“‘Some People’ is really well written!”
“That’s right. I got a f**king kick listening to it!”
“When some people live, they are already dead. When some people die, they are still alive? Classic! Too classic! Only a person with such a literary level like Teacher Zhang Ye can write such a thing!”
“Supporting Zhang Ye! Curse that Wang Shuixin to death!”
“Let Wang Shuixin step down! Pursue his legal responsibilities! Seek redress for Father Wei!”
“Right, seek redress for Father Wei! Let this kind of person who stands on the masses’ shoulders come down! He even got newspapers to report on him sponsoring children? He just sponsored a single child and he announced it to the whole world!? This Wang guy wants to be immortalized? What a joke! People will pull you down! Teacher Zhang Ye’s poem is perfect for this! It’s a great way of contrasting Father Wei’s kindness and Wang Shuixin’s ugliness!”
“There’s no need for people to pull him down. Just Zhang Ye’s ‘Some People’ is enough to completely smear his reputation! In the future, when anyone mentions ‘Some People’, it might be years later when this enters our textbooks, since it will be a poem that lasts the ages. They will think of its origins, as well as think of two people, Father Wei and Wang Shuixin! That Wang guy even wants to be famous through the ages? It’s more like he will be infamous for ten thousand years!
“People like Wang Shuixin should die a horrible death!”
“That’s right! Teacher Zhang said it the best! People like him may be living, but he is in fact already dead!”
With the great poem setting off the situation, Wang Shuixin had caused a public outcry. Everyone formed groups to attack him. The reason why people were enraged was partly because Wang Shuixin had really done such a terrible deed. But a greater reason was because of Zhang Ye’s “Some People”. This great production had lit the flames of the public’s anger. Zhang Ye had previously used his world’s Nobel laureate, Mo Yan’s words: The greatest function of Literature is perhaps its lack of function.
“Some People” was written by a contemporary poet from his world, Zang Kejia. It was included in the textbooks perennially. It was an emotive poem written to commemorate Lu Xun’s 13th death anniversary. The poem was a comparison between two people. It was expressing the highest respect to Mr Lu Xun. It expressed one’s anger by mercilessly exposing individuals who lord themselves over the people. The uniqueness of the poem came from its philosophical theme. People lived for the better good.
Of course, this was Zang Kejia’s version, and it was the message he wanted to express.
Zhang Ye’s poem today was not a eulogy. The main goal was not to praise and honor Editor Wei. Today, he recited “Some People” mainly to express his anger at people like Wang Shuixin. Yes, just like how most people present understood it. He was scolding someone! It was the same with “Dead Water”!
……