The reason why Lu Xun praised her as a genius writer
Was that she touched on the final question – the question of life and death – when she was only 24 years old
The vigorous life, the struggling death, her story was very powerful
And exerted significant influence on Chinese literature
Xiao Hong, her given name was Zhang Naiying
One of the four talented women during the Republican era
She was born to a landowning family in northeastern China before the Revolution of 1911
She ran away to avoid an arranged marriage at the age of 19
And started to lead a vagrant life
She began writing after she met Xiao Jun
And finished her novel “Sheng si chang” (The Field of Life and Death) at 24 which brought her extensive attention from literary circles
After the Sino-Japanese War broke out, Xiao Hong moved about China
After Hong Kong fell to the Japanese, she was misdiagnosed and a doctor cut open her trachea
She died in Hong Kong on January 22nd 1942
At the age of 31
Xiao Hong and Eileen Chang were the two most celebrated female writers at the time
Eileen Chang were sometimes critical
Whereas Xiao Hong’s writing had that child-like innocence
She seldom criticized, she was real
The year 1986 saw a revival of her works
And I heard her name during that time
The first book of her that I read was “Hulanhe zhuan” (Tales of Hulan River)
That’s an epic
I was working in Shenzhen in 1996
I paused to read “Sheng si chang”
My heart beat like crazy reading this
I thought it would be wonderful if one day I could adapt it into a play
In 1999, at the former Central Experimental Drama Theater
I adapted “Sheng si chang”
Xiao Hong’s style is fierce
Life and death, life and death, she keeps it to the point
It’s rather rare to see life and death so close
And later we put on the play
They said it’s the spirit of Xiao Hong pounding the stage
She received immense help from Lu Xun
He helped her with the publishing of “Sheng si chang”
Allegedly they had a close relationship
But that’s highly unlikely as Lu Xun had his own family
I think it’s just because Lu Xun admired her talent so much
In Xiao Hong’s fleeting life, she had two premarital pregnancies
And had been with 5 different men
She refused to marry the fiancé assigned by her father
But she lived with him and got pregnant
And the man disappeared for no reason
Then she fell in love with Xiao Jun
And she gave away her baby for lack of parenting capability
This time she was pregnant with Xiao Jun’s baby
And she separated with Xiao Jun
And married Duanmu Hongliang
Her family disliked her
Regarding her lifestyle as indecent
She slept with men that she liked
Without overthinking, or even thinking about it
And she was terrible at taking care of people
As well as communication or getting along with others
Xiao Hong was obviously not a wife
She lived a literary life
She wrote one million words
God was fair
God gave her the talent of writing
And held back on her ability to lead an ordinary and orderly life
You can still see her old house in Harbin
I visited her
On a snowy day
And I talked to her
I said I felt sorry for her
For 31 years, no one truly loved her
Her family cut her off
Xiao Jun was too male chauvinist to take care of her
Duanmu Hongliang was too selfish and self-centered
She was of an independent disposition
She didn’t complain much
She always found ways to cheer herself up
When Mao Dun visited her before she died
She said we should mount a magazine
She had a clear soul
Just like what Zhao Puchu said about Hong Yi
“Endless wonders for worldly eyes”
“One unique moon for a heavenly spirit”