China News Service, Taipei, March 31st. Title: Bai Xianyong talks about Qi Bangyuan: "She is my role model."
China News Service reporter Yang Chengchen
As a well-known Taiwanese writer of his generation, Bai Xianyong and Qi Bangyuan met in the 1980s. The two hit it off at a family literary salon organized by another writer Lin Haiyin, and began a friendship that lasted nearly 40 years.
Recently, the news of Qi Bangyuan's death spread throughout the Chinese world, and cultural circles on both sides of the Taiwan Strait commemorated the centenarian in various ways. Bai Xianyong, who is busy celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Kunqu Opera Youth version of "The Peony Pavilion" in Taiwan, accepted an exclusive interview with a reporter from China News Service on March 31. He couldn't help but lament the departure of Qi Bangyuan, who was also a teacher and friend.
Bai Xianyong said: "She and I have a very close connection. Firstly, it is because of literary contacts, and secondly, we share the same concern for the country. Especially the second connection, we have a lot in common." "
A common experience that deeply impressed Bai Xianyong was in 2015, when the two attended a lecture on commemorating the victory of the Anti-Japanese War at Shih Hsin University in Taiwan. "It was the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War. After Mr. Qi's speech, many people shed tears, and I couldn't hold it back. After her speech, I walked over and hugged her. Her patriotism was so great. It’s moving.”
Qi Bangyuan's most well-known work is her autobiography "The Great River" written in Chinese, which has received numerous praises from both sides of the Taiwan Strait. This memoir, which describes the migration of his father and family from Liaoning to Taiwan during the turbulent years, has a similar historical background to the three biographies compiled by Bai Xianyong for his father Bai Chongxi.
Qi Bangyuan's father Qi Shiying was a political figure in the Republic of China. After he came to Taiwan with his family, he was suppressed because of his disagreement with the leaders of the government. "This is related to the history of my father (experience), and the two of them (Bai Chongxi and Qi Shiying) originally knew each other and had contacts." Bai Xianyong said that in their generation, writing the history of their fathers is an important task. A kind of "mutual support and support" for history.
Bai Xianyong is 13 years younger than Qi Bangyuan. He believes that Qi Bangyuan wrote "The Great River" (published in 2009) when she was over 80 years old. "I couldn't keep up with her in writing my father's biography. At that time, she often encouraged me. In my heart, she is my model and my role model."
From 2012 to 2020, Bai Xianyong successively released three biographies related to Bai Chongxi, which were combined into the "Father Trilogy". Qi Bangyuan originally intended to write a book review for her old friend, but she accidentally fell and was injured at home and was unable to continue writing. Bai Xianyong said: "The unfinished manuscript should still be at her home."
In the past 40 years, the two of them have spoken highly of each other's literary works on different occasions. Qi Bangyuan once said that Bai Xianyong's "Taipei People" has a "precocious calmness", and I have new feelings every time I read it; for Qi Bangyuan's book "China "Selected Modern Literature", Bai Xianyong commented that this is "the incense that continues literature." Both believe that "teaching people to see what the previous generation of intellectuals cared about and acted on is a bigger and more important thing than writing about themselves."
To this day, the literary works of Qi Bangyuan and Bai Xianyong still move readers on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Bai Xianyong believes that scholars on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are nostalgic for that period of history. Qi Bangyuan helps mainland readers see her personal experience through writing.
Qi Bangyuan chose to live alone in a nursing home in Guishan, Taoyuan in her later years. Bai Xianyong once drove to visit her. But in recent years, Qi Bangyuan has had fewer opportunities to get together with her old friends. "Coupled with the COVID-19 epidemic, she almost disappeared. I always asked friends to call her to greet her." Bai Xianyong said.
Bai Xianyong, who is nearly 87 years old, often feels grateful for Qi Bangyuan's affirmation of him over the years. "She has always valued me. She appreciates my novels such as "Evil Son" and "Taipei People" and often gives encouragement."
In his opinion, younger generations in Taiwan's cultural and educational circles respect Mr. Qi very much, respect her personality and her career. "She has a sense of righteousness in her body. I think she is the 'Song of Righteousness'." ( over)