The first time I read "Human Grass" by Wang Zengqi was recommended to me by my daughter.
My understanding of Wang Zengqi is limited to character introduction. We know that he is a disciple of Mr. Shen Congwen, a famous contemporary novelist, essayist, and heir of Beijing School novels. He is known as "China's last pure literati and China's last scholar-official". Therefore, when my daughter introduced this book to me, I was more curious than other books.
When I opened this book, I discovered that it was different. It begins with paintings, calligraphy works and manuscripts written by Wang Zengqi.
The work is divided into four parts: plants and trees in the world, miscellaneous notes from hometown, a generation of ancient people, and feelings from other places.
The first part, Human Plants, describes the flowers, plants, insects and fish in the author's life. The first article is "Grape Moon Order". The author talks about the growth of grapes from January to December in sequence. My first impression of the writing was that it was bland. Following the description of the article, the cycle of the four seasons of a vineyard appeared before my eyes. But when I closed the book, I wanted to read it again, so I opened it again.
After the beginning of spring, the "wind" will blow for forty-eight days. The wind swings the branches of the tree, and the tree wakes up and is busy sending juice to the whole body. The branches softened. The trees are green.
The snow has melted and the land is black.
Why does this seemingly straightforward line drawing give me such a strong sense of picture? Beginning of spring, swinging, waking up, sap, soft, green, melting, black, with just a few simple words, the whole breath of spring is vividly presented to me. The author uses his unique eye for discovering beauty to discover The beauty of interest in life is expressed to us with his literary height, guiding every ordinary person with romantic feelings to enjoy the interest of life and have a life as calm as water. No wonder I can't let it go.
The second part is "Miscellaneous Notes from Hometown". The author left his hometown at the age of nineteen and returned to his hometown at the age of sixty-six. "I went to see my alma mater: there was nothing left." However, when I read "My Elementary School", I clearly saw the Chengtian Temple where Zhang Shicheng became king, and "Fatty Zhan hung on the wall." There is a clock, a copper bell on the table, and a glass box with peanut candies and sesame candies." The author introduced everyone from kindergarten teacher Wang Wenying to sixth grade teacher Zhang Jingzhai one by one. I don't have his accomplishments, and I can't write the essence of "teacher's kindness and mother's love". But this is not my biggest feeling and gain from reading this article.
After reading "My Elementary School", I reflected on myself several times and felt deeply ashamed. Now when I think about my primary school teacher, I can hardly call him "teacher", let alone the teacher's full name. The teacher's voice, appearance, and smile have long been blurred or even forgotten. I never thought of visiting them, and there is no way of knowing whether they are still alive or not. It’s really shameful.
This may be Wang Zengqi. He uses unpretentious, even homely words and delicate emotions to purify the readers' souls and make them think. Yes, "May the young man ride the wind and waves, and never Don't forget the skill of turning rain in the future."
In the chapter "A Generation of Ancients", Mr. Wang Zengqi writes about his relatives, parents and brothers, and his nanny Sister Dalian, Mr. Shen Congwen, Wen Yiduo..., no matter who they are, they can gain the greatest respect in his writings. He described Mr. Shen like this: "In his later years, he liked to laugh loudly, grinning from ear to ear, and waving his hands in gestures, really like a child." This living image of an ordinary old man is something we may rarely associate with Mr. Shen. Bar.
The last part is "Sending Thoughts from a Foreign Country". Mr. Wang Zengqi "In order to write "The Imperial College", I went to the Imperial College for a walk, but couldn't find anything. I brought dozens of books back from the Capital Library. After reading for a few days, I was dazzled and bored, but I didn't gain much. Later, , I went to talk to an 'old' friend for two nights, and it seemed that I understood a lot of things. This friend of mine has been working in the Imperial College for generations..." This is how the gentleman treats his written words with such rigor, and then puts them into words. The allusions and allusions in the words and chapters are conveyed in a wonderful way inadvertently and unintentionally. Let readers understand it at a glance.
Mr. Wang Zengqi's "Human Plants" talks about flowers, plants, insects, fish, ordinary people's trivial matters, nostalgia and folk customs, plain and simple, using the most accurate language to interpret the simple literary taste and the feelings of literati.
Mr. Wang once said, "The purpose of language is to make people understand it at a glance and remember it at a glance. The standard of language is accuracy."
After reading "Human Plants" I understand a lot.