You can't forget things, or you can't forget how to write a composition.

"Historical Records Biography of Xinlingjun XVII" records that Xinlingjun was arrogant and had the color of self-achievement after stealing symbols to save Zhao. A guest said, "what you can't forget, or you can't forget." A wife is more virtuous than a son, and a son should not forget it. Childe is kind to people, I hope he forgets. Wei also ordered to catch Jin's cheap soldiers to save Zhao. The son is arrogant and meritorious, stealing it for the son. " So the son blamed himself, as if he had no ability.

In today's increasingly detailed division of labor, people are easily stereotyped by occupation. Under the pressure of professionalism, it is extremely difficult to see "Confucian scholars" who were well-informed in ancient times or "Renaissance people" who were good at different fields in the Middle Ages and the West. Of course, there is nothing wrong with "specialization". For society, the specialization of each member is the basis of overall progress; But as far as a "person" is concerned, too much effort and knowledge are concentrated in one place, which often leads to narrow vision, blurred mind and estrangement from others, society and even heaven and earth.

Zhou Zhiwen certainly has a major in work, but it's not easy to get into a certain title. He has been teaching for many years and is undoubtedly an economist. He often publishes works in newspapers and media, including novels, reviews and essays, and of course he is qualified as a scholar. He also has a deep insight into music and painting, and wrote art reviews for newspapers very early. However, as a scholar, Zhou Zhiwen doesn't care about the performance of various awards. He doesn't stand on the mountain or fight for territory. As a writer, he seldom talks about his own works, let alone "typed books". Once the manuscript was published, he completely let go, letting the work reach the readers by itself and never introducing it. These behaviors are different from those of ordinary scholars and writers. Therefore, to establish his identity, it is better to use the traditional "scholar" to explain. Today, it is customary to use "intellectuals" to define the traditional concept of "scholars", but after all, it is not the same. In addition to being knowledgeable, traditional literati can always write good words, have a certain appreciation of music art and have literary expression. In addition to talent and knowledge, a scholar must be a person with ideals and principles, which is what Mencius called "ambition". However, if you have ideals, you will inevitably worry about the people when you are worried. Adhering to principles will inevitably encounter many setbacks; Of course, as a result of lofty aspirations, it is not appropriate to have a full stomach ... These phenomena are likely to be found in Zhou Zhiwen.

"Worrying about time" is probably the most common emotion of China scholars. They have great enthusiasm for the world and take the unity of the country and the sufferings and joys of the people as their responsibility, so they always attach importance to safety and chaos. They have sharp eyes and see many dangerous sources and hidden evils. It is inevitable that they will worry about the world first, but they have no strength and potential to solve problems and correct shortcomings. Even if they want to clarify the world, they are unwilling to participate in the power struggle because they are easy to shrink back, and people with power may be unwilling to listen to them or don't know them at all, so they can only turn these worries into written works, hoping to be noticed one day. This is the truth from the anxiety of the author of Yi to Huang Zongxi's "waiting to be visited" in the future. Zhou Zhiwen writes like a person, he is quiet. He never used Jia Yi's sensational words of "world affairs are comparable to those who cry or weep", but he can still often see his worries about current events and the world.

However, troubles have never played any substantive role, and it is impossible to be a household name. Even if it is bitter, few people pay attention to it. In this way, how can we not be lonely? Zhou Zhiwen's prose, from style to content, can almost feel lonely. Most of this loneliness comes from Zhou Zhiwen's unconventional, not unconventional, but his taste is too exquisite and luxurious, drinking tea, music and thinking. Serious taste is an inevitable phenomenon of cultural upgrading, but in a rough era, paying attention to taste is against customs and times. We are used to entrusting value to price and giving beauty to fashion. As for right and wrong, we choose a group to take refuge, just like the peasants who joined the manor in the middle ages, giving up their freedom as human beings in exchange for psychological security. Accustomed to KTV's ears, how can you tell the expression under the performer's finger? How can an eye who likes acousto-optic images judge the simple lines in a painting? How to detect subtle feelings after excessive stimulation of political and business advertisements? Exquisite beyond fashion, we have neither the ability nor the interest. In that era when the whole world was playing against Balinese, Zhou Zhiwen still didn't want to say something that everyone didn't understand, so his books never made the bestseller list, and his views were never accepted by most people. Most people don't even care what he said, so his loneliness is inevitable.

This loneliness, in which everyone is drunk and I wake up alone, is the norm in every era, and certainly not from Zhou Zhiwen. The chapter of "Bathing and Relieving the Wind" in The Analects of Confucius, which can best see the weather of the Holy Gate, originated from Confucius' questions and answers to students such as Luz and Zeng Yong. The original text is like this: "if one day I grow up, I won't take it!" Zhu Ze said,' I don't know!' If you know me, why bother? Don't think I'm a little older than you (I dare not speak frankly). You often say' nobody knows me' on weekdays. What would you do if someone knew you and was willing to use you? Here, "if you are alive, you say' I don't know'!" It vividly depicts the unwillingness of Confucius disciples to know nothing about it. Lutz and others are not for the world, but they are not alone; Although unwilling, I am not sad, because there are teachers like Confucius and like-minded friends around me; However, later people were not so lucky. The most typical one is Qu Yuan. The whole Qufu is almost full of disobedience and incomprehensible pain when shouting.

As a result, "seeking a bosom friend" has become a common tune of intellectuals throughout the ages, and the story of Boya's childhood solo piano has been quoted again and again; But a bosom friend is hard to meet. Is it difficult to find and get it? Therefore, lonely people can only aim at other unknown spaces, such as Qu Yuan's Searching Up and Down; Or pin it on the distant future, such as Sima Qian's "After being a saint." Behind these soul mates, there are countless lonely hearts.

In fact, with the sadness that the world knows nothing and bosom friends are hard to find, it is easy to bring up another literary theme: homesickness. Nostalgia is numerous in traditional poems and songs. The so-called homesickness is naturally the hometown of growing environment, but China's homesickness works go far beyond this level. Homesickness is because people are in a foreign land; And "foreign land" is not only the meaning of geographical coordinates, but also the sense of existence in the soul. The so-called "stranger", on the surface, of course, refers to people who live alone in a foreign land, but more often, "stranger" is formed by subjective mentality. No matter where I am in my hometown or in a foreign land, as long as there are no bosom friends and people who know me around me, this environment is a strange "foreign land" for me-a foreign land where my thoughts can't understand, my feelings can't intersect, and even my language can't communicate.

Since I am homesick, I will inevitably make some comparisons between my hometown and a foreign land. Usually, you will write your hometown as peaceful and beautiful, while a foreign land is quiet and gloomy. For example, Jingzhou, a foreign land that RoyceWong saw when he went upstairs, was "the wind is bleak and prosperous, and the sky is miserable and colorless ... vilen is nobody's business, and he is not interested in recruiting a husband." Write feelings with scenery, and compare loneliness and sadness born in a foreign land. Of course, Zhou Zhiwen is the hometown of the soul. The great music art and the wonderful stories of the characters in the works show the vitality and richness of the author's hometown. But interestingly, there is almost no sense of "foreign land" in Zhou Zhiwen's works. Even in Prague, a more strange land, I don't seem to see Zhou Zhiwen's strangeness. Prague's year is not without depression, but the main tone is that I wander in the dazzling cultural history of Prague's architectural music and feel that "I am happy here and don't think about it." Therefore, although Zhou Zhiwen's prose is always lonely and always yearns for his hometown, he can't see much resentment and anger towards a foreign land-the real environment.

Zhou Zhiwen's feelings about the existing environment show a trend of gradual peace. In Three Beethoven (1995), Zhou Zhiwen's dissatisfaction with the present situation and culture can be seen from time to time. It's hard to see such a condemnation tone again later. This is not to say that from then on, the article began as "Weiyang Song", and Zhou Zhiwen still looked directly at the dark side of human nature. However, he no longer criticizes and criticizes the unkindness of society and individuals, instead, he shows more sympathy and even sincere repentance. Even the Nazi and Cultural Revolution, which caused great disasters, replaced external accusations with inner introspection and exhortation.

With a beautiful spiritual home, it is quite difficult to get rid of reality, not complain, and enjoy it. Zhou Zhiwen is so, probably because he can especially appreciate or sympathize with others, whether great or insignificant ordinary people. His sympathy is not due to the abuse of pity by a dominant position, but "he is also the son of man", which puts him in the position of "human". From this point of view, no matter the humble little person or the villain, there is a human side, which is both fragile and kind. Because of this sympathy, Zhou Zhiwen can especially see some people who are neglected by us.

Mr. Qian Binsi said that the history of our country pays special attention to some "people with no achievements". The so-called "expressionless person" means that that person has done nothing in the current politics and society. For example, Yan Yuan did not contribute to the rise and fall of Yin, Zhou and Ding Ge in the Spring and Autumn Period, or even had little connection. If you take the record of historical events as the standard, you are not qualified to enter the history books. But Sima Qian wrote them into the historical records. As soon as this case was opened, the Twenty-Five History that followed created another biography for these "deadpan people". Why do historians pay special attention to these people? There is no other reason, because social chaos and people's suffering cannot be solved by political and economic means alone. Political, economic and military affairs can only meet the animal survival of human beings at most (and this survival contains more instability), but these expressionless people can point out the upward road, indicating that we are more likely to survive except animals.

In Zhou Zhiwen's prose, he also likes to write about "people who don't perform", such as the little people we usually don't pay much attention to, and the flute players who focus on the accompaniment position in the huge symphony orchestra (flute); On the stage, look at the dancer (supporting role) behind the superstar; In society, we don't discuss political and business celebrities, but write about fortune tellers in alleys, old people in parks, underground vendors, taxi drivers, and even plants, birds and animals. We also write about acacia, wild ginger flowers, and even wild vegetables such as cats and purslane, regardless of the Millennium protagonists of traditional poems such as pine, cypress, bamboo and chrysanthemum, or popular roses and orchids. Even if you write about rich peonies and tulips that are sold all over the world, you must lose the national color carefully cultivated by people and emphasize the beauty of the native and wild in a meaningful way. Not because of the influence of the May 4th Movement, but because of what I really saw in the little people. For example, women who cut hair (cobblers and hairdressers) can see angels, and beggars (alms) can see atonement.

The "supporting actor" said: "I am paying more and more attention to the stories that may happen outside the main axis. In the meantime, people who used to be supporting roles often play the leading role. " This is quite similar to the viewpoint of the yearbook school. Yearbook school thinks that history should not be centered on heroes, but should pay attention to some things for a long time, such as social system and mentality of the times, and even climate and geography, because it is this natural environment, institutional culture and people's thoughts that really determine historical events. Of course, Zhou Zhiwen is not a yearbook school, but the simple and ordinary expressions of these expressionless people in his works are the source of many historical events.

But Zhou Zhiwen is not completely pessimistic. Another article, Warning, recorded the encounter with skinheads. Skinheads originated in Germany and can be regarded as the remnants of Nazi racial consciousness. Because of economic factors or certain emotions, they always vent their nameless anger by hating or attacking foreigners. When he was in Prague, his friends warned him to be careful of these local "nationalists". As a result, the skinheads Zhou Zhiwen met basked in the sun and teased their children with bananas. Zhou Zhiwen's conclusion is: "A person who eats sweet bananas in the warm sun, a' nationalist' who loves to tease children, will never do anything hateful or violent to other races!" Although the ordinary people in Zhou Zhiwen's works have various shortcomings such as ignorance and indifference, as long as they are inspired by beauty, the warm and kind side of human nature will still appear.

Wilde said, "Before Whistler's paintings appeared, there was no fog in London." Although everything in the world exists physically, we may not see it. Only through certain concepts can we see various phenomena and understand their meanings. In other words, before we see some value, we must have smart people with sharp minds to build an idea for us. It is this truth that "the sage sees everything" in Gan Yi Classical Chinese. One of the functions of literature is to let us see more things. Reading Zhou Zhiwen's prose, you can often get surprises in this respect. It is because of this strong sympathy that Zhou Zhiwen has a special grasp of the past.

Zhou Zhiwen's prose often has a sense of vicissitudes. It is certainly possible for the East China Sea to become a mulberry field, as long as the earth is given enough time; But living in a city doesn't require geographical time at all. As long as we work hard for a few years, the cultural landscape can give us enough sense of vicissitudes, which often becomes the background color of Zhou Zhi's literature. For example, the school library and the seafood shop in the alley are all writing about the vicissitudes around them. This contrast between the past and the present shows not only the change of the landscape, but also the loss of something. Zhou Zhiwen is extremely sensitive to the disappearance of some beautiful things, but vicissitudes of life are the normal state of the world, and changes are inevitable with the passage of time. "New Paradise" said: "An era has passed and no one can save it. Everything attached to that era was also taken away one by one, and finally there was nothing. Regarding this matter, as antonioni said, "We must adjust ourselves to it." Is there a better way to face everything in a changing world? However, it seems that Zhou Zhiwen's prose is not willing to be passively adapted, but tries to "record", hoping to leave mud claws for the lost things through calligraphy, so that the deceased can be reconciled with Yu Siwen.

All the beauty, ugliness, goodness and evil in the world and all the cultural meanings can only be revealed through facts, and facts can only exist after being realized, and consciousness is preserved by our memories. If the memory disappears and the history is no longer recorded, then for people, the fact is that it never existed and the meaning is lost; The loss of meaning is the death of culture. Zhou Zhiwen is obviously extremely concerned about this. "Memory is a bit like a rambling stone tablet, and the handwriting on it is slowly disappearing. Later, the appearance of the stone tablet completely changed, and it only became an ordinary stone, which was placed horizontally on the ground and used as a cushion. " Zhou Zhiwen is full of anxiety about memory and history, which is reflected in his prose, that is, he is good at writing about the past, often seeing and hearing the present, and then comparing past experiences and knowledge with each other, thus generating various feelings and feelings.

Older people probably like to look back on the past, not to mention Zhou Zhiwen with a memory of 3,000 years. However, he recorded the past, not because the brave boasted about the courage of the year, nor because the white-haired ladies pointed out the prosperity of the past, nor because of the bronze camel thorn in Luoyang Galand. In Zhou Zhiwen's works, all the past starts and ends in the present.

People can't lose their memory, but it's good to remember, right? There is a saying: "things can't be forgotten, or they can't be forgotten." Some things are forgotten, but this is good. Over time, it will be ok. But Zhou Zhiwen remembered, so he suffered for decades. So he said, "Fortunately, people's memory is limited, and some painful things will be forgotten after a while. What is deeply hidden in the heart will fade and forget for a long time, and finally disappear ... No matter how serious the sadness, including national hatred and family hatred, it will disappear without a trace under the scouring of time. " Besides biological stress, another important source of our pain is memory. If we reduce some memories, we will lighten some burdens and live a more carefree life. The evidence is in another article "The Ethnic Group of Dandelion": Gypsies have been oppressed for thousands of years because they have no records and no history and cannot unite and cheer up; But it is precisely because there is no history and no record of suffering that Gypsies can live happily and lightly every day without heavy historical burdens.

After all, people can't really have no memory. We can locate the present, explain phenomena, build the future and understand the value of existence through memory. But memory is not very reliable, and personal memory will be blurred, disappeared, tangled and biased with time and psychological factors; As for collective memory, that is, history, it is not necessarily more reliable than the conduction and storage of cranial nerves. It is easier to be forgotten, planted by mistake or even distorted because of the change of time and space, the role of emotion and human operation. Memory and history determine our sense of existence and therefore our future, but people are good at selectively remembering and forgetting and distorting the past intentionally or unintentionally. If all I remember is ugliness, pain and hatred, what kind of future will there be?

Borrowing Zhang Xuecheng's title "Literature and History", not only the six classics are history, but also the calligraphy of literati and the articles of poets. Predecessors said, "Poetry dies and works in the Spring and Autumn Period". Today, people who have the right to speak in history have fallen into ideology or fragmentation. Zhou Zhiwen pointed out the neglected side of this era in his prose, and his intention may be said to be "writing poetry when he died in the Spring and Autumn Period".