Chasing Lu Xun to Live - Zhao Jiabi lays the foundation for "The Series of Chinese New Literature" by Xia Yan | Ye Shengtao | Lu Xun

The Chinese New Literature Series, which left a significant mark in the history of modern Chinese literature and publishing, was published in Shanghai from 1935 to 1936. The first volume consisted of 10 volumes. In 1983, under the leadership of Ding Jingtang, the then president and editor in chief of Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, the second edition of "Da Shi" began to be compiled.

In 1989, after the publication of the second volume, I came to Shenchengli on Yongjia Road and Mr. Ding Jingtang gave me an interview at home. When it comes to "Da Shi", he is as familiar as a book. However, he pointed out, "This is Mr. Zhao Jiabi's idea, we are the successors." He took special care of me, and if you want to fully understand "Da Shi", you must find Mr. Zhao. So, I came to visit the Zhao family on Shanyin Road.

Zhao Jiabi

Looking back on the past and the present, Mr. Zhao fell into deep memories that day

He always chooses to live near Lu Xun's house

Zhao Jiabi was born on October 27, 1908 in Songjiang, Shanghai.

Zhao Jiabi, who is talented, easy to read, and sociable, served as the editorial director of the Chinese and English quarterly magazine "Dawn" at Guanghua University Affiliated Middle School during his high school years, and later became the editor in chief of the magazine. This has attracted the attention of Wu Liande, the owner of Liangyou Book Printing Company. Shortly after, Zhao Jiabi was promoted to Guanghua University, and Mr. Wu immediately asked him to be the editor in chief of a student publication called "Chinese Students" for the company. When he was in his senior year, Mr. Wu entrusted him with the task of editing the "One Corner Series", which is famous for its unique binding and layout. Boss Wu is deeply pleased with his keen eye for treasure. In 1932, Zhao Jiabi graduated from university and was invited by Boss Wu to officially join Liangyou. Zhao Jiabi came to his good friend and became the director of the literary and artistic publishing department. From then on, this young man gained the stage and opportunity to edit and publish literary series. In 1933, Zhao Jiabi successfully created the "Good Friends Literature Series", which allowed him to meet great writers such as Lu Xun, Mao Dun, Zheng Zhenduo, Aying, Yu Dafu, and Zheng Boqi.

Zhao Jiabi in his youth

How to make a historic literary history evaluation and summary for the first decade after the May Fourth New Culture Movement has always been lingering in Zhao Jiabi's mind.

Mr. Zhao told me that it was his three teachers who led him on the path of editing "Da Shi".

The first one is Mr. Xu Zhimo. Zhao Jiabi was promoted to Guanghua University, and Mr. Xu Zhimo, who taught there, greatly appreciated his translations of Dante, Oscar Wilde, and Maupassant's works in "Dawn", so he made an appointment with him. Professor Xu's extraordinary demeanor and elegant speech immediately captivated Zhao. Zhao Jiabi asked Mr. Xu for the secret to entering the literary palace. Xu Zhimo bluntly said, "The garden of literature is like a spider web. If you have the literacy to love literature, you can pull a thread in a day. As long as you patiently pull it up, you will one day pull the entire spider web into a thread. So, if you find a good book, it will tell you many other good books." Zhao Jiabi suddenly realized: "Isn't an editor just someone who recommends good books to readers?"? So he secretly made up his mind to become an excellent publisher. There is a foreign language bookstore on the Bund that Xu Zhimo often takes his students to. The beautiful foreign language books with illustrations became a reference for Zhao Jiabi's later edited and published "Good Friends Literature Series". And those complete sets of books will later become the reference for Zhao Jiabi's edited "Chinese New Literature Series".

The second one is Mr. Cai Yuanpei. During the editing of "Chinese Students," Zhao Jiabi also compiled a "National University Atlas," which specifically introduces the overview of various universities in China. After the compilation, he asked senior educator Cai Yuanpei to give the book a title. Mr. Cai did not refuse the request because the applicant's place of origin was unknown, and he happily wrote. In 1932, Zhao Jiabi received a compilation of "The Great View of the Soviet Union" by Han Qi, a member of the Left Alliance, and he also asked Cai Yuanpei to write the title of the book. Mr. Cai once again sent him ink treasures. In 1934, when the idea of editing the "Chinese New Literature Series" was formed, Zhao Jiabi immediately thought of Mr. Cai Yuanpei and invited him to write a preface, which was warmly agreed upon.

The third one is Mr. Lu Xun. In 1933, Zhao Jiabi visited Mr. Lu Xun through the introduction of Zheng Boqi. The first time Lu Xun met him, he talked about editing work: "This is a very necessary and meaningful job. I have also been in this field myself, and there is a lot of knowledge in it!" Zhao Jiabi was constantly moving forward under Lu Xun's inspiration. When he edited the "Good Friends Literature Series", Lu Xun provided his own compiled novels such as "The Harp" and "A Day's Work". When he was compiling "The Series of Chinese New Literature", Lu Xun also served as the editor for "The Second Collection of Novels". Between 1933 and 1936, Lu Xun wrote 49 letters to Zhao Jiabi. As a result, Zhao Jiabi developed such a complex: he always chose to live near Lu Xun's house. In the 1970s, he simply moved to No. 53, Lane 192, Shanyin Road, next to Mr. Lu Xun's residence in the mainland new village, until his death.

Nameplate of Zhao Jiabi's Former Residence in Lu Xun's Former Residence in Mainland New Village

Showcasing the Glory of the First Decade

In 1934, the idea of compiling a set of precious historical materials for future research on the development of new literature, the "Chinese New Literature Series," gradually formed in Zhao Jiabi's mind. His plan is to select the essence of theoretical, novel, prose, poetry, and traditional Chinese opera works over a period of ten years, or works of historical value, carefully selected by literary experts with expertise and historical origins from various departments. The whole book is divided into 10 volumes: Hu Shi's Collection of Construction Theory, Zheng Zhenduo's Collection of Literary Debates, Mao Dun's Collection of Novels, Lu Xun's Collection of Novels, Zheng Boqi's Collection of Novels, Zhou Zuoren's Collection of Prose, Yu Dafu's Collection of Prose, Zhu Ziqing's Collection of Poetry, Hong Shen's Collection of Drama, and A Ying's Index to Historical Materials.

Selected by Da Shi

When Zhao Jiabi went to the Academia Sinica to meet Mr. Cai Yuanpei and introduce him to the planning and editorial guidelines of "Da Shi", Mr. Cai happily said, "Someone should have done such a systematic collection long ago. Now that Liangyou Company is editing and publishing it, it's great!"

The first volume of "Da Shi" showcases the glorious achievements of the "first decade" of China's new literary movement. A total of 153 works from 81 novel authors, 202 works from 33 prose authors, 441 poems from 59 new poetry authors, and 18 scripts from 18 drama authors were selected and created in 7 volumes. Many of them are masterpieces that have played a positive role in the creation of new literature, while others are mostly representative in terms of ideology or art. From 1935 to 1936, the first 10 volume edition of "Da Shi" was published successively.

In the early 1940s, Zhao Jiabi wanted to continue editing the second volume of "Da Shi" in Chongqing, selecting works from the "second decade". Unfortunately, the Japanese invaders invaded frequently, and due to objective historical conditions, their wishes were not fulfilled.

Ding Jingtang takes over the "relay baton"

Ding Jingtang was the second setter who took over the compilation of the second volume of "Da Shi". After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, he served as the Director of the Literature and Art Department, Propaganda Department, and News and Publishing Department of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, as well as the Deputy Director of the Shanghai Publishing Bureau.

In 1989, Ding Jingtang was interviewed by the author at home for "Da Series"

Ding Jingtang joined the CPC in 1938. He admired Lu Xun when he was young and later became a specialized scholar. He has written many works on the study of Lu Xun, Qu Qiubai, the Five Martyrs of the Left Alliance, and the history of the left-wing literary and artistic movement. Mao Dun once wrote a poem to him during his illness, saying, "The two leaders of the left wing literary platform, Qu Shuang and Lu Xun, each have their own merits. The sea of articles is shrouded in smoke, waiting for research and verification. Who is at the forefront of success?"

Obviously, as a scholar of literature and history, Ding Jingtang is well aware of the value of "Da Shi". In 1979, Ding Jingtang was appointed as the President and Editor in Chief of Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House. He presided over the restoration of photocopying work for more than 40 modern Chinese literary journals, and then began photocopying the 10 volume edition of the first volume of "Da Series" edited by Zhao Jiabi.

At the beginning, "Da Shi" was included in the "internal distribution", but Zhao Jiabi couldn't figure it out and wrote a letter to the publishing house to find Ding Jingtang. Ding Jingtang thought of the monthly study meeting of the Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and suggested, Lao Zhao, as a member of the CPPCC Standing Committee, why not read this letter during the study meeting. Zhao Jiabi's letter has indeed attracted attention, and the first edition of "Da Series" has finally been publicly released.

In the 1980s, modern Chinese literature had basically completed its disciplinary construction, and a related graduate system and academic echelon had been established, with an increasingly large team of researchers. At this moment, the mission of history touched Ding Jingtang like an electric baton: Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House should and should have the strength to take over the banner of a good friend from the past and continue editing the second volume of "Da Series".

Middle aged Ding Jingtang

That day, Ding Jingtang convened a meeting in the name of the president, and with a strong Ningbo accent, he said, "I have discussed with Mr. Zhao Jiabi that 'Da Shi' should continue to be compiled in one volume, starting with the second volume from 1927 to 1937, which will be 20 volumes long. I reported to Comrade Hu Qiaomu, and he is very supportive. Zhou Yang, Xia Yan, Ai Qing, Wu Zuxiang, Nie Gannu have agreed to write prefaces for Da Shi, and Shanghai's Ba Jin, Yu Ling, and Lu Fen have also promised to write prefaces for Da Shi. These famous scholars are getting older and have expressed that writing prefaces can be done." "But I hope the publishing house can provide specific selections. The society has researched and young editors are responsible for selecting items. This is a great learning opportunity!"

As soon as the words finished, the editors shouted, "Then we must first learn and study Mr. Zhao's edited book 'Da Series'."

"That's right!" Ding Jingtang immediately announced, "Okay, each person will receive a set of photocopies of 'Da Series'."

The first volume of "Da Shi" and two episodes of prose

However, Ding Jingtang emphasized on horseback, "We must never choose works from ready-made materials. We must go back to the past and carefully sift through literary magazines, newspaper supplements, and collections of novels from half a century ago."

This made the editors dumbfounded. What kind of workload will this be? Fortunately, the Literature and Art Publishing House has a large reference room, which houses a large collection of literary publications and works of writers from the 1920s and 1930s. The editors plunged into the data room. In addition, the Shanghai Library, Xujiahui Library, and various university reference rooms have also become another treasure trove for editors to search for literary masterpieces. The editors not only searched through magazines such as "Fiction Monthly", "Modern", "Oriental Magazine", and "New Moon", but also carefully read the supplements of newspapers such as "Ta Kung Pao". As for the collections of novels from various bookstores, they even flipped through them one by one.

When the editors searched through old books and magazines with the smell of old paper, Ding Jingtang and other leaders of the society also began to take action. Lao Ding knew that inviting senior writers and literary theorists to write a preface for "Da Shi" was another key aspect of continuing to compile "Da Shi". He runs non-stop between Beijing and Shanghai.

Visiting senior literary figures

In 1982, Ding Jingtang took the opportunity to attend the National Publishing Conference in Beijing and visited senior literary figures. The first person he visited was Mr. Xia Yan. Xia Yan has made achievements in the fields of film, drama, and reportage, but he humbly only agreed to write prefaces for film collections and recommended Nie Gannu to write prefaces for miscellaneous works. Then, Ding Jingtang and Zhao Jiabi visited Ye Shengtao together. Mr. Ye recommended Wu Zuxiang to write the preface for his collection of essays. Afterwards, the two visited Zhou Yang and the leaders of the National Publishing Bureau. Bian Chunguang, Director of the National Publishing Bureau, was thrilled to hear that Shanghai was going to launch a new project. Under his leadership, the National Publishing Bureau specially issued a brief report on the plan for the second decade of compiling "Da Shi", which gained the attention and support of the central and Shanghai municipal leaders.

Ding Jingtang Visits Ye Shengtao for Big Series

In the editing work of "Da Shi", Ding Jingtang set an important principle: "In order to maintain the original appearance of the work, we insist on selecting works from the original version and those published in newspapers and magazines. Except for obvious typos, no changes will be made."

This editing principle was established by Mr. Lu Xun during the compilation of the "Second Collection of Novels" in the first volume of "Da Shi". Fifty years later, Ding Jingtang reiterated the importance of this principle. Some writers, due to social changes, often make modifications, additions, and deletions to their old works, resulting in many works that are completely unrecognizable, causing literary researchers to suffer from the loss of information and the confusion of versions. Providing reliable initial versions of works is of great significance for the study of works and writers.

Ba Jin's "Home" is undoubtedly an important work, but its initial version cannot be found in the vast Shanghai. Editor Qiu Feng sought help from the Shanghai Old Bookstore Reference Room, Shanghai Writers Association Reference Room, Shanghai Literature Research Institute, Shanghai Library Literature Group, Fudan University Chinese Department Reference Room, Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, and Shanghai Cihai Publishing House, but none of them were successful. Almost reaching the point of exhaustion, Qiu Feng and his colleagues had to seek help from the sick Ba Jin. Ba Jin said that he originally had the initial version of "Home", but it was later copied away. Finally, they found out that there were books in the Beijing Library and immediately asked someone to borrow them for use.

Ding Jingtang presented Ba Jin with the second volume of the novel "Chinese New Literature Series" with a preface written by him

The second volume of "Da Shi" was written by Zhou Yang, Ba Jin, Wu Zuxiang, Nie Gannu, Lu Fen, Ai Qing, Yu Ling, and Xia Yan as prefaces for literary theory, novels, essays, essays, reportage, poetry, drama, and films. Among them, collections of novellas, full-length novels, essays, reportage, and film literature were independently compiled into volumes that were not collected in the first volume of "Da Shi".

The continuation work of the second volume of "Da Shi" began in 1983. The original plan was to complete the 20 volumes of "Da Shi" with over 12 million words in three years, but due to difficulties in manpower and materials at the time, it was not completed as scheduled. By the time the last two volumes of "Historical Materials Index" were completed, it was already October 1989, which lasted for five or six years. But the hard work and sweat did not flow in vain. In the 6th China Book Awards, the second volume of "Chinese New Literature Series" won the first prize.

A hundred rolls of vicissitudes, a hundred rolls of worries

The compilation of the first volume of "Da Shi" was in line with the needs of Zhao Jiabi and his predecessors to make history for new literature. Continuing to compile "Da Series" has become the dream of the new generation of editors.

In 2009, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the fifth volume of "Da Shi" was finally completed. The first three volumes of "Da Shi" reflected the new literature before the founding of the People's Republic of China, with a total of 50 volumes; The fourth and fifth volumes reflect the new literature after the founding of New China, and are also 50 volumes. At this point, this collection of 100 volumes is presented in a grand and orderly manner like a generous gift to the readers, making it magnificent.

In 2009, Jia Zongpei, the chief editor of the fifth volume, arranged an exhibition of 100 volumes of "Da Series" at the book fair

On June 27th of the same year, I once again visited Mr. Ding Jingtang, who had already retired. Mr. Ding smiled and said, "I am overjoyed to see the outstanding and extraordinary achievements of the successors in the relay. As Wang Meng said, 'A hundred scrolls of vicissitudes, a hundred scrolls of worries, a hundred scrolls of talents, a hundred scrolls of romance.' Anyway, we have done what we should do for Chinese new literature. I hope the relevant experts are useful, and I also hope that excellent literature can be inherited by future generations. This is enough for me."

The title picture shows the appearance of 100 volumes of "Chinese New Literature Series" at the book fair on August 14, 2009