106-year-old Ma Shitu is often asked about "health secrets". He replied with a smile, two words "Daguan" and six words "affordable to put down". This time, he talked about longevity again, "I am afraid it has something to do with the experience I have lived for almost the entire 20th century. I don't know how many vicissitudes of life I have experienced in this century, and how much thrills, distress, pain, sorrow and joy have been tasted. After years of forging and training, and developing a character that is not surprised at all changes and looks at life optimistically, he will naturally live a long life.”
This old writer who has been involved in revolution since his youth and has been engaged in party underground work for a long time, After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he was engaged in busy leadership work while using his spare time to create literary works. His literary works caused great repercussions in those years. Ten years ago, Ma Shitu came into the public eye again because of Jiang Wen's film "Let the Bullets Fly" adapted from his novel "Ten Chapters of Night Tales". Later, it was the "Hundred Years Recollection" that he wrote based on the legendary life he experienced, which attracted people's attention, but few people knew the regrets buried behind his many achievements.
In June 2020, Ma Shitu published his new book "The Story of the Night", and released a pen confession: "I am a hundred and six years old, old and rotten, and my pen career should have been closed. Therefore, I plan to take advantage of me. The new book "The Night of the Night" was published and presented as an opportunity for literary friends. I specially recorded five recent traditional poems summarizing my life. The book was not awkward, and the book was accompanied by corrections, and solemnly confessed: From now on."
▍ Ma Shitu
"Only a lifetime regret"
At the beginning of 2013, Mr. Bing Ling, President of the Chinese Writers Association of America, visited Chengdu and presented Ma Shitu with the "Lifetime Achievement Award". However, Ma Shitu said that he had no lifelong achievements in his life, only lifelong regrets.
Ma Shitu's life has changed frequently. In the earliest days, he studied to save the country. The 16-year-old Ma Shitu went out of Sichuan to find a way to save the country. The teacher taught them to save the country by industry. Therefore, Ma Shitu determined to be an engineer as soon as he entered middle school. He graduated from middle school and was admitted to the Central University in Nanjing. Department of Chemical Engineering. Later, he participated in the "December 9th" student movement and devoted himself to the revolution. He became a professional revolutionist and did not become an engineer. This was the first regret on the road in life.
▍ Ma Shitu (second from right in the back row) was with the American Flying Tigers during his studies at Southwest United University.
Ma Shitu was later admitted to the Chinese Department of Southwest United University, Wen Yiduo Shen Congwen, Zhu Ziqing are all his teachers, and he is also determined to do some research on Chinese culture. However, since joining the Communist Party of China, he has taken revolution as his profession and engaged in the party's underground activities, and had to temporarily shelve literary creation and academic research. This is another pity.
After the founding of New China, Ma Shitu once came to Beijing. Mr. Luo Changpei, then director of the Institute of Chinese Language and Characters, hoped that Ma Shitu would come to the institute to serve as the party secretary of the institute, not only for administrative work but also for academic research. Ma Shitu was very moved when he heard about it, but when the organization department made a consultation with Sichuan, he could not be transferred because he had already served as the director of the Sichuan Provincial Government Construction and Engineering Bureau and led the construction of the first five-year plan. The academic opportunity rubbed shoulders again. And pass. This also made him envy that many of his classmates had very good academic achievements in his early years, but he had learned little and became a pity.
had originally planned to concentrate on construction work, and began to learn construction project management and urban planning. In order to complete the first five-year plan, he was prepared to make great achievements in the construction industry. Amid the sound of marching toward science across the country, Ma knows the way. He was transferred to prepare for the establishment of the Sichuan Branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, leaving only the title of honorary chairman of the Sichuan Civil Engineering and Architecture Society.
Subsequently, Ma Shitu served as the vice president of the Sichuan Branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He not only supplemented a lot of knowledge related to science and technology, but every time he returned to Beijing, listening to the leaders of the Chinese Academy of Sciences introduced the prospects of cutting-edge science, he was more confident. Due to work reasons, he often held meetings with scientists such as Qian Xuesen and learned a lot of new knowledge. He also became very interested in scientific management work. He decided to build a good science branch. A few years later, the results were obvious, and he was transferred to Ma Shitu and concurrently as the deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the Southwest Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.
Although I have received literary class training at Southwest United University,With a foundation in literary creation, Ma Shitu never dared to venture into the literary world lightly. Until 1959, the editor-in-chief of "Sichuan Literature" and old writer Sha Ting approached him and said that for the 10th anniversary of the National Day, Ma Shitu must write a commemorative article and memoirs. Row. The hospitality was hard to be overcome. He wrote a memoir article "Old Three Sisters", which was discovered and reprinted by Chen Baichen, editor-in-chief of "People's Literature" after the publication of "Sichuan Literature", which attracted the attention of relevant leaders of the Chinese Writers Association. Shao Quanlin, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Writers Association at the time, said to him: “There are very few veteran revolutionary comrades who can engage in literary creation and have characteristics. You are a veteran comrade. You have rich life experience and the basic skills developed at Southwest Associated University. You can write things.”
At that time, Ma Shitu had served as deputy director of the Southwest Bureau’s Propaganda Department, deputy director of the Science and Technology Committee, and deputy dean of the Southwest Branch of the Academy of Sciences. He had three responsibilities on his shoulders. How could he have time to engage in literary creation. Shao Quanlin told him: "If you are engaged in literary creation, one person becomes two people, and your life is doubled, and you can make greater contributions to the party and the country." Only then did Ma Shitu start literary creation in his spare time. It's just that he has too much burden on his shoulders, and it is difficult for him to have enough time to ponder the work, which also makes him feel that he is not qualified to be an excellent writer, which is another great regret.
Ma Shitu is not without emotion. He has basically experienced the 20th century and witnessed the great turmoil and great turning point in China for a century. The accumulation of life is very rich, and there are many thoughts and feelings, but he has not been able to. It is the biggest regret to refine it well and fail to write real materials into good works. "My whole life is almost accompanied by regret. I am still regretful now. What kind of lifetime achievement award was given to me? I can only say that I have no lifetime achievements, only lifetime regrets."
"I care about literature most. "Creation"
In this life, Ma Shitu has held many administrative leadership positions. He has served as an honorary advisor and honorary member of the Chinese Writers Association and chairman of the Sichuan Writers Association in the literary world. He also participated in the establishment of the Chinese Poetry Society, served as the vice president, the honorary president...There are so many titles that he doesn't know how many. "People see me as if I have done a lot of things, but I understand myself that I am a'men and women, all faint', and none of them have great prospects." He said that what he cares most is literary creation. Achieved.
Ma Shitu was born in the family of scholars. Since childhood, he likes to recite poems and compose essays. The old master taught me to memorize the four books, learn to compose sentences, and read the "Book of Songs", "Thousands of Poems", "Guwen Guan Zhi", etc., which laid the foundation for Ma Shitu's later writing of traditional poems and classical Chinese. In 1935, Ye Shengtao sponsored the "Middle School Student" magazine composition contest. Ma Shitu won the prize for his essay describing the local scenery, "Wanxian", which was also his first work published. Later, during the "December 9th" student movement, he published many short articles in newspaper supplements. After participating in the revolution, he repeatedly published literary works in "Wartime Youth" and "Xinhua Daily". But at that time he never regarded writing as his ideal of life.
In order to avoid secret agents who might attack at any time, Ma Shitu was admitted to Southwest Associated University under the name "Ma Qianhe". Here he "lays ambush for a long time, accumulates strength and waits for the opportunity", and at the same time he is taught by many famous teachers. Ma Shitu knows and understands Wen Yiduo not only in class, but also in conversations with him. Wen Yiduo guessed Ma Shitu's identity, and the contact became more intimate. During the student movement, they discussed many things together, and sometimes even disputes. In Ma Shitu's impression, Wen Yiduo respected his opinions. "We are engaged in activities. As long as I invite him, he will agree to participate." On July 15, 1946, Wen Yiduo was assassinated and killed by a KMT agent. After hearing this bad news, Ma Shitu hurried back to Kunming to pay tribute to his spirit and where he was assassinated, and wrote the elegiac couplet "The philosopher is withered, what shall I say".
The teachers not only influenced Ma Shitu and the others in terms of behavior and thought, but also taught specific literary creation, taught foreign literature and Chinese classical literature, and specifically discussed creative issues. At Southwest Associated University, Ma Shitu and Zhang Guangnian jointly ran the literary publication "Xindi", edited "Dalu Weekly", wrote a novel "The First Year" describing peasants' participation in the War of Resistance against Japan, and tried to learn Gogol's "Imperial Mission" In the style of "Minister", he wrote the novel "Inspectors Coming", which is the first article of Ma Shitu's "Ten Tales of Nights". Ma Shitu also wrote two collections of poems, one is a collection of short poems, the other is a descriptionOn the Stilwell Highway (also known as the Myanmar-Burma Highway), a 1,500-line poem "Road" about a pair of young men and women in love. When he was transferred from Kunming, Ma Shitu burned all literary things in order to abide by the party's secret work discipline.
In the eyes of the old gentleman, literature is actually human studies and aesthetics. It is the homeland where human beings use words to find their souls and place their own spirits. "Literature has a role in the world and the hearts of the people. It can sublime and purify the reader's soul."
"Some spy dramas don't pay attention to the details."
"Pirates" in Ma Shitu's novel "Ten Tales" The chapter of "Official Records" was adapted into the movie "Let the Bullets Fly" in 2010. Jiang Wen rearranged the characters and structure according to his own ideas, which is quite popular.
▍Jiang Wen’s movie "Let the Bullets Fly" is adapted from "The Story of the Robber" in "Ten Chapters of Night Tales"
The style of "Ten Chapters of Night Tales" is very national Sexually, Ma Shitu took a form that the common people would love to hear, and also borrowed Western writing methods, writing Chinese stories and characters, and technically absorbed Western humor and satire. He likes Chekhov and Gogol in Russia, O Henry and Mark Twain in the United States, and Cervantes in Spain. He also pays special attention to popular methods. Ma Shitu believes that literary works should describe the Chinese style and Chinese style that common people love to hear. As for Chinese style and style, it is essentially Chinese cultural tradition. The style of popular literature is like the storytelling in a tea house. Sichuan is called storytelling. He uses storytelling to write revolutionary stories. He modestly said that he has made a lot of efforts for this and it seems that he has achieved certain results, but he can’t say yet. very successful.
8 years ago, he created and completed the long-length TV literary script "A Battle Line Without Gunsmoke" based on his real underground struggle experience with his comrade Li Qiang. The work comprehensively shows China on the eve of the War of Liberation, from front to rear, from Yan'an to Sichuan, from the Soviet area to the Kuomintang-controlled area, from Pao to merchants, from the fighting between the central and military forces within the enemy, showing the cruelty of the special battlefield.
But there are many spy war dramas on the screen but this person is not very satisfied. "Some spy war dramas really don't pay attention to details." Ma Shitu believes that some of the current film and television dramas that reflect hidden fronts are quite different from the truth in history in terms of plots and expressions, so that the audience has a problem with the work and life of the underground party. Many misunderstandings. The "details" he valued very much are the truth and the embodiment of life skills. To put it more bluntly, it is the difference between those who have witnessed it and those who have heard of it. He said that in order to accurately describe this front, it needs to be reflected in every confrontation between the enemy and ourselves, every whereabouts, and even the setting of every connector code.
In his opinion, some screenwriters were unwilling to spend time doing desk work and had little understanding of the underground struggle at that time. The plots in the play often violated principles and disciplines, especially organizational principles and secret work disciplines. "You know, it's really'walking a tightrope' and dancing with wolves. A trivial sentence from the intelligence staff may bring death to themselves and the organization to the utter disaster." The old gentleman told some screenwriters to highlight The image of underground party members, which deliberately dwarfs the KMT secret agents and overseas spies, has also been criticized in good faith. "The party's underground workers are not omnipotent, and the KMT secret agents are not tofu. Everyone knows the "Eight Articles in Prison", "Don't underestimate the enemy." In his view, the revolutionary historical struggle drama should not only be The "spy war drama" is spinning around, it should have a broader world for writers to gallop. "But there is one thing. Only by not deviating from history in artistic exaggeration and fiction can we truly satisfy the masses' artistic appreciation." The old man now exercises his body every day, and is still writing and practicing calligraphy.
"I just want to fight the disease to the end"
In 1961, Ma Shitu published the novel "The Song of Qingjiang Zhuang", which made a national sensation. Behind this work is a true story.
Ma Shitu’s wife Liu Huixin died in Enshi in 1941, and the daughter who went to jail with her mother the next month is missing. Ma Shitu searched for 20 years, and finally found it in 1960. It is a novel written on this subject. Ma Shitu returned home from get off work every day, facing the manuscript paper on his desk, and drove more than 180 night trains in a row, while writing and serializing in "Sichuan Literature" and "Chengdu Evening News". But because ofFor this reason, this manuscript was not officially published by People's Literature Publishing House until the spring of 1966.
▍ A recent photo of Ma Shitu (photo taken in 2020)
Under the encouragement of Chen Baichen, Ma Shitu also wrote a satirical novel "The Most Reliable Man", Mao Dun saw it and said irony Novels were originally an important part of literature, and everyone did not want to write them. Now someone writes them. This information stimulated Ma Shitu's humorous style as a Sichuan native, and he successively wrote satirical novels such as Picking a Son-in-law.
After the "Cultural Revolution", Wei Junyi, the president of the People's Literature Publishing House at the time, wrote to Ma Shitu, hoping to republish the "Zhuang Song of Qingjiang". The first print is 200,000 copies. Broadcasts from China Central Radio, Tianjin, Sichuan and Wuhan The radio broadcasted the full text successively, which was quite prosperous for a while. Immediately afterwards, Ma Shitu successively published several novels praising revolutionary heroes, as well as "Jing Xing Ji" in memory of his deceased and "Under the Ground" which summarized the work of the underground party. Ma Shitu said: "I don't care whether I write well or not. As long as I can resurrect the martyrs who have fought the tragic revolutionary struggle with me, I will be satisfied."
Early 1980s , Under the promotion of Wei Junyi, Ma Shitu wrote and published "Ten Notes of Night Tales". The first edition was printed with 200,000 copies, followed by additional printing, so Wei Junyi came to Chengdu to find Ma Shitu and proposed to him a literary creation suggestion-because he has been engaged in party underground work for a long time and has many contacts with the three teachings and nine liu in society, personal experience or I have seen many strange people and strange things, using the format of "Decameron" by the famous Italian writer Boccaccio to create a "Night Tales Literature Series". At that time, the two of them negotiated to publish a copy of "Ye Tan Continued" first, and Ma Shitu also began to write the outline of the story, but because Wei Junyi suddenly fell ill and Ma Shitu was indeed busy with official duties, it was shelved. "The Story of the Night" has been in Ma Shitu's mind for decades, but he has never forgotten his promise. In 2020, he took out the new book "Night Story Continued". The title page of the book wrote: "I would like to dedicate this book to Mr. Wei Junyi, who created the "Night Story Series" and vigorously published the book "Night Story". commemorate".
At that time, Ma Shitu was engaged in the party’s secret underground work. It is no longer allowed to dance or use ink. Not only can he keep a piece of paper, he often changes his name and surname, and becomes another "new person" every time he goes. Once "closed pen"; now, after fulfilling his wish of the year, he feels that he can really "close pen".
The creation process of "Night Tales Continued" is similar to its sister book "Ten Tales of Night Tales", and it has also experienced tortuous nearly 40 years.
▍Ma Shitu’s new book "Night Tales Continued" published by People’s Literature Publishing House
In the same year, Ma Shitu planned to do the "Night Tan Literature Series". At the urging of Wei Junyi, he became "hot head", and he took it in one breath. Name the titles of ten stories and outlines of several stories. Unexpectedly, this masterpiece, which seems almost "ready to come out", lasted for 30 years. The previously published "Ten Story of Night Story" gradually faded out of the readers' sight as the years passed.
Until 2010, "Tale of the Officials" in "Ten Chapters of Night Tales" was adapted into "Let the Bullets Fly" and put on the screen. As the original novel of the film, "Ten Chapters of Night Tales", it is also attached to " "Let the Bullets Fly" "fly". Only then was Ma Shitu's mind "starting to get hot again", and wanted to re-complete "The Story of the Night" that was originally planned with Wei Junyi. However, at the beginning of the article, he wrote "originality" and was delayed by trivial matters. He thought: Many famous old writers have closed their pens. I am a writer who is more than 90 years old and a half-way renunciation. I am not embarrassed to do this incompetent thing. ?
In the following years, Ma Shitu was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award in literature twice. He was deeply ashamed and always felt that due to various reasons, he could not write good works on the good themes he had accumulated. Many stories will be buried in the ground with him. At this time, a few friends in the literary world told Ma Shitu that although you can no longer write a great masterpiece, you can tell some stories for everyone to spend their free time and spend the night. Hearing this, Ma Shitu moved his mind again and began to write "The Story of the Night".
But shortly after Ma Shitu started writing, the cancer demon invaded his body for the second time. Ma Shitu was admitted to the hospital, and the creation of this manuscript was also facing the possibility of being abandoned halfway. The family is responsible for his conditionWhile worrying, Ma Shitu remembered the story of Sima Qian writing the "Historical Records" with anger. "The story of Sima Qian inspired me, and I have to act in anger. I once told my friends that there is no word'surrender' in my life dictionary. I will never surrender to the disease. I will fight the disease. It takes time to complete the creation of the manuscript for this book." He asked his children to take the manuscript paper to the hospital to continue writing. After being discharged from the hospital, he took active treatment while insisting on writing. "Others think that I have such a dangerous disease and still don’t care. It’s really weird to work hard to write. In fact, it’s no wonder that I just want to fight the disease to the end, just as I did the underground revolutionary struggle without fear of death."
As long as a person is not afraid of death, he will be more courageous. Once he has courage, he will be more powerful to overcome danger and pain. Just when Ma Shitu completed the first draft of this book, the health doctor told Ma Shitu that after more than half a year of medical treatment, the shadow of the tumor on the lung was not visible, and the blood test indicators were completely normal. The family was overjoyed, and Ma Shitu joked: "What, did the cancer demon fight with me and escaped?"
As the sequel to "Ten Tales of the Night", the original example of "Continued Tales of the Night" is still used: Sichuanese Tell Sichuan stories in Sichuan dialect. The content is about a dozen staff in Sichuan in their spare time, gathering together, drinking tea, chatting, and setting the dragon's gate to eliminate the night. Still in the dialects unique to Sichuan people, humorous and humorous talk style, gossip about Sichuan slang customs and strange anecdotes.
Ma Shitu jokingly said: "Although it is not enough to be elegant, I think that after drinking tea and drinking, it is a way to spend leisure time, or it has the effect of eliminating phlegm, reducing food, and prolonging life. Fortunately, readers should not think that barnyard officials novels, wild old people It was revealed that it was not enough to save the world and abandon it in time. (Responsible editor: Chen Tao)
Source Beijing Daily Supplement|Author Shu Jinyu
Editor: Bai Xingjue
Process Editor: Wang Mengying
