what was all the fuss about? 425Sink In” (䅽䆎ѝ≝ϟᴹ, #58), Shen Haobo argues against reconcil-
ing words such as those of moderators Lin Mang and Wu Sijing, and
notes, not without reason, that poets and critics are dangerously in-
clined toward establishing mutual admiration societies.
Simultaneous with coverage of the Polemic in newspapers, the liter-
ary press, from scholarly publications to those addressing the general
public, continued to publish articles by Intellectual and Popular po-
lemicists. The special feature in the July and August issues of Beijing Lit-
erature included pieces by Chen Chao, Tang Xiaodu, Xie Youshun, Xi
Chuan and Han Dong (in part one), and Yu Jian, Zang Di, Xi Du, Sun
Wenbo, Wang Jiaxin, Shen Qi and Hou Ma (in part two), thus main-
taining a balance between persuasions. In “Q & A: Views on Some
Points of Common Knowledge” (䯂Ϣㄨ: ᇍϾᐌ䆚䯂乬ⱘⳟ⊩,
#30), Chen Chao calls the opposition of Intellectual and Popular a fic-
tion. He finds the charge leveled at the Intellectuals of using “Western
language resources” detestable and invalid, because it forces people to
take sides—Are you with the West or with China?—and because what
matters is not one’s raw material but what one does with it. Tang
Xiaodu, in “An Open Letter to Mr Xie Youshun” (㟈䇶᳝乎৯ⱘ݀ᓔ
ֵ, #32), points out the resonance of Maoist literary discourse in Xie’s
writing, reminding him that the avant-garde took two decades to reach
its current state of pluriformity and abundance. He reprimands him
for his lack of tolerance and for ideologizing the debate. Xie’s “Who
Is Doing Harm to True Poetry?” (#35) in its turn accuses the Intel-
lectuals of behavior called “obstruction” (䙂㬑) in Popular discourse,
meaning the manipulation of publishing opportunities and public rela-
tions of the poetry scene in the interests of one’s own clique and with
the aim of keeping others out; we will return to this issue in section 2.
Xi Chuan’s “Contemplation Is More Important Than Abuse” (ᗱ㗗
↨䇽偖㽕䞡㽕, #33), its title doubtless reaffirming his Intellectual sta-
tus in Popular eyes, contains rebuttals directed at Yu Jian, Yi Sha, Xu
Jiang and Xie Youshun, dwells on the phenomenon of abusive criti-
cism (偖 or 偖Ҏ) in Chinese literary circles and argues for recognition
of the fact that intertextuality with foreign texts as well as Chinese
is inevitable, and not a bad thing at any rate. Han Dong’s “A Time
That Supposedly Loves Culture” (䰘ᒌ亢䲙ⱘᯊҷ, #31) is a bitter
piece focusing on Han’s perception of a small number of Intellectual
poets, influential since the 1980s, as obstructing the careers of others.
Complementary to Han’s exposition of the Popular cause, discussed