1. Excerpt: That day was also the first time I saw the lotus pond in the botanical garden. Standing next to the lotus leaves in the pond, the air was filled with a vague and familiar fragrance, which I had when I was a child. The memory of my father's trip to Xuanwu Lake reappeared in front of my eyes in an instant, and the sunshine became softer in an instant. I seemed to have entered a different world, where time stood still and my heart was filled with a kind of vague nostalgia. ?
Comment: Every writer has his or her favorite thing, and Xi Murong is particularly fond of lotus. She painted and wrote lotus flowers. However, she usually does not praise the lotus alone. She always connects the lotus with people, or brings out the lotus through something. In literary criticism, there is a saying that "literature is like its person", which places special emphasis on the relationship between the writer's living environment and the style of his work. To explore the relationship between this phenomenon and Xi Murong, we can find the answer from Xi Murong's living environment and growth process. ?
2. Excerpt: I look at it every morning, watching its color change from dark purple covered with a layer of green, to watery red, to soft pink, and then to grayish white. Watching its petals grow from tight buds to slightly blooming to full bloom and then withering is like watching a life from a young boy to the end day by day.
Comments: She not only describes the scenery objectively and carefully, but also describes the emotions subjectively, making the whole work present a sense of blending of scenes and a situation where things and I are one. ?
3. Excerpt: At dusk in Xuanwu Lake, I sat between my father’s legs, and my father paddled with both hands. The boat set off from the shade of the willows and flowed quietly on the lake covered with lotus leaves. Twilight makes everything blurry and quiet. The little hand holds a full lotus pod, and in the small mind, the happiness in the world is as full as the lotus pod and as fragrant as the lotus seeds. ?
The earliest lotus in my memory is probably the one my father gave me when I was five years old when he took me boating on Xuanwu Lake. My father's arms are so safe and warm. Being able to monopolize my father's arms is a kind of uneasy surprise and pride for me as a five-year-old. Along with the memory, there is also a hazy sky on the lake.
Comments: Xi Murong once mentioned in "Trace of Growth: Preface": 'I am a person who likes to "look back"'. This also confirms that her works often have a retrospective meaning, except for the example of "Lotus Pond" cited above. The story of her father taking her to Xuanwu Lake to see lotus flowers when she was a child is often mentioned in the article. Different writing methods are used to cut into the time before and after. Although it is the same thing, the writing methods from different angles make it difficult for people to get bored. Slightly gray-purple twilight. ?
4. Excerpt: Begonia flower is the flower that belonged to my mother when I was young. ...But there has never been such a cruel war, there has never been such years of displacement, and no nation has ever endured so much suffering. Therefore, none of the girls of that generation can realize their dreams. ... What I want to buy is not only the potted flower, but also the beautiful scenery in the potted flower, the ancient and fragrant homeland in the potted flower, and I finally understand my mother's heart. All the memories will appear in front of me with its fragrance. I think maybe what I love is not the flowers, but all the passing time. Behind every flower, there are memories that I cherish. ?
Comment: Xi Murong’s love for ‘flowers’ has obviously become a distinctive feature in her works. For her, flowers are the most important luggage in her memory, and behind every flower there is a feeling of reluctance. The flower also represents something that moved Xi Murong's heart, or a person who is deeply remembered. Such works can easily arouse the excitement of readers and are naturally popular.
Extended information
Xi Murong (October 15, 1943 -), Mongolian, full name Mulun Xi Lianbo, contemporary painter, poet, essayist. Originally from Chahar tribe in Inner Mongolia.
In 1963, Xi Murong graduated from the Fine Arts Department of Taiwan Normal University. In 1966, he completed further studies at the Royal Academy of Arts in Brussels, Belgium, and won many awards including the Royal Belgian Gold Medal and the Brussels Municipal Government Gold Medal. He has written more than 50 collections of poems, essays, picture albums and anthologies. His poems such as "Qili Xiang", "Youth Without Resentment", "A Blossoming Tree", etc. are very popular and have become classics.
Xi Murong's works are mostly about love, life and nostalgia. They are beautifully written, elegant and clear, lyrical and smart, full of true love for life, and have influenced the growth of an entire generation. In December 2017, "Song of Hometown", written by Xi Murong, composed by Lu Xuedong, and sung by Jiang Lina, won the Best Original Single Award in the National Category at the 10th China Golden Disc Awards.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Xi Murong