Preface Ⅲ “My Heart Is A little Larger Than the Entire Universe”—Xiao Gong and His Friends and Their “Literary Experiment

Vanishing Poems has finally been published．I never imagined that my son would write such a story．In the past，Gong Ziming was immersed in history and literature，but now he is obsessed with religion，theology and philosophy．The creating of this “fake book”of poems out of nothing has become a great comfort for me in my difficult times.

It all started with Gong Ziming and his two classmates carrying out extremely boring computer operations．As we all know，the association function of Google Translate is so powerful that it can transform confusing words into meaningful sentences．Xiao Gong and his friends chose a language（often using Latin letters），then typed out the words bit by bit according to speculative pronunciation rules，and looked the Chinese translations of these words，expecting magical results：

“At first the language they used was Swahili，until one day they discovered the power of Icelandic．The poems written in this language were often elegant and magical，with magnificent and profound images，and quite a few philosophical implications.”

Three Grade 11 students from the international class of Beijing National Day School，who stumbled upon this wonderful word game in their endless pursuit of learning，have successfully created a number of excellent poems after a period of accumulating experience with this method．There are different poetic styles，the length of each poem is different，and the original texts cover more than a dozen languages across the world.

At this time，the composing of poems was just a pastime for Xiao Gong and his friends．Things began to change when they took the decision to transform them into a “fake”book.

Xiao Gong suddenly had an original idea - these Google AI poems should be “poems that are about to die”that an Icelandic poet，“Gúg.l Tríntl.t”had been searching for．He then wrote most of the notes explaining how the poem had been collected from all over the world．The content and style of these notes is similar to that of rigorous textual research，but in fact it is pure fiction．These notes are so credible because of their breadth of knowledge，broad vision and advanced writing style，that I and my knowledgeable friends all thought that they related to real people，books and facts．In the spring of 2019，at the height of the International Baccalaureate’s most critical exam，these three young students expressed their love for literature by making use of their extraordinary creativity．It took them only a week to complete the work，print it out and sell it at school events，and it was very popular．Only in the free and open-minded atmosphere of Beijing National Day School could such an uninhibited burgeoning of young minds be allowed to flourish.

Let us appreciate the creativity of these young minds in a relaxed manner：

The monk’s lamp

Sheds forth blue polar ice

It is a genuine flame

Shining in the night

Xiao Gong，in his explanatory notes，writes：

This poem comes from the coldest part of Northwest Iceland．Therefore，it makes the description of the “monk”seem somewhat strange．As is well known，Icelandic people originally believed in the Nordic religion and only later converted to Christianity．They hardly ever came in contact with Buddhism．When I asked people in that area for help in understanding，I met a historian named Mr．Ivar，and after discussion，we came up with the following chain of events：during the Mongolian Western Expedition，a large number of Mongolian descendants remained in the Volga River Basin（now in the territory of the Republic of Kalmyk，Russia）．It is said that Lista Abram，a Gnostic believer from Israel，arrived in this area in the thirteenth century and settled here．Mongolians believe in immortality，and their pantheistic belief coincided with the Gnostic supernatural doctrine and the two religions fused into an intriguing belief system．Later，in the sixteenth century，the Tuerhute ethnic group conquered the area，and Buddhism merged with the local religion.

In the seventeenth century，a one-eyed businessman from Astrakhan，a nearby city，also a descendant of the Gnostic believer，Lista Abram of the twelfth generation，came to Iceland and a temple was built near an iceberg in the northwest part of the country．The inhabitants at that time did not know his own history and simply called him a “monk”．His family lived in a temple ever since that time．People did not like the family because they spoke with a heavy accent and displayed unusual behaviour．Every generation of Lista wears eyeshades，because it is a tradition in their family clan.

During the Second World War，local people witnessed one descendant，Lista Abram of the twenty-first generation，enter his temple with an “orange-red light”，then the ice cracked，giving off a faint blue light．Subsequently the whole temple disappeared，leaving only the orange-red flame which burnt day and night．I have personally explored the legendary location and even hired a fisherman to take me out to sea，to try and find traces of the temple．I made no discovery other than a stone to which a chain was attached，buried in the sand under a shallow part of the sea．On top of the stone was a hollowed-out part in the shape of a triangle．This，perhaps，was a necklace，and I keep it at home as a souvenir.

Nobel Prize winner，Mo Yan，commented after reading this small book that it is technically innovative and based on the rich knowledge of the youngsters．Despite what traditional writers such as myself would deem to be missing in the book，these young people are only seventeen years old and have great prospects．Mr．Mo Yan，who has always been very concerned with the growth of young people，was glad to inscribe the title of this book，to reward the courage and talent of these fearless young Chinese people．Some literary critics have also noticed the amazing innovative ability of young people born after the year 2000，pointing out that the annotations，the knowledge they cover，the broad vision they embody，and the artistic conception they create，make it difficult to imagine that they came from the hands of seventeen-year-old high school students.

Later I realized that when he was planning this collection of poems，the greatest influence came from Dictionary of the Khazars．This is the masterpiece of Serbian writer，Milorad Pavich，who blends epic and legend in his work and thus gives it a devil’s temperament．During the spring，whenever Xiao Gong went out to dinner with his mother，he always took the book with him.

Just like a month or two ago，he fell in love with Wittgenstein，a philosopher whom Bertrand Russell called “the perfect example of a genius”，and always had a thick biography written by a Stanford professor at dinner．As a child who loves books，even though there is not much spare time for him to read at mealtimes，he still does not want to be separated from books.

I used to make fun of his idols who followed him to the Haidilao hot-pot restaurant，to the Weishang Xiaoguan to eat fermented trout，to a small restaurant near our house to eat fried mushrooms，to taste the flavours enjoyed by people of the twenty-first century．The copy of Machiavelli’s The Prince he brought with him when he recently visited me in Hong Kong must have been moistened by the humid sea air at the Sai Kung Pier．I thank my child for extending my horizons to an unparalleled far-reaching world．In his wake，the young literary woman who transcribed a whole poem by the nameless lake re-entered the great hall of literature．Literature and books represent a far-reaching world，a wider horizon from which the voices of generations can be retraced．The most precious and rich ideas in human history can penetrate daily life.