曹雪芹與小石虎衚衕33號

由劉光 (translation from Chinese to English)[/COLOR]


曹雪芹與小石虎衚衕33號

曹雪芹  清代小說家，是我最崇拜的文化名人，因此，也倍加關心他在京城所有的蹤跡。這條衚衕是我帶女兒去尋訪的起因，也是這本畫冊的第一張有系列的拍攝圖。1995年9月，女兒在什剎海西側的大石虎衚衕幼兒園入托，這裡是一個老宅院，女兒住宿的房子就是一排老式房子。院中有月亮門、石碑遺迹。我查閱資料，發現曹雪芹曾在石虎衚衕住過，我便興奮起來，覺得這個小院和曹雪芹有關，但經進一步查證，曹雪芹住過的石虎衚衕在西單，名小石虎衚衕。正因此，我才開始帶女兒去尋訪有關曹雪芹的系列故居。雖然女兒的幼兒園在大石虎衚衕，但他旁邊的一些地方還是和曹雪芹有關，我至今不知這個小院早先是何人居住，但說不準曹雪芹也來過呢。西單的小石虎衚衕33號在清時是右翼宗學府，曹雪芹到西山著書之前曾在這裡任差。傳說這個小院是北京「四大凶宅」之一，紀曉嵐曾描述過這所房子：「襲文達公賜第在宣武門內石虎衚衕，文達之前為右翼宗學，宗學之前為吳額駙（吳三桂之子）府，吳額駙之前為前明大學士周延儒第，閱年既久，故不免有時變怪，然不為人害也。廳西小房兩楹，曰『好春軒』，為文達燕見賓客地，北壁一門，橫通小屋兩極楹，童僕夜宿其中，睡后多為魅出，不知是鬼是狐，故無敢下榻其中者。」曹雪芹先在同一衚衕內馬齊家任教，后又到宗學府當「鄰曲」，遇見郭敏、郭城二兄弟結成詩社，詠詩揮墨，傲岸狂放，高談雄辯，剪燭快談，奇談娓娓。郭城在《寄懷曹雪芹》詩中道：「當時虎門數晨夕，西窗剪燭風雨昏。」曹雪芹也正是在這裡開始構思創作他的畢生之作《紅樓夢》的。我們可以想象，當年金風乍起，暑氣日消，夕事漸長，秋燈有味，他們的夜話是多麼大的享受，可恰我們沒有聆聽的耳福，以致咳唾珠玉，隨風散盡！按周汝昌所說：「院里的一株三百年的棗樹，應該『見過』曹雪芹的。」如今女兒面對這棵北京「棗樹王」，視而不見，只知上下翻爬。而院外便是西單民族大世界商場，那簇擁的人群更是對這棵古樹視而不見，似乎都在向前看。



Cao Xueqin and No. 33 Small Stone Tiger Alley

Cao Xueqin, a novelist in the Qing Dynasty，is the cultural celebrity I worship most, hence，I have a great interest in all his traces in the capital city. The alley is the cause of my going there with my daughter in search of his traces, and is also the first picture in a series in the album. In September 1995, my daughter entered kindergarten in Big Stone Tiger Alley on the west side of Shichahai. It is an old messuage and my daughter's lodging is a row of old-fashioned houses. There is a moon gate and some relics of stone monuments in the courtyard. After consulting historical data, I found Cao Xueqin once lived in Stone Tiger Alley, so I felt very excited, sensed that the small courtyard has something to do with Cao Xueqin. However, my further investigation showed that the Stone Tiger Alley where Cao Xueqin lived was in Xidan, called Small Stone Tiger Alley. That's why I began to take my daughter to look for the series of former residences related to Cao Xueqin. My daughter's kindergarten is in Big Stone Tiger Alley though, the places nearby still have something to do with Cao Xueqin. Even up to this moment, I still cannot say who lived in this tiny courtyard, but who can rule out the possibility that Cao Xueqin ever dropped in here? No.33 Small Stone Tiger Alley in Xidan was the Right Wing Zongxuefu (school), where Cao Xueqin once worked before he went to the West Mountains to write his book. It is said that the small courtyard was one of the "Four Well-known Haunted Houses" of Beijing. Ji Xiaolan once described this house in the following words: 「Gong Wenda's mansion is in the Stone Tiger Alley inside the Xuanwu Gate. Before Wenda, it was the Right Wing Zongxue(School); before the Zongxue, it was the residence of Wu Efu(son of Wu Sangui), and before Wu Efu, it was the house of Zhou Yanru, a great scholar of the Ming Dynasty. With such a long history, unavoidably it has something unusual sometimes, but no harm has been done to people yet. There are two tiny rooms in the west, called 『Hao Chun Xuan(Good Spring Rooms)』, where Wenda entertained his guests; a door through the north wall leads to 2 even smaller rooms where the child servants slept at night. After they fell asleep, strange creatures often appeared, no one could tell whether they are ghosts or foxes, hence, no one dared to put up there.」 Cao Xueqin first worked as a private teacher at Ma Qi's home in the same alley, later went to Zongxuefu to be a "Neighbor", where he met with the two brothers, Guo Min and Guo Cheng, forming a poetry group with them, chanting poems and wielding the writing brush, defying the authority and arguing with eloquence, snuffing the candles and conversing freely...In his poem 「In Memory of Cao Xueqin」, Guo Cheng says, 「Together we dwelled at Tiger Gate for days，chatting late into night accompanied by wind and rain.」 It is just here that Cao Xueqin began to conceive his lifetime work, Dream of the Red Chamber. We can imagine, when the golden wind started, the summer heat had gradually died away, and the night gradually became longer and longer, the autumn light was full of taste, what a great enjoyment their night talks must have been! Unfortunately, we do not have the good luck to listen, and have let the golden words vanish in the air! According to Mr. Zhou Ruchang, 「The 300-years-old jujube tree in the yard should have 『seen' Cao Xueqin.」 Now my daughter just turns a blind eye to the 「King of Jujube Trees」 of Beijing，only climbing up and down the wall for playing. Outside is the 「Nation's Great World」 emporia，and the crowding people there give no notice to the ancient tree, either, seeming just to be looking ahead.

利瑪竇與車公庄大街6號

利瑪竇，義大利耶穌會傳教士，明萬曆年間來中國傳教，向明神宗獻了基督像、聖母像、十字架、聖經、自鳴鐘等物，並向中國介紹西方天文、曆法、地理和數學知識，曾任在華耶穌會士的領袖，1610年在北京逝世。明神宗詔：「以陪臣禮葬阜成門外二里溝嘉興觀之右。」譯著有《幾何原本》（與徐光啟合譯）、《天學實義》等書。有一首寫利瑪竇的竹枝詞這樣寫道：「天主堂開天籟齊，鐘鳴琴響自高低。阜成門外玫瑰發，杯酒還澆利泰西。」墓前晷石勒銘曰：「美日方影，勿爾空過，所見萬品，與十併流。」有意思的是利瑪竇與其他的一些西方傳教士的墓地如今一起保留在北京市委黨校院內，成為一種另類的風景。

高星1962年1月出生，現在《中國保險》雜誌工作。除了畫畫、寫詩、攝影、還有就是四處行走，有多種個人詩集、散文集出版。藝術追求先鋒的姿態，文化偏愛傳統的老道，因此近年來又喜歡上了收藏。從1995年起，帶女兒尋訪京城各處文化名人故居及蹤跡，有大量的圖片和文字留存，這種純屬個人的行為，只是為了安慰一下無法滿足的收藏慾望。照片中的一切似乎可以全部裝在我的心裡。我身後廣渠門大街207號曹雪芹故居的院門已被拆除。

高山流水  1992年9月出生，現在北師大曉月圓小學上學，生性活潑。當過幾個月宿舍長，四歲在《詩刊》上發表過兒童詩，八歲時在京豐賓館劇場表演過舞蹈，喜歡用電腦畫畫，給小朋友做賀卡，喜歡一邊彈著鋼琴，一邊喝著可口可了。多年來，隨父親走街串巷，不知有多少傳統文化的氣息置入骨髓，到是由此得出所有的平房全稱為「老房子」；所有的文化名人全稱為「舊社會的人」的印象。



Matteo Ricci and No.6 Chegongzhuang Avenue

Matteo Ricci, a missionary of the Italian Society of Jesus, came to China to evangelize during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. He offered the icon of Christ, the icon of Madonna, a cross, a Bible, a chime clock and so on to Shenzong Emperor, and introduced Western astronomy, calendar system, geography and mathematics, etc. to China. He was once the leader of the China-based Society of Jesus, and passed away in Beijing in 1610.The imperial edict of Shenzong Emperor says："He should be interred in the status of a vassal, on the right of Jiaxing Temple, Erligou, outside Fucheng Gate." His translated works include Original Text of Geometry （a collaboration with Xu Guangqi）, True Meaning of Uranology, etc. There is a bamboo branch ci (a kind of Chinese poetry)about Matteo Ricci, saying：「Around the Catholic church are lingering all sounds of nature，with the chime and the qin ringing melodiously. Outside Fucheng Gate are in blossom the roses，with wine being splashed  for Master Ricci.」 The stone carved epigraph before the grave says: 「The beautiful sun flies past with a square simulacrum, and this person's virtue is among the top ten in all things on earth.」 Interesting enough, the cemetery of Matteo Ricci and those of some other Western missionaries are kept together inside the Party School of Beijing Committee of the Communist Party, which has constituted a unique scene.

Gao Xing, born in January 1962, now I work with the periodical, China Insurance. In addition to painting, poetry and photography, my major activity is going around everywhere. Now I have got several personal anthologies and collections of prose works published. In art, I take a vanward attitude, but in culture, I prefer a conventional way, thus, I have begun to take a liking for collection in recent years. Since 1995, I have been taking my daughter to visit the former residences of the cultural celebrities scattered in the capital, accumulating a lot of pictures and verbal descriptions, which, as a pure personal behavior, is only for soothing my insatiable desire to collect. It seems that everything in the pictures can be loaded into my heart. The gate of the former residence of Cao Xueqin at No. 207 Guangqumen Avenue behind me has been pulled down.
   
Gaoshan Liushui, born in September 1992, now at Xiaoyueyuan Primary School attached to Beijing Normal University, with an innate lively character. Have the experience of being a dormitory head for several months, published my child poem in Journal of Poetry at the age of four, and performed a dance at Jingfeng Theatre at the age of eight. I like drawing pictures and making greeting cards using the computer, and enjoy drinking coca cola while playing the piano. For years, I have been following my dad through streets and alleys. Who knows how much traditional cultural flavor has gone deep into my marrow? Even to such an extent that I call all one-story houses 「old houses」, and call all cultural celebrities 「people from the old society」.

在投向朝聖之路的目光

由劉光


        「未經省察的人生是沒有價值。」這是周國平經常用來自喻和自勉的箴言。在他的散文里，哲學化一直是突出的風格，他試圖用一副形而上的眼光,將諸多問題做一翻反省，以便思考具有力量,以便生活充滿意義，以便散文具有深度。這在周國平的新散文集《各自的朝聖路》中可以說達到了極致。

        從一個學者的角度來說，周國平又不是僅僅面向終極關懷的人，日常生活中的很多問題，他也格外關心,這一特點在《各白的朝聖路》中依然保持了下來，同時他也依舊保持了將這些問題升到人生哲學的層面和在探討這些問題時與讀者做情感交流這一態度。或者說，他是以帶有哲理性的味道來談一些人生問題的。

        有人曾經說，周國平的散文很受女性讀者的喜愛，我以為，這和上述所說他喜歡與讀者做情感交流這一態度有關。這一態度決定了他和讀者的平等地位。對於心靈越來越封閉的現代人來說，情感的交流不是一件容易的事情，它幾近奢侈。現在有一位作者，能無拘無束地、徹底敞開地將人人心中皆有，人人筆下皆無的想法坦率地表達出來，當然會獲得讀者，特別是女性讀者在感情上的認同。

        寫《各自的朝聖路》時，周國平己年逾五十，說來也奇怪，他的論述是成年人的那中從容不迫，淡然輕鬆，他的心態卻很年輕。這也許和他常年浸淫於古希臘哲學有關。那個時代是人類的青春期，健康，向前，樂觀，還未經歷戰爭和其他意外所造成的苦難，再加上追天問地，刨根究底的好奇心。以年輕的心態談談年輕的哲學，談談本體、永恆、信仰、精神、守望、孤獨、心靈這些看起來不染囂塵的形而上概念，對大多數人來說,己是難以追回的往事神話了。當然，在這個時代，在這個商業化主導一切的社會裡，像周國平那樣仍然不失少年之心和理想主義的人也並不在少數，他們都正行走在各自的朝聖之路上。

        *《在投向朝聖之路的目光》作者：翟永明
                    

        Vision of the Road to Pilgrimage

"A life without introspect is valueless."That is a motto often used by Zhou Guoping for self-analogy and self-encouragement. In his essays, philosophization has always been a predominant : he is trying to use a superorganic insight to reflect on many problems, so as to make thinking more powerful, make life more meaningful and make his essays more profound. It may be said to have reached its acme in Zhou Guoping's new collection of essays, Different Roads to Pilgrim.  

Speaking from the angle of a scholar, Zhou Guoping is not a person facing only the ultimate concern, either, for he pays great attention to many problems in daily life, too, which has been clearly shown in his Different Roads to Pilgrim. At the same time, he has also kept such an attitude: subliming these problems to the level of philosophy of life and making affective communication with the reader while probing into such problems. In other words, he is talking about problems of life with a philosophic flavor.

It is said that Zhou Guoping's essays are very much favored by female readers, and I think, that has much to do with such a liking for making affective communication with the reader.Such an attitude has set him to an equal footing with his readers. For the modern people whose soul is becoming more and more closed to the world, emotional intercourse is no easy matter, almost becoming a luxury. Now we have a writer who can express freely and thoroughly what is in everyone's mind yet not in everyone's words, naturally, he will be identified emotionally with the readers, especially the female readers.

When writing Different Roads to Pilgrim, Zhou Guoping already passed fifty, but, strange to say, his writing is so easy and leasurely, showing a very young  mentality. It may be attributed to his long years' indulgence in ancient Greek philosophy. That era was mankind's adolescence: healthy, forward looking and optimistic, not yet experienced war and other unexpected sufferings, and moreover, the curiosity to probe into the root of everything. With a young mentality, chatting about such pollution-free metaphysical concepts as philosophy, noumenon,  eternity,  belief,  spirit, watching, solitude, soul and so on, has become a bygone myth hard to recover for most people now. Of course, in such a time, in such a society where commercialization dominates over everything, people like Zhou Guoping who have still kept the young heart and idealism are not few, either. They are all marching on their own roads to pilgrim.  

* author of：Zai Yongming

very good, thanks for letting us know so much information about the preaching of Jesus in China. I have kind of feeling, let's all live in a world of love, we love Jesus and we love to be loved by others, so first we have to love everybody first... what I mean is that we need to be true (honest), good, and loyal to who she or he loves.

yes. i agree. the two pieces about Chao Xueqing are very interesting.