Atención: los mismos consejos alimenticios no valen para todos

After the reformation of Chao Foon Monthly in 1950s, in addition to publishing modernist poems and essays on modernist literature, the more important action was the publication of two collections of Modernist Poetry, namely Mei de V Xing (《美的 V 型》, The Beautiful V Shape) and Jiao You (《郊游》, The Excursion) in June 1959 and September 1959 respectively. After seeing this development Bai Yao commented as follow:

Within three months, Chao Foon Monthly has published two collections of Modernist Poetry, regardless of whether the two collections of modernist poetry are successful, the response from readers are positive and encouraging; in promoting and encouraging the writing of new poetry, Chao Foon Monthly has done its best. At least, it has recommended a new kind of genre or form of poetry to the readers, as a result, this new kind of poetry is named as The Chao Foon Monthly School (Bai, 1959, p.4).

There are two points in Bai Yao‘s comment. Firstly, Chao Foon Monthly has shown its great contribution in promoting and encouraging the writing of new poetry.

As is known to all, Chao Foon Monthly is a magazine published with a loss of a few thousand Ringgit every issue. In such an economic plight, it still published two anthologies of new poetry. It was predicted that the anthologies were unmarketable and finally they were given free of charge to the readers. If not for its special mission, we cannot find any other reasons why this unprofitable action was taken. Secondly, it started a new trend in literature, recommending a new kind of poetry form to the

Literary Arena. More importantly both collections of modernist poetry are well received by the readers. In other words, local readers have accepted this new kind of poetry form.

The Beautuful V Shape is a collection of 29 poems by local and Taiwan Modernist Poets. Modernist poems from Taiwan include: ―Shang Le Suo de Yi Ye‖ (<

上了锁的一夜>, ―The Night Being Locked‖) by Zhou Mengdie(周梦蝶), ―Lang Yan‖

(<狼烟>, ―Smoke Signals‖) by Xiang Ming(向明), ―Jiu Yue‖ (<九月>, ―September‖) by Ye Shan, ―Mao Boli Wai‖ (<毛玻璃外>, ―Outside the Frosted Glass‖) by Yu Guangzhong, ―Huabing Ren‖ (<滑冰人>, ―The Skating Man‖) by Qiong Hong (瓊虹),

―Hu‖ (<弧>, ―The Arc‖) by Yuan Dexing(袁德兴), ―Mei de V Xing‖ (<美的 V 形>,

―The Beautiful V Shape‖) by Luo Men (罗门), ―Dang Ying Hong Mei Qing Shijie‖ (<

当樱红梅青时节>, ―In the Season of Red Cherry and Green Plum‖) by Ai Wei (艾薇),

―Xiao Baima‖ (<小白马>, ―Little White Horse‖) by Lin Ying (林鹰), ―Dushi Sanqu‖

(<都市散曲>, ―Verse on the City‖) by Zhou Ding (周鼎), and others. Poems from local writers include: ―Changdi Lu‖ (<长堤路>, ―The Causeway‖) by Bai Yao, ―Senlin He‖ (<森林河>, ―River in the Forest‖) by Ling Leng, ―Shenqu‖ (<神曲>, ―The Divine Comedy‖) and ―Yequ‖ (<夜曲>, ―The Nocturne‖) by Zhou Huan(周唤), ―Li Hua‖ (<梨 花>, ―Flower of the Li Tree‖) by Chen Junzai(陈君在), ―Chun de Huhuan‖ (<春的呼 唤>, ―The Calling Out of the Spring‖) Lin Hua (林华), ―Xia Ye‖ (<夏夜>, ―The Summer Night‖) by Ying Zi(樱子) and ―Liuxing‖ (<流星>, ―The Meteor‖) by Duan Muling(端木羚).

The local writers mentioned above were actually writers from Singapore and Malaysia. At that time, Mahua and Singapore Chinese Literatures were considered to be one, as Singapore became independent later in 1963.

The nationality of some of the writers in this collection of poems cannot be determined. The researcher has referred to three books regarding the life of Malaya and Singapore Chinese writers. The three books are Mahua Xiezuoren Jianying (《马华写 作 人 剪 影 》 , The Sketch of Malaya Chinese Writers), Xin Ma Huawen Zuojia Qunxiang (《新马华文作家群像》, Group Images of Singapore and Malaya Chinese Writers) and Xin Ma Wentan Renwu Saomiao (1825-1990) (《新马文坛人物扫描（

1825-1990）》, Scanning Literary Figures in Singapore and Malaya (1825-1990)).

These three books were actually the biography of the writers and the collections of the titles of the books published by almost all Singapore and Malaya Chinese writers.

Writers such Ling Ying, Zhou Chui, Che Yue, Chen Si, Ping Dun, Zhao Jing, You Xiangxiang, Fang Wen, Cai Shenxin, and Kong Lin cannot be found. The investigator believes that these names are pen names of the editors of Chao Foon Monthly. As mentioned earlier, the Mahua Modernist Literature emerged only in 1959. In the middle of 1950s, very few writers were able to write modernist poetry. Publishing this collection could be considered as one of the strategies by Chao Foon Monthly to disseminate modernist literature in Malaya and Singapore literary arena. Putting in more names in the collection will create an impression that there is a group of writers in the modernist group. It is not necessary to judge whether this action is right or wrong, however it was a necessary move at that particular time. These few names only appeared once in this collection. After that, they have never published any literary works in Chao Foon Monthly, Students‘ Weekly and newspapers‘ supplements. There

The publication of these two collections of new poetry caused a considerable repercussion. The readers‘ response to these collections of modernist poetry was encouraging. Since the publication of Mei de V Xing, there were quite a number of comments. Most of the critics shared one common point:

From this collection of modernist poetry, one can discover that the writing styles of many modernist poets have begun to change. They have thrown away the form, the rhyming scheme, and turn to a free poetry, without the constraint of rhymes and rhythm (Ling, 1959, p.6-7).

Strictly speaking, Mei de V Xing was not a successful collection of poetry. Its importance lies in the historical meaning of it. This can be discussed from two different perspectives. Firstly, it is the first collection of modernist poetry, its meaning in literary history is clear. Secondly, the young poets in the collection have put away the traditional, old form; they are courageous enough in trying to write modernist poetry with free forms.

The Excursion was published three months after the publication of Mei de V Xing. It is an evidence of the continuous effort by Chao Foon Monthly in the dissemination of modernist literature. This collection has collected 25 modernist poetries, six by Taiwan poets, four from Malaya and Singapore, and 15 others were of unkown nationality. Details of the poems in this collection are in tabulated in Table 2.6.

Table 2.6: Modernist Poems in The Excursion

No. Author Poem Note

1 Duan Muling(端木羚) ―Jiaoyou‖(<郊游>,

―Outing‖)

15 Wang Xianyang(王宪阳) ―Yin Putaojiu‖(<饮葡萄酒

>, ―Drinking Wine‖)

16 Ma Jiao(马角) ―Ximalaya Shan‖(<喜马拉

雅山>, ―Himalayas‖)

Table 2.6 (continued) 20 Mai Liufang(麦留芳) ―Damenlu zhi Chen‖(<大

扪路之晨>, ―Morning of Tambun Road‖)

21 Yun Tian(云天) ―Wei Ni‖(<为你>, ―For You‖)

22 Cheng Lian(承廉) ―Chen Chuan‖(<沉船>,

―Shipwreck‖)

23 Yu Guangzhong(余光中) ―Chao Xianshi zhi Ye‖(<超 现实之夜>, ―Surrealistic

Poetry should keep pace with the progress of the times. Poets should also write poems using new techniques. It is a fact that towards the end of 1950s, the content and techniques of traditional realistic poems could not satisfy young readers and writers.

Chao Foon Monthly editors realized this fact and published a collection of new poetry entitled The Excursion. This collection of new poetry at least portrayed a new picture of poetry writing.

There are similarities and differences between The Excursion and The Beautiful V Shape. The similarity is that both collections are free verse that are not

restricted by form. The difference is that, according to Bai Yao: ―In styles, these two collections are not the same. Poems collected in The Beautiful V Shape are mostly written in a clear and attractive style; those collected in The Excursion are magnificent in loftiness. It does not only make people feel the beauty of poetry, but also the poet‘s feeling towards the depression and struggles of life and time‖ (Bai, 1959, p.4).

The society is moving forwards, so poetry should be going in tandem with the society. The fact that cannot be denied is that the content and techniques of the traditional group can no longer satisfy the needs of young poets, thus it is appropriate to publish books like The Excursion, so that the new poetry is new and challenging to readers and the poets.

In short, Chao Foon Monthly has supported the Modernist Chinese Literature, and followed that published Bai Yao‘s two controversial articles, in order to create Rebellious Literary Wave, and enhance the criticism of Modernization of Mahua Modernist Literature. At last modernism started to flourish in Mahua Literature in Malaysia.

The publication of the above two collections of new poetry marked the beginning of a new poetic style under the influence of Taiwan Modernism. Literati in Mahua literary history Li Jinzong (李锦宗) believed that the concept and writing of modernist poems were introduced to Mahua literary arena through these two collections of new modernist poems.

2.3 Chao Foon Monthly and the Dissemination of Modernist Literature In