"What Is Overseas Chinese Literature?" - 1973
什么是华侨文学? 这是一个相当费解的问题， 因为自来对于文学本身的定义就不甚统一。 中国古代文史不分，到了梁朝萧统的文选出了之后，才正式把文章分立起来。 广义地说，所有文学写作都可以算是文学的一种， 不过我们所要谈的是近代所谓文艺之类的作品。 这些年来还有人要把它叫做纯文学， 这样极端的分类法似乎有点过分， 倒不如借用英文名词，叫做创造写作， creative writings 较为妥当。 反正我们要谈的就是诗歌小说戏剧小品之类富有感情的创作。
创作文学是有个性表现的生活写照，那么华侨文学就应该是反映华侨社会和生活的作品了。 不过问题又来了，到底谁写的才算是华侨文学呢？ 华侨作家描写华侨生活的自然没有问题， 但是西人写给西人看的， 如 Jack London 的短篇小说, “Chun Ah Chun”, 中国人写给西人看的， 如黎锦扬的「花鼓歌」， 还有些是在中国的中国人写给在中国的中国人看的， 如一九零五年上海出版的长篇小说「苦社会」，到底算不算是华侨文学？我们既然说华侨文学是指反映华侨社会的作品， 而不是单指华侨所写的作品，那不论是谁写的都要算了。 我们知道一个优良的作家，不必亲身经验华侨的生活， 也可以反映出这里的人生。 正如他不需要经过自杀的亲身经验也可以写出自杀的事情来。 因为人有共同的感情， 而文学家又有敏锐的感觉和丰富的想像力。 所以问题不是谁来写，而是所写的表现怎样，所表现的能不能够获得读者的共鸣，而使他们可以分享作者所创造的人生经验。 这样我们就不能不考究到作品和读者生活上的密切的程度了。
作品和读者之间的距离，就是王国维先生（一八七七-- 一九二七）在他的名著「人间词话」中所谈到的「隔与不隔」的问题。 他指出在欧阳修同一首词「少年游」中，第一阕是不隔，第二阕开始的两句就隔了起来：
栏杆十二独凭春，
晴碧远连云；
千里万里，
二月三月，
行色苦愁人。
谢家池上，
江淹浦畔，
吟魄与离魂。
那堪疏雨滴黄昏，
更特地忆王孙。
在第一节里，所有的景物都明显地摆在读者的眼前。 我们可以想像到在春天的时候，孤单的一个人，凭倚在一条长的栏杆上，望着漫布的青草和远处的云朵互相连接。 在离家的旅途中，走了千万多里的路程， 经过两三个月悠长的时间，都是这种单调和孤零的景象，当然会使诗人发生了苦闷和忧愁的感觉，而读者也可以从他所描写的景色中，产生共鸣。 但是在第二段中，我们如果没有熟识诗词，就不会知道谢家的池塘和江淹的河畔，到底表现的是什么东西和这东西所代表的意义，读者就无法产生感情的反应了。 欧阳修所用的典故是因为谢灵运有 「池塘生春草」的诗句，所以「谢家池上」就是春草。 江淹的「别赋」里有「春草碧色，春水绿波，送君南浦， 伤如之何」，所以「江淹浦畔」所指的也是春草。
王国维对于隔与不隔的观念虽然没有详细的解释， 但是从他所举出的例子，我们可以领略到隔的观念是感情媒介中抽象和实体的分别， 是说明和表现的不同方法。 抽象的意象固然可以传达感情，但总不如实物造意的直接和有力，因为前者所产生的是概念，而后者所产生的是真实感。 王国维批评作品所表现的隔与不隔的效果，并不是用来做判断作品好坏的水准的。他指出姜白石写景的名句「数峰清苦，商略黄昏雨」如雾里看花， 虽然是终隔一层，但是他承认这句的格韵是高绝的。
近代中国文学史上有两个重要的诗人，曾经写过诗来反映我们华侨辛酸的生活。 一个是晚清改良诗人黄遵宪， 一个是民国爱国诗人闻一多。 他们所呼叫的不幸，我们每个老华侨都尝过这种切身的经验，但是他们的诗歌，能不能表达出我们心理的痛苦，就要看他们的作品和我们真实的生活距离有多少远了。
黄遵宪， 字公度， 嘉应州人（今广东梅县）。 清朝末年做过四十年的官，对政事和作诗都是一个改良主义者。 他三十五岁的时候，来美国出任旧金山的总领事。 当时美国议院正在讨论禁止华工的事情。 从梁启超所写的墓志铭，我们知道遵宪曾经尽力对付过美国的排华政策。「先生既以先事御之之谋告其上而不用。 乃尽其力所能及以为捍卫。」当时美国政府假借不合卫生的借口， 逮捕华侨满狱之多，遵宪为了营救他们，亲身到监狱来，指责管理人说：「你们这里的卫生还不如华侨的住居。」被困的侨胞才被释放出来。 梁启超说二十多年后，他来游美国的时候，侨胞还念念不忘这件事情。 又据司徒美堂谈论中美的外交，称赞遵宪是中国历来驻美外交官中唯一能够做到保护华侨工作的人。 黄遵宪一生写下的诗有一千多首，大多数都是他对现实生活的反应。 以他的诗人的敏感， 和诗文中所表现的苦闷，不会是无中生有的发泄，而是从生活经验中产生出来的结晶。 他的 《人境卢诗草》卷四的 “逐客篇” 就是描写当时华侨被排害的惨况。
逐客篇是一首长达七百字的诗。 诗人写了下面的小引来说明他的动机：
「华人往美利坚，始于道咸间。 初由招工，踵往者多，数至二十万众。 土人以争食故，譁然议逐之。 光绪六年，合众国乃遣使三人来商讨订限制华工之约。 约成，至八年三月， 议员遂藉约设例禁止华工。 感而赋此。」
但是逐客篇始两句「呜呼民何辜，值此国运剥」 和结尾两句「茫茫问禹迹，何时版图廓？」就是以感叹弱国的主题，笼罩了整个华侨被压迫的悲呼。即使他叫出「岂谓人非人，竟作异类虐。茫茫六合内，何处足可托？」的时候，也是带着人道主义者不忍的立场，来替我们受苦的先侨作仁义的呼吁，那里是被害者切身痛苦的叫喊呢？ 一个真正受创伤的人，怎能没有一点实体的反映，而只发出抽象的争论和感慨来呢？
诗人留美的期间很短，不过是三年多，对华侨过去的历史可能认识不够，误以为先侨初期的生活容易， 把美国看做一个俯拾皆是乐土，「金山蟹堁高，伸手左右攫。」所以在叙述先侨的苦况，总不免有旁观者疏隔的态度。 他很精确地说出了外人对我的指控和侮辱，「野蛮性嗜杀，无端血染锷。」「生性极龌龊，居同狗国秽，食等豖牢薄。」 很多外人现在还是抱着这种偏见。 诗人虽然以极大的同情心来表达侨众的悲哀，尤其是限制入境后，真是 「去者鹊绕树，居者燕巢幕」那种被人抢占了而无家可归和有家亦岌岌可危的凄凉情况，确是动人感情的好句。 但是可惜这不是生活中爆发出来的悲惨呼声，所以我们无法从诗人所站着的距离去了解当时先侨被欺凌和被迫害的真实生活。
诗人的愤怒是和他的官位比较和华侨的生活有更密切的关系。他要诅咒政府的腐庸，「谁知糊涂相，公然闭眼喏。」 他更要发泄自己的个人怨恨， 因为「堂堂龙节来，叩关亦足跃。倒倾四海水， 此耻难洗濯。」我们的视线很容易就从他要诉说的侨情内容而迁移到他被侮辱后愤怒的姿势去了。
新诗人闻一多（一八九九-- 一九四六），湖北浠水人。是乡绅人家的子弟，国文的根基很深，清华毕业生，一九二二年来美留学，进芝加哥艺术学院，先学西洋绘画。第二年到美西 Colorado Springs 来， 他的兴趣渐渐转移到文学方面去。他在芝加哥亲见侨胞在洗衣店里幸苦的情况而有所感，写了下面一首「洗衣曲」：
（一件，两件，三件，）
洗衣要洗干净！
（四件， 五件，六件，）
熨衣要熨得平！
我洗得净悲哀的湿手帕，
我洗得白罪恶的黑汗衣，
贪心的油腻和欲火的灰， 。。。
你们家里一切的脏东西，
交给我洗，交给我洗。
铜是那样臭，血是那样腥，
脏了的东西你不能不洗呀，
洗过了的东西还是得脏，
你忍耐的人们理它不理？
替他们洗！替他们洗！
你说洗衣的买卖太下贱，
肯下贱的只有唐人不成？
你们的牧师他告诉我说：
耶稣的爸爸做木匠出身，
你信不信？你信不信？
胰子白水耍不出花头来，
洗衣裳原比不上造兵舰。
我也说这有什么大出息---
流一身血汗洗别人的汗？
你们肯干？你们肯干？
年去年来一滴思乡的涙，
半夜三更一盏洗衣的灯。。。
下贱不下贱你们不要管，
看那里不干净那里不平，
问支那人，问支那人。
我洗得净悲哀的湿手帕，
我洗得白罪恶的黑汗衣，
贪心的油腻和欲火的灰，
你们家里一切的脏东西，
交给我——洗， 交给我——洗。
（一件，两件，三件，）
洗衣要洗干净！
（四件， 五件，六件，）
熨衣要熨得平！
这首诗作者的短引，说：「洗衣是美国华侨最普通的职业，因此留学生常常被人问道：「你爸爸是洗衣裳的吗？」明白了诗人感触的动机，我们可以从这首诗看出了作者几点矛盾的心理。 一方面他也跟外国人一样，认为洗衣是一种没出息的下贱劳作，但是他抱有中国人自尊的心理，而内心的善良又不让他否认自己是这些洗衣工人的同胞，虽然隐隐地觉得被外人误会是洗衣工人的儿子的耻辱。 所以他要把洗衣工人夸张成为人道主义者的英雄，要把世界上的污脏洗清，要把人类的不平消灭。 但是我们曾经有过洗衣的经验和那些还在洗熨着别人污衣的衣裳佬，每晚一件，两件，三件地「齐臭衣」，整天站着推动那个「八磅」（就是熨斗）的时候，心地和思想会有这样纯正和伟大的吗？是的，我们也有爱国心，我们也不能忘记在这里被人歧视和欺凌的事实，也明白受苦的主因是祖国「造兵舰」不够的道理。祖国的强弱和我们在这里的遭遇有着直接的关系，当年如是，现在也如是。 不错，我们思乡的眼泪，连「一滴」也不容易找了，因为「年去年来」长期的忍耐和折磨，早已流干了。
但是，洗衣华侨的立场和闻一多的是有分别的。 华侨对自己的恶劣环境的看法是实际的，所以我们没有诗人那种对美国的物质文明强烈的憎恨。阶级的差别是存在的，华侨大众没有诗人的幸运出路。 我们要是回国去，也是要洗别人污秽的东西，而且还要饿著肚子来洗。不过，无论他的动机，是人道主义者也好，是出于自尊心，仇恨心， 或是爱国的热情也好，诗人对不幸人的敏感，以他尖锐的观察力和丰富的想像力，的确能够抓着华侨典型的工作苦闷，用实物具体的表现方法，反映出当时生活的情况。所以从距离的观点来说，比逐客篇更接近华侨的心声了。
让我们找一篇华侨自己的作品来比较一下， 看看作者的立场和感情疏密的直接关系。 旧金山大光书林印行的金山歌集 （一九一一）有黄公越老师评的「木屋拘囚吃尽苦」，其中三首如下：
板楼特别起
明白系监羁
华人入境受凄其
种种专制由在彼
冇争气
困埋铁笼里
虽有使臣难料理
呼天无路雏埋眉
家贫柴米患
贷本来金山
关员审问脱身难
拨往埃仑如监犯
到此间
暗室长嗟叹
国弱被人多辱慢
俨然畜类任摧残
室板如铁桶
严管不漏风
百般苛例讲唔穷
朝夕被凌悲万种
忧忡忡
寝膳遑安用
虽无枷锁阴刑重
涙满衣裳闷满胸
新侨的遭遇在这三首歌中表现得相当详细明显， 国弱家贫，而政府官员不肯保护，至遭受美国人对我们先侨特别的欺负是这些诗歌的主题。 前两首因为抽象的理论多，反有隔膜和不亲切的感觉，最后一首，却能以实际物寄意，以景传情，一呻一诉，都是现实的生活反照。 这「埃仑」（Angel Island) 移民局拘留所）是一个插翼难飞出的铁笼，锁在内面，绝对不能和外间亲人通音讯。加以言语不通，而新例旧例应付不了，每天在半天吊的情况下，前途茫茫，自己的命运，自己的灵魂，完全掌握在别人的手上。这种阴刑确实是比枷锁还难低受。 被压逼的人可以向谁诉说呢？只得独自暗暗地流涙，没被监禁过「埃仑」的人，是不会写出这种滋味来的。
「隔与不隔」本来不过是文学上表现的不同方法。一个艺术家，以丰富的想像力，以灵巧的文字工具，未尝不可以把一种感情传达给读者，使他们发生的心声的共鸣。但是如果这感情的出发点，是出自理解而不是实体的经验的时候，往往对于生活其中的人，看来未免还有点隔膜的感慨，总觉得是有其事，但是未能尽其情。所以局外人的外表观察，虽然十分正确，但是如果感情的暴露不够切实，反映出来的生活就不够深刻了。
文学的可贵是以思念感情为主，文字的美妙其次。我们华侨大体上不是饱学之士，普通不过是读过三四年的馆仔，但是创作的冲动，不会因为文字的限制而不存在的。 一些敏感的人，在生活不愉快的环境中， 受着种种阻力的折磨，心里的忧郁必然要找个表露的出处。 有些在报纸上发表，虽然很多是陈腔旧调，但不是没有可取的杰作。可惜过去的印刷早已淹没，而私人家中保存的先人作品，恐怕无多。故此华侨文学的搜集工作，很难进行。希望以后侨胞能够提供有价值的资料。
What is overseas Chinese literature? This is a problem quite incomprehensible because the definition of literature itself has never been unified throughout time. Literature and history were not distinguished in ancient China, until in the Liang Dynasty when Xiao Tong in his Literary Selections formally separated literature from history. Generally speaking, all literary writings could be considered as literature, but what we want to discuss is the so-called literary writings of modern times. In recent years, some people have also been wanting to call it pure literature. Such an extreme way of categorization seems to be somewhat inordinate, and it might be better and more appropriate to borrow an English term: creative writing. In any case, we are discussing the writings rich in emotions, like poetry, songs, fictions, dramas, and essays.
Creative writings portray lives with individual characteristics, so the literature of overseas Chinese should be the reflection of the overseas Chinese society and their living. However, here comes the problem. Ultimately, whose writings will be considered as overseas Chinese literature? Naturally, there is no problem in the narratives of overseas Chinese society and their living written by overseas Chinese writers, but when a western writer writing for the western readers, like Chun Ah Chun by Jack London, an overseas Chinese writers writing for western readers, like Flower Drum Song by Chin Yang Lee, and also those Chinese writers in China writing for Chinese readers in China, like the 1909 novel Bitter Society published in Shanghai, are these considered as overseas Chinese literature? Since we consider overseas Chinese literature the writings that reflect overseas Chinese society and not solely the works of overseas Chinese writers, then, all of these would be considered as such regardless of who writes them. We know that an excellent author needs not personally experience the overseas Chinese living and still be able to reflect the lives within, just like the author needs not personally experience suicide and can write about suicidal event. This is because people have common feelings, and writers have keen sensibilities and plentiful imagination. Therefore, the issue is not about who is on the task of writing, but what is expressed in the writing and whether the expression could obtain resonance among readers that allows them to share the life experience created by the writer. With these considerations, we must then examine the degree of proximity between the writing and readers’ lives.
The distance between the writing and reader is the question of “Gap or No-Gap” discussed by Wang Guowei (1877 - 1927) in his famous Poetic Remarks in the Human World. He pointed out the first stanza of the poem “Journey of Youth” by Ou Yangxiu has no-gap, while the first two lines in the second stanza have gap:
Alone, I lean over twelve railings in Spring,
sunny grasses stretching to the clouds.
Over thousands of miles,
from February to March,
these hastening travelers I watch in sorrow.
Thinking of the pond of the Xie family,
and the bank of Jiang Yan,
chanting poetry with my soul in separation.
I can’t bear the scattered rain dropping at dusk,
I can’t help thinking of the prince's descendants.
In the first stanza, all the scenes are clearly placed in readers’ view. We can imagine it is springtime, a lonely person is leaning on a long railing looking at the spreading green grasses stretching far out to the clouds. After leaving home and having traveled thousands of miles for two or three months long, seeing only these monotonous and lonesome sceneries, the poet naturally has feelings of depression and sorrow, while readers can also resonate their own feelings with the sceneries described. But in the second stanza, if we are not familiar with the classic references, we will not know what is being expressed in the pond of Xie’s house, the river bank of Jiang Yan, and the meanings they represent, then the readers will not generate a sense of resonance. The classic references used by Ou Yangxiu are based on a line in a poem by Xie Lingyun: “Spring grass grows in the pond”; therefore, the “Pond of the Xie family” is the spring grass. In Jiang Yan’s “Farewell Poem” there are these lines: “Spring grasses in bluish green/ Spring water in green waves/Bid you farewell at the bank/How sad it is.'' Therefore, what is indicated in “the bank of Jiang Yan” is also grasses.
Although Wang Guowei did not explain his concept of gap and no-gap in detail, from his examples we can comprehend that the concept of gap lies in the difference of emotional medium expressed through abstract and concrete feelings, which are different methods of narration and expression. Abstract imagery naturally can convey feelings, but it is not as strong and direct as concrete images because what the former produces is concept, while the latter generates verisimilitude. Although Wang commented on the result of a piece of writing in terms of its expression of gap or no-gap, he did not use it as a standard of value to judge the writing. He pointed out Jiang Boshi’s famous line in describing scenery “Several mountain peaks in bitter solitude/ Brewing in a rain in the evening” is like looking at flowers in the fog. Although there is gap in the work, he admitted the poetic rhymes in these lines are brilliant. There are two important poets in the history of modern Chinese literature who have written poems that reflect our miserable living as overseas Chinese. One is the Late Qing reformer poet Huang Zunxian, and the other is the patriotic poet Wen Yiduo in the Republic of China. Their outcry of misfortune was the personal experience encountered by every elderly overseas Chinese. But whether their poems can express the pain in our hearts would depend on how far their writings are apart from our real lives.
Huang Zunxian, style named Gong Du, Jiaying prefecture (now Meixian in Guangdong). In Late Qing, he was an official for 40 years who was a reformer in both politics and poetry. He came to San Francisco when he was 35 years old as the Consulate General. At the time Congress was discussing the exclusion of Chinese laborers. From his epitaph written by Liang Qichao we know that he had exerted efforts in dealing with the policy of exclusion of Chinese in the United States: “Mister Huang first argued with facts and considered, but dropped the idea of suing the government in court. He did his best in defending the Chinese.” The government at the time used unsanitary conditions as an excuse and arrested a large number of Chinese that filled up the prison. In order to rescue them, he personally went into prison and condemned the keeper, “Your sanitation condition here is worse than the Chinese quarters.” The Chinese were only then being released. Liang said more than twenty years later when he visited the United States, the overseas Chinese still had constantly borne in mind this event. According to Situ Meitang’s discussion of Chinese American foreign affairs, he praised Huang as the only one, among all the foreign officers serving in the United States, who was able to do the task of protecting overseas Chinese. Huang wrote more than a thousand poems in his lifetime, and most are his reflections of reality. With his sensitivity as a poet, we can see the depressed feeling expressed in his poems is not a relief of pure fabrication, but rather, the materialization from his experience in life. In chapter four of his poetry collection Earthy Ci, what is described in his “Article on Exclusion by Foreigners” is the miserable condition of the overseas Chinese being discriminated against and harmed by the exclusion at the time.
“Article on the Exclusion by Foreigners” is a poem with seven hundred words. The poet wrote the following foreword to explain his motive of writing:
“Chinese people began going to the United States between the reigns of Emperor Daoguang and Emperor Xianfeng. At the beginning of labor recruitment there were not that many, but it reached as many people as 200,000. The natives competing for work raised uproar and resolved to chase them out. In the sixth year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu, the United States sent three envoys to negotiate a treaty restricting Chinese workers. After the signing of the treaty, in March of the eighth year, the House of Representatives based on the treaty passed the banning of Chinese labor. With deep emotion I wrote this poem.”
In the first two lines of the poem——“Alas! What crimes have my people had/ When the fate of our nation was stripped” and the final line “feeling disconsolate/ I search the footprints of Yu’s descendent/ When can we settle overseas?”—— both were used as a theme lamenting the weak nation, which was dominated in the cry of the oppression experienced by all overseas Chinese. Even when he called out “Are we humans or not humans/ To be tortured as animals/ Lost in the world, Where can we put down our feet?” The poet was taking an intolerable stance as a humanist in order to make a moral appeal for our suffering overseas Chinese ancestors, yet this is not the voice of those who were harmed with personal pain. For a person who had really been harmed, how could there be no substantial reflection and only some abstract arguments and expressed feelings?
The poet’s stay in America was short, just a little over three years and may not have sufficient understanding of the past history of overseas Chinese. He misunderstood that the lives of the early overseas Chinese were easy, and thought America is a happy land in which one could just bend down to pick up what one wants everywhere. “Gold Mountain is a high land, just reach out and grab it left and right.” Therefore, in narrating the bitter lives of our former overseas Chinese, he can’t avoid having the attitude of an outsider observing from a distance. Very accurately he pointed out foreigners’ accusations and insults to us: “Uncivilized nature fond of killing/ Blood staining blade without reason” and “They are dirty by nature/ Living in filthy dog- house/ Eating like pigs in the pan.” Many foreigners are still having such prejudices today. Notwithstanding, with immense sympathy the poet expressed sorrow of the overseas Chinese, especially after the restriction of entry, “The bird is circling the tree with no place to land/ And a swallow’s nest is on a curtain.” This reflects the sad situation of the overseas Chinese having no home to settle down or facing danger of losing one. The words used are emotionally moving, but it is regrettable that the bursted, miserable cry was not from their living. Therefore, from the poet’s distant standpoint, we are unable to see and understand the real life experience of our ancestors and how they were exploited and terrorized.
His anger was more closely related to his official position than the living of the overseas Chinese. He wanted to condemn the corruption and stupidity of the government: “Who knows this muddled Prime Minister/ Brazenly agreed with his eyes closed.” He further wished to vent his personal resentment, because “our dignified diplomats came and were discriminated against/ Water in the four seas could not wash away such humiliation.” Because of his resentment, our understanding could easily shift from his recounting of the overseas Chinese to his angry perspective of being insulted. The New Poetry poet Wen Yiduo (1899 – 1946 ) was from Xi Shui of HuBei, the son of a village gentry family. He has a very strong Chinese literary foundation. After graduating from Qinghua University, he came to study abroad in the United States in 1922 and entered the Department of Arts in the University of Chicago majoring initially in Western painting. In the following year he went to Colorado Springs and his interest gradually shifted to literature. When he was in Chicago, he personally witnessed the hard working condition of the overseas Chinese in a laundry and was so emotionally moved that he wrote this poem, “The Laundry Song”:
(One piece, two pieces, three pieces,) Clothes to be washed must be washed cleanly. (Four pieces, five pieces, six pieces,) Clothes to be ironed must be ironed smoothly. I can wash them clean these handkerchiefs wet with sorrowful tears, I can wash them white these shirts stained with sinful crimes. The grease of greed, the dirt of desire ... and all the filthy things in your house, Let me wash them, let me wash them.
Copper is stinking so, blood smells rotten so,
Things dirtied you cannot not wash.
Once washed they will be stained again.
How can you, men of patience, ignore them?
I wash for you, I wash for you.
You say the laundry business is too lowly.
Are Chinese the only ones willing to descend so low?
It was your preacher who once told me:
Christ's father used to be a carpenter.
Do you believe it? Do you believe it?
There isn't much you can do with soap and water.
Washing clothes can't be compared to building warships.
I also say what great prospect lies in this —
Washing others’ sweat with your own blood and sweat?
Are you willing to do it? Are you willing to do it?
Year in and year out a drop of homesick tears,
Midnight, in the depth of night, a laundry lamp ...
Lowly or not, you need not bother,
Just see where is not clean, where is not level out,
Ask the Chinamen, ask the Chinamen.
I can wash them clean these handkerchiefs wet with sorrowful tears,
I can wash them white these shirts stained with sinful crimes.
The grease of greed, the dirt of desire ...
and all the filthy things in your house,
Let me wash them, let me wash them.
(One piece, two pieces, three pieces,)
Clothes to be washed must be washed cleanly.
(Four pieces, five pieces, six pieces,)
Clothes to be ironed must be ironed smoothly.
The poet’s short introduction of this poem says, “Laundry is the most common occupation of the overseas Chinese in the United States; therefore, students studying abroad are often asked, ‘Is your father a laundryman?’” Understanding the motive of the poet’s feelings we can see from this poem several psychological contradictions in him. On the one hand, like the foreigners he also regards laundry as a degrading labor without a future. With a sense of self-respect as a Chinese and the kindness in his heart, however, he will not allow himself to deny that those laundrymen are his fellow countrymen, even though he felt indistinctly the insult from a foreigner who mistook him as the son of a laundryman. Therefore, in exaggeration he wants to elevate the laundryman to be the hero of humanism who would clean all the dirt in the world and eliminate human inequality. But for those of us who have the experience in laundering, as well as those fellows who are still washing and ironing others’ laundry, counting one piece, two pieces, three pieces in the process of “gathering stinking clothes” every night, standing all day pushing that eight pounds ironer (old fashion iron heated up by gas), can they in their hearts and thoughts be so pure and heroic? True, we also love our country and we also do not forget we are being discriminated against and bullied and humiliated, and we also understand the main reason we suffer here is because our motherland did not manufacture enough warships. The power of our motherland is directly related to our predicament here. It was true then and it is still true now. Granted that it is hard to find “a single drop of tears” when we think of our homeland now; this is because after tolerating and being oppressed year after year, they have dried up long ago.
Yet, there is a difference in the standpoint between Wen and the overseas Chinese laundrymen. The overseas Chinese take a pragmatic view of their odious environment, so we don’t have strong detest feelings against American material civilization. There exists a class difference between the two, as we overseas Chinese do not have a fortunate future prospect like the poet. If we return to China, we would have to wash others’ dirty laundry, and moreover, we will have to do it with an empty stomach. However, regardless of his motive—be it for humanism, self-respect, hateful feeling, or an ardent love of the country — the poet did have sensibilities for the unfortunate ones. With his keen observation and rich imagination, he indeed had taken hold of the depressed feeling in the typical work of the overseas Chinese. He used concrete objects to reflect the living situation at the time. So from the viewpoint of observational distance, his voice is closer to the heart of the overseas Chinese than the “Article on the Exclusion by Foreigners.” Let us find a piece of writing written by the overseas Chinese themselves to compare and see the direct relation between the closeness of the writer’s standpoint and his feeling. In the Songs of the Golden Mountain published by Great Light Bookstore in 1911, there is a poem titled “Suffering Imprisonment in the Wooden Building” which had commentation by our teacher Huang Gongyue. There are three poems as follow:
These wooden barracks were specially built,
clearly they are for detention use.
We Chinese entering this country suffer great abuse,
being imposed with authoritarian rules at their will.
We fail in striving to dispute
being imprisoned in this cage of steel.
Seeing our ambassador who fails to appeal,
We knit our brows and cry to heaven against such ordeal.
Poor at home
I worried about firewood and rice often.
I borrowed money to come to Gold Mountain
and could not escape from official interrogation.
Like a criminal I was deported to Angel Island
and arrive at this location.
In the dark room I sigh and lament
being insulted because of my weak nation,
just like animals being ravaged without resistance.
The wooden cell is like a steel barrel,
so tightly shut no wind is penetrable.
Hundreds of harsh laws are incalculable,
being mistreated days and nights we have endless sorrow.
Worries among more woes,
I have no appetite and cannot be in repose.
No cangue but private punishment is formidable,
and my clothes soaked with tears and heart morose.
With sufficient details the three poems clearly express the encounters of the new overseas Chinese. The themes of these poems are: our country being weak and family poor, the Chinese officials not willing to protect us, which resulted in the intentional bullying and humiliation of our early overseas Chinese by the Americans. The first two poems having too many abstract thoughts in turn create a sense of detachment that does not yield an intimate feeling. On the contrary, the last poem is able to invoke meanings with concrete objects and to convey feelings through scenery. Be it a groan or a moan, they are the reflection of real living. This Angel Island (Immigration Detention Quarters) is an iron cage impossible to be escaped from, even with wings. Those who are detained inside cannot communicate with their kin outside. In addition, with language barriers as well as their inability to deal with the old and new regulations, everyday they felt like being hung in midair, feeling uncertain about their future, while their own fate and their own souls were controlled in others’ hands. This kind of private punishment is indeed harder to take than being locked in a cangue, but to whom could the oppressed ones relate? They can only shed their tears silently. For those who have not been imprisoned on Angel Island, cannot write such a bitter experience.
As to “gap and no-gap”, they are just different methods of literary expression. With a rich imagination an artist, through the creative use of linguistic tools, should be able to convey certain feelings to the readers and provoke a sense of resonance in their hearts. But if the point of origin of this feeling is from one’s comprehension and not through concrete experience, it often yields a lament of disconnection to those who are still living in it and are aware of such an event and thereby sense the feelings expressed in the writing as incomplete. Therefore, although the observation of an outsider may well be very accurate, if the feeling is not authentically expressed, the reflection of such life would not be profound.
Literature is valuable in its primary focus on thoughts and feelings, and the beauty of the language is secondary. We overseas Chinese in general are not erudite scholars; we only attended the village school for three or four years, but the impulse to create did not cease to exist due to limitation of language. For some sensitive people living in an unhappy environment and being tormented by all kinds of obstruction, their depressive minds must find an outlet for expression. Some will appear in the newspaper, although some of these published writings are just cliché expressions, there are still some fine works. Unfortunately, old printings have vanished and those kept in private collections are rare. Therefore, the work of collecting overseas Chinese literature is difficult to progress. I hope overseas Chinese could provide such valuable materials in the future.