My “History” with Qian Zhongshu

Yesterday, I did not dare share the news of Yang Jiang’s death on my social feed. I was not close to her and had never read her work. In truth, I do not have any memories with Mr. Qian either—this headline is pure clickbait. Please do not hit me or unfollow me!

I have read Mr. Qian’s Fortress Besieged, and I have seen the TV adaptation too. Directed by Huang Shuqin and starring Chen Daoming, Lü Liping, Ying Da, Ge You, and Ying Ruocheng… It is such a powerful cast that perhaps only The Story of the Editorial Board can match it.

You think I am about to write about the TV adaptation of Fortress Besieged? I am not.

When I was in seventh grade, I bought a pirated copy of Fortress Besieged. Every page had more than ten mistakes in the words or punctuation. As I read, I corrected them with a pen, treating it like an exercise in basic Chinese.

Later I trained myself to spot pirated books by their printing and paper. But there is always someone better: last year, the head of the @Times Cinema Society told me that all he had to do was smell a book to know whether it was genuine. That unlocked a memory for me. It is true: pirated books do have a distinctive smell of cheap ink.

Although I had “edited” an entire copy of Fortress Besieged, I have never reread a legitimate edition all these years later, and I cannot remember any of its witty lines. The only thing I remember is Fang Hongjian “borrowing a cigarette to kiss Miss Bao” on the deck. In Cantonese, that is jokingly called “passing the fire.”

Fang Hongjian was smoking when Miss Bao held out her hand. He took a cigarette from his case and gave it to her. She held it between her lips. As he pretended to light it with his lighter, she suddenly leaned toward him and touched the tip of her cigarette to his lit one. With one puff, hers caught fire. Miss Bao blew out a satisfied cloud of smoke. Miss Su was so angry she felt cold, thinking the two of them shameless for turning a cigarette into a kiss in public. … Fang Hongjian thought Miss Bao’s behavior improper, but he was excited all the same.

When I was in seventh or eighth grade, there was a small bookstall inside Jinjiang Market, the biggest farmers’, clothing, and general-goods market in my hometown. It was tucked among the shoe stalls. The publishing boom of the 1990s was in full swing, and I devoured everything from recycled Republican-era classics to new postmodern theory. The most prominent display held a four-volume set of Guan Zhui Bian (often translated as Limited Views). I was too short of money to buy it, though I asked the price several times. Someone finally bought the set, probably around the time Qian Zhongshu died. Fortunately, WeChat Moments did not exist yet.

All mortals must die.

Back to the “online mourning” on social media: the WeChat account Elephant Music Space published an article about the “snobbery ladder” that appears when a celebrity dies. It laid out the steps like this:

Step 1: The news spreads.

The most basic response: “Rest in peace,” and so on.

Step 2: Basic snobbery.

The first wave of one-upmanship: “Have you read their books? Heard their songs? Seen their films?”

Step 3: Expert-level snobbery.

The experts dig up obscure facts and anecdotes, instantly outdoing the first two groups of mourners.

Step 4: Looking down on expert-level snobbery.

There is always someone who knows more. Even the experts may have missed something, and the story turns over and over again.

Step 5: Within three days at most, everything goes quiet again.

A snobbery ladder lasts no more than three days. In the end, dust returns to dust. Those who mourn may never revisit the work of the person who died.

So, if you want to climb high on the snobbery ladder, prepare in advance to get there first. I once wrote an article for the A Certain Movie WeChat account (ID: cinematik) called “Who Is the Oldest Rock Veteran Still Alive?” It listed several very senior rock musicians and included a website for finding the oldest veterans of film and music. Follow the guide and do your homework now, and you will be able to dominate your social feed when the time comes. Click “Read more” below to find the article.