Shaoyang Spirit and Shaoyang Culture

Source: Artistic Collection

Author: Hu Keseng 

 

When talking about Shaoyang spirit, one must mention Shaoyang culture. This reminds me of a book recently written by Mr. Ge Zhaoguang. In the book titled The Existing China, he puts foreward the concept of “three Chinas”, that is, the historical China, the political China and the cultural China. He points out that of the three only the cultural China can endure for ever. Culture is the fundamental and soul of a nation. Chinese culture is the fundamental of the Chinese nation. Similarly, when talking about Shaoyang, we must mention three Shaoyangs: the historical Shaoyang, the present Shaoyang and the cultural Shaoyang. The cultural Shaoyang is the main support of Shaoyang spirit.As an administrative material body, the historical Shaoyang is gone, but the cultural Shaoyang, as a spiritual body, has profoundly melted in the blood and subconsciousness of the Shaoyang people. Material things are temporary and transitive, while spiritual things are long and eternal. Therefore, when we discuss Shaoyang spirit, we put stress upon the cultural Shaoyang. Shaoyang spirit is the refinement of the essences of Shaoyang culture and also the concise generalization and conclusion of the merits and traits of Shaoyang culture.

As to Shangyang culture, it is necessary to trace its sources. Generally, Shaoyang culture has four sources. The first is Chu culture. Chu culture is one of the ancient cultures of the Chinese nation. Chu Kingdom was set up in the early West Zhou Dynasty and rose powerfully in the middle Spring-Autumn period. Then it became a hegemonic state among the kingdoms in central China and enlarged its territory as well. During the age of King Wei, it was the most powerful of the seven powers in the War States period. During the late Spring-Autumn period, the land of Shaoyang was in the map of Chu Kingdom. This means that Shaoyang culture is part of Chu culture, or Chu culture is the source of Shaoyang culture. The essential features of Chu culture, I think, are its steadfastness and perseverance, as well as its upholding martial arts and the tragic passion that the spirit of upholding martial arts displays. The virtues of steadfastness and perseverance developed in the course of difficult pioneering work. The classic phrase “dwelling in a hut and dressed in rags to open up land in forests” depicts the hardships of Chu people’s pioneering work. The folk saying “It must be Chu that will fell Qin though Chu has only three households” describes the fact that Chu people developed their steadfastness and perseverance even if they were weak and in hard situation. The tragic passion grew from a sad feeling. It inspired Chu people to fight back desperately against strong enemies in order to win even when in a hopeless corner. For example, on the Julu battlefield, Chu army led by Xiang Yu, broke their cauldrons and sunk their boats after crossing the river, fought bravely and finally defeated Qin army. This merit of Chu culture was inherited by Shaoyang people. Take the famous Niuzhuang Land Campaign of Jiawu War as an example, Wei Guangtao raised a powerful army of 3000 soldiers from his hometown Baoqing to fight against the enemy troops four times larger than his. They inflicted Japanese troops heavy casualties although most of them died heroicly. And the state-protecting army led by Cai Er also demonstrated this kind of tragic passion displayed in the struggle against Yuan Shikai being emperor. In his essay “Welcoming The Spirit of Hunan People”, Cheng Duxiu praises Cai Er with the words “How firm and tenacious they were when the very 2000 Yunnan soldiers led by Cai Er fought the Yuan Army of 200 thousand soldiers!”

The second source is Meishan culture, which is a primitive fishing-hunting culture preserved in  central and southwest Hunan. Shaoyang Prefecture, or the old Baoqing administrative area, is the kernel originating place of Meishan culture. It is an ancient culture with a long history. Soaked with primitive witchcrafts, it became a mysterious culture. With its characteristic of witch spirit, it is not scientific in a way, though it has its own fine points, namely, its mistery and imagination, which inspire people’s thinking and benefit the development of literature, because literature requires strange imagination, and thoughts and questions abut destiny, life and supernature. This is why Shaoyang literature holds a position in the literary world of Hunan and even of the whole country. Among the old generation of literary writers are Li An, Xie Pu, Liu Zhijian, Lu Zhiluo. A new generation has sprung up,like xiao Renfu and Ma Xiaoquan, who benefit to a certain degree from the infiltration of Meishan culture.