Xu Zhimo: Smoking and culture

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Xu Zhimo

(Poet)

I think that the scholars who are now busy are looking for food, officials, and revolutionary leaders, and no one is allowed to be idle, and no one is willing to be idle.

One

Oxford is one of the most prestigious institutions in the world. The secret of Oxford is its mentorship. The mentor's secret, according to Professor Likak, was "aimed at his apprentices to smoke." Really, it's a hassle to find a non-smoking student in Oxford or Cambridge – not to mention sir. Learn to smoke, learn to sit weirdly on the couch, learn to talk half--and-200s – a college education is enough. "Oxfordians", "Cambridges": Isn't it shaky enough? If I had money to run a school, Likak said, the first thing I have to do is build a smoking room, then a dormitory, a library again; I really have to build a classroom when I have money and no place to spend.

Two

No wonder some people say that British students will eat cigarettes and be lazy. Stinky gentleman's shelf! Stinky gentleman! No wonder we are uncomfortable with the thorns on our vests this year, it turns out that there are a few broken gentlemen called Tuba smoke and smell among us!

Speak cautiously these days. The uk is a suspect. Aristocratism! imperialism! minion! Dig a pit and bury him!

It's not that simple. Aggression, oppression, the curse is one thing, other things can not follow. At least we have to recognize Britain, in itself, as a standing country, and the British as a people with a presence. It's an organized life, it's a culture of vitality. We must also admit that Oxford or Cambridge is at least a very enviable institution of learning, and they are the womb of British cultural life. How many great politicians, scholars, poets, artists, and scientists were smoked by the children of these two institutions, the smell of smoke.

Three

Likak's words are not exactly playful. "Smokingism" is worth studying. But what exactly is going on in a smoking room? How to draw the essence of culture in the pipe? How is it that students smoke the secret of British education? Mr. Likak did not describe the truth of life in Oxford or Cambridge; he said only that, he did not utter a single reason. Maybe anyone would like to hear it, I suppose. I also studied in england for two years, most of the time in Cambridge. But strictly speaking, I am still not qualified. I didn't go out of the big gold pound to ask for smoking officially like my friend Mr. Wen Yuanning: I was just, for example, roasted small and half-cooked sweet potatoes, just away from the scorched flavor. But my time in Kangqiao was truly blessed, and I was afraid that I would never get such a sweet opportunity in my life. I dare not say how much Cambridge has taught me or what I have taught. I dare not say that after being baptized by Kangqiao, a person will change his breath and get rid of the mortal fetus. All I dare to say is that, personally, my eyes were taught to open by Cambridge, my curiosity was stirred by Cambridge, and my sense of self was embryon by Cambridge. I had two full years in the U.S. and two full years in the U.K. In the United States I was busy taking classes, listening to lectures, writing exam papers, nibbling on gummy, watching movies, gambling spells, and in Cambridge I was busy walking, boating, riding a spinning car, smoking, gossiping, eating five o'clock tea, butter scones, reading idle books. If I had been an unambiguous straw bag when I arrived in the United States, I had not moved in the same way when I left liberty; but if I had not understood it when I was in the United States, I had at least understood that my life in Cambridge had been just a stomach full of trouble. This cannot be considered small, respectively.

I wanted to talk about Kangqiao a long time ago, and I have infinite tenderness for it. But I was afraid of desecrating it as if it had never been exported. This year! As long as the "aristocratic education" is an unconscious slogan, it can erase the alma maters from which Newton, Darwin, Milton, Byron, Wattsworth, Arnold, Newgate, Rochati, Grestston, etc. have ever come. Besides, the transportation has been convenient over the years, and all kinds of ever-changing educational principles and educational new systems have flown from all directions to China, and where can the old academy that has allowed the kitchen to be more than four hundred years old and the walls are crawling with rattan and cane to come to the pulpit together?

Four

But looking in another direction, we also see a small number of insightful people who can no longer see the chaotic phenomenon of domestic higher education, and want to jump out of the ravaged road and turn around and find a new way. Looking out, the ready-made colleges with Oxford and Kangqiao green vines beckon you to smile; looking back, the academy such as the White Deer Cave in the sound of the flying spring under the Five Old Peaks is staring at you with pity. The degree to which this romantic homesickness follows the ugliness of modern education is as deep as a day in the hearts of a few people. This mechanical, buy-and-sell education is boring enough, we say. We also want a few high-pitched houses full of creepers to rest our spirituality, we say. We also want an environment of absolute leisure to allow our minds to develop freely, we say.

Mr. Lin Yutang published an article in Modern Review about his ideals of education. The new Mr. Shu Yong and his wife, Ms. Chen Hengzhe, also expressed their ideals for education. Mr. Lin's meaning is that he wants to emulate a school like Oxford; Chen and Ren want to restore the spirit of the college system. I think these two articles are very important, especially the specific proposals of Chen and Ren, but because it is clearly inappropriate to drive backwards and turn back, the meaning of several of them has not received the expected echo. I think that the scholars of the present day are very busy, looking for food, serving as officials, and being leaders of the revolution, no one is allowed to be idle, no one is willing to be idle, and as a result, of course, no one cares about pure education (learning without any motives) or personality education. This is a regrettable phenomenon.

I myself am one who deeply feels this romantic homesickness; I only want the grass to be far away, first-class and cold...

But is there a day when we can reach this state of hope?

January 14, 15

The source of this article: Xu Zhimo's Classic Prose, Shandong Literature and Art Publishing House, 2018 edition.

END