think this discussion should be meaningful."
The picture shows Feng Jicai taking pictures after completing the draft of the new book.
Photo courtesy of Writers Publishing House
Talking about painting: for me, painting is a more personal thing
As we all know, painting has occupied a very important position in Feng Jicai's 80-year life course, and is called one of his "four carriages".
He also maintained a long-term friendship with painters such as Han Meilin.
Feng Jicai studied painting under a teacher at the age of 14 or 15. When he was young, he made a living by copying ancient paintings, and later turned to glass painting.
When he was young, it took him one year and three months to complete the long scroll of "Along the River During Qingming Festival". He was taken to New York by a "Chinese American" who spoke well, and he wanted to keep the photos.
The story that has been entangled with "Across the River at Qingming Festival" for decades was written by Feng Jicai in his new work "A Cave in the Studio". Looking back on "Along the River at Qingming Festival" that was taken away by "Chinese-Americans", Feng Jicai said: "I have been plundered. The feeling of being swept away, and being plundered empty." But he also comforted himself: "Trust mostly comes from a kind of trust or touching. The most beautiful things in the world have not been taken away, they are still in me."
For his beloved painting, Feng Jicai is still continuing. He believes that painting is a more personal thing for him, and it is more of a personal feeling of spiritual life, a kind of distraction and expression.
Literature is more responsible for society, thinking about life, and understanding life together with readers.
Feng Jicai told reporters that painting also influenced his literary writing.
"When I'm writing, I can see the characters in his works."
When it comes to writing and painting, Feng Jicai believes that there is no need to allocate time. "My studio and study are at the two ends of a corridor at home. When I have the urge to create literature, I must go to the study and bury my head in writing; when I have the desire to paint , I went to the studio, it was a sweet round trip, and this feeling is sometimes very happy."
On Creation: Leaving an Aesthetic Image for Literature
Feng Jicai's literary achievements are recognized, and his first identity is also a writer.
From the 1970s to the present, he has been writing continuously.
"Carved Tobacco Pipe" won the National Outstanding Short Story Award in 1979, and his "Pearl Bird" and "Picking Mountain Workers" were even more famous in elementary school Chinese textbooks.
Over the past 40 years, Feng Jicai has continuously created literary works and has also won various literary awards.
On December 18, 2021, at the 19th Hundred Flowers Literary Award Ceremony, he also won the short story award for "Wooden Buddha", sharing the stage with several generations of writers, making a group of writers born in the 1980s and 1990s sigh.
"My love for literature seems to be innate." Feng Jicai said that when he has a passion for life, he must express it in words, which is the nature of people who engage in literature.
"I love literature, so even when I'm doing cultural heritage rescue, I often have literary impulses and imaginations."
Now, with plenty of time for literary creation, Feng Jicai discovered that it was different from the previous writing.
He said: "In the past, I probably wanted to know life with readers, but now I feel like returning to life. In addition, I think literature has a very important mission, which is to leave an aesthetic image, a writer's thinking about the times. , the understanding and understanding of life, including philosophical thinking, should be reflected through aesthetic images.”
This kind of writing is the joy of aesthetic creation, and it also prompted Feng Jicai to write one by one.
"Some reporters asked me what plans I have, and sometimes I don't seem to have any plans, because I have had too much depressing time in the past, I have accumulated too much in 20 years of life, and I have seen too much. I want to write about it." Feng Jicai He said that now he will adhere to a standard, that is, to create literature as a work of art, it must have aesthetic value, and in addition, the language must be precise, which is also the tradition of Chinese literature.
Talking about the protection of intangible cultural heritage: I gave my heart to the earth
Since the 1990s, Feng Jicai has led the team and devoted himself to the rescue of cultural heritage for almost 20 years. Carpet cultural census and finishing work.
In order to raise funds to protect folk culture, Feng Jicai can't remember how many paintings he sold in those years.
However, when talking about the experience of selling paintings, he summed it up in one sentence: "Selling paintings cannot save folk art."
"The protection of China's intangible cultural heritage that has been sorted out now has formed a four-level list of national, provincial, municipal and county levels, of which more than 1,300 items have been listed at the national level, and hundreds of thousands of cultural heritage items have been included in the other three-level lists. So many. Cultural heritage, what role can you play by selling a little painting?!" Feng Jicai said, "But I know it plays a role, that is, some people must think, why does Feng Jicai sell his own paintings? What is the importance, let him You have to sell your paintings?! I think it can make people think.”
Recalling the experience of selling paintings in the Suzhou Museum, Feng Jicai is still full of emotion: "When those paintings are taken away, I have a feeling of being a homeless person. At that time, I had a sense of tragic and solemnity. Later, I said something, I said that I like to do it. There is a sense of tragic and solemnity in things. As a man, I feel that this sense of tragic and solemnity can inspire myself, and I give my heart to the earth.
For the protection of intangible cultural heritage, Feng Jicai did not even have time to engage in literary creation.
But looking back on this experience, he bluntly said that he has no regrets: "If I were to go back to 60 now, I would still have to put down the novel and go to the scene of cultural heritage protection. Besides, there are still new problems in cultural heritage protection. There's a lot of stuff that hasn't been done."
Feng Jicai believes that there is a very important rational thing in the rescue of cultural heritage, that is, it is necessary to recognize its value and significance. This meaning and value are not personal, but national and future. This must be done for future generations.
Feng Jicai's study.
Photo courtesy of Writers Publishing House
Talking about education: Discipline construction and cultural heritage protection go hand in hand
Feng Ji is an activist among intellectuals. In addition to personally participating in the "intangible cultural heritage protection" action, he uses his body to measure the earth.
He is also good at dancing, putting deeper thinking and longer-term plans into reality.
One of the carriers is the Feng Jicai Institute of Literature and Art of Tianjin University, which is one of the earliest units engaged in the construction of intangible cultural heritage in China.
"Disciplinary construction and cultural heritage protection are in the same line. If I said that in the first 20 years, what I mainly did was the protective rescue of cultural heritage, what I want to do today is scientific protection." Feng Jicai said that through the efforts of a generation for more than 20 years, the The cultural heritage has been rescued. "But we have no standards for protection, no norms, and no professional talents. I am still worried, so we must start such intangible cultural heritage education in universities."
Today, the Feng Jicai Institute of Literature and Art of Tianjin University is divided into two parts: the Teaching and Research Department and the Museum Department.
Teaching and research content includes modern and contemporary literature research, cultural heritage research, folk art research, traditional village protection and development research, oral history research, etc.
There are three cultural research centers in the Ministry of Education and Research, namely the Chinese Woodblock New Year Pictures Research Center, the Chinese Traditional Village Protection and Development Research Center, and the Chinese Inherited Population History Research Institute; these three centers are not only national special research institutions, but also It is an academic base for graduate students to study and practice.
More than 40 master's and doctoral students have studied, worked and completed their studies here since 2002.
"As for the professional education of intangible cultural heritage, we must enter the system of higher education. Doing this is in the same line with the protection of cultural heritage, so I still insist on doing it." Feng Jicai said.
For future plans, Feng Jicai is still full of enthusiasm. Although he is 80 years old, he refuses to accept the old age.
"Frankly speaking, my mental age, including physical sensation, is still between 50 and 60 years old, and my imagination and sensitivity to things are also very smooth. I still love literature, the aesthetic creation of words, and the pen and ink. Still love these things." (End)