Eleventh-Century Chinese
The Gay Genius. By Lin Yutang. (Heinemann I5s.)
Lit YUTANG'S unique reputation as an interpreter of China to Western readers will be still further enhanced by this biography of Su Tungpo, the great Chinese poet and statesman, who lived
three hundred years before Chaucer. The study is based on an immense amount of material, but the author wears his scholarship lightly; and tells 'the story in the same easy and graceful style as has given his earlier books such wide popularity. No biographer ever approached his task with more enthusiasm or succeeded in justifYing his • enthusiasm more convincingly. As the scroll unrolls, 'there eitierges a lifelike portrait of a most remarkable man—poet and sCholar; painter and calligrapher, administrator and refOrmer, humanitarian and democrat, wit and accomplished exponent of the art 'of living. By countless fine brush-strokes this many-sided man is so brilliantly depicted that the reader can hardly fail to share the biographer's admiration and affection, while the background of eleventh-century China against which he moved is put in with.such a wealth of detail that it seems as near and as vivid as anY,con- tempatary scene.
Like other great scholars of his time, Su Tungpo was a goveinment official, but he was an exceptional official in that he cared little for power to rule others. In fact, Lin Yutang tells us, he was an adept at the art of getting out of power, even when circumstances seemed favourable to himself. He was deeply concerned for the welfare of the people he served, but his independence of thought and fearless outspokenness often made him obnoxious to bureaucrats, and he had an incorrigible habit of indicating his views by subtle allusions in poems, that his political opponents found intensely annoying. When he came to the capital in 5o69, the ruling regime, under the influence of Wang Anshih, was about to embark on a series of experiments in State capitalism, designed to improve the lot of the common people. Wang Anshih was apparently a sincere idealist, a man of great strength of character, fanatically determined and intolerant of oppesition. He was popularly known by the pick- name of " The Bull-headed Premier."
The. social experiments themselves, with their far-reaching en- largement of the sphere of the State in economic Matters' are strikingly suggestive of modern collectivism. Su Tuggpo was from the outset opposed to most of the reforms, and the clash that 'ensued between him and other scholars on the one hand and Wang Atishih (alSo a poet) and his supporters on the other shadowed hisl,whole public career and drove him twice into exile. One of the e./. Teri- ments, the State loans to farmers at high interest, had particularly disastrous consequences. In actual operation the loans became com- pulsory, and, as a result, farmers, unable to pay, mortgaged their land, deserted their firrds, and suffered confiscation and often im- prisonment. Su Tungpo, through letters to the Emperor and other forms of protest, fought untiringly on their behalf for many years, but it was not until ro92 that his efforts to obtain forgiveness of debts for the poor were 'finally successful. Perhaps this long struggle was in his mind when he once wrote after the 'birth of a son: " All people wish their children to be brilliant, But I have suffered from brilliance all my life. May you,,my son, grow up dumb and stupid And, free from calamities, end up as a premier " Su Tungpo's poetic genius is evident even in translation, and many beautiful poems are included. Lin Yutang thinks his nature poems suggest Wordsworth, and, that may be a good comparison, though in his broad humanism he was more akin to Chaucer. As a human being he had a rare' personal quality which shines out across a thousand years. He showed magnanimity toward political enemies who had deeply injured him. The smiling philosophy with which he met life's buffets did not, in his case, imply indifference to the misfortunes of others. He was capable of profound sympathy, and was quickly moved to pity and indignation by the sufferings. of the poor and oppressed. As a. 'provincial administrator he was the friend of the people, building dams, fighting famine single-handed, pro- testing against infanticide. There are 'also many pleasant glimpses of him in his hours of -leisure, talking with his innumerable friends, gathering herbs, strolling in the moonlight or making his favourite cinnamon wine. His biographer tells us he was " interested in little things." Whether he was at work or at play, his spirit was always alive and vital. The book abounds in instances of his delightful humour, drawn from hii letters and journals. Even when he was exiled to the 'island of Hainan outside the mainland of China,'where doctors and medicines. were not available, he could jest about the number of people "annually killed by doctors at the capital." Lin Yutang says that what brings him close to us today is his "religion of -kindness," and elsewhere describes him as " a modern man." But he really belongs to the immortals, who are neither ancient nor _modern, and this brilliant biography will make it possible for a host of new admirers to partake of his wisdom. C. K. CUMMING.
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