From communication to separation, of course, there will be positive and negative transformations, from separation to resumption. Now, cultural exchanges between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have begun, and the official publication of books by each other marks the general trend of transformation. I am lucky that my book has to be used as straw and leaves to express this wind direction. Seven Kinds of Money, edited by a young and studious Mr. Su, was published by a joint-stock company a few years ago. Besieged City has caused Mr. Su a little literary disaster, and I am even more ashamed of him.
Mr. Su wrote me a letter asking me to write a few prefaces for the Taiwan Province Provincial Edition, saying that the first publication was Lu. I remember 1943, when I was living in Shanghai, Mr. Hu Buzeng sent a long letter about old poems from Jiangxi, with a seven-melody attached. There is a connection in my peace poem: "Zhongzhou is in the same land, and the old life is reformed." I adopted the meanings of Jia Xuanweng's Preface to Zhongzhou Collection and Huang Tingjian's A Wonderful Poem, and wanted to say that the theories and techniques of western poetry can run through the study of China's old poems. Reading now, these two sentences seem to be in line with the prospects of cross-strait relations. It is better to pretend to anticipate or foresee afterwards. "Talking about Art Record" once said that "the author is not inevitable, so why should the reader be otherwise" (completely free to explain). Even those two sentences are examples to express your wishes.
Qian Zhongshu
Beijing,1September, 988