The preface of the new version of "County Yin" Chen Ruoxi After the twenty-seventh edition of "County Yin" was published in 1987, it was not reprinted for seventeen years.During the period, I wanted to get back the self-print, but I gave up because the publisher had a permanent publishing contract. My friends were very surprised: You are not someone who has never seen the world. You have studied in the United States, and you have thoroughly traveled across the Taiwan Strait and the three regions. How could you easily sell the copyright permanently? I am ashamed to say that I was in Vancouver at the time, and it had been more than ten years since I was in Taiwan.He thought that his hometown had been under martial law for many years, and the news and publishing were controlled. The publishing contract must be an established model and cannot be changed.The only concern is that it may be inconvenient to use part of the space for the anthology to be published in the future.I mentioned it to the owner of the publishing house on the phone, and he said that there is no problem, just say hello.

Two months later, another publishing house published an anthology of mine, and I selected two articles from "Magistrate Yin".When the publishing house sent the contract, it first stated on the phone that the content of the contract could be modified according to the author's wishes, as long as both parties agreed.Only then did I know that the publishing industry in Taiwan is quite lively and open, and there is no fixed contract. In fact, it is a good thing that the publishing house is willing to publish my humble work forever, but the hard thing is that it has not been published for many years, and the author is not allowed to get back the copyright, which makes people feel like a life sentence.In the past ten years, some publishing houses have edited the selection of writers' works and asked to select my representative works from the "County Yin County Magistrate".

In September last year, the publishing house suddenly printed another 300 copies, and soon there was news that the boss had suffered a change.I heard that the heir of the publishing house would like to negotiate, so I personally negotiated and finally redeemed the copyright at a price of 120,000 yuan.Mengjiuge Publishing House selected it as one of the collected novel series, and it was able to be edited and republished. I am gratified and grateful. Taiwan's democracy is maturing day by day, the exchanges between the two sides of the strait are getting closer, and the established language is gradually integrated.Therefore, many quotation marks have been canceled in the republished collection, and I believe it will be more fluent to read.

It will be forty years since Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution.As time goes by, people may forget this political movement that almost wiped out Chinese culture, or they may even be completely unfamiliar with it.In any case, it is a pity, because tragedies may happen again and again if the experience and lessons of history are ignored. The writing of "Magistrate Yin" is not perfect, but it is a testimony of that absurd and turbulent era.If readers can understand from it, for example, if a nation does not pursue democratic progress and self-reflection, there will be a collective madness and danger of degeneration and perdition. The author will be grateful and grateful, and this life is worthwhile.

March 2005 in Taipei