Mr Maybe: Fei Ming as a pastoral fiction writer.

MR MAYBE : FEI MING AS A PASTORAL FICTION WRITER

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO UNIVERSITY OF LONDON IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

BY AKEMIKUDO

SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES AUGUST 1993

ProQuest Number: 10731721

All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS

The qu ality of this repro d u ctio n is d e p e n d e n t upon the q u ality of the copy subm itted.

In the unlikely e v e n t that the a u th o r did not send a c o m p le te m anuscript and there are missing pages, these will be note d . Also, if m aterial had to be rem oved,

a n o te will in d ica te the deletion.

uest

ProQuest 10731721

Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). C op yrig ht of the Dissertation is held by the Author.

All rights reserved.

This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C o d e M icroform Edition © ProQuest LLC.

ProQuest LLC.

789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346

Ann Arbor, Ml 4 8 1 0 6 - 1346

A b s t r a c t

This thesis deals with Fei Ming (the pen-nam e of Feng W enbing, 1901-1967), a writer w ho was active m ainly in the 1920s and 1930s and w ho has been disregarded since 1949 until only recently. Fei M ing's w o rk s in clu d e stories, essays and p o em s, and this thesis concentrates on his pastoral stories written betw een 1923 and 1932.

The aim of this thesis is threefold. First, it attempts to illuminate the in d iv id u a lity of Fei M ing's pastoral stories by an aly sin g their them atic and stylistic ch aracteristics. The second o b je c tiv e is to exam ine the influence of foreign modern pastoral stories and Chinese traditional pastoral works on Fei Ming. The third is to outline the changes in his pastoral fiction writing.

In so doing, I hope this thesis will invite a fresh look at this writer who is barely m entioned in China, Japan and the W est, and has never been made the subject of a systematic critical study.

The thesis consists of seven chapters: Chapter One describes the literary life of Fei Ming.

C h a p te r T w o in tro d u c e s an o u tlin e of F e i M in g 's cre a tiv e w r itin g s .

C h a p te r T h re e d isc u s s e s the th em atic c h a r a c te r is tic s of his stories about the countryside in Southern China.

C h ap ter F o u r in v estig ates the pastoral elem ents in his stories.

The term, 'pastoral' is defined, and the argum ent on influences on Fei Ming's work is developed.

C h ap ter Five analyzes the stylistic characteristics o f his pastoral s to r ie s .

C h apter Six explores the novel, The Life o f Mr M a y b e , which I define as 'm ock-pastoral'.

C h a p te r S even ex a m in e s the serial p u b lis h e d in 1 9 4 7 -1 9 4 8 ,

"After M r M aybe Flew in an Aeroplane" to see how Fei M ing's views of country life changed after 1932.

The conclusion discusses Fei Ming's influence on Chinese writers from the late 1920s onwards and sums up Fei M ing's achievem ents as a fiction writer.

T a b l e o f C o n t e n t s

A b s t r a c t

2 A c k n o w l e d g e m e n t s

4 Illustration: Fei Ming in 1930

7 I n t r o d u c t i o n

8 Chapter One: Fei Ming's Literary Life

1 4 Chapter Two: Fei Ming's Creative Writings

8 3 Chapter Three: The Stories about the Countryside in Southern China

1 0 5 Chapter Four: The Pastoral Elements in Fei Ming's Stories

1 4 1 Chapter Five: The Style of Fei Ming's Pastoral Stories

1 8 2 Chapter Six: Fei Ming's Mock-Pastoral Novel, The Life o f M r Maybe

2 6 3 Chapter Seven: The Rural Experience As a Refugee in "After M r

Maybe Flew in an Aeroplane"

3 2 7 C o nclusion

3 5 2

B i b lio g r a p h y

3 8 1

- 3 -

A c k n o w l e d g e m e n t s

This thesis could not have been written w ith o u t the advice and e n c o u ra g e m e n t o f my su p e rv iso rs at the S chool of O rien tal and African Studies, University of London: Dr C.D. Alison Bailey, D r Henry Y.H. Zhao, Professor D.E. Pollard (now at The Chinese U niversity of Hong K ong), and D r A ndrew Lo. I am deeply grateful to each of them. I am also indebted to Professor Hugh Baker who read portions of my m a n u sc rip t at various stages of com pletion and check ed my progress. I am also thankful to Mr Charles d'O rban of the China Section, SOAS Library (now at the Kroch Library, Cornell University), who help ed m e locate and g ather research m ateria ls. I am also grateful to M r M ichael Ghany at the SOAS C o m p uter Centre, who helped me p rin t this thesis.

A special note of appreciation goes to Professors Bian Zhilin and Feng Jiannan, w ho show ed in tere st in my study o f Fei M ing and k i n d l y h e l p e d m e in m a n y w a y s th r o u g h i n t e r v i e w s and c o r r e s p o n d e n c e .

I also gratefully acknow ledge the help and e n c o u rag em e n t of a nu m b er o f p e o p le w ho granted me interview s and shared v aluable inform ation with me in China: Professors Lu Deshen, Chen Yixin, Yin Falu and Yan Jiayan of Peking University, Mrs Zhuo Ru, M r Yang Yi, Mrs Zhang X iaocui, M r Li Baoyan, and Mr W ang B aosheng o f the C hinese A cad em y of Social Sciences, M r Zhang Q uan, M rs Jiang Jingning and M r Gao C hangyin of the Beijing A cad em y of Social S ciences.

I owe th an k s also to those who helped me c o lle c t research m aterials in China, Hong Kong and Poland: Mrs Xing Shuxian of the N ational L ib rary of China, M r Shu Yi and M r W u F u h u i of the M useum o f M odern Chinese Literature, Professor Yang D o n g lian g of the C hinese People's U n iversity Library, Dr. L.W .C . W o n g o f the Chinese U niversity of Hong Kong, and Mrs Daunte L a czew sk a of the Jag iello n ian U niversity Library.

I ex press my gratitude also to P ro fesso r W u S h u p in g of the Beijing L a ng u ag e Institute (now at the Tokyo U n iversity o f Foreign Studies) who answered some of my linguistic questions, and Mrs Hao Min of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences who took the trouble of contacting various people for me. My thanks also go to Professor Li Jinghui of B eijing Language Institute and Mrs H ou Y u zh en of B e ijin g N o rm a l U n iv e rsity , w ho helped me fin d a c c o m m o d a tio n during my stay in Peking.

I should like to express my gratitude also to the follow ing people w h o p r o v id e d m e w ith v a l u a b l e i n f o r m a t i o n and g a v e m e en co u rag e m e n t through correspondence: the late P rofesso r Feng Zhi, M r W ang Zengqi, Mr He Liwei, the late Mr Shi Tuo, Professor Chen Z h e n g u o of N an jin g N orm al U n iv ersity , M r Jin X u n m in of Jilin University, Mr Ling Yu of Hunan Normal University, M r Li Junguo of Hubei U niversity, Professors Korenaga Shun, M asaki Tsuneo, the late A iura T akashi, and A ono Shigeharu of Osaka U n iversity o f Foreign S tu d ies, P ro fe s s o r K iy am a H ideo of H ito tsu b a s h i U n iv e rsity , and Professor M atsuura Tsuneo of Osaka City University,

F u rth e r thanks go to my friends, D r R o bert B ickers, D esm ond Skeel and H elen W ang, who read my m anuscript and offered helpful

- 5 -

and critical com m ents concerning substance and presentation; and Dr P u ay -pen g Ho who generously showed me som e o f his 'tricks' in o p eratin g C h in ese w o rd -p ro ce ssin g program m es.

Finally, I should like to thank my parents, Kudo Toshinobu and S e tsu k o , and m y h u s b a n d , M artin R e e v e s, fo r th e ir lo n g -te r m co n sta n t su p p o rt and un d erstan d in g .

R esponsibility for any errors in this thesis is m ine alone.

x

i

Fei M in g in 1930

From Yuwen zcizhi '£ ^ ^ , Vol. 1, No. 5 (January 1943).

- 7 -

I n t r o d u c t i o n

'Fei M ing? W ho is he?' This is the m ost com m on response I have rece iv ed in co n v ersatio n with acquaintances stu dy in g subjects related to China. Those studying Chinese literature often asked me;

'Why Fei Ming?' These questions simply indicate how unfam iliar and disregarded Fei Ming still is.

Fei M ing (1$ ^ ) is a pen-name of the writer, Feng W enbing (74 % '$J). Born in Huangm ei ( S t $ l ) in Hubei province in 1901, he began w riting in 1922 when he was a student at P eking U n iv ersity , and was activ e in the 1920s and 1930s as a sto ry -w rite r, p o e t and e ssay ist. In the 1930s w hen he was a le c tu r e r at the same university, Fei Ming shifted the weight of his w riting from stories to essays and poems. From 1937 to 1945 during the W ar o f Resistance, he took re fu g e in his ho m eto w n and, after the w ar, re tu rn e d to Peking U niversity to resume teaching. In 1952, Fei M ing was sent to Jilin U n iv ersity where he rem ained until his death at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution in 1967. During his life time, he published three collections of short stories: A Tale o f a Bamboo Grove (Zhulin de gushi W V , 1925), The Peach Orchard (Taoyuan , 1928), and Jujubes (Zao 3?, 1931); two novels: The Bridge (Q ia o 1fF, 1932) and The Life o f Mr Maybe (Moxuyou xiansheng zhuan ^ ^ f t , 1932); one selection o f his stories, Selec ted Stories o f Fei Ming (F ei Ming xiaoshuo xuan K £ T& 3 s , 1957); two collections of poems: W a t e r s id e ( S h u i b i a n & , 1944; co -authored with Shen Qiwu iB % ) and Invitation to Hermitism (Zhaoy'inji , 1945); and two books of literary c riticism : On New Poe try (Tan xinshi ii£ J)T W , 1944) and

Talking with the Young about Lu Xun (Gen qingnian tan Lu Xun 8 1 W

^ # iffi , 1957). The other major work of his, not available in book fo rm , is the serial, "A fter M r M ay b e F lew in an A e ro p la n e "

("Moxuyou xiansheng zuo feiji yihou" published in Literature Magazine (Wenxue zazhi ^ ^ ^ * 3 * ) in 1947-1948.

As for the question 'why Fei M ing?', the first an sw er is rather personal. W hen I first read Fei Ming's stories in the Compe nd iu m o f New Chinese Literature (Zhongguo xin wenxue daxi in

1987, I was gripped by the p ecu liar lin g erin g afte rta ste in them which som ehow rem inded me of haiku poetry. The second reason is that in spite of the unusual quality to be found in his w riting, there are hardly any analytical articles more than fifteen pages long on his works even in China, not to mention the W est and Japan. The m ost im m ediate cause of this seems to be the influence of Chinese politics;

being a no n -rev o lutio nary writer and the student o f the tra ito r and collaborator with the Japanese, Zhou Zuoren ( J n l f ^ A , 1885-1967), Fei M ing had to be 'buried' beneath the m ain stage of the history of m odern Chinese literature after the war.

Fei M ing is indeed worthy of attention. He was a pioneering w riter of the new tw entieth-century genre, C hinese pasto ral fiction.

His in d iv id u a listic , u n c o m p ro m isin g p u rsu it o f aesthetic q u ality is cry stallized in his overflow ing lyricism. He elaborated an original style w h ich b lu rred the b o u n d a rie s b etw een sto ries, e s sa y s and p o em s, and his style has, in fact, had a stro n g im p a c t on a considerable num ber of m odern Chinese writers. It is the intention of this thesis to re-e v alu ate his accom plish m en ts w ith o u t p olitical b ias.

- 9 -

As far as I am aware, this is the first attem p t at a system atic discussion of some length of the stories of this still largely neglected writer. The analysis will concentrate on Fei M ing's 'pastoral' stories w ritte n b etw een 1922 and 1932, in w hich g en re and p e rio d his lite ra r y a c h ie v e m e n t seem s m o st p ro m in e n t. T h e se ten y ears co rre sp o n d to the b e g in n in g o f his w ritin g and the y e ar of the publication of his two novels, after w hich he m ore or less gave up w riting fic tio n . His p o em s, essays and literary c ritic is m w ritten d u ring or a fter this p erio d are also referred to w hen they are relev an t to the argum ents on his stories or useful in ex plaining Fei M ing's literary views and thoughts. "After M r M aybe F le w in an A ero p lan e", w hich is the only substantial story w ritten a fter this period, is also discussed, since it unfolds vivid changes in Fei Ming's views on various aspects such as rural life and his previous pastoral w r itin g .

The aim of this thesis is threefold. First, it attempts to illuminate the in d iv id u ality of Fei M ing's p a s to ra l stories by an a ly s in g their th em atic and sty listic c h ara cteristic s. The m e th o d used in v o lv es discussing the stories which best exem plify the argum ents, instead of trying to m ention every story by Fei Ming which belongs to the scope of this thesis. The second objective is to exam ine the influence of certain fo re ig n m od ern p asto ra l stories, and to trace the h eritag e from the C h in ese pasto ral tradition. The third is to o u tlin e the changes in Fei Ming's pastoral fiction writing and to speculatate on the reasons for them.

The thesis consists of seven chapters: C hapter One describes the literary life o f Fei M ing and also provides back gro u n d in form atio n

for the discussion on his stories in the forthcom ing chapters. As no one has written on Fei M ing's life in English e x cept for one short translation, and as m aterials in Chinese and Japanese are also scarce, I have consulted the m o st detailed academic account available so far,

"Chronicle of Fei Ming" ("Fei Ming nianpu" by Chen Zhenguo (1^ fil HI ) published in the Bulletin o f Cultural and E du ca t i o n a l M a te r i a l s ( Wenjiao ziliao jianbao M IK), No. 137 in 1983 when there w ere no m eans o f obtaining in fo rm atio n m y self. H o w ev er, w here I h av e d isa g ree d with Chen's c h ro n ic le , I h av e su g g ested altern ativ es based on my own analysis. I have also added new in fo rm atio n g athered thro u g h reading articles related to F ei M ing, and m y in te rv ie w s and c o rresp o n d en c e w ith Fei M in g 's n eph ew , friends and colleagues.

C h a p te r T w o p ro v id e s an ov erv iew of Fei M in g 's c re a tiv e w ritings in clu d in g his stories, essays and p o em s. T o g e th e r with Chapter One, it introduces Fei Ming as a writer, but with em phasis on the trends of his actual writings rather than his literary activities.

C h a p te r T h re e d is c u s s e s the th e m atic c h a r a c te r is tic s o f his stories a b o u t the c o u n try sid e in S outhern C h in a and his litera ry views w hen he w rote them. This analysis anticipates the idea of 'pastoral' w hich will be exam ined in the next chapter.

C h a p ter F o u r in v estig ates the pastoral elem ents in his stories.

Firstly, the term ’p asto ral’ will be discussed and a w orking definition will be given, to be used in this thesis. Secondly, some foreign and Chinese in flu en ces on Fei M ing's stories will be ex am in e d . The chapter also offers a clue to the peculiar aftertaste which Fei Ming's pastoral stories leave behind.

- 1 1^-

C hapter F ive exam ines the stylistic characteristics o f his pastoral stories. To bring into relief their lyrical quality, it will focus mainly on plot-structure and the use of imagery.

Chapter Six will discuss the novel in which pastoral and satirical e le m e n ts co e x ist, The Life o f Mr Maybe. I shall describe it as a 'm o c k -p a sto ra l' novel, ex p lain its nature, and an alyse F ei M ing's thoughts as expressed in it. As the novel is so unusual in structure and style, m uch space is spared for the illustration of its uniqueness.

C h a p te r Seven loo k s at the in te n se ly a u to b io g ra p h ic a l story

"After M r M aybe Flew in an Aeroplane" in com parison with The Life o f Mr Maybe and his pastoral stories of the 1920s and 1930s.

In the c o n c lu s io n , Fei M ing's in flu e n c e on m o d e rn C h in ese writers is discussed, in an attempt to locate Fei Ming's position in the history of Chinese m odern literature from a w ider and perhaps truer persp ectiv e than that currently allotted him.

Finally, a few words about the title of this thesis. "M r Maybe"

com es fro m Fei M ing's novel, The Life o f Mr Maybe. Since "Mr M aybe" is a fictional character, it is of course dangerous to assume that he stands for "Fei Ming". However, considering the nature and content of the novel, the two are very close, as shall be discussed in Chapter Six. Besides, in "After Mr Maybe Flew in a A eroplane", "Mr Maybe" is used as a synonym of "Fei Ming". Additionally, Fei Ming's works have often been know n for their obscurity (am ong those who did or do know them) and are likely to make readers ponder. So I have linked Fei Ming and "Mr Maybe" with a colon.

N o t e

As for the w rite r’s nam e, the pseudonym , 'Fei M ing', is used con sisten tly th ro u g h o u t this thesis, as it is the one he used m ost frequently for the publication of his 'creative' (as opposed to critical

01* academ ic) writings.

The nam es of Chinese writers, place names and titles of works are given in the Pinyin rom anization, however, fam iliar anglicizations such as 'Peking' and the 'Y angtze' River are retained. W hen the W ade-Giles system is used for a Chinese word in a quotation from an English text, the W ade-G iles version has been replaced by Pinyin in parentheses. As for Japanese names, the surname has been put first, followed by the given name. (The only exception is the nam e of the writer of this thesis.)

- 1 3 -

Chapter One

Fei Ming's Literary Life

In the novel, The Bridge (Q i a o •Iff), the main character X iaolin t t ) says:

T h e s ig n ific a n c e o f life lies n o t in its story, b u t in the fo regrou n d in g of the story's style. As for the story, let it be one of destiny — I mean, accidental circumstances.

Sfc#ih'S9£Ji—^

These words will turn out to be a suggestive summ ary of the real life of its author, Fei Ming.

T his c h a p te r w ill p ro v id e a literary b io g ra p h y o f F ei M ing, concentrating on the period up to 1937 when his w riting career was in its hey day . The period after 1937 will be s u m m a riz e d only briefly. .As m entioned in the introduction, because m aterials on this issue are extrem ely scarce, the m ost detailed academic account on Fei Ming's life available so far, "Chronicle of Fei Ming" by Chen Zhenguo 2

^Fei M ing, "Gushi" , Q i a o (Shanghai: Kaiming shudian, 1932, rpt. Shanghai:

Shanghai shudian, 1986), pp. 3 65 -366.

2Chen. Zhenguo "Fei Ming nianpu", Wenjiao ziliao j i a n b a o M $4 f$) I S , No. 137, (May 1983), pp. 45-60. It consists o f sixteen pages. In the course of writing this chapter, Feng Wenbing yanjiu z i l ia o wi W % ^ 44 , ed. Chen Zhenguo (Fuzhou: H aixia w enyi chubanshe, 1990) was published. T his includes C hen’s "C hronicle o f F ei Ming" ("Fei M ing nianpu"), rew ritten as "Feng W enbing w enxue huodong nianbiao" (pp. 11-29). The revised version has also been consulted. H owever, the contents o f the two versions by Chen are more or less the same.

During the final revision o f this thesis in March 1993, the first published book on the life o f Fei M ing becam e available, Meng de zhenshi yu mei -- Fei Ming

Wt % by Guo Jifang ^ (S h ijiazh u a n g: H uashan w en y i chubanshe, 1992). Guo's biography (w hich forms part o f the "C hinese modern writer's biography series" T 0 JJfl f t I t IB 4$ ) is rather unreliable; it is often sem i-fictio n a l: It contains num erous unverifiable d etails such as six year old Fei M ing's d ialogu e with his grandmother (pp. 5-6), and the d ia lo g u e betw een Fei M ing and Hu Shi ($$ ill 1891-1962) on their first m eeting (p. 87). T hese

has been co nsulted w hen there were no other m eans of o btaining inform ation. How ever, where I or others are at odds w ith Chen's c h ro n ic le , a ltern ativ e s have been suggested and new in fo rm a tio n , gath ered from articles relatin g to Fei M ing, and in te rv ie w s and co rresp o n d ence with Fei M ing's nephew, friends and colleag u es, has been added.

Chil dh ood in H uan gm ei (1901-1915)

Fei Ming 'A ban d o n N a m e ’)3 was born on 9 N ovem ber 1901 (that is, 29th day of the ninth month in the lu n ar ca le n d ar) the second son of a large and m oderately w ealthy fam ily. T he fam ily lived in the South Gate Area (Wt ® H ) of H uangm ei ( H ) in the eastern part of Hubei province, ju s t north of the Y angtze R iver near

curious accounts are not supported by footnotes indicating p recise sources o f information. Guo also occasion ally treats what Fei Ming wrote in the 1950s and 1960s uncritically. A lso, Guo som etim es seem s to take what is written in Fei Ming's stories o f the 1920s and 1930s as totally autobiographical and describes them in great length (for exam ple, the dialogue betw een Fei M ing and Zhou Zuoren at pjp. 170-171 is an adaptation o f that between the character, "I" and Kuyu wen ^ M f t in Fei Ming's story, "Zao" ; the wording o f som e parts is exactly the sam e as that in Fei M ing’s story.). Apart, from these, there are many other parts in which very im aginative elem ents are m ingled, and which contain either d eta ils u nobtainable from Guo's own b ib lio gra p h y or h ig h ly emotional com ments by Guo h im self (eg. pp. 31-33, p. 35, p. 59, pp. 112-113, pp.

131-133. pp. 172-174, p. 178, pp. 181-183, pp. 185-189, p. 235, p. 237, pp. 282-283, pp. 286-293, p. 304, pp. 308-313, p. 357). Because o f these, although Guo's book indeed p rovides an entertaining story about Fei M ing's life , it cannot be considered as a totally 'academic' work. Therefore, the book has on ly supplied a little inform ation w hich had not been found in the already co m p leted research and Chen's ch ro n icle, and w hich was ju d g ed to be c o n v in c in g . W here Guo's accounts clearly match the con clu sion s o f this th esis, this has been m entioned and when inform ation has been added from G uo’s book, the source has been clearly stated in the footnotes.

3 This pen-nam e, w h ose m eaning is the op p osite o f the C onfucian ideal o f ach iev in g 'gongm ing' (#J ^ , scholarly name or officia l rank in feudal tim es), can be taken to sym b olise Fei Ming's aspiration after the D aoist ideal when he decided to use it in 1926. On the traditional ideals o f the Chinese intellectuals, 'gon gm in g' and 'luchen' (PS , sink into land, or liv e in s e c lu sio n ), see Takeuchi Minoru 17 ^ , Chugoku no shiso — dento to gendai T E! ^ — h.

BE f t (Tokyo: NHK books, first printing 1967. 20th rpt. 1989), pp. 39-114.

- 1 5 -

the border with Anhui and Jiangxi provinces. His fam ily gave him the nam e Feng W enbing ), styled Y unzhong (H'W3); he later used a num ber of pseudonyms, the m ost frequent being Fei M ing.4

Fei M ing's gran d fath er had been a craftsm an, m aking furniture and other articles from bamboo. Two of his uncles ran a fabric store, and his father, F eng Chuci / I ^ ) was a teacher w ho took the education of his children seriously.5 Fei Ming's elder brother, Feng L ish en g (%h A ) attended a clan school (sishu & m ) in H u angm ei before entering Hubei First Normal School (S9 ~ * ffl IS ^ f t ), and after graduating becam e a primary school teacher in W u c h a n g .6 His y o u n g er brother, F eng Jin gp ing ^ ) also w ent to H ubei First Norm al School, then w orked as a school teacher in H ankou before dying from illness in his twenties. Of Fei Ming's sisters, the elder was married at an early age and the younger one died in child h o o d.7

4His other pen-names include Bing Huo Ding Wu T 3^ and Yun Shi

5 Fei M ing's m other’s full name remains unknown. Fei M ing's nephew , Feng Jiannan gives her surname as Yue (f&) and explains in his letter to me dated 17 August 1992: "In China, in Lhe old days women (esp ecia lly in the countryside) did not use their names and were usually just called Ms. so-and-so." ( T HI 10 N- #3

A ( W J M E & F T ) (Jft) Kc )

6 A ccord in g to Guo Jifan g, Feng L ish en c later b ecam e a sch o o lm a ster o f Huangmei County M iddle School ($t § T fx:). See Guo, Meng de zhenshi yu mei -- Fei Ming, p. 27. This seem s to be based on Fei M in g’s account in

"M oxuyou xiansheng zuo feiji yihou, di shiliu zhang, M oxuyou xiansheng jiao

yingyu" 3 5 + * * . Fei Ming xuanji

(Chengdu: Sichuan wenyi chubanshe, 1988), p. 700.

7 A ccording to Feng Jiannan's letter to me dated 17 August 1992, Fei Ming's elder sister's name remains unknown, but his younger sister's name was Lian ( H ). Feng Jiannan also confirms that Fei Ming's early short story, "A mei" M ^ written on 18 Decem ber 1923, is about Fei Ming's own little sister, and that the characters and setting in the story are based on Fei M ing's own fam ily. "A mei" was translated into English by Chi-chen Wang and was published in 1944.

S ee Feng W en-ping, "Little Sister", C o nt e mp or ar y Chi nes e S t o r i e s , trans. Chi- chen W ang (o r ig in a lly p ub lished by C olum bia U n iv ersity Press in 1944, W estport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, Publishers, 1968), pp. 127-134.

F ei M in g ’s c o u s in 8, Feng W enhua 1902-1927), a well- known m e m b e r o f the Chinese C om m unist Party, was C h airm an of H u an g m ei C ounty F arm e rs' A ssociation ( i f -H- K tty ). He was killed by the G u o m in d a n g 9 on 27 June 1927. A t the req uest of the H u an gm ei local go vern m en t in 1964, Fei M ing w rote an article in which he com m ented that Feng W enhua had been a C o m m u n ist who had re b e lle d ag ain st his own m id d le-class b a c k g r o u n d .10 A nother well-known relative of Fei Ming's is his nephew, Feng Jiannan

1922-), the son of Fei Ming's elder b ro th er11, known for his literary c r i t i c i s m . 12

In 1906, Fei Ming began to attend clan school, held at a temple, w h e re he e m b a r k e d on a tra d itio n a l e d u c a tio n r e a d i n g T h e

Trimetrical Classic The Hundred Surnames and 'The

Four Books' ( K ^ ) , namely The Great Learning (7*v#), The Doctrine o f the Mean ( ^ H f ) , The Analects (i& ill) and M e n c i u s He studied here until entering Huangm ei Bajiaoting Junior Normal School ( H f S J I

in 1913.

8 A ccording to Guo Jifang's Meng de zhenshi yu mei — Fei Mingy p. 340, Feng Wenhua was Fei M ing's father's younger brother's son.

9 G uom indang ( S K ^ S ) , the Chinese Nationalist Party.

10Fei M ing wrote: "The m ost vivid im pression which W enhua g ave to p eop le was the im age o f a Com m unist Party member rebelling against his ow n class."

) See "Feng W enhua liesh i zhuanliie" ^ M T 1$ Bfr , Feng Wenbing xuanji ^ M i l M (B eijing: Renm in w enxue chubanshe, 1985), pp. 397-98. In Chapter F ifteen o f his autobiographical story, "After Mr Maybe Flew in an Aeroplane", Fei M ing wrote: "Mr Maybe's fam iliy was middle class ..." T ...) See Fei M ing, "Moxuyou xiansheng zuo feiji yihou, di shiwu zhang, Wuzusi"

4; ^ H fJl jp , Fei Ming xuanji, p. 684.

^ In te rv iew with Feng Jiannan on 24 July 1988 in Shijiazhuang H W* l i .

12As for Fen^ Jiannan's career, see Zhongguo wenxuej ia cidian, x i a n d a i di y i f e n c e + S * # £ ft * , M , ed. Beijing yuyan xueyuan Z h o n g g u o

wenxuejia cidian bianweihui (Chengdu:

Sichuan renmin chubanshe, 1979), pp. 107-108.

- 1 7 -

B eing the second son of a large provincial fam ily, he did not rece iv e the attentio n paid to the first born, and was so m ew h at neglected at hom e and at sc h o o l.13 Although he wrote in his essays that, in retrospect, he had generally been w ell-behaved as a c h ild 14, he also adm itted a lack of self-respect, and occasionally stole money fro m h o m e and w en t o ff to play cards w ith the s tr e e ts e lle rs downtown, with w hom he spent much of his tim e.15

T he clan school he remembered as 'hell' © t) and a ’dark prison' ( H H§ 6tl ES ©C) w here the teachers ju st gave the orders 'read!' and 'm e m o r i s e '. 16 He wrote:

As a student, I was not particularly hard-w orking, yet I do not regret it. The education I received did m e no good whatsoever, only harm. This is what I can clearly say to all educationalists...

Only 'nature' did m e any good. My house was in the town and my m atern al grand p aren ts' house was in the v illag e two l i aw ay fro m the tow n, so befo re I was ten, j u s t as Tao Y u an m in g ’s poem goes, 'On some fine m orning I [would] walk alone,' m y jo u rn e y helped me produce literary w orks tw enty years later. W hen I was in Beiping, a friend of m ine m arried and everyone was asked to write something in m o m ento in an album, so I wrote:

A little bridge outside the town, I walked along the sandy s h o re .

Now I still rem em ber it just as if looking at a bridge in a p i c t u r e .

I loved crossing the weir of the Gaodi River most.

13Fei M ing, "Huangmei Chuji Zhongxue tongxuelu xu sanpian -- san"

^ |qj ^ ^ J? — ^3 * n , [first published in Da g on g b a o ( A & JK )> , Tianjin, (17 N ovem ber 1946)], Feng Wenbing xuanj i , p. 386.

14Fei M ing, "Jiaoxun"lfe Dll, Feng Wenbing xuanji, p. 371.

15Fei M ing, "Huangmei Chuji Zhongxue tongxuelu xu sanpian -- san", F e n g Wenbi ng xuanji, p. 386.

W ith a one and a half li jo u rn e y , I reached the Y uejia R i v e r - b e n d .

According to Feng Jiannan, both the Gaodi River and the Yuejia River- bend are real place names and the Y uejia R iver-bend is w here Fei M ing's m atern al grandparents' house w a s .18

It is clear then th at nature in H uangm ei played an im p ortan t part in Fei M ing's early life and in the d ev elopm ent of his literary s e n s i b i l i t i e s . 19 H uangm ei itself is surrounded by lush green scenery and water. The north-east region is m ountainous and the south-w est full o f lakes and rivers. M any fields are cultivated betw een river

*7 Fei M ing, "Huangmei Chuji Z hongxue ton gxu elu xu sanpian, san", F e n g Wenbi ng xuanj i , pp. 386-387. Li is a Chinese unit o f distance (= 1 /2 kilom etre).

Tao Yuanming's poem quoted here is "Guiqulai xi ci" (!U ife ^ "The Return") and the translation is taken from James Robert H ightow er, The P o e t r y o f T a o Ch'ien (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970), p. 270.

18Feng Jiannan, "Shuo Fei Ming de shengping" & Y , Yt>i wenxue shiliao Iff ^ 14 , No. 2, 1984, p .107. According to Feng Jiannan’s letter to me dated 17 A ugust 1992, the Y uejia R iver-bend (=Y uejiaw an) was also w here Fei M ing's w ife's parents lived (in other words, where his w ife grew up).

1 9 In his diary entry for 10 June 1926, Fei M ing wrote: "Went to Shichahai, crossed a small wooden bridge and remembered how happy I used to be to see a bridge in my childhood. If I noted down every single thing that I liked in my childhood one by one, that must be interesting." (£0 + PJ ?§ >

M T 5 I G ) See Fei

M ing, "W angjile de riji" ^ 16 T 0 iB , Yu Si, N o. 128 (23 April 1927).

Furthermore, in Chapter E leven o f "After Mr Maybe Flew in an Aeroplane", Fei Ming writes: "Mr M aybe’s rich em otions can be said to have been given him by

fields" See Fei Ming, ""Moxuyou xiansheng

zuo feiji yihou, di shiyi zhang, yitian de shiqing" KM ‘ >

5c $] 2^ i f , F e/ Ming xuanji, p. 616.

- 1 9 -

e m b a n k m e n ts and the h illsid es. T a k ing a d v a n ta g e o f a b u n d a n t natural reso u rces, m any people in H uangm ei en gage in fish in g and f a r m i n g . 20

F e i M in g m e n tio n s tw o re la tiv e s to w h o m he w as c lo se particularly in his childhood and who had a great in flu en ce on him.

O ne is his m a te r n a l g r a n d m o th e r 21 w h o m he r e m e m b e r e d in describing his jo u rn ey to her house in the above quoted poem . The other is the w ife of his father's younger b ro the r.22 This aunt is the m odel for the short story, "A W asherw om an" ("H uanyim u" 1m A ^ ) and her house is the setting of another short story, "A W illow Tree at the Riverside" ("Heshangliu" M _ t W ) . 23

Soon after his sixth b irth day 24, Fei M ing becam e seriously ill.

W hen he recov ere d , his m aternal grandm other, his m o th e r and his elder sister took him to Wuzu Temple in H uangm ei to pray for good fo rtu n e for him. Fei Ming rem em bers the occasion as an ex c itin g e x p e r ie n c e .25 Indeed, W uzu Temple appears to have been a favourite place of Fei M ing's throughout his life. He m en tio n s the temple in his early short story, "My Neighbours" ("Wo de linshe" ft!

2 0 Feng Jiannan, "Shuo Fei M ing de shengping", Xin wenxue s h i l i a o , N o. 2, 1984, p. 107. Also, Shi Ruilin TTJrf&t, "Huangmeixian liiezhi" H ^ H- ® ^ , H u b e i wenxian jikan $9 ~$C ^ ft], No. 5 (October 1966), p. 68 .

21Fei M ing, "Sanwen" , Feng Wenbing xuanj i , p. 366 and "Wuzusi"

Feng Wenbing x u a nj i, p. 302.

22 Fei M ing, "Sanwen", Feng Wenbing xuanj i, p. 366.

2 3 Fei M ing, "S anwen". "Heshangliu" and "Huanyimu" w ill be d iscu ssed in Chapter Three, b elow .

2 4 The age is calculated according to the Chinese system , that is, the number o f calendar years a person has lived.

2 5 Fei M ing, "Wuzusi", Feng Wenbi ng xuanji, pp. 3 61 -3 65. A lso , Fei M ing,

"Moxuyou xiansheng zuo feiji yihou, di shiwu zhang, Wuzusi", Fei Mi ng xuanji, pp. 682-684.

41$#) and again in later essays.26 The family also seems to have had fairly close contact with Wuzu and Sizu T em p les.27 Fei Ming wrote that when he was a child, the grown-ups of the fam ily would bring bam boo flutes and wooden fish from the two tem ples for the c h i l d r e n . 28

If this is so, then it is likely that the seeds of Fei M ing's later religious in clin atio n s m ay have been sown in his ch ild h o o d . The p o s sib ility is en h a n ce d by H uangm ei's h isto rical c o n n e c tio n s with Chan ( W ) B u d d h is m .29 The fourth patriarch of Chan Buddhism , Dao Xin (M f i t , 580-651) lived on Mt Shuangfeng ($td$L ll) for thirty years and practised in Sizu Tem ple which stood about 17 li n o rth -w est of H uan g m ei. The fifth p a tria rch , Hong Ren (3A M, , 6 0 1 -6 7 4 ) w ho form ulated the rites and rules of the sect and m ade Chan B uddhism p o p u la r th ro u g h o u t C hina, cam e from H u a n g m ei and b u ilt W uzu Tem ple ab o u t 25 li north-east of the city gate. The sixth patriarch, Hui Neng (fit Its, 638-713) received Hong Ren's m antle and alms bowl in the D o n g jian Tem ple ( S S l l ^ ) , l li so u th -east of H u ang m ei's city g a t e .30

2 6 Ibid. "Wo de linshe" w ill be discussed in Chapter Three, below.

2 7 A ccording to Guo Jifang's Meng de zhenshi yu mei — Fei M i n g , p. 11 and p.

26, Fei Ming's father, who was a "gentleman" (£$ i ) o f Huangmei County, used to be invited to attend ordinations at Wuzu Temple. Fei Ming also mentions this in "M oxuyou xiansheng zuo feiji yihou, di shiw u zhang, W uzusi", Fei Mi ng x ua nj i, p. 681.

28Fei M ing, "Wuzusi", Feng Wenbing xuanji, p. 361.

2 9 The critic, Yang Yi ^ X attributes Fei M ing's description o f the harmony betw een man and nature and old-fashioned fam ily in The B r i d g e (Q i a o #F ) to the in flu en ce o f Fei M ing's roots in Huangmei, with its Chan connection. See Yang Y i, "Ershi shiji huaren jiating xiaoshuo de moshi yu bianqian" — T tk ^ tfr A ^ l i i ' T 1^ lit 5 ^ ^ 13:, Zhongguo shehui kexue 41 Hi f t ^ ^ , No. 1, 1990, p. 180.

30Zhongguo f engwuz hi congshu: Hubei fengwuzhi 4 1 S m i t R V s

ed. Hubei renmin chubanshe (Hubei: Hubei renmin chubanshe, 19 85 ), pp. 99- 109, and Chugoku bukkyoshi jiten T HK^ i$L SI $1. ed. Kamata Shigeo ^ ,

- 2 1 -

A d o l e s c e n c e in W u c h a n g (1916-1921)

Fei M ing’s father had wished for his son to become a m erch an t.31 H ow ever, after g raduating fro m ju n io r norm al school in 1916, Fei M ing le ft for W uch an g, and in 1917 entered H ubei F irs t N orm al S chool.32

There, he came across China's New Literature33 for the first time, w hen in 1917 or 1918 a new teacher fro m Peking in tro d u ce d the class to the poem "The Butterflies" ("Hudie" S $ l ) 34, by the leading p ro m o ter of the use of the v ernacular and 'the fath er o f m odern

(Tokyo: Tokybdo, 1981), pp. 25-26, p. 105, and pp. 279-281. Hui N eng led the Southern S ch ool w hich stressed sudden en lighten m en t o f mind ( ^ la ) w h ile H ong R en ’s other outstanding - d isc ip le, Shen Xiu (H1 ^ , 6 0 5 7 -7 0 6 ) led the Northern S ch oo l which stressed gradual en lighten m en t ($4 $ ) . The Southern Sch ool even tu ally overshadow ed the Northern Sch ool and (according to W ing- tsit Chan) "from the ninth century onward, the story o f Zen has been that o f the Southern School". For more details, see W ing-tsit Chan, "The Zen (C h’an) S ch o o l o f Sudden E nligh ten m ent" , A Sour c e Book In Chi nes e P h i l o s o p h y (P r in c e to n ,_ N ew Jersey: P rin ceton U n iv ersity P ress, 1 9 6 3 ), pp. 4 2 5 -4 3 0 . According to Tu W ei-m ing, for h alf a century (6 2 0 -6 7 4 ), Huangmei becam e the undisputed centre o f Chan B uddhism with a com m unity that o n ce numbered seven hundred resid en t m onks. He also w rites that sin c e the d istrict was stra teg ica lly lo cated near the Y an gtze, the d h a r m a exp ou nd ed w as e a sily transmitted to other parts o f the country. See Tu W ei-m ing, "Ch'an in China: A R e fle c tiv e Interpretation", Zen in China, Japan and East Asian Art: Pa p er s o f the International Symposi um on Zen, Zurich University, 16-18. 11. 1982, ed. H.

Brinker, R. P. Kramers, and C. Ouwehand (Berne, Frankfurt am M ain, N ew York: Peter Lang, 1985), pp. 12-13.

3 A c c o r d in g to Chen Z henguo, Fei M ing's elder brother helped him continue studying in W uchang. S ee Chen Zhenguo, "Feng W enbing w en x u e huodong nianbiao", Feng Wenbing yanjiu ziliao, p. 12. Guo Jifang states that it was Fei Ming's grandfather who w ished Fei M ing to b ecom e a merchant, and that his father follow ed the grandfather's opinion. See Guo, Meng de zhenshi yu mei -- Fei Ming, pp. 57-58.

3 2 A lthough Fei M ing was studying in W uchang against his fam ily's w ish es, he was in touch with hom e and returned there during the sch ool h olid a ys. See Fei M ing, "Sanwen", Feng Wenbing xuanji, p. 369.

3 3 T he v ern acu lar literatu re w h ich arose as the re su lt o f th e L iterary R evolution ( ^ C ^ ^ ^ p ) o f 1917 led by Hu Shi and Chen Duxiu 1879-1942).

S ee Chow T se-tsu n g , The Ma y Fourth Movement : Int e l le ct ual R ev o l ut io n in M o d er n Chi na (first published 1960; Stanford, California: Stanford U n iversity Press, 1967), pp. 269-288.

3 4 "Hudie" was written on 23 August 1916.

C h in ese p o e t r y '35, Hu Shi (SUM, 1891-1962). The teacher criticised the p oem , p raisin g in stead C hinese classical lite ra tu re .36 Fei Ming was not g reatly im p ressed w ith the poem and found h im s e lf m ore a ttra c te d to w o rk s in tro d u c e d as exam ples o f the b e st classica l litera tu re such as the c i 37 p oem , "The Im m o rtal by the R iver"

(" L in jia n g x ia n " f i fill) by the Song poet, Yan Jidao ( H Jh i ! , 1030- 1106), and the s a n q u 38 verse, "Autumn Thoughts" ("Qiusi" © ) by the Y uan dram atist, M a Z hiyuan i l l , 7-1321). Fei M ing was

3 5 Julia C. Lin's words in her book, Moder n Chi nes e P o et r y: An I nt r oduct ion (S e a ttle and L ond on : U n iv ersity o f W ash in gton P ress, 1972; W a sh in g to n Paperback edition, 1973), p. 31.

3 6 I d isagree with Chen Zhenguo's com m ent concerning this period that "there were con sid erab le heated debates on the new and old id e o lo g ic a l trends and literature at Fei Ming's school." (IfflBSfUL Iff ) See Chen Z h en gg u o , "Feng W enbing w en xu e huodong nianbiao", F e n g We n bi ng yanjiu zi l iao, p. 12. Chen's statement does not match Fei Ming's ow n account o f this tim e that he, like his other classm ates, knew nothing about the rise o f Chinese New Literature. Fei Ming writes in Tan xinshi tfe Iff ^ , (first published 1944; rpt. B eijin g: Renmin w enxue chubanshe, 1984, p. 3): "One day, a new teacher o f C h in ese cam e to us. W e only knew that h e cam e back after graduating from P ek in g U n iv ersity and that he w as a d is c ip le o f H uang Jigang. W e did not know anything more than that. A s for what was called New Literature and what was called Old Literature, or such a fact that by that time at P ek in g U n iv e r sity there had already appeared N ew L iterature, w e never knew..." ( " W - ' A a i f l l f f ^ T - f e a ^ ^ ' J r p , X f t J M

■ © V , *1 T ' M T ...") From this, it is clear that Fei Ming's teacher was a supporter o f the famous scholar o f p i a n w e n (Iff C hinese cla ssica l prose in eu p h u istically antithetical and ornate sty le), Huang Jigang (M ^ Rid , 1886- 1935) w ho w ould later resign from Peking U n iveristy to protest the p o lic ie s advocated by the m ovem ent's leaders, Chen Duxiu and Hu Shi, during the May Fourth M ovem ent o f 1919, and go to W uchang to teach. S ee B i o g r a p h i c a l Di ct i onary o f Republican China, Volume II: Dal ai - Ma, ed. Howard L. Boorman (N ew York and London: C olum bia U niversity Press, 1968), pp. 1 9 7 -1 9 8 , and Chow T se-tsung, The May Fourth Movement, p. 270, and pp. 279-283. Guo Jifang also seem s to b e lie v e that Fei M ing cam e to know about the C h in ese N ew literature when his teacher discussed Hu Shi's poem in class. See Guo, Meng de zhenshi yu mei -- Fei Ming, pp. 59-60.

3 7 C / is poetry written to certain tunes with strict tonal patterns and rhyme schem es, in fixed numbers o f lines and words, originating in the Tang D ynasty (6 18 -9 0 7 ) and fu lly developed in the Song Dynasty (9 60-1279).

3 8 S a n q u ifc ft is a type o f verse popular in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, with tonal patterns m odelled on tunes drawn from folk m usic.

- 2 3 -

particularly fond of "Autum n Thoughts" and would sing it to him self from tim e to time. In Hubei, far from the centre of the L iterary Revolution, Fei Ming did not feel the thrust of the new literature, but was intrigued by the innovator, Hu Shi.39

Fei M ing was still in W uchang in 1919 at the time o f the May Fourth M ovem ent. He was influenced by this patriotic cultural and

political upsurge, and by the ideological 'New Culture' trend, as were m any others w ho later becam e w riters, and often read p ro g ressiv e magazines such as the influential New Youth (X in qingnian ^ ). In p articu lar, in F eb ru ary 1919, he read the poem , "A S m all River"

("X iaohe" -(hM ) by the writer, Zhou Zuoren (J1 A , 1885-1967), Lu X u n 's (S ' ifi , 1 8 8 1 -1 9 3 6 ) y o u n g e r b ro th e r, and f o u n d it was s o m e th in g e n tire ly n e w .40 Fei Ming perhaps found novelty in the style o f Zhou's poem which was freer and more 'prosaic' than that of earlier New poem s such as Hu Shi's.41 It seems that "A Small River"

was a m o m en to u s and p erso n ally reso n an t piece of C h in ese New

39Fei Ming, "Di yi zhang, Changshij i " )) , Tan xinshi, pp. 2-3.

40Fei Ming, "Di ba zhang, ’Xiaohe' ji qita" «<b$T» life, Tan xi nshi , pp.

8 2 -8 4 .

41 In Tan xinshi, p. 84, Fei Ming wrote: "The youth read Mr Zhou's N ew poems and cou ld not but forget about the bandages for binding girls' feet. There were 'natural-footed girls' on the spot and they wanted to try their hands at

the medium." A

^ T ID M ^ IS T ° ) This alludes to Hu Shi's candid description o f his own early N ew poem s (including "The B utterflies") as 'the suddenly freed bound feet o f an old -fash ion ed C h inese woman' in his preface to the fourth ed ition o f the collection o f his poem s, E x p e r i m e n t s ( C h a n g s h i j i ^ T^M) . In M o d e r n C hi ne s e P o e t r y (pp. 37-38), Julia C. Lin points out that vestiges o f the past such as fixed rhym ing and regular v erse length are still apparent in Hu Shi's early N ew poem s. Com paring, indirectly, Zhou Zuoren's N ew poem s with Hu Shi's, Fei Ming also wrote in Tan xinshi, p. 82: "Mr Hu Shi's metaphor o f bound feet had already decided the fate [o f his poem s]: bound-footed w om en are bound-footed women after all and no matter how hard they try to release their feet, they can never becom e as natural as natural-footed women." (&3 M ^ SI H. fcfcl ^ ^ ^

Tffrii, aattfcAfiJEJiSJEWiaA, )

Literature for Fei Ming; later, in 1923, in his early short story, "Long D ays" ("C h a n g ri" "ft 0 ) he would describe a scene w here the main character reads it to ease his vexed frame of m ind .42 Z hou Zuoren would becom e his life time teacher and friend.

Fei M ing's interest and potential in Chinese New literature were d ev elo p in g at the tim e. As a sensitive ad o lescen t, his taste for pastoral them es, which would blossom a few years later in his stories set in the countryside, seems to have already been in bud. Fei Ming later s ta te d th at he was im p ressed by and en jo y ed re a d in g N ew poem s by Liu B annong (jfclJ ^ , 1889-1934) such as "A Shepherd's Sorrow" ("M u y a n g ’er de bei'ai" & ^ JL ittili f t ) 43, "A S m all Peasant Fam ily's Evening" ("Yige xiao nongjia de mu" —‘ ^ ' . h ^ )44 and

"Paddy A w ning" ("D aopeng" f § l i ) 45 when they were first published in New Youth in 1920 and 1921.4 6

4 2 "Changri" was written on 1 October 1922 and published in Nuli z h o u b a o Jo J»] IS , No. 26 (29 October 1922). This story w ill be discussed in this chapter b e lo w .

4 3 "Muyang'er de bei'ai" w as written on 7 June 1920 and first p ublished in X i n q i n g n i a n , Vol. 8 , No. 2 (October 1920).

44 "Y ige x ia o n ongjia de mu" w as written on 7 February 1921 and first published in X i n q i n g n i a n , Vo. 9, No. 4 (August 1921).

4 5 "D aopeng" w as w ritten on 8 February 1921 and first p u b lish e d in X i n q i n g n i a n , V ol. 9, No. 4 (August 1921).

4 6 Fei M ing wrote: "I liked this poem , 'A Shepherd's Sorrow', and the follow in g poem s I selected: ’A Small Peasant Family's Evening' and 'Paddy Awning', when I read them in the later ed ition s o f N e w Youth. They still g iv e the sam e im pression now. If I hadn't read the Fl ouri s hi ng the Whip C ol l e ct i on today, I would probably only remember these three New poem s by Liu Bannong." ( i s i l i ’

,

mm} ,

be &&&$£&&#,

iB # — H o ) S ee Feng W enbing, Tan xi nshi, p. 59. The Fl ouri shing the Whip C o l l e c t i o n ( Y a n g b i a n j i IS 18! i l ) is a co llec tio n o f Liu B a n n o n g’s p oem s, published in Peking in 1926.

- 2 5 -

A fter he graduated from H ubei First Norm al School and became a prim ary school teacher in Wuchang, in N ovem ber 192147 he began corresp o n d in g with Zhou Zuoren, who had been teaching at Peking U n iversity since 1919.48

St u de nt days in Pek ing (1922-1929)

In S ep tem b er 1922, Fei M ing began the p rep arato ry course of Peking U niversity and was living in Shatan near the university.

Zhou Zuoren had m et him and later wrote that Fei M ing had a rath er p e c u lia r ap p earan ce with a pro m in ent brow and m an y scars on his neck from scrofula, and that he spoke in a low and husky v o ic e .49

N ow a university student, Fei Ming felt as though he had become a 'true p rim a ry school pupil' w ho could study fre e ly .50 The first foreign book he read was George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss which

4 7 Qian Liqun Zuoren zhuan (Beijing: Beijing shiyue w enyi chubanshe, 1990), p. 357. According to Zhou Zuoren's diary ("Zhou Zuoren riji"

Jf} A 0 iB ), Zhou receiv ed Fei M ing's first letter from W uchang on 10 November 1921. Zhou also received letters from Fei Ming on 16 Decem ber 1921, 7 March 1922, 25 May 1922, 13 July 1922, and 9 September 1922 quite p ossib ly before they met each other. See "Zhou Zuoren riji", Lu Xun yanjiu ziliao # ifi w

No. 18 (October 1987), pp. 19-118.

4 8 Zhou Zuoren, "Huai Fei Ming" f f $ t % , Y a o Tang zawen £§ ^ ^ , (B eijing:

Xinm in yinshuguan, 1944, rpt. 1945), pp. 115-116. B y this time, Fei Ming was married to Yue Ruiren U who was also from Huangmei. A ccording to Feng Jiannan's letter to m e dated 17 August 1992, Fei M ing and his w ife were cousins (m ore p r e c ise ly , Fei M ing's m other and his w ife's father w ere sister and brother.) T he date o f their marriage rem ains unknow n. F ei M ing on ce described Mr Maybe's w ife as 'very rich in local sensitivity' ( M S t A /iSf* Aik

) in "M oxuyou xiansheng zuo feiji yihou, di jiu zhang Tingqian kanhui"

w tlf # iz?, Fei Ming xuanji, p. 581. According to Guo Jifang, Fei M ing's w ife was on e year older than Fei M ing and a good housekeeper although she did not know how to read very w ell. See Guo, M e n g de zhenshi yu mei — Fei Mi ng, p. 233.

49Zhou Zuoren, "Huai Fei Ming", Yao Tang zawen, p. 116.

5 0 F ei M ing, "M oxuyou xiansheng zuo feiji yihou, di liu zhang, jiu shidai de jiaoyu", Fei Ming xuanji, p. 528.