Memoirs of a Loser 52: Xu Zhucheng's Half-Article

In November 1980, I visited Xu Zhucheng, who came to Hong Kong from China, and I never saw him again. But a long conversation is a long memory.

Xu Zhucheng was born in 1907 and died in 1991. In the most glorious era of "Ta Kung Pao" where Zhang Jiluan and Hu Zhengzhi were the main writers, Xu Zhucheng became the editor-in-chief. "Editor-in-Chief. After the war, he presided over the "Wen Wei Po" in Shanghai and was seized by the Kuomintang. In 1948, he went to Hong Kong to establish the Hong Kong "Wen Wei Po". In 1949, when the Communist Party of China established its government, Xu Zhucheng went to Beijing to engage in journalism in the new society, but found that newspapers could not be run privately. In October 1956, the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China invited Xu Zhucheng to come out and resume the publication of Wen Wei Po. However, within a year of the resumption of publication, he was severely criticized by an editorial in the "People's Daily" written by Mao Zedong himself, which set off an anti-rightist movement. Xu Zhucheng was labeled a rightist and served as a pariah for 22 years. The Cultural Revolution ended, and he was rehabilitated in 1979. In 1980, he came to Hong Kong to celebrate the birthday of Wen Wei Po. My visit was during this period.

Before the establishment of the Communist Party of China, Xu Zhucheng's experience in the newspaper industry can be called brilliant. He was a giant of China's press freedom in that era. In 1949, he thought that the founding of the People's Republic of China would realize democracy and freedom. When he returned to Beijing, he wanted to start a newspaper. After 30 years of freezing, 22 years of right-wing career, and not a member of the CCP, I did not expect him to say anything beyond the scope of the CCP before my visit. However, unexpectedly, in his calmness, he showed the true quality of a reporter who is faithful to the news.

In my past understanding of anti-rightist, I thought that Mao Zedong's original intention was to speak out, but the degree of speaking out exceeded his tolerance range, so he raised the banner of anti-rightist. But according to Xu Zhucheng, the actual situation was that Wen Wei Po had already closed down. When Mao called for its release, most of the intellectuals still dared not release it after going through campaigns such as "suppressing counter-revolutionaries". At this time, the Propaganda Department of the Communist Party of China thought about Wen Wei Po and Xu Zhucheng, and they asked Xu Zhucheng to discuss the resumption of the publication. Xu Zhucheng said, "I can be arrogant and say that it is the most lively and lively newspaper in the whole country after liberation." In March 1957, Mao Zedong met with the press and publishing industry and faced Xu Zhucheng and said, "Wen Wei Po" Very good, I first read "Wen Wei Po" every day." "You guys are chess, calligraphy, paintings, flowers, birds, insects and fish. You have everything you need. You do it well, and you edit it well." Xu Zhucheng was the head of the group. This made Xu feel flattered, and felt that he was a non-party person like his own.

Who would have thought that after returning from the Soviet Union, the anti-Rightist came. It has only been two months since Mao Zedong met him and praised Wen Wei Po, and these two months were still during Xu's visit. In fact, he did not preside over the writing of Wen Wei Po. That's why Xu said that Mao had a plan to fight against the right before May. The purpose is to make intellectuals afraid to speak.

This experience of Xu shows that all the rhetoric of the dictators are presupposed political actions in order to seize all power without leaving any room for them. Excessive and overcorrect governance is definitely not stimulated. This is the first revelation.

The second revelation was that I asked him whether he was victimized by the news during the Kuomintang period and the Communist period, and asked him to compare the similarities and differences between the two eras.

He said that the Kuomintang's persecution of intellectuals is starvation, imprisonment or even killing, but it has no way to insult you mentally. At that time, the newspaper office was closed, and he went back to his hometown. The elders in his hometown respected him very much, saying that he had bones. In Shanghai Lane, the residents saw him in awe. Under the Communist Party, as soon as a right-wing hat is put on, friends run away when they see him, and residents in the lane do not dare to approach him. In the family, except for his wife, everyone, including his son, treats him differently to varying degrees. "This kind of mental humiliation made me sweat in cold sweats when I first thought about it. .

That last sentence is pretty bleak. Intellectuals can be poor. In the Song Dynasty, Ouyang Xiu even said that "the poor will be the ones who will work." But people have dignity, and spiritual abuse makes people's dignity have no bottom line. To seek personal comfort from Liu Shaoqi, who was branded as anti-Party, perhaps in China only by the spirit of Ah Q can we survive.

The third enlightenment Mr. Xu gave me was that he pointed to the necessity of supervising Chinese public opinion. He said: China's "public opinion center used to be in the Shanghai Concession. In the situation where China's authoritarianism has been formed for thousands of years, if you want to speak more freely, you can only rely on a protective umbrella. Today, China needs public opinion supervision. As a public opinion center, for the time being, it can only be In Hong Kong. Not looking at your cold eyes, but not politely pointing out any problems. This is of great benefit to the country.”

The three revelations are: first, the hypocritical nature of power, second, human dignity, and third, the need for a protective umbrella for public opinion supervision. All three are related to my work in media and writing.

On his 80th birthday in 1987, the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party of China in Shanghai congratulated him on his birthday. But in 1980, Mr. Xu said in my interview, "I think I have been engaged in journalism all my life. I only wrote half an article, and someone took the pen away for the last half."

A newspaperman who is so resolute, keen, knowledgeable and talented, half an article should also be cherished. What I thought at the time was how hard and risky I was to finish my entire essay before someone took the pen away.

(Article published on August 23, 2021)

"Memoirs of a Loser" serial catalog (continuously updated)

1. Inscription
2. break through
3. Inside the circle outside the circle
4. murderous
5. torment
6. hurt
7. turbulent times
8. choice
9. that age
10. twisted history
11. prophet
12. Liberal final blow
13. my family
14. Occupied area life
15. Paradise under the Wang regime
16. Art and Literature in Occupied Areas
17. Father and Occupied Area Drama
18. Uncle Li's Tragedy
19. flee
20. The Fool's Experience, The Wise's History
21. After the war, from Shanghai to Peiping
22. ancient country style
23. when swallows come
24. under the left-wing ideology
25. 1948 Tree Falling Hozen scattered
26. Pig male dog male turtle male
27. The success and failure of "Apple"
28. How can you say goodbye to a spirit?
29. The final chapter of the age of freedom
30. Walking into the city early in the morning and seeing a dog biting a man
31. Establish left-leaning values
32. "The Faith of Troubled"
33. The cutest person is the funniest person
34. The green years of middle school
35. A day abandoned by ideals
36. talk about my father
37. The struggle of father's life
38. father's contusion
39. The political heritage of inbreeding
40. gift for life
41. cultural cradle
42. Love Letters - The earliest writing
43. Books I read in those years
44. resurrection
45. indispensable chapter
46. Indispensable chapter two
47. Indispensable chapter three
48. Indispensable chapter four
49. Indispensable chapter final chapter
50. There is no most tragic, only more tragic
51. where to go
52. Inspiration from Liu Binyan
53. Half an article by Xu Zhucheng

 ("Memoirs of a Loser" was previously serialized in "Apple Daily" and is now being continuously updated by Matters)