Ground fire immigrants

Zhang Ailing's literary debut "The First Furnace Incense", published in 1943, recently became popular because of Xu Anhua's films. This work tells the story of Ge, a female college student who came to Hong Kong from Shanghai and went to the materialistic upper class. She gradually lost her authenticity in her obsession with money and finally became a tool for menstruation and playboy Joe to make money.

The novel is set in the colonial period of Hong Kong before the war, and the overall tone is dim black, which shows the contradictions and entanglements of new immigrants' integration into the upper class of Hong Kong before the war, the repressed human struggle under the cross-flow of material desires, and the love between Ge and Joe is both sadistic and erotic, which is doomed to be a tragedy like a moth to a flame.

This destructive, erotic, beautiful and tragic love is deeply influenced by the love between Zhang Ailing and Hu Lancheng. "When I met him, she became very low, as low as the dust, but her heart was happy and a flower blossomed in the dust."

This is a sentence written by the noble Zhang Ailing to Hu Lancheng after seeing Hu Lancheng. It is humble and beautiful. At that time, Zhang Ailing was the seed of love, which was young and narcissistic, but also beautiful. Because of love, I know that young and innocent Zhang Ailing is no match for Hu Lancheng, a veteran in love. In the end, the love caused by the crackle was quickly extinguished because it burned too fast.

Who didn't meet many love rat when he was young? Like Zhang Ailing, Ge in the work is also the same, except that Zhang Ailing decisively stopped the loss when she found out that Hu Lancheng was right, but Ge was caught in a clever trap, which was doomed to be a tragedy.

The pain of new immigrants under the blending of Chinese and western cultures in Hong Kong

The first incense burner began in pre-war Hong Kong. At that time, influenced by the Sino-British Treaty and the British colony, Hong Kong's Chinese and Western cultures blended and the old and new cultures alternated. It is difficult for mainlanders to integrate into the upper class of Hong Kong. As a poor student who came to Hong Kong from Shanghai to go to his aunt, Ge has the shadow of Zhang Ailing.

1942, due to the war, Zhang Ailing was forced to suspend her studies for another year and return to Shanghai for asylum. At that time, Zhang Ailing was still a poor student and had to rely on her father's support to continue her studies. Later, due to the influence of the current situation, her studies did not continue. Zhang Ailing chose writing for a living.

Ge's situation at that time was very similar to Zhang Ailing's. She is a very ordinary Shanghai girl, simple and green, but she has to face economic embarrassment prematurely. When she stood in front of her aunt's mansion with a garden in the rich area of Hong Kong, her mood was mixed.

The moldy bronze incense burner handed down from home at the beginning of the novel is switched to menstruation House, which Ge sees here, all of which reveals a strong sense of film. The heavy and depressing atmosphere of the feudal old society and the modern atmosphere of the western England are mixed together to form a ukiyo-e painting, and the strong color contrast has a strange feeling.

Ge represents foreigners coming to Hong Kong from the Mainland. Her dress is also a combination of Chinese and western. She was wearing a school uniform unique to South Middle School, a turquoise blue bamboo tube shirt, and narrow legs under her trouser legs, still in the style of the late Qing Dynasty. Ge Weilong, like other fashionable girls, added a sweater vest outside the bamboo blouse, revealing a blouse under the short vest.

This kind of dress is a bit foreign, funny and absurd, but it also shows Ge's desire to integrate into western culture in Hong Kong. This attempt is cautious and exploratory, and she has made efforts for it. Ge's skin was originally very white, which was in line with the oriental aesthetic, but she felt it was a pity that she wanted to get a tan, because most of the beautiful women in Hong Kong were olive skin.

Ge is a representative of new immigrants in Hong Kong. She is eager to blend into the environment where Chinese and Western cultures blend in Hong Kong, and make changes in her clothes and skin to adapt to it. This attempt is even a little humble, reflecting the difficulty of new immigrants from the mainland integrating into Hong Kong's local culture during the colonial period in Hong Kong. Ge's menstruation represents the wealthy class in Hong Kong, and her appearance is a bit flamboyant and gloomy.

Zhang Ailing's metaphor can be seen everywhere in the whole novel. The appearance of her menstruation is a vivid metaphor of her inner cruelty and malice to spiders. Ge Weilong's aunt is an extremely cold-blooded egoist. When she was young, she insisted on marrying Liang Jiteng, the top rich man, as a concubine and risking the life of the old man. As a result, she won the bet. When the rich man died, she got a large fortune. Xu Niang is not old, and she is eager to find all kinds of men to compensate for her loss.

My aunt is willing to take Ge Weilong in and help her go to school. In fact, she has a shrewd abacus. She wants to use Ge Weilong as bait to attract men. The wolf has a winning game when the shepherds quarrel. My aunt has long been eroded by capitalist egoism and lost the most basic affection. She is like a cold and vicious spider, drooling over Ge Weilong's prey.

This is a very important metaphor, suggesting that Ge's innocence will soon be submerged by the flood of Hong Kong's upper class, and she will soon lose her true colors in ecstasy. Her heart is very contradictory, both longing for the upper class and sticking to the rational system. She thinks she can get rid of the mud without being defiled, but it is doomed to be a spiritual extinction.

The struggle of human nature under the cross-flow of material desires

"Clear water means no fish." The decline of GM Wei Long is gradual. Menstruation blasted her young and delicate heart with sugar-coated shells. My aunt arranged for Ge Weilong to live in a blue room, much like the princess's castle in fairy tales. The wardrobe is full of exquisite clothes of various textures and occasions, such as tulle, silk, satin, short coat and long coat, which are worn at beaches and cocktail parties in the afternoon.

Ge Weilong is not ignorant of her aunt's intentions. She tried to stay awake in these well-dressed temptations, but this reason was soon drowned out by noisy dances, dinners, tea parties, concerts and card games. She even has the illusion that she has integrated into the life circle of the upper class. Her aunt just used her as a cover to attract young people. For those who pursue Wei Long, her menstruation is more critical than the royal family, and she will not be easily allowed.

Wei Long is used to this trick and doesn't mind at all. Ge Weilong has unconsciously accepted her aunt's rules of the game. She even thinks that if she can marry a rich man in the future, she can live the life of her aunt. Vanity is the most deadly poison, and once infected, it is hopeless.

Near Zhu Zhechi, near the jet black. Under the influence of menstruation, Ge Weilong gradually became infected with dust. She's not the same Gerhard Wei Long anymore. Many years later, she may even become a second aunt.

True love is awakening and redemption.

If Ge Weilong has been assimilated into menstruation's life, then his first love, Georgie Joe, is a beam of light that illuminates her life, but this beam of light is only a symbolic flash in the dark, and Ge Weilong's life has returned to darkness.

Zhang Ailing said, "Because I know, I am merciful". George attracted Ge Weilong's attention because he was the only one who could resist menstruation's magic. In fact, I suspect that this is just a duet sung by George and his menstruation, in order to prevent the little white girl Ge Weilong from falling in love with George. After all, many women are beginning to fall in love.

Joe is a declining rich boy. To put it bluntly, he is a fake rich second generation. Although my father is a rich man, he has twenty concubines, and Joe is the least liked son, so Joe is like a duck to water in the circle of rich women with his handsome young appearance.

Ge Weilong in "Seeds of Love" is no match for love master Joe. Joe's playing hard to get really worked, and soon Ge Weilong fell in love, but Joe told Ge Weilong that he could not marry her, but could only give her happiness. Isn't this the so-called "love rat"? Poor Ge Weilong is trapped, but he thinks that love is great and desperate. This is the self-enclosed love of young people.

Joe is not only "scum", but also "excessive". She is not only pandering to the maid, but also confused with menstruation. These Ge Weilong are automatically blocked, and the IQ of women who fall in love is really zero. Love is Ge Weilong's soft threat, which was caught by menstruation.

With the goal of "marrying into the upper class" and Joe as bait, my aunt made Ge a puppet. After collusion between his aunt and Joe, Ge Weilong finally got engaged to Joe. Joe is also a delicate egoist. His most shameful thing is to use Ge Weilong's love for him and regard her as a tool to make money.

Ge's fall for money is an inevitable result, and this fall is actually based on her humble love for Joe, which is really a tragedy. Zhang Ailing once said, "Don't ask if love is worth it", but it also depends on whether that person is worth loving.

For "love rat" like Joe, after squeezing Ge dry, it is bound to find the next goal, and the novel has an open ending. Will Ge eventually become a second aunt and sink into the materialistic upper class in Hong Kong? Or like Zhang Ailing, decisively wake up from this worthless love and redeem the soul? It depends on Ge Weilong's understanding.