Wang Zengqi: Even if it's light to the extreme, it's still thick

2023-04-03

Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of Wang Zengqi's Birth

Follow Mr. Wang to appreciate beautiful writing

Follow Mr. Wang to enjoy the beautiful scenery

Follow old Wang to taste the delicacies

Wang Zengqi: Plain to the point of being intense.

Poet Niu Pi MingmingModern and Contemporary Literature

Today's China, to be soberly realistic, is very different from the traditional China of the past. Society is developing rapidly, and people have grown up under consumerism and materialism, accustomed to the fast pace and heavy aesthetics, and have lost the ability to“slow”and“moderate”.

This year is the100th anniversary of the birth of Mr. Wang Zengqi, and I want to talk to you all about this lovely old man.

***In the past few decades, people may have seen some articles on the Internet, many of which are competing to be forwarded by people. These articles have a common feature, that is, they are particularly strong, particularly combative, and particularly smart. Every word seems to have a specific use. But I read them and always feel that something is wrong with these articles.

Why not?Because these articles are all particularly thick, thick to the point of not being right.

The writer we are going to talk about today, Wang Zengqi, is not such a strong writer. His articles are very light, so light that readers can hardly see the purpose in his words. The book we are going to talk about today, "Slow-cooked Life", is such a book that is so light as to be almost***.

So let's take a look at how Mr. Wang Zengqi is so indifferent.

Today, we have selected to read "Slow-cooked Life", which fully includes the well-known works of Wang Zengqi such as "Five Flavors", "Rains in Kunming", "Plants and Things in the World", "Starry Skies in His Writings, A Child of the World in His Person", and also adds rare works such as "Cat", "A Technique", "Anecdotes of Famous Artists", "Monks", "A Generation of Ancients".

The whole book, starting from various themes such as flowers, birds, fish, insects, nostalgia of the countryside, folk customs, trivial matters of ordinary people, and travel observations, exhaustively showcases the spiritual world of a generation"Life MasterWang Zengqiand his interests in life.

Wang Zengqi said:“You have been working hard and are very tired. So sit down for a while, have a cup of tea that is neither too cold nor too hot, and read some of my works.”

He wrote all about the grass and trees of the world, the food of the four directions, the travelers of the horizon, and the memories of old friends. It can be said that his words are like his person, without fancy rhetoric, like a bowl of white porridge cooked just right, simmered over a low fire, the essence of the greatest flavor lies in its simplest form.

The slowness in his books is not procrastination, but leisurely ease. The tranquility in his books is not insipidity, but a subtle flavor.

For example, what would he write in this book? He would write cut watermelon.

In summer we all cut watermelon, and everyone feels there is nothing to write about, but Wang Zengqi insists on writing a special piece about cutting watermelon. He says:

First, soak the watermelon in the well, then take it out and cut it with one swing, there will be a sound and a burst of coolness, even your eyes will feel cool.

He just wrote a very ordinary thing about cutting a watermelon, not complicated at all, not dramatic at all. But he can write such a subtle and interesting feeling like "the cool air was so refreshing, even my eyes felt cool".

Although it is written very lightly, it is really light and interesting.

For example, in this book, he often writes“slow”, what kind of slow is it? It's slow and interesting.

For example, he wrote about his time at the Southwest Associated University“Running警 drills”, which was during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and every other day in Kunming there would be an air-raid siren, and when the siren went off, all the teachers and students had to evacuate.

Wang Zengqi had a classmate named Ma, who, when the air-raid siren of Southwest Associated University went off, would carry a kettle of water, a bit of food, and a roll of Li Shangyin's poetry, walk to the suburbs, and only return when the sun was west of its meridian, and he judged that the Japanese planes would not come.

There was also a girl with the surname Luo who, whenever the alarm went off, would wash her hair. When everyone else had left, no one used the hot water in the boiler room, so she would open it up and wash.

Another boy with the surname Zheng, who loved lotus seeds, would take a large wash basin and go to the boiler stove to cook the lotus seeds whenever the alarm sounded. By the time the alarm was lifted, his lotus seeds were ready.

Once, Japanese planes bombed the United Nations, dropping bombs on both the north and south campuses. This old brother, who loves lotus seeds, heard the bombs exploding not far away while he was slowly stirring his rock sugar lotus seeds on the boiler. Later, this classmate was also filmed in the movie "No West, No East".

Teachers of the Southwest Associated University teaching outdoors

The background of Wang Zengqi's articles is mostly troubled times. But he is not interested in“troubled times”as a big background, he is not interested in the politics, people's livelihood, economy, education, medical treatment, military and other aspects of troubled times.

As a scholar, he is interested in"slowness"and"indifference"in troubled times.

No matter how the wind and clouds change, people's daily life is still indestructible. Even if the artillery fire is continuous, we still have to eat, sleep, and love. We should burn incense, have children, and do what we have to do, no matter what the weather is like. This is his life philosophy, no matter how bad the times and environment are, we still have to be optimistic and live a calm life.

In fact, Wang Zengqi's plainness contains the traditional Chinese philosophy. The great taste is plain, a bit of Zhuangzi's flavor. It has to be said that plainness and concentration are actually a very relative concept. From another point of view, the plainness is also浓.

Wang Zengqi's tranquility has a touch of Tao Yuanming's. This philosophy of tranquility and slowness, when summarized, will remind us of a familiar line from Tao's poem:

Picking chrysanthemums under the eastern fence, leisurely I see the southern mountain.

In fact, we can understand Wang Zengqi as a modern Tao Yuanming.

Speaking of Wang Zengqi, in the eyes of many people, his articles mostly concern about food and drink, and he is a writer who has written about food to the***.

For example, when he writes about the salted duck eggs of Gaoyou, the soy milk of Beijing, the river pork of Jiangyin, and the cured meat of Hunan, it makes people drool and exclaim with pleasure.

Even once Wang Zengqi was called a food writer, which is actually groundless and is just a bunch of nonsense from people who don't read books.

If you have read his complete works, you will find that the proportion of his works on food is actually very small, less than ten percent. His real literary achievements come from his novels, such as "Receiving the戒" and "The Great Pool", which describe the fireworks of traditional China, as well as the decline of the great era and the delicacy of the small characters.

He wrote about food, mostly in his80s, when he was reminiscing about his hometown. As people enter their old age, they often start to recall some beautiful things, so he picked up his pen to write them down. As Mu Xin said, in old age, people still eat the taste of their childhood. Therefore, what Mr. Wang Zengqi wrote down was not just about food, but also about his memories.

There is no doubt that Wang Zengqi is a precious foodie in China.

When it comes to gourmets, many people would definitely say, I am more likely to enjoy food, I have tasted all the delicacies of the mountains and the sea. Is such a person a gourmet? There are also many people on video websites who are always looking for the taste of the world. Are they gourmets? I don't think so!

So let's take a look at Wang Zengqi's food.

If you read Wang Zengqi's works carefully, you will find that people now call Wang Zengqi a foodie, but in fact, the variety of food in his works is not rich, the price is not expensive, there is no mountain delicacy or seafood, and even no big fish and meat.

He wrote all about the daily food, from potatoes, radish, duck eggs, young bamboo shoots, pickles, bitter melon, to fried rice, tea noodles, tofu, shepherd's purse, osmanthus, goji berries, wild vegetables, shredded radish, dried silk, twice-cooked youtiao, and so on.

Some people might laugh when they see this, what kind of foodie is this, without any delicacies of the world, without any mountain or sea treasures, without a bit of Italian white truffle, or ever had caviar, Hokkaido melon, nothing, what can this be called a foodie?

Wang Zengqi could be a foodie, because in his eyes, everything has philosophy. When the Creator creates things, He is actually fair. Who can say that in the eyes of God, a potato and an Italian white truffle are noble or humble? I don't think so!

And Wang Zengqi, also views the food itself in such a way. It is these ingredients that are the most common, once they fall into his pen, will become vivid and colorful. That is because, he writes every ingredient with full emotion, and he does not bring any bias when he writes.

In the eyes of the Creator, any ingredient is equal, it is only later that people have divided them into three sixes and nine. The ingredients in the eyes of Wang Zengqi are no different in terms of any superiority or inferiority.

And today, we so-called gourmets, most of the time are not eating delicacies, but comparing delicacies, comparing which dish is expensive, comparing which ingredient is valuable. Strictly speaking, we only have a sense of comparison, and there is no real gourmet.

What is a foodie? One is a mindset, a respect for all things, without a mindset of contempt. The second is culture, eating is culture, not a comparison, not a show, but a love.

The gourmets we have today on all the major video websites are really far behind Mr. Wang Zengqi, and they really should be given a good lesson by Mr. Wang Zengqi.

Because they are wrong from the start, the motivation is all wrong, stupid and unaware, reckless and unawares.

The cooking of Wang Zengqi

To return to a literary figure like Wang Zengqi.

Wang Zengqi had no prejudice against food, nor against people. In his works, the Emperor of Jade is on the same level as the street beggar. Artisans, monks, actors, and prostitutes are often written together, and there is no discrimination in his works.

In life, Wang Zengqi had no prejudice against people, he could play with the elderly when he was young and with children when he was old. Sometimes you have to admire Mr. Wang Zengqi's mentality, what is a cow, such a mentality is very powerful.

It's the same with writing about troubled times. If Lu Xun were to write about it, I believe he would be fierce, critical, and angry, but Wang Zengqiu is not fierce, not critical. He has no interest in that.

Lu Xun is a warrior, while Wang Zengqi is a scholar.

Frankly speaking, Wang Zengqi is a wonderful writer, but not a great writer. However, this does not affect the value of Wang Zengqi. We love Lu Xun, need Lu Xun, and also need Wang Zengqi.

Wang Zengqi's writing is always light and tranquil, which is determined by Wang Zengqi's personality and temperament.

A country needs writers like Lu Xun, and it also needs writers like Wang Zengqi. Writers like Lu Xun fight for people, while writers like Wang Zengqi complete the life after the fight, that is, a life with fireworks.

It is very important to understand this, otherwise we can not understand the difference between Wang Zengqi and other writers.

Wang Zengqi was born in1920, in Gaoyou, Jiangsu, a typical water town in the south of the Yangtze River, located under the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, so a Western critic said that Wang Zengqi's works are full of water.

Wang Zengqi's kind of“smell of life”is actually cultivated since childhood.

His grandfather was a scholar of the former Qing Dynasty, and he taught him to read the Analects of Confucius since childhood, and there were fields of more than 2,000 mu, two pharmaceutical stores, and thousands of rooms in the house, making it a very wealthy family, and could be considered the richest family in the area. His grandfather was a doctor all his life, and he had a salve, as soon as someone came and said they had an eye disease, the grandfather always took people into the house, picked out a piece, applied it, and it was cured in a few days, and never charged any money.

Later to Wang Zengqi's father, his father could be said to be a versatile person.

Wang Zengqi's father was an athlete in his youth, he played as a defender in the football team, he was also a pole vaulter, and he had won a *** in the Jiangsu Provincial Games. He was also a single bar gymnast, could swim, and ride a horse. He was also a great talent, could paint, carve seals, and play various instruments, there are dozens of instruments he can play, as long as they are in his hands, he can have a look. Wang Zengqi's father also likes to raise crickets, raise golden bells, and raise a kind of potted plant called“White Heart Orchid”. He especially likes to paint, bought a lot of paintings, and even included Qi Baishi's paintings.

His father is easy-going and rarely loses his temper. His father also likes children very much and often flies kites with them. Every spring, he uses very expensive silk threads to make kites, saying that this kind of thread does not bend. Therefore, his father has always been called “Childish” by his aunt Wang Zengqi.

His father took a permissive attitude toward his studies, and did not push him. Although Wang Zengqi was not good at mathematics, he did not blame him, saying that as long as he passed, that was all right.

Wang Zengqi's father had a wide circle of friends in his life, including monks, scholars and officials. When he remarried for the second time, a scroll of a monk was hung in the new home, on which there was a painting of several peach branches and two swallows in gold ink on paper, with the inscription:

“Mr. Tan, your younger brother, and Mr. Iron Bridge write a congratulatory message”。

This is Wang Zengqi's father, unbound and without taboos. He was not bound by conventions, hanging a painting by a monk in the new house, and when Wang Zengqi was still in elementary school, he also felt that his father was a bit"""

What kind of person does Wang Zengqi grow up in such a family?

At seventeen, Wang Zengqi had his first love, and during the summer vacation, he wrote love letters at home, with his father offering advice.

Wang Zengqi learned to smoke and drink in his teens. When his father drank, he poured a glass for him too, he smoked two cigarettes at a time, one for him and one for me, and he always lit him first.

That was1938China, where such families were actually uncommon, and their father-son relationship was like that of brothers, so, Wang Zengqi later wrote an article called "Many Years a Father and Son Are Brothers".

Wang Zengqi's father and Wang Zengqi became brothers, so what about Wang Zengqi? He also naturally became brothers with his son and grandson.

Wang Zengqi's attitude towards his son is also very easygoing. Whether it is dating or career, he believes in his own choices and never interferes. The relationship is also like that of brothers. Sometimes his son calls him "Dad", sometimes he calls him ""Old Man"".

Later on, when Wang Zengqi had a granddaughter, she didn't call him grandpa, but also called him ""Old Man"".

More than that, many writer friends, whether male or female, old or young, call him“old man”.

Wang Zengqi and his family

In Wang Zengqi's home, the father-son relationship was transformed into a brotherly one, and the grandfather-grandson relationship was also sometimes blurred. Wang Zengqi often wrote novels in his house, and after finishing a piece, he would let the children read it. Everyone said that the old man's writing was not good, and Wang Zengqi said, "I am going to be included in the history of literature."

The granddaughter spoke first, saying:“Old man, you can stop it”.

The old man was not angry either. It is said that Wang Zengqi is a foodie, but in fact, Wang Zengqi may not be able to cook. Once, he told his son that he wanted to eat a young chicken. When his son bought it back, Wang Zengqi did not dare to kill the living being, he was unwilling to, and he kept it for several weeks.

This is the environment of Wang Zengqi's family. I also hope that the educational method of Wang Zengqi can give some inspiration to friends who hear this lesson when educating their children.

When we know these, we can know why Wang Zengqi can be different from other writers.

As the saying goes, his articles are like his character, simple and flowing, calm and leisurely. Reading his words, it feels as if you could smell the lotus fragrance of the south of the Yangtze River by opening the window.

Wang Zengqi once candidly said: What I pursue is not depth, but harmony.

Harmony between all things, around us, all around, there is a certain flavor of harmony, in which there is no competition, no anger, no joy, no sorrow, this very Chinese-style pastoral spirit, in Mr. Wang Zengqi, is all revealed.

Wang Zengqi and Shen Congwen

Everyone knows that Wang Zengqi was a student of Shen Congwen, and even in writing novels, they are very similar, both like to write about their hometown, both like to write about the plain, both are uncontentious personality.

19 years old, Wang Zengqi did not finish high school, but was admitted to the Southwest Associated University, which had just been established. He set out from his hometown, Gaoyou, and after a long journey, he arrived in Kunming via Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Vietnam, becoming a student of Shen Congwen.

In those days, when he was taking a creative writing course, Wang Zengqi wrote a story for Shen Congwen to correct, in which there was a lot of dialogue between two characters, which was very beautiful, poetic and philosophical.

But Shen Congwen told him: This is not a character conversation, it's a fight between two smart heads. Remember, a conversation should be written in line with the characters.

Shen Congwen's teaching had a profound impact on Wang Zengqi. From then on, he knew that character dialogues should be written as simply as possible. His writing style also began to take shape during this period, and he was recognized by Shen Congwen as a *prominent student.

1940 year, Wang Zengqi was in his second year of college and suffered his first heartbreak.

Because he was young and vulnerable, he was extremely shocked after a breakup and even wanted to commit suicide. The dormitory manager, seeing him confined to his room for two days and two nights without getting up, thought he was overwhelmed with grief and was afraid to go find his friends. His friends, upon learning this, ran straight to the dormitory and shouted at him:

“Get up, go eat and drink!”

After speaking, he picked up Wang Zengqi and went to a small restaurant, ordering two bowls of rice noodles and a pot of wine. Wang Zengqi sat down, ate the rice noodles and drank the wine, and the pain of the breakup was all better.

That's the character of Wang Zengqi, the biggest thing can't compare with a bowl of rice noodles, a meal of wine.

Wang Zengqi is such a person, even if it is painful, as long as he eats the fireworks of the world, he can heal himself. He is a person who knows the world with his mouth. He went to university in Kunming for four years, ate everywhere, and the days were comfortable and leisurely.

Many people may think that a character like Mr. Wang Zengqi should have a smooth life, but in fact, Mr. Wang Zengqi has wandered to many places in his life, and a peaceful life is rare.

Graduated from Southwest Associated University, he first taught in a middle school in Yunnan,50. In the 1950s, Wang Zengqi also taught and worked as an editor in Wuhan and Beijing.In 1958, he was mistakenly labeled as a rightist because his unit, "Folk Literature", had a surplus of rightists.In the 1960s, Wang Zengqi was stripped of his rightist label, but he was once again caught up in the Cultural Revolution.

If you only read Wang Zengqi's words, you might not imagine the ups and downs he experienced in his life. The turmoil he went through is no less than that of his peers, but he rarely wrote about these experiences.

After the Cultural Revolution, the old writers such as Shen Congwen, Ba Jin, Mao Dun, and Ye Shuetao no longer wrote novels. The only old writer who was still writing novels was actually Yang Jiang, and Wang Zengqi.

It is worth mentioning that before80s, Wang Zengqi had been writing for more than30 years, but in fact, he was not very famous. It was not until the80s that he was called a famous old writer.

As for the reasons, it is actually very easy to understand, in80the years before, what kind of China was China?

That was a class enemy China, a China of life and death. But in Wang Zengqi's eyes, there was no class and class struggle, no good guys and bad guys, no enemies and friends. There were only people, only the daily life of people.

But in such a fierce background, Wang Zengqi's works were not popular, because they did not undertake the mission of the times, did not have so much significance, and it was not until the80年代, when everything was to be restored, and the humanistic trend of thought was set off, that Wang Zengqi became famous.

Somebody asked Wang Zengqi: How did you become a writer?

He said: I looked around, and for some reason, I became a writer.

This is Wang Zengqi, Wang Zengqi has an article called "Hahaha, Lin Jinlan", which also can't help but say "Hahaha, Wang Zengqi".

Wang Zengqi in his later years

80in the 1980s, Wang Zengqi was called“one of the literati in China***”。

First of all,80the old writers after the 80s, only Wang Zengqi is still writing the literary spirit of traditional China, and has kept the ***of the literary spirit. The Chinese literature we saw later is actually seriously westernized, and the Chinese-style literary spirit has gradually disappeared.

Secondly, because Wang Zengqi had a good foundation of old learning in family education, and also received modern education at that time in China. The sentiment of the old literati and the intelligence of the new scholars are perfectly integrated in him.

Nowadays, there are few Chinese writers who can write like him. Either they lack the foundation of traditional culture, or they lack the intelligence of the new era, and it is impossible to have a second Wang Zengqi.

In Wang Zengqi's works, more than a third of the novels are set in his hometown of Gaoyou, which does not include the essays he wrote about his hometown. He left Gaoyou at the age of 19, and all the texts he wrote about Gaoyou are actually reconstructions of memories.

It was 42 years before he returned to his hometown and stood once more by the marshes.By then, he had become a calling card of sorts for the old place.

1997 5 16 Wang Zengqi passed away due to illness on77

According to Wang Enqi's son Wang Lang's recollection, Wang Enqi's later years were more leisurely, slowly cooking a small dish, slowly savoring a pot of clear tea, slowly painting a small painting, slowly writing an article.

He believes that life itself is leisurely and slow, and the article should also be leisurely and slow.

2020, the year of the 100th anniversary of Wang Zengqi's birth, the Wang Zengqi Memorial Hall in Gaoyou was officially opened. At the opening ceremony, Wang Lang said:

“Now that the old man is no longer with us, the local villagers have still invested a lot of money to establish this memorial hall for him, which makes us feel a bit uneasy. This money could have been used to do many practical things to benefit more villagers.”

Wang Lang's modesty and decorum, I think, are very much like his father, Wang Zengqi.

This is also worth teaching a lesson to many people now. Many of those who ride on their ancestors, who are not even related, claim to be the descendants of someone or the other. It's really funny.

Mr. Wang also said that in recent years, the old man's reputation has grown and grown, and his character is something that we, his children, can learn from. But his writing talent, which cannot be inherited, is also quite embarrassing.

In fact, it's not just Wang Zengqi's writing talent that can't be inherited. The traditional China depicted in his works, the delicate food and drink, the relaxed and measured attitude towards life, and the poetic and long-lasting literary spirit are also hard to reproduce.

Wang Zengqi once said in1982：Modern novels are fast food, they are like sesame pancakes or hamburgers.

He seems to have foretold the arrival of the present fast food culture era.

In "Slow-cooked Life", Wang Zengqi said:

I hope my works can benefit the world and people. You have worked hard and are very tired, so sit down and rest for a while, drink a cup of tea that is not too hot or too cold, and read some of my works.

In his writing, the lovely old man seems to leap from the page, chatting away to you on his own.

In this era, if there were a few more old men like Wang Zengqi, it probably wouldn't be so boring!

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