China News Service, November 6, Lin Qingxia, a big star, has a "unique idol" in her heart, which is Taiwan’s cultural celebrity Jiang Xun. She once flew to Taiwan once a week just to attend Jiang Xun’s aesthetics class and listen to him talk about the dream of the Red Chamber.
According to Taiwan’s United Daily News, after the "Awakening of Beauty," Lin Qingxia was moved to tears in front of the statue, and she was also enthusiastic about writing calligraphy, painting, and trying to write. Art kindled her enthusiasm, and even vowed to become an artist at the age of 60.
Born in Xi’an, Jiang Xun is known for his floral waterscape paintings, and is loved by students for his aesthetic teaching and thinking. In addition, he has published several collections of poetry, served as the chief editor of Taiwan’s early art publication "Lion", and is currently the president of "United Literature".
Q: When did Jiang Xun become Lin Qingxia’s idol?
Lin Qingxia (hereinafter referred to as Lin): A friend gave me a CD of Teacher Jiang talking about the Dream of Red Mansions. I really wanted to see him after listening to it. Later, when I found out that Teacher Jiang was starting classes here, I took advantage of visiting my father in Taiwan every week.
Teacher is my only idol, can’t get too close, too close I will be afraid, haha.
Jiang Xun (hereinafter referred to as Jiang): Yang Fan (Hong Kong film director) laughed at her: "You must have no idol in your life, you must find an idol."
Lin: The teacher is still my half sleeping pill. Because listening to the teacher talk about the disc (CD) of the Dream of Red Mansions, my heart is very stable and it is easy to fall asleep.
Jiang: I was also told by someone on the MRT (urban railway) that he had long insomnia and fell asleep as soon as he listened to my audiobook. My voice made him quiet. I am very happy.
Q: What is the reason for opening the private lecture hall of Dream of Red Mansions?
Jiang: At first, a group of good friends hoped to have different spiritual pursuits outside of a wealthy life, so at first they not only talked about the Dream of the Red Chamber, but also studied Chinese art history and Western art history; it was just a small class of ten or twenty students, and classes were held every Friday afternoon.
When Qingxia first came to class, I was very nervous. She is a big star, and the staff who borrowed our venue came to line up two rows and waited to see Qingxia. I was still inevitably disturbed by the media’s shaping of her…
Lin: His eyes didn’t even float to my side! I sat on the side, and he almost saw me, and his eyes moved away again. I thought, well, this is very safe, the teacher doesn’t look at me, so I put on my reading glasses, but I didn’t expect to look up, Oh, the teacher saw me!
Jiang: Haha, as soon as I saw Qingxia wearing presbyopia glasses, the big star suddenly became a real person – she would be presbyopia too! After that, I felt so relaxed, as if the spell had been broken. Therefore, it is a great practice to know the essence of a person with a clear water. Qingxia is my very important homework.
In those years, most of the classes were taught by wealthy people, and Dream of the Red Chamber was also about the things of wealthy families, and also about the pain of deep love. It has been more than a year since the class ended, and everyone has changed a little, and some people have left. They called me teacher, but I have learned a lot from them, because I believe that it is not easy to pass the level of wealth and deep love.
Q: Lin Qingxia once played Jia Baoyu. What is her experience when reading Dream of Red Mansions?
Lin: Everyone guessed that I played Lin Daiyu, Zhang Aijia played Jia Baoyu, and then we switched. Director Li ("A Dream of Red Mansions" director Li Hanxiang) said, I have a feeling that the jade tree is in the wind, and I also think I can play it.
The roles I have played, I love the male actor: Jia Baoyu and Dongfang Undefeated.
Jiang: I think Li Hanxiang is amazing. Qingxia has a kind of heroism between her eyebrows and eyes, and he can see it. I just came back from Paris to see this movie, and I remember it very clearly. She was so thrilling when she was beaten by Jia Zheng!
Lin: My little daughter didn’t dare to watch that scene and hugged me blushing. I told her that I actually put on a towel and wasn’t afraid, not afraid.
In real life, some people guess that I am Xue Baochai. I hope to be able to be Wang Xifeng, so good at housekeeping, but not so poisonous. In fact, there was a nasty part of Lin Daiyu’s personality in the past, crying, sensitive, and worried, and others thought I was awkward.
Jiang: Looking at Qingxia’s "Outside the Window", I know she must be very awkward. Her face is covered with a layer of fog, and joy and sadness are mixed on her face.
Lin: I was too simple at that time. I had just graduated from high school and was only seventeen years old. But when the teacher met me, I had already become Xue Baochai. After getting married, I changed roles naturally.
Jiang: We all have Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai in our characters, and we will always be in conflict between the two personalities. Lin Daiyu died with uncompromising persistence, and Xue Baochai knew how to be harmonious and compromise with the world to survive. We need to have self-persistence inside, and be able to get along with people easily outside. It is a great wisdom to be able to balance the two.
Lin: Well said, that’s what happened! When I was a teenager, I loved to talk about my worries, and I didn’t know what I was worried about, and I was very unhappy. Before the age of 30, my pain accounted for 80%. Once I looked in the mirror and asked myself who I was? What did I look like? Director Tan Jiaming said to me: "If you can ignore people’s opinions, you will succeed."
Girls’ feelings are like Daiyu, marrying into Xing Mansion is like Baochai
"The tide is coming and going, and the white clouds are still in the corner of the green mountain." Jiang Xun wrote a poem, framed it as a hanging shaft and sent it to Lin Qingxia. Very calm characters, he said that he wrote it after forty-five minutes of meditation, and gave her this quiet, so that she can visualize it when she meditates. "It’s so beautiful! It’s like Master Hongyi’s characters, um, better than Hongyi!" Lin Qingxia couldn’t stop admiring, but also because of her intimate consideration.
For this teacher-student conversation that originated from the Dream of the Red Chamber, Lin Qingxia flew from Hong Kong and returned to the place where she used to talk about the Dream of the Red Chamber in class with Teacher Jiang, but some of her classmates were no longer there. In the old place, the teacher was still Jiang Xun, and Lin Qingxia was the only student.
A stranger on the MRT once said to Jiang Xun: "You donated a bell in the temple in your previous life, so you will have a good voice in this life." Lin Qingxia said Jiang Xun was her "half sleeping pill", and his voice brought calming power.
Jiang Xun claims to be an "aesthetic evangelist". He talks about beauty, which is so moving that it almost has the power of religious infection. The "Dream of Red Mansions Private School" opened for rich friends is like a metaphor for real life; when he tells a book, he also looks into the hearts of the listeners; Lin Qingxia’s eyes looking up to Jiang teacher are not limited to red school, but seek guidance for walking life.
Everyone can see themselves in "A Dream of Red Mansions," Mr. Jiang said, even the villains Xue Pan or Jia Rui. Lin Qingxia, who was praised by the director Tsui Hark as "a beauty who only came out in 50 years," sees a certain part of Lin Daiyu’s sensitive and awkward young personality. But friends who know "Mrs. Xing" in Hong Kong guess that she is like Xue Baochai who knows the world.
But she admires Wang Xifeng, the capable housekeeper; and Cecilia, the wife of the former French president who has just been freed from the shackles of the "first lady", also makes her admire: "How can she be so dashing?"
Through the halo of a big star, Jiang Xun saw her emotions and vulnerability as a human being, as well as her joy as a mother, with his broad experience in life, "I love watching you talk to your daughter on the phone, your whole face is lit up." Jiang Xun’s understanding and guidance also gave Lin Qingxia the space to be comfortable in the world where she was not allowed to be fat or ugly.
Lin Qingxia, who decided to be happy after the age of 30, wants to laugh more by herself, "If you laugh more, you’ll get used to it." Now it’s easy: being photographed frowning, the Hong Kong media guessed that she was depressed; her clothes were loose, and the gossip said how she became fat? Lin Qingxia said magnanimously: "I don’t care what they write, as long as the photos are beautiful!" Drinking the handmade rice wine that Lin Qingxia specially brought for him, Jiang Xun’s face was slightly red and he nodded at Qingxia.
Knowing each other in the world is also a heartfelt beauty. Outside the window, neon lights light up one by one, and Lin Qingxia walks out of the "Dream of Red Mansions" with tears in her smile, rushing to catch a flight back to her "Xing Guofu" overnight.
Editor in charge: Liu Li
