"Bird of Paradise" is a wonder of nature, but it remained silent in the countryside until it was discovered as a scenic spot. Since the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 16 18), it has been called "Luoxingtu" by local people and "Quedun" by the people. If it weren't for Mr. Ba Jin's essay "Paradise of Birds" with less than 900 words, I'm afraid this "small scenic spot" would still be kept in the boudoir.
Why did Ba Lao become attached to the unknown "Quedun" in Shanghai thousands of miles away? To answer this question, we have to mention the little-known Xijiang Rural Normal School and Mr. Chen Hongyou from Liyuan Township, osawa, Xinhui.
1930, Mr. Chen Hongyou from osawa Township, Chen Yujiu from Tianma Township ("Chen" mentioned in Bird Paradise, the principal of Tianma Wubentang Primary School), Ye from Tianlu Township ("Ye" mentioned in the article), Liao Beihe, Liu and other young people were deeply influenced by Tao Xingzhi's school-running ideas when they were studying at Shanghai Labor University, and they studied and tried rural education in practice. 1932 In the spring, this group of energetic and enterprising graduates of Shanghai University of Labor, headed by Chen Hongyou, founded Xijiang Rural Normal School in Huang Zhu Township, Xinhui at that time (now Huang Zhuang Management District, a suburb of Jiangmen City), and they served as the heads of the school's teaching groups respectively. Ba Jin later described the school like this: "Like a harmonious family, we study together, work together, work and rest together, create a beautiful environment with our own hands, and add a happy atmosphere with young songs." (Excerpted from Chen Sihe's The Development of Personality-Biography of Ba Jin)
1933 In April, Chen Hongyou, president of Xijiang Rural Normal School, went north for an educational investigation, and returned to Xinhui with Ba Jin when passing through Shanghai at the end of May. At that time, Ba Jin was less than 30 years old and was already a famous writer. He went south to Guangdong, "to other places where my footprints have never been" (Ba Jin language), and saw a group of young friends who devoted themselves to education.
On May 3 1 day, Ba Jin and Chen Hongyou went to Xijiang Rural Normal School, where they stayed for three days, and then visited Tianlu, Tianma, Chakeng and other villages in the suburbs of Xinhui County for three days. After that, I took the train from the then Sun Ning Railway and stayed in Taishan for one night. On June 7, he returned to Xijiang Normal School to attend a symposium. On the evening of the 9th, I left school and returned to Guangzhou, staying at Xinhui 65438+.
The connection between Ba Jin and the bird of paradise can be said to be a match made in heaven. When he visited Tianlu, Tianma and Chakeng in Xinhui, because President Chen Hongyou was busy with school affairs, he asked Tianlu people to stay with Ye and Tianma people, and deceived the people Liang Chaoling to accompany Ba Jin to visit the three townships.
At this time, it is the early summer in the southern water town. One evening, after dinner at Wubentang Primary School in Tianma Township (now near Wubentang, the ancestral hall of Tianma Village Committee), Chen Yu invited Ba Jin to go boating around Quedun. As Ba Jin said, he didn't see any birds that night, which made him a little disappointed.
The next morning, I went to a place with mountains and towers (referring to Chakeng Township, the mountain is "Fengshan" and the tower is "Bear Tower"), and invited Liang Chaoling to visit the former residence of Liang Qichao. At this time, I passed by the "Bird Pier" and he was surprised to see the birds flying all over the sky. He was so excited that he stopped to watch the birds fall in and out on the big banyan tree and refused to leave for a long time.
After Ba Jin returned to Shanghai, it was in this mood that he wrote this beautiful essay "Bird's Paradise" and described this pleasant journey. This essay was first published in Literature Quarterly (Volume I, No.2, August 1933, 1). Due to the turbulent situation at that time, this paradise written by famous writers aroused people's extensive interest and yearning.
Nowadays, Birds of Paradise has spread its wings to all parts of the world, and his fame depends on the People's Education Publishing House compiling Ba Jin's prose into the textbook of grade five (later changed to grade six).
According to the author's two visits to the Textbook Department of the Department of Primary and Secondary Education of the Ministry of Education and People's Education Publishing House, this paper was formally compiled into the tenth volume of the Chinese Textbook for Primary Schools on 1978 and the eleventh volume on 1988. According to the figures obtained by the education department, it is calculated that at least 50 million primary school students in 27 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions have read this article every year, which is from 1978.
Half a century later, 1982 and 1984, the then Xinhui county government entrusted Chen Hongyou to go to Shanghai twice and invited Mr. Ba Jin to write an inscription for Birds of Paradise. The handwriting, signature and signature we saw today were written by the old man Ba Jin on1June 22, 984.