Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 23. (Budapest, 2004)
Kornélia MAJOR: The Park of Loyalty and Filial Piety. Chen Yingzhen's Latest Short Stories
considers himself primarily an intellectual, who (as determined by traditional Chinese culture), has duties to perform in society, and only secondarily as a writer, who, in the spirit of the heritage of modern Chinese literature, has to speak up for the oppressed. And if somebody happens to detect leftist views in the Washington House series, they may feel even more so in the case of the Shan lu trilogy. It is evident that the characters are members of the former Taiwanese Communist Party and the subject touches social injustice and class-division. Nevertheless, if we read the stories carefully, we notice that (just as in the case of the short stories of the Washington House), ideological references are made on a general level and intended not to launch class struggle or nationalize capitalist companies but to elevate the poor and the helpless and make the homeland flourish. When comparing these aims with the humanist ideas that Chen formulated in the first issue of Renjian, we cannot find any difference of substance. The Shan lu trilogy is regarded as a cycle of short stories commemorating the revolutionaries imprisoned or executed during the White Terror period in the 1950s. In my opinion, the works are not centred exclusively round them; the next generation also has a role of great importance. What do the next generation do with the "heritage"? Chen is at least as much interested in this question as in the tragic fate of the revolutionaries and the subsequent questioning of their dreams and ideals - invariably, we got to know the revolutionaries through the eyes of the young. Nor is it accident that the last volume of the series was given the title Zhao Nandong after the depraved son of an executed revolutionary: he still symbolises the future. However hopeless is his present he is given another chance to have a future. I feel it is of symbolic meaning that this chance is given to him by a woman who, as the only exception among Chen's revolutionary characters, is not destroyed in the inner conflict but can transcend his past. She thinks it is worth remembering the past because this is how we can help the next generation find its way. This an issue Chen concerned with in his later works as well. It was not earlier than twelve years after the Zhao Nandong that Chen published again creative fiction. Between 1999 and 2001 he published a short story every year; these works, similarly to the earlier ones, elaborated historical subject matters. They are as follows: Guixiang [Returning Home, 1999], Yewu [Night Fog, 2000] and Zhongxiao gongyuan [Zhongxiao Park, 2001]. 20 The works are centred around the characters of former soldiers, secret agents and traitors who participated in World War 2 and the ensuing civil war. The protagonist of the short story Guixiang 21 is a soldier of Taiwanese origin, Yang Bin, who was drafted in the Guomindang army during the civil war. 22 He fought against the communists on on the mainland. He was taken as a prisoner of war and has not had the opportunity to return to Taiwan for forty years; now it is the first time he returns to Taiwan yet finds no home. He has even lost his name; after his enlistment, a Guomindang officer gave him the name of a missing soldier to fill the gap. To seize the small piece of land he inherited from his parents, his relatives declared him legally dead and did not assist his return to Taiwan. In his homeland nobody believes that he is of Taiwanese origin. Eventually he decides not to fight for proving his existence and returns to China - that is where he has founded a family and that is his home. He goes back to China but will visit his homeland often. As David Wang concludes his abovementioned analysis, 2 ' Yang Bin retired and gave up the fight for his rights for the time being, yet his withdrawal is temporary, he will go back to testify about his "resurrection". And, indeed, we can understand Yang Bin's character as a metaphor to all his fellow countrymen. After Guixiang, Chen did come up with new works: Yang and his fellows "return" - even if in various guises - to clear up who they really are and where their home is in the world. The plot of Yewu 24 is centred round the character of a former secret policeman, Li Qinghao. He enters the organization at a young age with the naive notion that he is serving his country. He performs every order, yet he is neither resolute
