[Editor's note] Chen Ming, formerly known as Chen Zhixiang, is a native of Poyang County, Jiangxi. In May 1937, 20-year-old Chen Ming was in his prime, went to Yan'an to become a student of the 13th team of the Anti-Japanese University, and soon met Ding Ling, who was already a famous writer at that time, Ding Ling was 33 years old that year. From the Western War Regiment experienced with Ding Ling, the rectification and trial of cadres, and the land reform in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei border area, to the anti-rightist injustice, repatriation to the Great Northern Wilderness, and 7 years of prison life in the "Cultural Revolution...... Chen Ming has always had no regrets. No wonder Ding Ling said to Chen Ming when she was dying: "You are too bitter! And instructed the people around him: Find a wife for Chen Ming! Through Chen Ming's eyes. We can get a closer look at the inner world of Ding Ling, a talented female writer in the Chinese literary scene in the 20th century.
"Backward chasing" achieves a marriage
I know Ding Ling. It was in August 1937 at the first meeting of the Western War Regiment (short for "Northwest Field Service Corps") that I was not particularly impressed by her in a military uniform, leggings, and a belt. Later, when I got acquainted, Ding Ling told me that in the performance to commemorate the first anniversary of Gorky's death, she saw me playing Bohuil and knew about me.
In the summer of 1938, the Western War Regiment was ordered to triumphantly march to Yan'an. Ding Ling and I both went to study at the Marxist-Leninist Institute. At that time, there were many rumors about me and Ding Ling, saying that Ding Ling was in love with a little husband and so on. I was very unhappy to hear it, but I didn't care, Ding Ling didn't care, she encouraged me: let them say it, let them talk for a few years, can they talk for decades? I also show why men are older. It's okay for a woman to be young, but not the other way around? We just want to oppose this feudalism.
When Ding Ling and I got married, Ke Zhongping asked me: You have such a big age difference, okay? When I was still in high school in Shanghai, Mr. Wei Jinzhi took us to Fuchun River to play, on the boat, the classmates talked about their own views on love, I said that I hate the most delicate, flowery girls, I met such a girl on the tram, I did not give up my seat. Pretty or not pretty in second,... In the eyes of the Sui people, "Well, the key is to have a correct heart and consistent thinking." Therefore, I have a good impression of a warm and straightforward woman like Ding Ling in the Western Regiment. She took such good care of me that I thought of her as a sister in my heart, although I vaguely felt that she cared more about me than the average comrade. But to be honest, I wasn't mentally prepared for a de facto relationship.
Until one time Ding Ling made it clear to me. It has had a huge impact on my life and emotions. It was in a small restaurant, and we were sitting on the kang, and I said, "Director, you should have a lifelong partner too." Ding Ling asked me rhetorically: Can the two of us do it? I was shocked when I heard this. Afterwards, I wrote in my diary: Let this relationship end forever! When she saw it, she said, "We're just getting started, why do we want to finish?" "Actually, I don't think about it because she's a celebrity and has a higher status than me, nor because she's older than me. It's that I don't have the mental preparation for this at all, I just think that her experience is more complicated than mine. The past life path is different, and I am not sure if we can get together in the future.
In September 1939, I left the Marxist-Leninist Institute and went to the Beacon Drama Society. There was a female member of the team named Xi Ping, she was very good to me, and I was still worried about establishing a relationship with Ding Ling at that time, so the two of us got better. In the fall of 1940, Xi Ping and I got married. After getting married, I quickly felt that I couldn't deceive my feelings, and I still missed Ding Ling, so I made an excuse and proposed to divorce Xi Ping. Later, I often blamed myself in my heart for giving Xi Ping all the pain, which was unfair to her. For Xi Ping, I always feel guilty.
During that time, Ding Ling entrusted her relatives to take her two children, Zulin and Zuhui, from Hunan to Yan'an. Ding Ling talked to me about preparing to send Zu Hui to the nursery, but Zu Lin was more introverted and not lively. Q: Can I bring Zulin to the drama club? I agreed. At that time, I was the captain of the Beacon Drama Club, and I had my own dormitory, so Zulin could sleep with me at night. Zulin stayed with me for a while. Later, Ding Ling sent him to a nursery school. Ding Ling and I had such a special relationship before we got married, and I took Zulin as a rehearsal of our family relationship.
Ding Ling and I got married in 1942 in Wenkang, Lanjiaping. We got married without publicity, without a treat. With my union with Ding Ling, some of my friends have expressed concern about whether our relationship will last long. I know. I shouldn't and can't change anymore, Ding Ling is worthy of my love with my life. I admire her as a person, her work in the Western Legion, her life's work, and I hope she continues to succeed. She is a good person who is passionate, righteous, and straightforward, she is not always masculine, she also has a feminine and charming side.
After we got married, we didn't plan to have any more children for fear of getting in the way of work. I said to Ding Ling, I have never been a father, and I can't play this role. On the issue of children, my concept is not to obey the feudal tradition, and I regard Zulin and Zuhui as my own.
"The Sun Shines on the Sangan River" grows out of life
On May 4, 1946, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the "About. Instructions on the liquidation of rent reduction and land issues", and the liberated areas quickly launched a campaign to reform the land system. We have also actively asked to participate in the land reform in the rural areas and come to the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei border region.
When we were in Xinzhuang, we lived in the yard of a landlord. The owner lives in the south-facing north house, and in summer there is a bamboo curtain hanging at the door. We were sitting in the south room, and we saw a girl coming in at the door, fifteen or sixteen years old. He looks very lively and wears a very thin floral cloth dress. Run past our door to the upper house. Ding Ling immediately grabbed the image of this character. She quickly thought, what kind of role will such a little girl be in the land reform? What kind of position should it be in? Is it struggle, is it unity, is it education, is it not asked? This is Hei Ni in the later "The Sun Shines on the Sangan River".
East Bali was close to the railway, and there, we were told that so-and-so was a kulak. Whether it is a rich peasant or not, we will see how many acres of land his family has, whether he hires people or not, and whether he works by himself. If he had worked on his own, he would have been a rich peasant and not a landlord, and we would have asked him to come to the stage and offer his land. He walked up to the stage with a pair of broken shoes and untidy clothes, and untied his trouser belts for everyone to see, and the trouser belts were all connected by broken ropes. Let's take a look. felt that he lived so hard, he couldn't be considered a rich peasant, and he couldn't be pushed to the opposite side, and this character was also used as a prototype in the novel. The third village we went to was Hot Spring Tun in Zhuolu County, Hebei Province (called Nuanshuitun in "The Sun Shines on the Sanggan River"), and we were in charge of the land reform in this village, so we stayed here longer than the first two villages. When distributing the floating wealth, we asked the village cadres to be humble and distribute good houses and land to the poorest peasants.
In Zhuolu County, I met two cadres of land reform, and I felt that they were talking exaggerated and empty words, and they could not do much practical work. "The Sun Shines on the Sanggan River" writes about a meeting that lasted for 6 hours, from which the shadow of this type of person can be seen. In the novel, Zhou Yang said that this character was written about him. Wen Cai is a student of Shanghai Daxia University, and Zhou Yang is also from Daxia, and he seems to have a little style like Zhou Yang, but it is not exactly him, or the main aspect is not like him. Ding Ling also did not write the literary style incorrigibly, thinking that he should also go to the masses to receive education.
We believe that land reform is not only a material turnaround for peasants, becoming the masters of the land, but more importantly, a turnaround of their hearts, and if they do not turn their hearts, the achievements of land reform will not be consolidated. This is why, after leaving Shijiazhuang, Ding Ling also planned to write a sequel to "The Sun Shines on the Sanggan River", "In the Bitter Cold Days", to write about how the peasants after the land reform gradually grew up in the struggle against the Kuomintang based on the experience of land reform.
It was at this time that Ding Ling began to write "The Sun Shines on the Sanggan River", around the beginning of November 1946. I built a stove in the house. In this way, when Ding Ling writes, her back can also be warmed by leaning on the stove.
In the difficult years, the Great Northern Wilderness settled down
In 1955, a political storm suddenly befell Ding Ling. At the end of the year, she was unjustifiably branded as one of the black leaders of the "Ding (Ling) Chen (Qixia) anti-party group". In 1957, Ding Ling and Feng Xuefeng were branded as a rightist anti-party group. I've also been branded rightist. In the days of waiting to be dealt with by the organization, we are mentally prepared and not afraid to go anywhere. It's not a shame, just keep the two of us together.
What do we do in the future? I think that in the past, Ding Ling used writing and literary activities to connect with society. reflects her social presence. Now, we have been expelled from the party and kicked out of the literary world, so we naturally think of going to the Northeast, to the most difficult places, to change our social existence, and change our contact with society. The idea is self-conscious and resolute.
The decision to punish me came down first - to supervise labor in Mishan, Heilongjiang, and three days later to report to Shuangqiao Farm on the outskirts of Beijing. At that time, the only thing I thought about was what to do with Ding Ling? Of course, I don't feel comfortable leaving her alone in Beijing. Ding Ling and I discussed carefully, and decided rationally and calmly: I will go to the Northeast first to explore the road to see what the environment and climate are like, and then she will ask the organization for approval, and then go to the Northeast as well. We agreed that no one would shed a tear during these precious three days, and actively prepare for the trip. I walked happily, and she stayed in peace. After the negotiation, we took a group photo, parting was painful, but the heart was calm.
At that time, when I went to the Great Northern Wilderness, I really had a bit of groundbreaking spirit. I was assigned to 853 Farm in Baoqing County. Participate in the labor of the new production team, dig wells, build houses, and do work that has never been done before. Ding Ling went to Mishan in June 1958, and under the personal inquiry and arrangement of Comrade Wang Zhen, in early July, she and I went to Tangyuan Farm and settled down in the Great Northern Wilderness.
We never complained on the farm. I started from scratch with the workers, and we got along very well among the working masses. The crowd was also very nice to us. Once, each production team wanted to publish a wall newspaper, Ding Ling was in the animal husbandry team, I was in the second production team, we made it up ourselves, made it up, and decorated it very well, we ordered some "People's Pictorial" at that time, we made a comparison between the two eras, cut and pasted some photos on the pictorial, and added our own things, Ding Ling's paintings. The posters were all in the open air, and it was raining in the middle of the night, so I told Ding Ling that our posters were still in the open air, so don't let the rain get wet. So we both got up and went to carry the poster into the house. When we went to carry the post, the electric baton of the checker shone on it, and we suspected that we were going to sabotage, so we went to report. The farm police took us to the office, and Ding Ling explained to them, "When you come to our room, our beds and quilts are still hot, and we just came out because it was raining, and we were afraid that the wall would be damaged."
On the farm, Ding Ling and I have a food standard of 31 catties per person per month, and we can't eat it all. When I went to work in the fields, everyone brought their own lunch, and when the meal was served, I was blowing the whistle, and I saw a worker, a native of Henan, wrapping four small steamed buns in a small handkerchief, and his eyes were swollen into a line. He didn't have enough to eat. When I saw this, I discussed with Ding Ling and supported him with more food. Once, Ding Ling and some girls went to the field to pick wild vegetables, preparing for the winter to feed the chickens, but when they encountered heavy rain and came back, they were still happy and did not worry about catching a cold at all. So, we're in a very healthy mental state.
Of course, when we first went, we had to pass the life pass, and there were many twists and turns! First of all, I couldn't break down, I was in my 40s at the time, Ding Ling was hurt more than me, she was older than me, and I had to take care of her. I think the air in the Great Northern Wilderness is good, which is good for her body. I think as long as someone can stay, we can survive.
Reunited after the catastrophe, he lived in the mountains and wilderness for his old age
During the "Cultural Revolution", Ding Ling and I were imprisoned in Qincheng Prison for five years. One day in May 1975, the managers said to me solemnly: "The Central Committee has decided to release you. I blurted out: "What about Ding Ling?" The man replied: "Ding Ling, no new problems have been found, and she has a good attitude in prison." Because she was old and sick, the central government decided not to assign her a job anymore, and arranged for her to go to Changzhi in Shanxi Province to give her 80 yuan a month for living expenses, and the state raised her. While I was still hesitating, the man continued, "You also go to Changzhi, and you two go together." ”
On May 22, 1975, when I arrived at Zhangtou Village, it was already evening. Ding Ling had already arrived the day before, she walked out of the place where she lived, walked to the gate, and we saw it. It's been six years since we were apart, and we're meeting again after the catastrophe! When I saw it, she was old, and her voice was old. Ding Ling's first sentence said: "Oh, this place is good!" I said, "It's good to have two people together!" We both held hands tightly and walked into the house.
The people of the Changzhi City Revolutionary Committee handed us over to the commune and asked us to stay first. Ding Ling and I didn't talk that night, we were very tired, we just talked about each other's bodies, and Ding Ling didn't want to tell her about her suffering all at once. We temporarily stayed in the house of a member surnamed Li, and there was nothing at that time.
Around the end of 1976, a custodian told us about a house and told us to look at it. It was a large mansion, just behind the house where we used to live, with three rooms, and a large courtyard in front of it, and a few apple and walnut trees in the yard. The original owners of the house are dead, and now the house is empty, and the brigade is used as a storage room. We looked at it and were very satisfied with the environment. I found the cadres of the brigade and said, don't build us a new house. Just repair those three rooms, and we'll live in this place, so that we don't need too much wood and don't spend too much money.
One of our original landlords was looking at feng shui, and when he heard that we were going to move over, he said that the feng shui of the house was not good, the door was facing the back wall, and there was a gap in the corner of the back wall, and the gas ran away. He also said that it was not safe for you two to live in the past, and it would be troublesome to meet thieves and robbers. I joked with him that we were all bad luck and that there was a gap across the other side now. The gate was facing the gap, and our bad luck went through that door, which was fine. I also said, as for security, I'm very close to your back wall, and in the future, we'll find a way to make a passage from behind you to connect the two of us, and we'll be fine. In fact, our thinking is that if a bad guy comes in, he can take whatever he wants, and we don't have anything in the first place.
In August 1977, the house was repaired and two more rooms were added on either side of the original three rooms. In this way, we finally have a home of our own. All five of these houses are North House. The three rooms in the middle, two of which are used as our activity rooms, usually the two of us eat, listen to the radio, watch TV, receive guests or something; A small room was used as our bedroom, which was also the room for writing, and a small table and chair were placed in it, and it was filled on either side, one on one side. There is a fire in the corner, and the stove chimney extends from the ceiling to the living room outside, so that there is no need to burn the fire in the living room. Then pass through the living room and reach out to the kitchen. My stove has two mouths, one for water and one for baking. The stove can be sealed when not in use, and we have boiling water to drink all day long. With apples, put two apples on the table, and the hot apples are delicious. The two new small houses, one for the kitchen and the other for the future, are going to invite an aunt to live there in the future. There is a cellar under my aunt's small room, which I dug myself, so that I can store some cabbage, potatoes and fruits in the winter.
We also grow some vegetables in the garden. I planted yams, Ding Ling has diabetes, and it is good to eat yams. We have 14 hens, a big rooster, and Ding Ling used to raise chickens in the animal husbandry team. We bought barbed wire to fence them off, and dug a hole under the corner for them to lay eggs in.
Our toilet leads to the public toilet outside, which is made of bricks and flushed with water. The brigade engaged in a reservoir on the top of the mountain. From that reservoir to the bottom of the pipe, our new home is on the side of the road, and there is a pipe that leads to the house, and I have it in the water tank, so it is also very convenient to use water. We have been in peace for a long time, and we want to stay there for a long time.
Ding Ling is old and still has to write at home. I wrote a poem to her, and she lay down on the kang, and I read it to her:
"The silver-haired man is better than the boy, and the medicine is always sweet in the mouth.
Mount Tai is pressing the top of the step, and the sunflower is more fresh to the sun.
Xiangnanmu at the foot of Taihang Mountain, smiling and welcoming spring is full of people.
Countless winds and waves, a spring and autumn music in old age. ”
At the end, "a spring and autumn music in old age" refers to Ding Ling's desire to finish writing her novel "In the Cold Days".
(Excerpt from "Fifty Years of Me and Ding Ling - Chen Ming's Memoirs"/Chen Ming's Dictation, Zha Zhenke, Li Xiangdong/Encyclopedia of China Publishing House/December 2009 edition)
