Tang Xiaoxian: It is not true that A Bing "hanged himself"

Tang Xiaoxian: It is not true that A Bing "hanged himself" Phoenix City Tang Xiaoxian Hua Yanjun (1893-1950), the great master of Chinese Taoist music, nicknamed Ah...

Phoenix City Tang Xiaoxian

Hua Yanjun (1893-1950), a great master of Chinese Taoist music, nicknamed A Bing, was born in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. In 1914, when he was 21 years old, he became the head Taoist priest of Lei Zun Hall, a Taoist temple in Wuxi City. "At the age of 34, he lost his sight in both eyes one after another. Due to the pressure of life, he wandered on the streets and made a living by performing arts." (See "Wuxi A Bing, two former residences in one city" on the Yangtze Evening News website on February 10, 2006), so he was nicknamed Blind A Bing. From then on, Abing lived in poverty, suffering from poverty and illness throughout his life. Abing is also a well-known folk musician at home and abroad. His performance of "Two Springs Reflecting the Moon" ranks among the top ten famous songs in the world. Dong Miao's "Lu Wenfu's Life of "Abing's Love"" was published in the 02 issue of Suzhou Magazine in 2010. The article has been reprinted by "Yangtze Evening News" and "Newspaper Digest". The author Dongmiao (a pseudonym of Dong Miao) claims to be an old friend of the famous writer Lu Wenfu. The article describes Lu Wenfu's interview with A Bing's wife Dong Cuidi (also written as Dong Caidi, "Cui" and "Cai" are homophones in Wuxi dialect. The author) shortly after A Bing's death. The same article, with the author's name omitted and the title changed to "The Inside Story of Blind Man A Bing's Hanging Suicide in 1950?#12299;, has been widely circulated on the WeChat public platform recently. The cause of A Bing's death 66 years ago was like a stone that stirred up thousands of waves, making people unbelievable. The author is from Wuxi and a folk music lover. I love Abing's erhu piece "Er Quan Ying Yue" so much. I have wanted to explore Abing's life experience since middle school. I checked a lot of information, and they all said that A Bing died of illness, which was a normal death. There is only one article in the world, which changed different titles, and quoted Lu Wenfu's theory of "suicide by hanging", which was an abnormal death. The main examples supporting the theory that Abing died of illness are: "Wikipedia": Hua Yanjun died of illness on December 4, 1950, at the age of 57, with no issue, and was buried in the Taoist cemetery of Shanyihe Shanfang in the western suburbs of Wuxi. His wife Dong Caidi died of illness on March 27, 1951. "Encyclopedia Baidu": Abing died of illness on December 4, 1950 at the age of 57. He was buried in the Taoist Tomb of "Yihe Shanfang" at the foot of Ershan Mountain in the western suburbs of Wuxi. On April 14, 2006, the 15th page of "People's Daily Overseas Edition" (Chinese Cultural Relics) carried Su Xun's article "The Birthplace of "Two Springs Reflect the Moon"". The article said: "On December 12 of this year (1950, the author) (also December 4, the author), Abing vomited blood, and the flame of life of a great master was extinguished in this dilapidated small attic." On December 16, 2009, the F4 page of "World Journal" published Rong Lin's article "Er Quan Ying Yue and Blind Man A Bing", saying, "What is sad is that A Bing, a strange man in the music industry, suffered from poverty and illness in the second year after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War (referring to 194 In 1949 (actually 1950, author), he continued to vomit blood and stayed on the hospital bed for four years. It was not until 1949 (actually 1950, author) that he left this world when the Beijing Conservatory of Music (should be the Central Conservatory of Music, author) asked him to go north to teach. The online article "The inside story of blind man A Bing hanging himself in 1950?#12299;" wrote: When Lu Wenfu was still very young, he had just graduated from Suzhou High School and returned to his hometown of Taixing. He trained at Huazhong University for half a year, then crossed the river with the People's Liberation Army and worked as a reporter for the "New Suzhou News". Occasionally, I listened to the Erhu song "Two Springs Reflect the Moon" and burst into tears. My whole body and mind were deeply shocked. I couldn't sleep at night and couldn't let it go. So I made a special trip to Wuxi City to visit the blind man A Bing at the Lei Zun Hall of Chong'an Temple. At that time, probably in the winter of 1950, there was a rare heavy snowfall, and the weather was extremely cold, with dripping water turning into ice. Lu Wenfu arrived too late, and he did not meet the composer of "Two Springs Reflect the Moon"; he was one step too late, as the blind man A Bing had passed away half a month ago (the correct date should be around 9 a.m. on December 4, 1950). As the saying goes, a missed opportunity is a barrier between yin and yang. Blind Abing's wife, Dong Cuidi (now mistakenly known as Dong Cuidi or Dong Caidi), lit incense and burned tin foil in front of Abing's spirit. There is no portrait of Abing, and there is only a simple white wooden tablet on half of the table, with the words "Hua Yanjun's position" written in calligraphy. According to his wife Dong Cuidi, A Bing hanged himself. Although he recorded songs such as "Intimate Guest" for guests from Tianjin (Yang Yinliu and Cao Anhe from the Central Conservatory of Music came from Tianjin), he did not get a single copper pill (copper coin). When he got up that day, A Bing wanted to play the sanxian (there was only one broken sanxian at home), so he took it off and touched it. Hey, the snake skin covering it had been gnawed into a big hole by mice. He was about to get into trouble! A Bing was confused again. He thought, how could there be mice in such a cold winter? God must be having trouble with him, forbidding him to play music and live. In addition, he was addicted to cigarettes, yawning again and again, with runny nose and tears. The family had been short of food for a long time, with no food left, no way to borrow money, and he was so hungry that he couldn't bear it. While I was urging my brother to go out to ask for some cold food, I couldn't think about it anymore, so I took out the belt from my Taoist robe, hung it on the beam, and went to see the King of Hell! Therefore, the blind man A Bing (Hua Yanjun) hanged himself. It is not recorded in the "Wuxi City Local Chronicle" that he died of illness. During this visit, Lao Lu recorded a lot of authentic and reliable first-hand information. He asked Dong to go to "Wang Xingji" on Qian Street to eat a bowl of double noodles and make a few steamed buns for A Bing. Before leaving, he gave his brother 80,000 yuan; that was an old currency, equivalent to eight yuan in today's currency. After reading this section, I suddenly had questions, so let me explain them one by one. 1. Abing's six erhu and pipa songs, including "The Moon Reflected in Two Springs", "Listening to the Pines" and "Big Waves Washing the Sand", were recorded in Wuxi on September 2, 1950 and were completed in two sessions. The recording was never played in public during A Bing's lifetime. How could Mrs. Lu Wen hear "Two Springs Reflect the Moon" in Suzhou? In 1951, Tianjin People's Broadcasting Station broadcast "Two Springs Reflecting the Moon" for the first time. In the same year, the six songs recorded by Abing were recorded into Bakelite records.

2. A Bing's tablet is not simply "Hua Yanjun's place". A Bing's neighbor Xu Yihe said: "?#38463; Bing's cousin Hua Boyang took out A Bing's tablet of the god. On the outer layer of the tablet, it was written: The spiritual tablet of the ancestor Hua Yanjunxia was enshrined by his descendant and disciple Wei Chen." 3. "World Daily" once published Fang Yongshi's "Hua Boyang" The article "Creation of Two Springs Reflecting the Moon" by Yanjun said, "In the summer of 1950, Mr. Yang Yinliu heard about his (A Bing, the author's) living situation and knew that he would soon die. He felt that this talented musician would not leave any works in the world. , that was such a pity, so I asked my colleagues Cao Anhe, Li Songshou, Zhu Shikuang and others to go to Wuxi to find A Bing, record him on the spot, and provide financial support at the same time. "It's not that I didn't get a single copper pill (copper coin)." 4. "The snake skin covering A Bing's Sanxian was gnawed into a big hole by rats" did not happen on the day when A Bing died. The 979th issue of "World Weekly" on December 22, 2002 published the article "Blind Man A Bing's Long Street Walk" by Guo Luoji from Wuxi. "A Sigh in the Moon Reflected by Erquan", the article mentioned that some time after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Guo Luoji could not see the blind man A Bing on the streets of Wuxi. He "read Mr. Yang Yinliu's narration and realized that the blind man A Bing was a bit superstitious (he was originally a Taoist priest). Because the mouse bit off his strings and tore through the snake skin, he considered it unlucky, so he stopped and the strings became silent." 5. When the author was a child, a Taoist priest came to his home. When I came to worship and repent, I saw from a close distance that the robes worn by Taoist priests do not require belts. The room where A Bing died had no beam to hang himself on. Why did he "take out the belt from his Taoist robe, hang it on the beam, and go see the King of Hell!" What's more, he was a blind man who was extremely weak? Moreover, A Bing would not wear the Taoist robe as casual clothes at home. He would only change into the Taoist robe when he was enshrined. 6. Wang Xingji is a famous wonton shop in Wuxi. Its original location is north of Gongyuan Road, south of the city park, and close to the Huangting snack area. In the early 1950s, the author and my mother often went to Wang Xing Kee to eat wontons. The storefront is small, but there are several Eight Immortals tables in the store. Go inside and turn left, and there are train high-back chair-style seats. My mother and I were sitting in the private seats eating wontons. At that time, Wang Xingji still sold Xiao Long Steamed Buns (called Xiao Long Steamed Buns in Wuxi dialect), but not noodles, so how could he treat A Bing's widow to eat "double-poured noodles"? Wuxi Gongbei Lou Noodle House, famous for its various types of noodles, is just around the corner. Why not go to Gongbei Lou for some noodles? The above doubts make the author think that the theory that Abing "hanged himself" cannot be established. So how could Dongmiao write such an article? "World Journal" is the largest Chinese-language media in North America and has wide influence in the Chinese communities in the United States and Canada. Dong Miao, an intellectual who has settled in Montreal, Canada since April 1993, must have read Guo Luoji's article "Blind Man A Bing's Sigh on the Long Street" published in the supplement "World Weekly" of "World Daily" on December 22, 2002. In the article, Guo Luoji recalled the scene where he witnessed A Binggang's death: In 1950, I worked in a government agency. (Guo Luoji was the chairman of the Wuxi Student Union at the time. Author) Our office is located on Library Road. One winter morning, I suddenly heard a woman crying, which was so sad. I walked out of the office and asked who was crying. I was very busy with work at that time and had no time to care. I've been in and out of here countless times, but I didn't even notice that the alley (alley) next door is Lei Zun Temple. When I walked into Lei Zun Hall, someone told me: "Blind man A Bing is dead." I was startled. The cryer was none other than Dong Caidi. I saw the blind man A Bing lying there in Taoist robes, still wearing sunglasses. This is a figure who left a mark on my teenage life. I bowed deeply to him and said goodbye forever. I deeply regret not knowing sooner that I was living next to a blind man, A Bing, and that he might need help. I made a call to the Social Relief Section of the Civil Affairs Bureau. The other party promised: "Don't worry, we will send someone to take care of it." I never asked again. Twenty days later, I heard again that Dong Caidi was also dead! A poor couple had a lot of love in their lives. Maybe she would catch up and help him cross the Naihe Bridge! There are two points in Dongmiao's article that are completely consistent with Guo Luoji's article. 1. A Bing was wearing a Taoist robe when he died; 2. A Bing's widow Dong Caidi (Dong Jidi) also passed away twenty days after A Bing's death. The writer Lu Wenfu passed away on July 9, 2005. Dong Miao's article was published in early 2010. Lu Wenfu passed away four and a half years ago. Whether Lu Wenfu had interviewed A Bing's widow, and whether Dong Miao's article was made up of his own imagination and some historical data, there was no confirmation when the article was published. Mr. Dong Miao himself passed away on December 24, 2015. We are unable to verify whether his "Lu Wenfu's Life and Love with Bing" is a "historical factual article" or his "fictional novel". It seems to be undoubtedly a "fictional novel". From this we can see that it is not true that A Bing "hanged himself".

The room where A Bing died was nowhere to hang himself from the beam