If Ke Yuan is a Dong poet, some people may ask why the name "Ke Yuan" cannot be found in the "History of Dong Literature" published in December 1988? The reason can only be attributed to the poet's bumpy experience and certain misunderstandings in history. Therefore, less than a year after the publication of "History of Dong Literature", in the autumn of 1989, the "Ke Yuan Poetry Symposium" was held in Xinhuang Dong Autonomous County, Hunan Province. Many famous poets, experts and scholars at home and abroad gathered together and everyone agreed. It is believed that although the name Ke Yuan was omitted from the "History of Dong Literature", his poems have not been forgotten by the majority of readers and poetry lovers. His works are not only widely circulated in China, but some are also published in Chinese newspapers in the United States, France, Canada, Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong and other places, and some are translated into English and French and introduced abroad. Finally, the organizer of the "Ke Yuan Poetry Symposium" officially announced: "Ke Yuan, as a brilliant Dong poetry star, will be recorded in the history of Dong literature." It turns out that Ke Yuan's real name is Zhang Hengshou, who was born in 1931 in Jing County, Hebei Province. His father was from Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province. He was a tribute student in the late Qing Dynasty and came to the north from the south to make a living. His mother was a Dong nationality from Xinhuang Dong Autonomous County in present-day Hunan Province. Ke Yuan is willing to follow his mother's birthplace, so he has another bright poetry star in the starry sky of Dong literature.
On October 14, 1946, his first poem "O Motherland, Arise!" "Published in the literary weekly "Ta Kung Pao", the poem reads:
The joyful mood is dealt with by sorrow,
The beautiful farm is just a misty dream.
My motherland, for the destiny of our descendants,
Stand up and open your tired eyes.
......
He was only 15 years old this year. His poetry surged uncontrollably. While participating in the student movement, he wrote poetry. He contributed to Tianjin’s Yishi Daily, Minsheng Herald and Xinsheng Evening News, Peking’s Jingshi Daily and Pingming Daily, Shanghai’s Renaissance and Poetry Creation, and Hong Kong’s New Poetry. Waiting for newspaper submission. His publication rate was very high, and he published more than 200 poems in more than two years from 1946 to 1948. Once, his long poem "Lu Xun, You Are Resurrected" published in the "Renaissance" hosted by Zheng Zhenduo and Li Jianwu attracted a lot of attention, but no one expected that the author of the long poem was actually a 16 or 7-year-old young man. Mr. Shen Congwen, the editor-in-chief of Yishibao Literary Weekly, noticed this young man. In addition to publishing his poems, he also wrote letters to provide encouragement and guidance. At this time, the young man's father died of illness, and his family life was in trouble. Due to the treatment his father received during his illness, the family incurred a debt. The young and middle-aged man in distress thought of Mr. Shen Congwen, so he wrote to Mr. Shen in the mood of giving it a try, hoping that Mr. Shen could advance an amount of royalties to meet his urgent needs. After receiving the letter, Mr. Shen expressed his deep sympathy. However, the royalties could not be paid in advance, so he offered to sell his words to help the young man tide over the difficulties. He published an advertisement in the literary weekly "Yi Shi Bao":
There is a young writer whom he has never met, and his family is experiencing difficulties due to a funeral. I would like to make an act of "begging for alms". Anyone who is willing to relieve this promising young writer from some difficulties through friendship and has the energy to do this, I can sell twenty banners to this writer as a token of support for this writer. A kind thank you. The tentative price for this kind of calligraphy is at least 100,000 yuan per piece. My method is that anyone who wants my calligraphy can write to me and when I send the calligraphy, I will tell him how to send the money directly to the poor writer. This society is so unreasonable. Let us all do our best, break the rules and do small things, fulfill our obligations, and leave some life for the country.
......
Mr. Shen is a well-known writer and his calligraphy is also very accomplished. Mr. Shen is well known for his strong arrogance and self-esteem as a Chinese literati and intellectual. Before this, he had never sold his name, but he was willing to "beg for alms" in order to help a young man in trouble get out of trouble. "This move was really a last resort, because Mr. Shen himself was not rich, so he had to rely on selling letters to raise the relief funds.
The young man who received help from Mr. Shen is Ke Yuan. He received more than 20 mails one after another, and his heart felt warm every time he received one. Thanks to this loan, the family's debts were paid off, but he and Mr. Shen had never met, and they only communicated spiritually. In August 1948, the Kuomintang reactionaries carried out a large-scale search for progressive students in Pingjin and Tianjin, and Ke Yuan lost contact with Mr. Shen. Soon, Ke Yuan crossed the Kuomintang army's blockade on Tianjin South Road and reached the liberated area, where he studied at North China University. In the spring of 1949, he joined the Chinese People's Liberation Army and went south to work. In the years that followed, Ke Yuan was unable to contact Mr. Shen because he was busy with work, busy with ideological reform, due to constant political movements, and due to well-known reasons. But he never forgot Mr. Shen. After many inquiries, he learned some information about Mr. Shen intermittently. For more than 20 years, due to the influence of the "Left" literary and artistic line, the evaluation of Shen Congwen and his works has been unfair, and he has been subject to many misunderstandings and criticisms. At the same time, Ke Yuan himself was involved in the historical injustice of the so-called "Master Xing Incident". This unjust case hung mercilessly over his head like a "Sword of Damocles", accompanying his every step to suppress counterrevolutionaries and anti-rightists until the "Cultural Revolution". During the ten years of catastrophe, Ke Yuan became one of the first cadres in the Guangzhou Military Region to be dismissed from office (deputy section chief of the Literature and Art Section of the Political Department). He was under armed supervision and criticized at all levels.
He was escorted to Guangzhou Tianhe Ranch and Hunan Dongting Lake Farm for labor reform. The disasters that followed were destined to force him to bear a heavy cross.
History finally turned to the 1980s. Newspapers and periodicals have successively introduced the research on Shen Congwen's works abroad, allowing readers to understand that Shen Congwen's works are highly praised abroad. Several domestic publishing houses have also published collections or anthologies of Mr. Shen's works.
On a spring day, Ke Yuan, who had been rehabilitated, wrote a letter to Mr. Shen. After that, Ke Yuan looked up at the northern sky every day.
One day. As if having a premonition, Ke Yuan opened the mailbox with trembling hands, ah! Isn't this the familiar font that haunts me so much?
Ke Yuan received a long reply from Mr. Shen. Ke Yuan read Mr. Shen's letter with mixed emotions and tears streaming down his clothes. yes! The life gap of more than 30 years has finally come to an end, and the moment has come when the emotional streams converge. In the summer of 1980, Ke Yuan went to Beijing to visit Mr. Shen, whom he had missed for a long time. One is a literary veteran who has made outstanding achievements in modern Chinese literature, and the other is a talented contemporary poet. The two knew each other at a time of crisis, but they met and shook hands for the first time more than 30 years later. The scene left people speechless and choked!
Ke Yuan's poem "Burning the Manuscript"
In front of me, he opened two packages of "materials",
Oh, it turned out to be my notes , my poetry manuscript,
where the match burned, bursts of flames rose,
my singing voice and the strings were burned together.
......
Ha, who would have thought that after so many years of hard work,
it would turn into flying butterflies.
No, the soul of poetry dances gracefully in the flames.
Tomorrow, the pen will still be like the sword and the song will be like the tide!
Excuse me, who is a passionate person who would not be moved by hearing such words and reading such poems? "Tomorrow, the pen will be like the sword, and the song will be like the tide!" This is the unswerving patriotic sentiment of Chinese humanistic intellectuals that has lasted for thousands of years.