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Tai Jingnong and his literary drinking friends

Wen | Zhang Honggang

In the autumn of 1936, at the invitation of Lin Jiqing, Tai Jingnong came to Qingdao from Xiamen University and served as a lecturer in the Department of Chinese of National Shandong University. In Qingdao, Tai Jingnong and Lao She, Ye Shisun and Deng Zhongchun saw each other as before.

Tai Jingnong (1903-1990), a native of Huoqiu, Anhui, was a scholar and calligrapher. Tai Jingnong attended the Department of Literature at Peking University and later transferred to the Institute of Peking University Studies. From August 1927, he successively taught at Beijing Sino-French University, Fu Jen University, Women's College of Arts and Sciences of Peking University, and Xiamen University.

Tai Jingnong and his literary drinking friends

Tai Jingnong was photographed in Qingdao in 1936

In the summer of 1936, when the National Shandong University was in a state of flux, the president Zhao Taiyou resigned and was represented by Lin Jiqing, and most of the scholars and celebrities also left. At that time, Lao She resigned from teaching at Shandong University, but did not leave Qingdao. Lin Jiqing reorganized his efforts, recruited talents, retained well-known scholars, supplemented the teachers of various faculties and departments, raised funds for running schools from various sources, and restored normal teaching order. In the autumn of that year, Tai Jingnong was invited by Lin Jiqing to become a lecturer in the Department of Chinese of National Shandong University. At that time, the head of the Chinese department was Shi Qi, and the professors were Huang Xiaoyu, Wen You, Jiang Shuming, Luan Tiaofu, Ye Shisun, etc., and the lecturers were Luo Yujun and Wu Tingxuan.

The Shandong Provincial Archives has a "Questionnaire for Faculty and Staff of National Shandong University", which records Tai Jingnong's academic qualifications, experiences, and works before coming to the university, which indicates "Yue Feng: 220 yuan", "Courses: History of Chinese Literature, Modern Literature, Study of Scriptures, Treatise on Theory", "Research Topics: History of Chinese Literature, General Catalogue of Stone Carvings in Chinese Paintings, Research on Etiquette and Customs of the Southern and Northern Dynasties", and "Special Works: Chinese Rhetoric".

Tai Jingnong and his literary drinking friends

Unnamed backbone of the society, the left four Tai Jingnong

Before Tai Jingnong came to National Mountain University, he was already a famous vernacular novelist. Tai Jingnong first met Lu Xun in 1925, and under his influence, he established the Unnamed Society with Li Jiye, Wei Suyuan, Wei Congwu, and Cao Jinghua of Lushi County, Henan Province, together with Li Jiye, Wei Suyuan, and Wei Congwu, a fellow villager in Huoqiu, Anhui Province, and published a variety of "unnamed series" and "unnamed new collections". "Taijun is an excellent person," this is Lu Xun's evaluation of Tai Jingnong. Inheriting Mr. Lu Xun's realist tradition and artistic expression techniques, Tai Jingnong wrote short stories such as "Brother Tian'er", "New Grave", "Red Light", "Abandoned Baby", and "Old Father Wu", which attracted Lu Xun's attention.

In November 1928, Tai Jingnong's first collection of short stories, "The Son of the Earth", was published, and he immediately presented it to Lu Xun, and the title page of the book was inscribed: "Trial Work Presented by Lu Xunshi", which Lu Xun has always treasured and highly praised, calling it "an excellent work" that "moves the dead and alive in the countryside and the smell of dirt on paper".

In the Department of Chinese of National Shandong University, Tai Jingnong offered courses on the history of Chinese literature, modern literature, study of scriptures, and analects of science and literature, especially contributing to the dissemination of new literature. Xu Zhongyu once recalled: "Mr. Tai Jingnong gave us a lecture on the poetry classics and introduced us to Cui Shu and Fang Yurun. The new sayings of the various families are all unheard of... Because I am more inclined to study new literature, new concepts and methods, I naturally have more contact with teachers such as Lao She, Ye Shisun, Yan Shifu, and Tai Jingnong, and I feel more close to them."

After Tai Jingnong arrived at Shandong University in Qingdao, he still maintained correspondence with Lu Xun, who was in Shanghai at the time. On October 15, 1936, Lu Xun wrote a letter to Tai Jingnong inviting him to Qingdao to recuperate from illness: "On September 30, the letter arrived early, or it was troubled or busy, so I replied. Summer was supposed to escape the heat, but the illness did not fall out, and he could not leave the doctor, so he could not leave Shanghai." The letter was written 4 days before Lu Xun's death, by which time he was terminally ill. On October 19, Lu Xun passed away, and Tai Jingnong was devastated. In a letter of condolence to Xu Guangping, he wrote: "Zhou Shimujian: It was reported that the Central News Agency's telegraph yushi died, and he was horrified, but there were many rumors about the division's living, and he was quite suspicious. But the record is very detailed, it seems that it is true, the mountains are bad, the world has lost this teacher, not only the mourning of the master and mother... Sheng Jing Nongshang".

At 9:00 a.m. on November 1, 1936, the Literature Club of National Shandong University held a memorial meeting to mourn Lu Xun, Tai Jingnong introduced Lu Xun's life, Zhao Taiyou made a report on the influence of thought, Ye Shisun made an analysis of artistic creation, and Zhou Xuepu made a summary and comment. In his affectionate speech, Tai Jingnong mourned Mr. Lu Xun with deep sorrow. Xu Zhongyu recalled: "In the year of Lu Xun's death, Teacher Tai Jingnong was at Shanda University, and he reluctantly participated in the memorial service we held with illness, and the sense of pain was extremely deep."

Tai Jingnong and his literary drinking friends

After coming to Shanda, Tai Jingnong lived at the intersection of Hengshan Road and Huangxian Road in Qingdao (now No. 19 Huangxian Road) and lived next to Lao She (No. 12 Huangxian Road). Lao She is three years old, Andai Jingnong, and the two of them love to drink because of their similar temperaments, and they have become drinking friends. Tai Jingnong recorded his interaction with Lao She in "Me and Lao She and Wine": "When I first arrived in Qingdao, it was the autumn of twenty-five years, we met for the first time, and in the late autumn and early winter, first of all, friends who had lived in Qingdao for a long time invited us to dinner, and at night, in an old restaurant, the indoor furnishings were like dongxing building in Beiping. He gave me the impression that his face was somewhat serious, but also a little bitter, and some worldly; when he accidentally rushed out a joke or two, not only was everyone coaxed, but he himself was also 'giggling' and laughing, which was a childlike innocence. ”

In Shandatai Jingnong, Ye Shisun and Deng Zhongchun, have a deep friendship and often drink together. Tai Jingnong, who was only thirty-four years old, had a long shirt and was quite quaint. He is addicted to alcohol and has a high amount, but he is good at drinking and can make his own. He once wrote a self-series of "life without health, and the world is also immortal". Zang Kejia recalled: "He did not drink much, but when he drew his fist, he was full of emotion and sounded like a hong bell." Deng Zhongchun, formerly known as Deng Chu, a native of Anhui, had a friendship with President Yang Zhensheng, and was invited by Yang Zhi to Qingdao in August 1930 to serve as a doctor at the National Qingdao University and a lecturer in the Department of Chinese Literature. In 1932, National Qingdao University was renamed National Shandong University and continued to serve there. He has a bold and righteous personality, is good at drinking, and is known as one of the "Eight Immortals in Wine" at National Qingdao University.

Tai Jingnong once recalled drinking in Qingdao, "We were familiar with each other, often eating restaurants with a few friends, drinking old wine, yellow, like the bamboo leaf green of Shaoxing, and there was a purple-black taste, bitter and slightly sweet." It is said that the same raw material as the old wine, so it is called bitter old wine, the taste is very good, not under the Shaoxing wine. Until now, when I think of Lao She Brother, I think of bitter old wine. One evening, the weather was hazy, although the north wind was not big, but it was about to snow, Lao She suddenly came and said that there was a newly opened small restaurant selling Stewed Lamb in Beiping, so he walked on the road with ShiSun and Zhongchun's two brothers, I privately admired Lao She's leather horse coat, it did look ok, almost to the middle of the leather robe, I saw the author of the new Yuan History in Beiping Zhongshan Park, the eighty-year-old Weng wore such a long coat, he had to be considered the second one. ”

In 1944 and 1947, Tai Jingnong wrote two articles, "I and Lao She and Wine" and "Talking About Wine", fondly recalling the happy times when he was drinking with friends such as Lao She in Qingdao.

Tai Jingnong and his literary drinking friends

In the early 1940s in Baisha, Sichuan, Hu Xiaoshi, the left second Tai Jingnong, the left fourth She Xueman, and the right second Wu Baizao.

On July 1, 1937, Tai Jingnong was invited by his friends to leave Shanda for Beiping. Then, after the July 7 Incident, Tai Jingnong took a sea boat from Tianjin to Jinan, met a classmate from Shandong University at the station, and knew that his friends in Qingdao had dispersed. After the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Tai Jingnong moved his family to Sichuan and served in the National Compilation Hall. In 1946, he went to Taiwan and later became a professor in the Department of Chinese, National Taiwan University. Tai Jingnong is rigorous in his studies, and is deeply involved in various fields such as literature, art, and economic history, and is famous for his personality Gengjie and his writings, calligraphy and painting. There are "Jingnong Papers", "Jingnong Book Art Collection", "Tai Jingnong Prose Collection", "Tai Jingnong Short Story Collection" and other publications.