the short stories of ah cheng: daoism, confucianism and life

College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University

Australian National University

The Short Stories of Ah Cheng: Daoism, Confucianism and LifeAuthor(s): Kam LouieSource: The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, No. 18 (Jul., 1987), pp. 1-13Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the College of Asia and the Pacific, TheAustralian National UniversityStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2158581 .

Accessed: 17/04/2013 10:26

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

The University of Chicago Press, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University,Australian National University are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to TheAustralian Journal of Chinese Affairs.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 86.170.112.98 on Wed, 17 Apr 2013 10:26:45 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ucpress

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ccc

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ccc

http://www.jstor.org/stable/2158581?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


THE SHORT STORIES OF AH CHENG: DAOISM, CONFUCIANISM AND LIFE

Kam Louie*

Abstracting Tradition Ever since the establishment of the People's Republic, Chinese thinkers have been intensely worried by the problem of 'inheriting tradition'.l In every field of intellectual enquiry, there has been passionate debate about what to salvage from traditional values. In philosophy, the most important method devised to deal with this problem was Feng Youlan's 'abstract inheritance method' of the mid-1950s. Feng maintained that one could inherit the essence of traditional ideas while rejecting their material manifestations and thus make them appropriate for the new socialist China. It presented a simple but comprehensive method for ensuring that tradition had a place in modem-day China while avoiding the call for the revival of concrete pre-1949 'feudal' ideology and ethics. 'Abstract inheritance' is concerned with universals rather than specifics, and although ultimately used to justify the past, it was primarily meant to satisfy the political purists, as it cleverly avoided pointing to any particular traditional practices as being worthy of socialist China. This method aroused great interest immediately after it was devised but was denounced even before the Cultural Revolution. In the last few years, however, interest in 'abstract inheritance' is being revived in intellectual circles. This reassertion of a principle proposed in the 1950s is of course part of the general revival of many ideas and policies which were popular

* I am grateful for comments made on this paper by Paul Stange and Geremie Barme. 1 For a discussion of the philosophical debates surrounding this problem before the Cultural

Revolution, see Kam Louie, Inheriting Tradition: Interpretations of the Classical Philosophers in Communist China 1949-1966 (Oxford University Press, 1986).

THE AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF CHINESE AFFAIRS, NO.18, JULY 1987



2 THE AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF CHINESE AFFAIRS

before the Cultural Revolution, just as is the present demand that tradition should hold an honourable place in a socialist society. While the philosophical debates provide a theoretical justification for the conservative backlash, this conservatism is not limited to theory alone: it is a sentiment reflected in almost all aspects of Chinese life.

In literature, there have been calls in the last few years to absorb the 'intrinsic elements' of tradition in creative writing.2 These calls have been answered by many authors, most of whom have made clumsy attempts at justifying a society that has not been able to modemise and that has maintained a multitude of moral values that are at odds with a modem democratic society. In 1984 Ah Cheng, a former 'educated youth' who had spent ten years in the border areas, wrote a story, 'Chess King',3 which seems to have been very successful in talking about tradition without calling for the 'inheritance' of concrete values from tradition. Given the fact that most Chinese and, indeed, most sinologists, have a sentimental attachment to 'Chinese culture' (although many would find specific aspects of it abhorrent), the rapid acclaim that was bestowed upon 'Chess King' by both groups comes as no surprise: it has captured the essence of the method of 'abstract inheritance' beautifully. The pursuit of excellence in chess in the story is basically about the pursuit of a general Chinese culture, and the use of Daoist symbols and imagery only enhances the vagueness of the general theme. While readers can easily see that the story is about tradition and culture, there are no explicit portrayals of the specific traditional morality that would be salvaged. Unlike most literature produced since 1978, where the Cultural Revolution is denounced as anti-culture and anti-tradition, 'Chess King' does not do this explicitly. The task of linking the story with politics is left mainly to the critics.

This paper looks at 'Chess King' in the context of the debates on how much place tradition has in modem Chinese society and also how the story relates to the 'abstract inheritance method'. The story will be placed in the context of Ah Cheng's later stories and essays, to show that even though his mastery of the method of abstract inheritance hinted at great skill, after his first story he too has failed to provide enough of a rationale for the continuance of Chinese tradition without collapsing back into the demand for more specific traditional values such as loyalty, righteousness and respect for book-learning. This paper will also reveal that while the concept of tradition is difficult to define and Chinese tradition in particular can take on many forms, Ah Cheng's use of Daoism and Confucianism show how contemporary Chinese thinkers have, in their call for

2 Yang Lian, 'Tradition and Us', translated in Renditions, nos 19 & 20, 1983, pp.69-73. 3 'Chess King' [Qi wang] originally appeared in Shanghai wenxue [Shanghai Literature],

no.7, 1984. It was reprinted in Hong Kong in Jiushi niandai [The Nineties], no.9, 1985, pp.86-100. An English translation by W.J.F. Jenner appears as Ahcheng, 'The Chess Master', Chinese Literature, Autumn, 1985, pp.84-131.



THE SHORT STORIES OF AH CHENG 3

more Chineseness in Chinese thought, often taken on strains of 'tradition' in a haphazard manner. These ideas are often not rigorously thought out, they tend to run counter to the overall direction that China has taken since 1949, and could even be interpreted as 'reactionary' by political purists. There is no assumption made here that Ah Cheng consciously followed the 'abstract inheritance method': it is quite possible that he has never heard of it. However, an understanding of the basic principles involved in Feng's method is significant because it provides us with a point of departure for an examination of a trend of thought in contemporary China, and clearly places Ah Cheng into China's broader intellectual context. Thus, the success and failure of his writing tell us something about Chinese tradition and the implications of advocating it for adoption in contemporary China.

This paper argues that in calling for the revival of certain traditional philosophical values, Ah Cheng fares only a little better than conservative writers, who in their fear of modernisation and change lapse into a restorationist stance which runs counter to China's overall urge to modemise. Despite this, Ah Cheng's skill as a writer is acknowledged. Furthermore, attempts are made in this paper to show that in fact he is most skilful in portraying a life in China which is joyous and meaningful. This stands in stark contrast to the numerous creative works of recent years which are no more than mass hysteria generated by wounded pride and self-pity.

Using Daoism Although Ah Cheng has now published nearly ten pieces of creative work, his most celebrated and best is still his first short story, 'Chess King'. This story has established him as one of the finest writers in China today. Most importantly, readers were quick to observe that this was one story which used in no uncertain way language and symbols which were borrowed from Daoist writings. In the story, the 'Chess King' Wang Yisheng, who is an educated youth sent to the country in the Cultural Revolution, devotes his entire life to playing and seeking out opponents in chess. The totality with which he immerses himself in chess is drawn as equal to the whole-hearted pursuit of the dao by the ancients. The following passage is advice given to him by an old chess player:

Softness isn't weakness. It's containing, drawing in, holding. By holding and transforming your opponent you draw him into the strategy you are setting up. To create this strategic situation you do everything by forcing nothing. Forcing nothing is the Way... It really is mysterious, but if you think it over carefully you'll fmd it's true.4

4 ibid., p.97.




The wording and philosophy of this and other passages are unashamedly Daoist. It could easily be mistaken for a passage out of the Daodefing. It is no wonder that immediately after the story appeared, critics hailed it as proof that traditional Chinese thought still has a place in China, and wrote long appraisals of the story in the light of its Daoist elements.5 Yet, it is certainly not the first of the post-Mao stories to glorify traditional philosophical ideas. Prize-winning writers such as Liu Xinwu and Jiang Zilong had as early as 1978 and 1979 extolled Confucian morality implicitly,6 and by the early 1980s, writers such as Wang Zengqi wrote explicitly on the more transcendental elements such as Daoism. In poetry, young poets have vociferously and unambiguously displayed manifestos for the revitalisation of tradition in their art.

Ah Cheng's status is based partly on his talent as a skilful representative for this trend. Even a shallow reading of 'Chess King' will show that it is not really about chess:7 it is concerned with the cultivation of a way of life, and not with just any one particular aspect of tradition, whether it be moral, political or religious. Chess in this story, especially the 'way of chess', represents a more abstract and universal form of tradition and a more refined idea of what it takes to sustain 'real life'. This is Feng Youlan's 'method of abstract inheritance' working beautifully. The discussion of the chess pieces themselves illustrates this well: the material pieces of the chess set are not important. The set that Wang Yisheng values most is from his mother: the pieces have no writing on them whatsoever. The best chess set is so abstract that it indicates nothing.

A more direct illustration of this method can be found in another story by Ah Cheng, 'The Idiot'.8 Here, Lao Li is respected for his calligraphy, and he is considered a learned and cultured person. The author's own ideas about calligraphy, the symbol here of traditional refmement, are revealed in the way that Lao Li talks about the art of calligraphy. He tells the narrator, who is only a colleague that he treats politely, that calligraphy, though having an inner strength (guli), is like clothing, in the sense that it is only a superficial and often unreliable indication of a person's real character. However, when he is talking to his

5 See for example Su Ding and Zhong Chengxiang, "'Qiwang" yu daojia meixue' ['Chess King' and Daoist aesthetics], Dangdai zuojia pinglun [Critiques of contemporary writers] (Shenyang), no.3, 1985, pp.20-26.

6 See Kam Louie, 'Youth and Education in the Short Stories of Liu Xinwu', Westerly, no.3, 1981, pp.115-19, and 'In Search of Socialist Capitalism and Chinese Modemisation: Jiang Zilong's Ideas on Industrial Management', The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, no. 12 (July 1985), pp.87-95.

7 Ah Cheng doesn't even know how to play chess. Li Yi (Lee Yee) et al., 'Yu Ah Cheng dongla xiche' [Talking about this and that with Ah Cheng], Jiushi niandai, no.1, 1986, p.72.

8 Ah Cheng, 'Shazi' [The idiot], Wenhui yuekan [Literature monthly], no.10, 1984, pp.38-41.




prospective son-in-law who wants to learn from him and continue his art, he talks much more from his heart and speaks of calligraphy as only having an inner strength. This incident points to the author's belief that there is something truly genuine about Chinese civilisation apart from its outer gloss. Presumably, it is this inner strength that Ah Cheng is interested in reviving. Similarly, the 'Tree Stump',9 which discusses the revival of folk songs in a mountain village, relates the tale of the rediscovery of a champion singer in one of the village's forgotten old men; however, the tale is not really about the old man or mountain songs. The old champion is so excited at being asked to perform that he dies of a heart attack half-way through a song. It is precisely his physical death which facilitates this spiritual revival, that is, the revival of the mountain songs and the subsequent resurrection of the memories of that era.

It is thus not the tangible past that is at issue here. What is revived and treasured is an intangible 'essence', an abstraction which is reminiscent of the 'national essence' which was proposed by conservatives early this century. Although Chinese tradition has been the source of inspiration for thinkers of many persuasions for decades, Ah Cheng's 'Chess King' is different to most because the story has none of the moral didacticism that is typical of other writings. As the critic Ji Hongzhen observed, writers such as Wang Zengqi and Jia Ping'ao have also based the aesthetics of their recent works on classical Chinese philosophy:

Ah Cheng and they are different. Apart from an obvious difference in the choice of subject matter, Wang and Jia stress concrete morality, and use it to elevate the human ideal. Ah Cheng, however, does not persist in the moral framework, preferring instead frequently to delve deep into the state of existence defined by a specific culture. Ah Cheng's 'Chess King' is at variance with most other works based on the Cultural Revolution, because if the story has a moral message, that message is cleverly embedded in an entire 'abstract' culture.l1

In traditional Chinese philosophy, abstract concepts tended to be found mostly in the Daoist and Buddhist schools. In practice, these were also the schools of thought which provided solace to those who were not happy with mundane living. Thus, while the notion of selecting the best of traditional culture to inherit is laudable in theory, when Daoism is the vehicle used to achieve this purpose, escapism and avoidance is often the result. This was precisely the criticism which was levelled at Feng Youlan by political purists such as Guan

9 Ah Cheng, 'Shuzhuang' [Tree stump], in Zeng Guowei (ed.), Renmin wenxue yijiu basi nian duanpian xiaoshuo xuan [Selected short stories from People's Literature 1984] (Hunan Renmin Chubanshe, Changsha, 1985), pp.413-19.

10 Ji Hongzhen, 'Yuzhou, ziran, shengming, ren' [The universe, nature, life, man], in Du shu [Reading books], no.1, 1986, p.51.




Feng when the 'abstract inheritance method' was first proposed."1 Critics have raised this issue again in relation to Ah Cheng, although it appears that these sorts of criticisms are merely meagre concessions to the political censors, couched as they are in massive accolade. 12

Nevertheless, the escapism motif is evident in other standard Daoist symbols in 'Chess King'. Two old men feature quite prominently in the story: one struggling to eke out a living sorting through rubbish; the other a modern-day recluse. Although age and wisdom are here clearly spelled out, these are quite different categories from Confucian ones. The two old men in this story do not possess learned respectability which characterises the venerable gentleman of the past, nor are they the experienced cadre or village head of the Cultural Revolution days. It is a return to the primitive rather than the sophisticated, the unworldly rather than worldly sage. It is a particular kind of Daoism that seems to be singled out for praise, that of the rustic Laozi. Most of the Ah Cheng stories are set in farms or villages deep in the hills or valleys. In short, they are a Laozian paradise, a place where the disgruntled official escaped to in the old days. When contrasted with the many stories which depict educated youth trying to tame the jungles or wilderness such as those of Liang Xiaosheng, then the Daoist ideal of losing oneself in nature is abundantly clear in Ah Cheng's stories.

The escape mechanism employed in the story is of course not just a physical one: it is a mental and spiritual escape which can be total. Thus, Wang Yisheng, the 'chess king', is completely absorbed in chess because, as he says, 'how may melancholy be dispelled, save through chess!'13 While the total immersion of oneself in one 'game' is useful in terms of forgetting about the troubles of the real world, ultimately, because the 'game' in this story is so analogous to 'Chinese tradition', Ah Cheng cannot but follow the Daoists of the past who used Daoism as a means to avoid taking affirmative social action. Thus, the Minister of Culture, Wang Meng, in an article which basically eulogises Ah Cheng, concludes by saying that the story displays certain passive traits, but that 'much sincere hope is placed on his future creations'.14

11 See chapter 4 in Kam Louie, Inheriting Tradition. 12 The critic Guo Yinxing, for example, even mentions the Ah Q spirit which Guan Feng

pinpointed as the ultimate legacy of Zhuangzi, but Guo does not think the negative influences of traditional Chinese philosophy are the main ones in Ah Cheng. See his 'A Cheng xiaoshuo chulun' [A preliminary discussion of Ah Cheng], in Dangdai zuojia pinglun [Critiques of contemporary writers], no.5, 1985, pp.17-25.

13 Ahcheng, 'The Chess Master' (trans. by Jenner, loc. cit.), p.92. 14 Wang Meng, 'Qieshuo "qi wang"' [About "Chess King"], in Wenyi bao [Literature and arts

journal], no.10, 1984, p.45.




Using Confucianism Although Wang Meng does not specify how to avoid being passive, he would no doubt have approved of Ah Cheng's next two 'King' stories. If 'Chess King' has as its inspiration Daoist teachings, then 'The Children's King'l5 and 'Tree King',16 both published not long after 'Chess King', definitely lean more towards Confucianism. 'The Children's King' in its appeal to book-learning, especially in its use of the dictionary as a symbol of learning, is much more mundane than 'Chess King' and is a lot more specific in its moral tone. The protagonist in this story, a child in a village school which is so deprived that it has no means of providing the students with textbooks, is so keen to learn that he is prepared to spend 500 days copying his teacher's dictionary. The traditional symbols employed in this episode are reminiscent of the exemplary Confucian personalities in the Three Character Text who were models for aspiring scholars for many centuries. Such personalities would stab themselves with an awl in order to stay awake while studying or would read by the light of glow-worms. These learning methods may not be efficient, scientific or educationally desirable, but they are used in China to promote the worship of book-learning that is so typically Confucianist. Here, what is invoked from tradition is no longer very abstract, and in this way, the story is flawed by a political message much more clearly drawn than that in 'Chess King'. In equating learned knowledge with wisdom, both the teacher and the student in 'The Children's King' can be said to be 'against the current' in their temporal context, because during the Cultural Revolution (and in Daoist teachings) there was nothing short of disdain shown for book-knowledge. The respect for learning reappears in many of Ah Cheng's later stories, for example, 'Sleeper Class'. This short piece describes the interactions of passengers in a train carriage. The protagonist, a soldier who only got into the more expensive sleeper class by borrowing money from his comrades, looks up to a young woman in the same carriage because 'she is studying culture'.17 'Cultured' in this context means having had an education, and it is her fondness for reading that is greatly revered.

In assuming that 'culture' is the same as 'learning', 'The Children's King' already falters in terms of 'abstract inheritance'. In the third 'King' story, 'Tree King', where Cultural Revolution policy is clearly renounced and replaced by traditional ethics, Ah Cheng has gone a long way towards the more common

15 Ah Cheng, 'Haizi wang' [The children's king], originally in Renmin wenxue [People's literature], no.2, 1985, reprinted in Xiaoshuo yuekan [Fiction monthly], no.5, 1985, pp.2-14.

16 Ah Cheng, 'Shu wang' [Tree king], originally in Zhongguo zuojia [Chinese writers], no.1, 1985, reprinted in Xiaoshuo xuankan [Joumal of selected fiction], no.3, 1985, supplement, pp.3-22.

17 Ah Cheng, 'Wo pu' [Sleeper class], in Xiandai zuojia [Modern writers], no. 11, 1984, p.54.




method of pointing to specific traditional morals as worthy altematives to Cultural Revolution ones. 'Tree King' is about a group of educated youth sent into a mountainous region to clear a forest for farmland. While it may also have modern overtones of ecological conservation, the story presents Cultural Revolution slogans such as 'Man can conquer Heaven' as sinister contrasts to traditional neo-Confucian maxims such as 'Heaven and Man are one'. The mountains are eventually made barren, and even the 'tree king', a giant primeval tree which symbolises not only centuries of Chinese tradition, but also 'Nature', is chopped down. It is almost a case of good versus evil, with good represented by the tree king (be it the actual tree or the hero, Knobbly Xiaol8) and evil represented by Mao Zedong's more radical policies: even the reason for getting rid of the tree king - that it is too tall and 'hides the sun so that other things can't grow' - is a direct reference to Mao, who during the Cultural Revolution was always compared to the sun.

While political point-scoring in 'Tree King' is more blatant than in 'Chess King', the wish to revive specific Confucian moral principles is also presented less subtly. For example, although the hero, Knobbly Xiao, is portrayed as having a Daoist knack for sharpening knives and felling trees, it is his sense of righteousness (the Confucian yi) which really stands out. For example, the climax of the story is the revelation that Knobbly Xiao had broken his comrade's leg after a 'Taking-Tiger-Mountain-by-Strategy'-style military operation, after the man had been found by his commanding general to have taken some fruit from enemy civilians. Xiao's sense of remorse and righteousness lead him to send the decrepit soldier 15 yuan a month for well over ten years, until he himself dies defending the 'tree king'. As well as having a particularly cliched plot with little subtlety, these events reveal a set of moral principles which are highly derivative and specific: that you should pay for what you eat, that you should be loyal and faithful to your comrade and that you should live in an upright manner even though you are poor.

'Tree King' is therefore a less 'passive' story in the sense that it tries to integrate Daoist and modern conservationist sentiments with the morality of Confucianism. While a clearer social conscience emerges from the story, it is also less convincing in terms of 'inheriting tradition' because it has lost the elements of the 'abstract method' so well developed in 'Chess King'. The Confucian values which it eulogises are too obvious, and like all other arguments aimed at

18 In using the name 'Knobbly Xiao', I am adopting the translation of the story by Gladys Yang in Ah Cheng, 'King of Trees', Chinese Literature, Winter, 1986, pp.44-76.




revitalising 'Chinese' morality in terms which are too specific, it is doomed to be unconvincing. As Pierre Ryckmans observes:

...the vital strength, the creativity, the seemingly unlimited capacity for metamorphosis and adaptation which the Chinese tradition displayed for 3,500 years may well derive from the fact that this tradition never let itself be trapped into set forms, static objects and things, where it would have run the risk of paralysis and death.19

In the past, the Chinese scholar-gentry personality was famous for having the ability to hold within itself both Daoist and Confucian idiosyncrasies, typified by the maxim 'an internal Daoist and an external Confucian'. In Ah Cheng's case, the situation seems to have been reversed. His writing seems to show that he is using a Daoist terminology to argue a Confucian ideology, and chronologically, he seems to have gone from using a Daoist mode of writing to a more Confucian one. This perhaps may reflect the fact that since the appearance of 'Chess King', he has become a celebrity, so that not only is his original aimrof writing in order to buy his son more icy poles accomplished, but he may even be able to buy his son an American computer. In true Chinese style, the Daoist, once he obtains official recognition, finds conventional Confucian values congenial.20

Celebrating Life Philosophically, therefore, Ah Cheng is not unusual. However, there is no doubt that as a fiction writer, his works are more enjoyable to read than much of what has been produced in recent years. This is not just a question of style or technique. His works are unique because although the characters described lead lives that are no less full of hardship than many described in works by other writers, they are nevertheless full of a joie de vivre which is rare in contemporary Chinese literature. The gaiety expressed in the stories is the more remarkable when the setting for most of them is considered - the Cultural Revolution, a period which almost all post-Mao writers perceive as having no worthwhile heritage.

While critics such as Michael Duke believe that the most significant factor in Ah Cheng's stories is their call to preserve for China's younger generation a

19 Pierre Ryckmans, The Chinese Attitude Towards the Past (The Forty-seventh George Ernest Morrison Lecture in Ethnology 1986, The Australian National University, Canberra, 1986), p.11.

20 This Daoist/Confucian dynamic is not unique, as 'selling out' is common to many cultures and it is more a statement about power relations than about any particular tradition. For this reason, people who call on tradition as a panacea for social ills and who believe they do so for some unselfish principle often fool themselves as well as others.




living traditional culture,21 such claims need to be approached with some caution. If by 'tradition' these critics mean the Confucian tradition with its set of outdated ethics, then they are misled. Chinese intellectuals are conservative as a group, and almost all of them have clamoured for the 'inheritance' of tradition. With the best intentions, such proposals usually degenerate into didactic moralising by reactionary educationalists or politicians. It is possible, of course, that by 'tradition' Duke and other critics may mean a vague abstraction such as 'Chineseness'. If this is the case, then Ah Cheng has truly written his stories well. But such a notion of Chinese tradition is so vague that to positively call for its revitalisation is pointless. Such a tradition has endured 3,500 years and it will live on whether one clamours for it or not. One should not flaunt one's insecurity about one's own culture by making frenetic justifications of its value.22

While most critics have pointed to Ah Cheng's debt to tradition,23 his stories are good reading for quite a different reason. At the end of 'Chess King', Wang Yisheng in a fit of emotional outburst says that 'you've got to have something before you can really live'.24 What is that 'something'? Most critics interpret it as being spiritual values, and in the above, it is seen as an abstract 'Chinese tradition'. Such high-brow interpretations may have identified the original intent of Ah Cheng, but in more down-to-earth terms, this 'something' points strongly in the direction of enjoyment of life through laughter and friendship.25

21 Du Maike (Michael Duke), 'Zhonghua zhi dao bijing butui' [The Chinese way is not finished after all], Jiushi niandai, no.8, 1985, pp.82-85.

22 Chinese insecurity about Han culture is seen in other areas, too. For example, in the last few years, Chinese writers and artists (including film-makers) have produced many works which are set in the border areas such as Tibet, Mongolia, Gansu and the north-east. In this regard, Geremie Barme makes an interesting observation: 'they are seeking a new environment and atmosphere in the culture and landscape of the border areas with considerable enthusiasm and urgency. Yet, due to their own cultural inadequacies... no matter how much energy they put into their efforts, [in their works] the borderland cultures will remain forever mere ornamentation, bibelots'. In Bai Jieming (Geremie Barmd), 'Zhongguo wenyijie de "biansai re"' [The 'border craze' of Chinese literature and arts], Jiushi niandai, no.10, 1986, p.97. Some of the most picturesque and rhapsodical writings by Ah Cheng are in fact found in his 'Biandi fengliu' [Romances of the landscape], a series of sketches about the border areas.

23 I have discussed in this paper his debt to classical philosophy. Others such as Hu Juren and Geremie Barmd have also noted his borrowings from traditional popular fiction such as The Water Margin. The 'all men are brothers' mentality exhibited in such novels was restated in a vivid manner in the bangpai (mateship) behaviour during the Cultural Revolution period.

24 Ahcheng, 'The Chess Master', p.13 1. 25 I am not suggesting that laughter and friendship cannot be spiritual, nor that Confucians and

Daoists do not have fun. I am trying here to emphasise the material aspect of this 'something' over the immaterial.




This reading of Ah Cheng may explain why his stories are quite new in the contemporary Chinese context although politically and philosophically they are conventionally conservative. Examples of the importance of friendship abound in his stories. In the 'Chess King', the protagonist Wang Yisheng after the sublime championship competition with the 'Daoist' hermit declines the offer of a meal with the old man. His reason is that he wants to stay with his friends. Given the choice between aged wisdom and youthful friendship, therefore, the 'chess king' chooses the latter. This illustrates very well that although in a game of chess, Wang Yisheng may achieve an orgasmic climax, the act itself, like the mental gymnastics of the old philosophers, is still an escapist one in relation to the 'real' world.

Just as friendship is part of the real world, so too is the appreciation of food. Ah Cheng claims in many places that he has experienced hunger and therefore realised that food is the most precious commodity in life. To exist, one must have nutrition, and food certainly features prominently in most of Ah Cheng's writings. Food is almost the medium into the 'something' by which one can 'really live'. In the 'Chess King', one of the most memorable episodes is the snake feast. The warmth of friendship and laughter, generated in the midst of the steam and cooking noise, presents a picture of incomparable beauty. There is a real element of joy in the episode, a real celebration of eating in an atmosphere of great companionship and partying that is unhurried and unforgettable. The nostalgia this party evokes proves Ah Cheng to be a master in his use of food as a medium to the real meaning in life. Even when the feasting is done as a result of political dictate, as in the story 'The Feast',26 the festive mood still dominates. When compared with Gan Tiesheng's 'The Get-together',27 which displays the nihilistic despair some writers have at the fate of educated youth in the mountains and villages, Ah Cheng's depiction of the gratification that is to be gained from food and friendship is even more striking.

The use of food as a medium to 'real living' is not always a riotous and heated affair. The story 'Sleeper Class' ends on a tender and alrnost sentimental note, although here the piece of fruit acts as a catalyst which binds human beings together, crossing class, age and sex boundaries:

The Henan soldier took out some fruit and handed it around. I took a piece and passed it to the young lady. She took it, but instead of eating it, just held it in her hand. I asked the Henan soldier, 'where's your knife?' The Henan soldier thought I was still talking about the matter we'd spoken about the day before, and replied, 'we have to leave our

26 Ah Cheng, 'Hui can' [The feast], Zuojia [Writers], no.1, 1984, pp.31-32. 27 Gan Tiesheng, 'Ju hui' [The get-together], reprinted in He Shaojun and Yang Ruiping (eds),

Zhiqing xiaoshuo xuan [Selected fiction by educated youth] (Sichuan Wenyi Chubanshe, Chengdu, 1986), pp.226-39.




weapons behind when we leave the base. They're not very convenient to carry around'. The old man turned around and said to the young lady, 'give it a wash, it's not that dirty'. The young lady lowered her head. I quickly offered my knife. She took it, and slowly peeled the fruit. After she'd finished peeling she cut it into small pieces, and lifting her head, she smiled at everybody and bit by bit, slowly began eating.28

In this story, the 'something' which 'you've got to have before you can really live' is delicately drawn. It is certainly not Chinese tradition, whether Confucian or Daoist: it is the feeling to be gained from simple human intercourse, and Ah Cheng can relate this intercourse as finely as Robert Frost. Thus, Ah Cheng's originality lies in his celebration of life. Happiness is a simple meal with a few unpretentious friends, and not, as in much of contemporary Chinese literature, in bumper harvests or the defeat of class enemies. This home truth may not seem very inspiring, but in China, where, if Chinese writers are to be believed, life is alienating and the Cultural Revolution brought nothing but disaster to everybody, the portrayal of friendships during the Cultural Revolution not wracked by hatred and betrayal is quite an achievement. Even in 1985 and 1986, up-and-coming young writers such as Han Shaogong and Mo Yan distinguished themselves by their sophisticated descriptions of the harsh suffering and unspeakable poverty in the mountains and villages.There is no doubt that the Cultural Revolution affected millions, including intellectuals and youth who were 'sent down' to the countryside. The political situation in China has demanded that writers depict their lives then as completely miserable and without redemption. However, as the writer Jia Ping'ao says to Ah Cheng:

...the lives of the educated youth were fine. They did not have any responsibilities, their parents at home were concerned about them, they got the sympathy of people in society, and going back to the cities was a hope and an option for them. They may have suffered a little, but don't the peasants suffer like that one generation after the next?29

Many former educated youth must be aware of this, and more and more are voicing similar sentiments. Some, such as Shi Tiesheng, have become so nostalgic that they have written lyrical accounts of their sojourns amongst the peasantry. Ah Cheng, however, is one of the few who has so far written about the experience as it must have been for thousands: a golden opportunity for young people to form close and meaningful friendships. Unfortunately, the speed with which he has achieved fame both in and out of China does not indicate that critics acknowledge this. Most literary critics hail him as a good writer for having used traditional methods and thinking in telling a story. This only shows the Daoist-

28 Ah Cheng, 'Wo pu', p.55. 29 Reported in Ah Cheng, 'Yixie hua' [A few words], Zhongpian xiaoshuo xuankan [Journal of

selected middle-length stories], no.6, 1984, p.237.




Confucian elitist bias of intellectuals, who on the whole still beat their breasts and gnash their teeth at the mention of the words 'Cultural Revolution'. Ah Cheng's skill is to appeal to such people without negating ten years of his youth.30 As the Cultural Revolution recedes further into the distant past, it may be possible that more and more people will forget the ruthless political manipulations which engineered it and will rediscover more of its original revolutionary ideals. Writers may then be inspired by truly Marxist concerns, and not by a reactionary Confucianist ideology whose material social base is fast disappearing.

Perth September 1987

30 I do not imply here that Ah Cheng is using Daoism/Confucianism to justify the Cultural Revolution. On the contrary, I am arguing that despite his elitist inclinations, Ah Cheng couldn't help but point to the more joyous aspects of the Cultural Revolution period.



the short stories of ah cheng: daoism, confucianism and life

Documents

jstor terms

jstor archive

university of chicago

oxford university press

college of asia

terms conditions of

new socialist china

abstracting tradition