Wildfire Collection: Thirty Years Anniversary Edition

Chapter 23 Wildfire 20 Years (2)
The Taiwanese businessmen who created economic miracles in the past are actually a typical example of capable individualism. They wandered all over the world and were good at fighting alone.Today, when our damage to nature has accumulated beyond what 24 Taiwans can bear, when individualism and consumerism have become the mainstream of contemporary society, and virtual sensory experiences are flooding the sea of ​​TV and electronic information, most It seems that people can only emphasize the competition rules of "adaptive and quick response", and choose to be a "one-eyed Rubinson" who only sees "benefit" but not "righteousness".This "Made in Taiwan" Robinson wandered on a deserted island of individualism, relying on a laptop computer and the Internet to download a bunch of information software, reveling in the pleasure brought by speed, and being able to communicate with the world without going out. Dealing with the world has made Taiwan more and more like a wavy island. Waves rush in one after another, and each wave is faster than the previous wave. The sense of speed is stronger and the power of washing is greater. Chasing speed and resisting various issues that are more essential and rooted.

Faced with the loss of Taiwan's experience, Long Yingtai chose to come back to the rivers and lakes two years ago, and once again set fire to the supplement of "Human World" on a large scale, and assembled a book "When Facing the Sea", especially "In the Wisteria Cottage". Between Starbucks" and "50 Years of Homeland" attracted the most attention and controversy.Only this time, the wildfire turned into a war, with waves of criticism and questioning, and the person who started the fire almost burned himself.In the series of cultural prescriptions formulated by Long Yingtai, the pattern, quality and dreams of modern citizens, or the internationalization of Taiwan’s integration with world history compared to globalization and localization, are actually familiar to us. The orthographic mark of Longshi Zhengqi San.However, at the moment when everyone is lost in unification and independence, when the North and the South are divided, when everyone cynically chooses not to express their views, or pretends not to have any ideology, at this point in a specific historical time and space, Long clearly puts forward her values ​​and projects her consciousness Forms, naively want everyone to return to Chinese culture, and let Taiwan become a "beacon of Chinese culture", which makes people feel a sense of pedantry.Readers can't help asking, when the whole world is embracing the global marine civilization, and even China is actively embracing the West, why does Long Yingtai turn around to embrace the mainland? Teach people to have a sense of confusion?

don quixote facing the sea

"Don Quixote and Sancho looked around and saw a sea that they had never seen in their lives. It was vast and endless, and it was much larger than what they had seen in La Man. Like Lake Itera. There were boats and ships parked by the sea The sea ship is unloading the canopy, and you can see many colored ribbons and slender triangular flags hanging on it shaking in the wind and dipping against the water surface. The trumpets and horns on the ship are playing in unison, and the military music is melodious. The ship is moving, in the calm A battle formation was set up on the surface of the water. Immediately, countless cavalry came galloping from the city as if they were fighting. They were all in uniform and their horses were strong. The soldiers on board fired cannons again and again, and the city also fired cannons in return. The sound of the cannon responded. The earth laughed, the sea wanted to talk, the weather was clear, only occasionally clouded by the smoke of the gunfire; this scene seemed to make everyone excited. Sancho did not understand how the giant floating on the sea Giants have so many feet." (Translation by Yang Jiang)

At the end of the second part of "Don Quixote", La Mancha's "Fantasy Knight" Don Quixote left the inland wilderness of Spain and came to the dream city of Barcelona, ​​where he and his foolish followers It was the first time in Sancho's life that he saw the sea and witnessed the advent of the sea era, and the excitement in his heart was beyond words.In the winter of the same year, Don Quixote almost died without regret.Having said that, as a dilapidated knight in the Middle Ages, his nasty horse, spear, rusty armor, and shield do not belong to the sea after all, and therefore, in Cervantes's works, Don Quixote can only end up as The passing of an era is full of regret.In my opinion, Don Quixote and Long Yingtai, a medieval western knight, and a modern oriental chivalrous woman, both of them seem to save the old value, whether they are old or pedantic, but they are also great ideals of martial arts knights avatar.It can even be said that Long Yingtai inherited the spirit of Don Quixote, shouldered the mission of maintaining classical values, and fought alone in the Chinese-speaking world.

However, instead of saying that Long Yingtai wants us to return to Chinese culture, it is better to say that in the torrent of values ​​washed by the sea, in the earth-rock flow of Taiwanese civilization and culture, on the one hand, she taught us to hold on to the raft built by classical culture. On the other hand, it encourages us to anchor on the big coordinates of world history, face the sea, and sail bravely.At this level, we found that the dragon has suddenly changed from a heroine to a nuwa, trying to use the mud of the mainland culture and the water of the ocean civilization to knead a language that is both good in Chinese and Western, and can truly be in line with international standards. New Taiwanese race.It is here that Long Yingtai's rhetorical strategies and storytelling methods began to appear too attached to essentialism, and were overly guided by the nostalgia of classical culture.Between the lines, she makes readers have the illusion that the relationship between us and classical Chinese culture today can form a linear causal logic, as if we can easily recover and recreate it as long as we find some lost links of meaning. Lost Homes and Worlds.Long Yingtai did not know that "Chinese culture" or "classical culture" in Taiwan is often equivalent to heavy history textbooks and official ideology. They have chosen and would rather not face the big question of classical tradition and humanistic value.

Looking forward to a new arena with an international outlook

Taiwan's democratic political blueprint has always been noisy and not orderly at all. The situation or predicament of Taiwanese people is often like, as the existential philosopher Kierkegaard said, the kind of people who set sail after sailing. , was hastily informed the captain and sailors of the mission.Therefore, if we can understand our drifting state, grasp its reality and unreality, we can further understand where we drifted from in the past, find our own position, and understand why we have Longying Learn what Taiwan calls "cultural schizophrenia," understand our frustrations and losses, and find ways to break through them.Even if Taiwanese society has not yet, and will not necessarily be able to produce a "critical mass" in the near future to integrate a new value order, we can also move towards "decisive individuals" and "decisive minorities". moving in the general direction.To put it bluntly, the wildfire passed on by Long Yingtai is actually a kind of utopian imagination, teaching us to cultivate the kindling of value, the kindling of criticism, or lighting or setting fire in the modern wilderness, in the numerous small worlds, big worlds, and fringes. Between the central government and the central government, find a new strategy of cultural connection, and wait for the day when the small world connects with the big world, and the fringes once again counterattack the central government, robbing the Kuomintang and the DPP, and robbing the current very embarrassing "National People's Party". Join the party robbery" ended.

Contrary to the expectations of those Taiwanese independence fundamentalists who are trying to "de-Sinicize", Long Yingtai's traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions can actually be clearly echoed in contemporary Japanese society based on classical Chinese civilization.Modern Japan's strong body, clear mind, and clear eyesight can be analyzed as a kind of Japanese experience extracted from classical continental philosophy and Eastern religious culture to strengthen the body, and then strengthen the brain with Western culture, fusing Eastern and Western cultures.However, compared to the Japanese who value long-term accumulation and highlight the essential cultural imitation and creation, what contemporary Taiwanese society presents is often a constructive collage culture eager for immediate results.Looking into it, we have to have the courage to admit that mixed blood and mutation are probably the essence of Taiwanese culture.However, in the future world, it is possible to change China with the classics of Yi and Di, and it is also possible to change the world with the classics of China. Why can’t we use Long Yingtai’s utopian imagination as a catalyst to boldly carry out cultural cross-border experiments, grafting the East and the West? Western, mainland and oceanic cultures have allowed Taiwan to bravely emerge from the "hundred years of loneliness" in its colonial history, creating a wilder and more magnificent "alien culture"?
In Chinese history, there has been a long-standing folk vitality that cannot be ignored. There is a small tradition that does not believe in the government. When the suppressed folk power grows, it often deviates from the central government and seeks to create its own Water Margin or Peach Blossom Spring. Over the past 400 years, Taiwan, from the pirate empire of Zheng Chenggong's family to today's democratic society ruled by law, has witnessed such a surging civil power that has become a great country.In my optimistic view, today’s Taiwanese people are no longer the common people of the past. With the vigorous development of all walks of life, Taiwanese who have seen the storm and the world have already jointly created a kind of life, which may be called What is known as "Jianghu Taiwan" and "Kung Fu Taiwan" is gradually accelerating its integration with "Jianghu International" and "Kung Fu International".Such an expanded sense of Jianghu, such an international "jianghu culture", which is different from "mainland culture" and "marine culture", but can dialectically combine the two, is a culture full of imagination and creativity. "Third Space".Only by looking at Taiwanese society from such a commanding height, I believe we will not repeat the game of perpetrators and victims of "Little Red Riding Hood and Big Bad Wolf" and fall into the "local paranoia" and "Chinese paranoia" of the blue-green camp. , or any version of political essentialism in the trap.Only on such a commanding height, in such a constructive cultural space, can we successfully transform from a counterfeit OEM "pirate Taiwan" to a "sailor Taiwan" who is well versed in Eastern and Western cultures and brokers China and the world , "Ranger Taiwan"; only then can we hope to communicate with barbarians and Chinese, communicate with interests and righteousness, and create a new Jianghu culture and Jianghu morality.

It has been 20 years since the publication of "Wild Fire Collection". The long time of 20 years is enough to make a whole generation wither and let a new generation be born and grow.The truth and illusion of progress seem to coexist forever. Twenty years have witnessed the most important "epoch" (Epoch) in Taiwan after the war. Why can't 20 years be regarded as a so-called "kalpa" by a small Buddhist school.Readers of the new generation, regardless of whether you are the cool generation, the dazzling generation, or the bad generation, the evil generation, democratic politics is just a technical issue (which pays attention to operational proficiency), and does not involve the creation of value. From Long Yingtai’s Blog, to your blog, there is only a dream distance.As Foucault said, we find ourselves at the beginning again and again; because of this, we should think about the future together, take new flame challengers and cultural challengers as our own responsibility, turn passivity into initiative, and vigorously question the meaning of individual life , turning our common predicament into a dramatic self-seeking, expanding the blueprint and coordinates of dreams, kicking Eastern and Western civilizations, and even looking forward to the day when the wildfire of Longyingtai will be returned to the West.A new generation of readers, let us be reborn from the ashes of the critical wildfire, and exercise a new alchemy of cultural concepts and values——"Wildfire Collection" itself is such a classic of new culture—bring the enlightenment The story, the wildfire legend, continues to be told.

From "being in charge" to "being in charge"

——Rereading Long Yingtai's "Wild Fire Collection" after 20 years

Associate Professor, Institute of Taiwan Literature, Chung Hsing University, Taiwan

Xiangyang
On November [-], [-], Long Yingtai published the article "Chinese, Why Are You Not Angry" in the "Human World" supplement of "China Times". The social chaos that Taiwan has seen in a year, question why this society is not angry?

Just because you don't get angry, you endure, and you give in, the street vendors turned your home into a dilapidated compound, the traffic in Taipei was a mess, and the Tamsui River is a rotten intestine; it's because you don't speak, swear, No opinion, so your beloved doll eats, drinks, and breathes chemical toxins every day, and you're still dreaming about the day he graduates from college!You have forgotten that there were many pregnant women in the south a few years ago. In the middle of the ninth month of pregnancy, they also closed their eyes and dreamed of the day when their children would grow up, but they did not expect that after eating Didi pure salad oil, the children would be born blind and black. of!
This article is the first of "Wild Fire Collection". Later, with her keen observation, sharp writing style, and views that were regarded as "deviating" in the era before the lifting of martial law, Long Yingtai successively published "Life Syphilised Mother", "Kindergarten University", "The Generation That Doesn't "Make Trouble"", "What About Opposites?" ", "Whose Home is Taiwan? " and other articles, in just one year, immediately aroused enthusiastic responses from all parties - in the words of Long Yingtai, "People who are used to sweets find "Wild Fire Collection" difficult to swallow; The bitter taste is fresh and invigorating." At that time, the KMT's propaganda and political warfare units were almost "crazy"; ordinary citizens, college students and intellectuals who had nowhere to confide their distress under the high-pressure martial law expressed their approval of Long Yingtai's "provoking trouble" posture, and went everywhere. Disseminate these articles that are considered "problematic" by those in power.

In December 24, "Wild Fire Collection" was published. In less than a month, it was reprinted [-] times, and in less than half a year, it exceeded [-] reprints, and sold more than [-] copies. Such a hot sale phenomenon, in the [-]s In the mid-term, only the Dangwai magazines against the Kuomintang can be compared—but they are different. "Wildfire Collection" lies flat on the entrance platform of large bookstores, marking the brilliance of "bestsellers", "crazy sales", and "recommended reading" , according to the word of mouth of the readers, it ignited a blazing fire, and Long Yingtai became the spokesperson for the middle class and intellectuals who demanded reform; Under pressure, with the "stigma" of "banned book" and "violation of policy", it was also popular among readers through word of mouth, until Zheng Nanrong set himself on fire on April [-], [-] in order to insist on "[-]% freedom of speech". .

Long Yingtai's social criticism and "Dangwai" magazine's political criticism are two different lines.One speaks out within the system and calls for local reforms that can be seen in people's lives; the other speaks out and takes action outside the system, calling for changes in the state apparatus and system.Both are needed by the Taiwanese society and people in the [-]s, and there is no need to compare them.Lung Ying-tai actually paid attention to and questioned the freedom of thought and democracy in Taiwan at that time. Unfortunately, her platform for speaking out was on the island’s media that was still controlled by thought, which made her advocate freedom of thought and demand for democracy. It is difficult to publish political articles. The reason why "Wild Fire Collection" did not say a word about the phenomenon of Taiwan's centralized rule at that time was because of the limitation of such a political field, not because Long Yingtai did not do anything.

In fact, Long Yingtai wrote Orwell's Taiwan? ", using Orwell's virtual but actual "Big Brother" centralized rule in the novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four" to imply the lack of democracy and freedom in Taiwan. pressure on the media.Another example is that after the publication of "Wildfire Collection" (or maybe before), Long Yingtai wrote an article "The Net of Heaven and Earth", questioning it in an extremely strong tone:

Ah, who is creating such an environment where there is no comma, no blank space, no space, no freedom of thought, so tight and dense that you can't break free, and the eyes, ears and mind are exhausted, and the net is so overwhelming?
(End of this chapter)