He is an elf, I am a barbarian
He is a homebody in Shanghai and New York
I am a vagrant
No one knew Mu Xin
Until 1999 or 2000
At that time the local official (of Wuzhen)
Read Mu Xin's proses and poems by chance
Which were written after his returning to China
Publishing in China Times in Taiwan
He was surprised
That there was still such an unknown master in this town
Because he read it saying "I will never come back"
These words hurt his feelings a lot
So he invited Mu Xin to come back
Mu Xin hesitated for years
He was accompanied by me in 2006 and settled down in his hometown Wuzhen
Until his death at the end of 2011
Ten years ago, Mu Xin's book first appeared on the mainland of China
It was then counted as a piece of news
Because at that time we had discovered
Almost all writers who were born in the period of the Republic of China
People no longer knew that there was another old writer
Who was almost 80 years old
But never published a book in mainland China
Suddenly, called by one of his friends and students
Saying "Look, there is a good writer"
It would be a bit obtrusive
Some voices said something like I was running a publicity stunt and hyping in order to popularize him
These were all within my expectations
His museum is another story
Because at the same time he was a painter
Mu Xin was an exception that may be quite rare
When the art museum was erected
He had not exhibited paintings in China at all
After Wuzhen invited him back
The local official promised that they would build an art museum for him
But Mu Xin said it was too hurried, took it slowly
From an obscure painter
To a person who suddenly had an art museum
He had to adjust himself
Four years after his death
This art museum was really built up
I was just involved in helping to decorate the museum
Who works as the curator now
I have never been working for an art museum
Over 7,000 square meters
Then divided into five pavilions
What should be shown and what should not be
How to put on display and how to make best use of the light
Is really annoying to me
It is a challenge for me
So until today
I need to go to Wuzhen once a month
To deal with things in the museum
(Every time) I walk the path I am habituated to choose
Behind the bushes
The museum suddenly appears on the lake
I am still thinking a bit like it is too beautiful to be real
It's been around for almost one year
He never liked my painting
He told me directly in person
He only liked a few painters of the European Renaissance
His beloved painters
Add up to no more than five or six
But his beloved writers are almost all his lovers
Relatives
Uncles and brothers
He was the childe of Wuzhen
Then spent his whole life in Shanghai and New York
No matter how much suffering he had
He had just such simplex experience
From city to city
And had been living in his European imagination
His imagination of people in Wei and Jin Dynasty
He was living in an imagined world
Restructuring the reality he saw
He needed to be sure to think about the reality in his own structure could he put it into his arts and literature
He had no family
So I was his closest friend
Until the end of his life
I was entrusted by Mu Xin
Even if he didn't entrust me,
But he just died like this
I can't stand by
After he died
I started a new life
He doesn't just leave me all the troubles
He also left me many opportunities
For example, I held a contrast exhibition between Lin Fengmian (Mentor of Mu Xin) and his artworks
The poets and writers at all times and in all over the world he mentioned in his work Memories of Literature
Allows me to make many special exhibitions according to them
Though they are small-scale art exhibitions
These are the opportunities he gave me
Opportunities for endless happiness