A dialogue with grandson of Chinese poet Xu Zhimo

The Star

Tony Hsu, the grandson of Chinese poet Xu Zhimo, is passionate about reading his grandfather's famous poems and promoting Chinese modern poetry.  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

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00:00Seven Stone Tiger Lane. There are ripples when our little courtyard ripples with infinite tenderness.

00:09Winsome wisteria, bosom-bared, invites the caress of persimmon leaves.

00:16Xu Shanzeng is the grandson of Chinese modern poet Xu Zhimo and his first wife Zhang Youyi.

00:22Although Mr. Xu Shanzeng doesn't have a career in literature, he's passionate about reading the

00:28famous poems of his grandfather and promoted Chinese modern poetry around the world.

00:34He has had multiple visits to Beijing and other cities

00:37and has witnessed the fascinating historical and cultural evolution of China.

00:44Mr. Xu, it's a great pleasure to talk with you. I'm from Xinhua News Agency.

00:49How many times have you visited Beijing and how long has it been since your last visit to Beijing?

00:54Yeah, I've been to Beijing at least four or five times and my last visit was back in 2018.

01:02What changes have you found here that impress you very much?

01:07Well, there's some things that I've seen and there's some things that I've learned,

01:11but I think probably the most significant change, you know, has been how much the government has

01:17improved the life and hutongs and that's true for the residents as well as for tourists who

01:24visit the hutongs to make it more welcoming and safer for people visiting. Xu Zhimo is a famous

01:32Chinese modern poet and writer. Profoundly rooted in traditional Chinese culture, he pioneered in

01:39integrating the Western modern poetic spirit into his literary composition, serving as the

01:45Crescent Moon Society's representative. Recently in Beijing, Mr. Xu Shanzhen told us how his

01:52grandfather's poetry resonates with the timeless vitality in the modern era, fostering cultural

01:59exchange between East and West. Thank you, Mr. Xu, for having our interview. So your grandfather,

02:05Mr. Xu Zhimo, is a famous poet and writer in modern China. Yes. And you are also a fan of

02:13Chinese poetry. So in what ways does Mr. Xu influence you and your family members spiritually?

02:21I think the influence is, you know, when you're a descendant of a very famous person,

02:28regardless of whether he's a poet or whether he's a politician or he's in any kind of walk of life,

02:34you feel a sense of wanting to live up to his legacy so that, you know, they don't tarnish

02:43the legacy in any way. The unusual circumstance that I face and my three sisters face is that

02:51we have a really strong legacy on both my grandmother and my grandfather. So we have

02:58much to live, you know, that life that would make them very proud. And, you know, it's inevitable

03:06that so many people in China and now around the world understand him a little bit better.

03:13And so it's living up to that known expectation of people. So what kind of impact

03:22does Mr. Xu Jinmo's poetry bring to people today? I think when I meet young people,

03:29they have a certain, you know, perspective. When I reach maybe middle-aged people, it's different.

03:37And the older people, you know, they remember him from some of the poetry they read, you know,

03:43maybe in their midlife. So what's fascinating about him is that his poetry speaks to a very

03:50broad range of age. In other words, you know, you have three people reading his poetry at

03:57different ages, and each person from a different age reads something very different. And I think

04:05his poetry can reach and send maybe slightly different messages to each age range.

04:14How does China's traditional culture influence Mr. Xu's writing?

04:18And I know you have visited some scenic spots in Beijing. They are rich in traditional culture.

04:24Right. Do you get some new inspiration from those traditional cultures?

04:30I think based upon my grandfather's writing, he really appreciated some of the modern

04:38perspective of poetry and culture, what he learned abroad. But he also, I think,

04:45tried to protect many of the traditional cultures that he was educated on before he left abroad.

04:53So I don't think he was an individual who abandoned the traditional culture. I think

04:59he tried to find the good qualities of tradition combined with the modern viewpoint.

05:06Well, fine temple, I think it's easy for almost anybody to appreciate because it's such a reverent

05:13location. And given historical perspective, you have to have a lot of respect for what this place

05:22symbolizes. In 1997, I made a trip to China, which was my first return trip to China with my father,

05:32and that would be his last trip back to China. I did not come to Beijing with my father

05:40because he stayed behind in Hangzhou, and I came here with some other people.

05:46And we had an opportunity to visit with the No. 7 Stone Tiger Lane. And at the time,

05:55I did know that that's where my grandfather had written poetry, lived and worked there. It also

06:02happened to be a place where the Crescent Moon Society had met and congregated and dined there

06:10as well. So it turns out that he may have done his most productive poetry writing at that location.

06:19I took the photograph from, let's say, something like nearly 30 years ago.

06:26And I asked my wife if she would like to do a painting, and she was very motivated to do it.

06:32And so the painting will be shown at the Poetry Fair. And she created the poem using the old

06:41photograph as a basic layout, but then added elements to the painting based upon the written

06:49verses. You know, I think what's happened naturally is that more people abroad from

06:57different cultures have begun to learn about Xu Feng's poetry. And so in recent years, you see

07:04many more writers or translators trying to tackle the translation of his poetry to make it

07:12a broader. So I think it's sometimes hard to get translators to take that problem on because it's

07:20not the easiest thing to translate Chinese into English. We find that more and more people

07:26begin to appreciate it and begin to recite the poem in many different languages like Russian,

07:32German, French, Japanese. And that's really enriched other people's lives that they can read in their

07:39own language now. In poetry, depending on who writes the poem, the poems can contain quite a bit of

07:45language and stories embedded in the poem, where people now, if they can read in their own native

07:51language, can understand a little bit more about things beyond their own border. I'm wondering,

07:58what's your impression and what's your feelings about visiting such a historical site here in

08:04Beijing? Well, you know, even though I'm a technically trained person, I still find the

08:12study of history very inspiring. Then you know what countries and what people have gone through

08:21to get to where they are. So much of my travel is about learning about history of my grandfather.

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