“A bosom friend afar brings a distant land near” ——The real friendship between two eighties gentleman separated by vast oceans（Ⅱ）“海内存知己，天涯若比邻”——远隔重洋的两位耄耋老者的神交（二）

[Confucius Institute at the University of Latvia, Correspondent: Tang Jing Photographs: Tang Jing, Mr. Shang Quanyu]

A letter spans time and space, connecting two wise men

        Professor Pēteris Pildegovičs, the director of Latvia side of Confucius Institute at the University of Latvia, received a distant letter in 2018. The sender was Mr. Zheng Hongxun, who was far away in Mianyang City, Sichuan Province, China. 80-year-old Mr. Zheng at the time, wrote sincerely in the letter, “Please teach me Latvian language” and told the story behind his learning of Latvian language. 84-year-oldProfessor Pēteris Pildegovičs at the time, was very moved after reading letter, then the friendship between these two old gentlemen started thousands of miles apart.

In April 1957, 22-year-old Mr. Zheng bought a Chinese translation of the Soviet novel “Towards a New Shore”, which described the life of a Latvian family. He was deeply moved after reading it, so he developed the desire to learn Latvian language and began to study the three Baltic languages, including Latvian language by himself for a long time. However, he has been hampered by the lack of suitable teaching textbooks. It was not until 2018 that the 84-year-old Mr. Zheng finally found the <Chinese Latvian Dictionary> wrote by Professor Pēteris Pildegovičs, which he regarded as the first official “textbook” for learning Latvian. After reading the postscript of the dictionary, Mr. Zheng carefully copied the postscript of the dictionary in Latvian and wrote a letter full of sincere emotions, expressing his sincere gratitude to Professor Pēteris Pildegovičs for his years of dedication to studying Chinese and his hard work for writing this dictionary. He sincerely hoped that Professor Pēteris Pildegovičs can accept him as an “old student” and help him learn Latvian language. He also said: “You are working hard to learn Chinese, and I will also work hard to learn Latvian and strive to master it.” The handwritten letter is neatly written and full of affection, expressing the pursuit of knowledge and respect for culture by an old gentleman who is sincerely studying, yearning for civilization, and desire for peace.

           Professor Pēteris Pildegovičs was deeply moved after reading the letter. He was not only grateful to Mr. Zheng for recognizing his cultural contribution, but also felt that he had such a close “friend”, a person who had such a deep interest and willingness to learn about the culture and language from a distant country, which is really rare.

As fate promised, the true face of Mr. Zheng appeared

        Since receiving that letter from Mr. Zheng Hongxun in 2018, Professor Shang Quanyu, the Director of Chinese side of the Confucius Institute at the University of Latvia, has tried every means in the past few years to contact Mr. Zheng through international Chinese teachers from all over China. However, it had not been achieved because the journey is long and the time has passed. Until 2022, Tang Jing, a Latvian Chinese teacher volunteer who is from Mianyang City, Sichuan Province was moved by the story of two octogenarians separated by an ocean and determined to help Professor Pēteris Pildegovičs find this studious Chinese confidant. and send him good news so that his hope would not be disappointed. In April 2023, with the great help of her families, Tang Jing finally found Mr. Zheng Hongxun! Through remote video, Tang Jing could see Mr. Zheng’s true face. Tang Jing conveyed to him good news that the letter he sent in 2018 had been received by Professor Pēteris Pildegovičs. Mr. Zheng burst into tears with gratitude. He said, “I have contributed to many Confucius Institutes and teaching institutions of the Baltic, I wrote letters saying that I wanted to learn the languages of three Baltic countries, but I didn’t get a reply. I really didn’t expect you to come to see me. Thank you very much. My heart finally found its way.” Across the phone screen, Mr. Zheng’s hands were trembling. As he told the sad story of learning Latvian language, he secretly wiped his tears with his sleeves and continued to express his heartfelt gratitude.

        After talking to Mr. Zheng, Tang Jing could not calm down for a long time, and then told Mr. Shang Quanyu the good news. Mr. Shang was very happy after hearing this and immediately suggested, “Before you return to China in the summer, we ask Professor Pēteris Pildegovičs to give Mr. Zheng gifts : <Chinese Latvian Dictionary> and <Selected Translations of Tang Poems> and asked Professor Pēteris Pildegovičs to autograph it, then you bring it to Mr. Zheng, so that he would be very happy!” In August this year, Teacher Tang returned to his hometown Mianyang, lived up to expectations, she brought the books to Mr. Zheng, which made him overjoyed. He said, “In order to learn Russian, I spent more than 300 yuan to buy a dictionary. It is not easy to compile a dictionary and it is even more difficult to compile such a heavy <Chinese Latvian Dictionary>. I am very interested in it, Professor ēteris Pildegovičs is full of respect.” Coincidentally, Mr. Zheng also gave Mr. Pēteris Pildegovičs a book, which happened to be “Appreciation of All Tang Poems”, which coincided with Mr. Pēteris Pildegovičs’s new book <Selected Translations of Tang Poems> . In addition, although Mr. Zheng is nearly 90 years old, he is full of energy and has been hand-crocheting for more than 60 years. He even presented Professor Pēteris Pildegovičs with two pieces of exquisite handmade fabrics. The passers-by who were watching learned about this touching story said one after another: “These two old people are really amazing!”

Crossing thousands of miles to exchange wisdom, books are the link to continue friendship.

        In September, Teacher Tang returned to Latvia to continue teaching Chinese. At this time, there was a heavy <Appreciation of All Tang Poems> in her suitcase. On September 22, this gifted book finally in the hands of Professor Pēteris Pildegovičs. Prof. Shang Quanyu, Professor He Dong, the newly appointed Director of Chinese side of the Confucius Institute at the University of Latvia and Ms. Anastasija Galkina, the secretary of the Confucius Institute at the University of Latvia, witnessed this touching scene together. Professor Pēteris Pildegovičs beamed with joy and couldn’t put it down for the handmade products presented by Mr. Zheng and expressed his sincere gratitude to Tang Jing.

        Professor Pēteris Pildegovičs is 85 years old this year and Mr. Zheng Hongxun is nearly 90 years old. Even though they are no longer young, they still remain ambitious. At this point, the mutual affection between these two elderly men continues. The story of these two old gentlemen conveys the never-ending spirit of learning and the deep friendship that the people of Chinese and Latvian cherish for each other, inspiring us younger generations to continue to pursue knowledge and dedicate our youth to the cause of cultural exchanges between China and Latvia and the cause of world peace.

“海内存知己，天涯若比邻”——远隔重洋的两位耄耋老者的神交（二）

【拉大孔院讯 通讯员：唐静 摄影：唐静、尚劝余】

一封书信跨越时空，连接两位智者

       拉脱维亚大学孔子学院外方院长贝德高教授在2018年收到了一封遥远的书信，寄信者是一位远在中国四川省绵阳市的、时年84岁的老先生，郑洪勋。郑先生在信中真诚地写到“请教我拉脱维亚语”，并讲述了他学习拉脱维亚语背后的故事。彼时80岁的贝德高教授阅信后十分感动，两位老先生相隔万里的情谊自此展开。

       1957年4月，22岁的郑先生买到了一本中译本的苏联小说《走向新岸》，书中描述了一家拉脱维亚人的生活。他读后深受感动，于是产生了学习拉脱维亚语的愿望，开始长时间自学包括拉脱维亚语在内的波罗的海三国语言。然而，他一直受困于没有合适的教材。直到2018年，年届84岁的郑先生终于找到了贝德高教授创作的《汉语拉脱维亚语大词典》，他把这作为学习拉脱维亚语的第一本正式“教科书”。阅读词典后记后，郑老先生用拉脱维亚语认真抄写了词典的后记，并写下了一封充满真挚情感的信，表达了对贝教授的衷心感谢，感谢他多年来致力于研究汉语，并辛苦编写这本词典。他真诚地希望贝教授能够接受他这位“老学生”，帮助他学习拉脱维亚语。他还表示：“您在努力学习汉语，我也会努力学习拉脱维亚语，力争掌握它。”手写信字迹工整，充满深情，表达了一位真心求学的老先生对知识的追求、对文化的尊重、对文明的向往，以及对和平的渴望。

       贝德高教授阅信后深受感动，他不仅感激郑先生对他的文化贡献的认可，还感受到有这样一位知音，一个对遥远国度的文化和语言有如此深切兴趣和学习意愿的人实属难得。

缘分如约而至，得见郑先生真容

       自2018年收到郑洪勋老先生的来信后，拉脱维亚大学孔子学院中方院长尚劝余教授在几年间想尽办法，想要通过来自中国天南海北的国际中文教师们联系郑先生，但都因路途遥远、时隔久远而作罢。直到2022年，来自四川省绵阳市的拉脱维亚汉语教师志愿者唐静为两位远隔重洋的耄耋老人的故事而动容，下定决心要帮贝德高教授找到这位好学的中国知音，送去远方的消息，不让他的希望落空。2023年4月，在家人的大力帮助下，唐静终于找到了郑洪勋先生！通过远程视频，唐静向他传递了当年寄信已被贝教授收到的好消息，郑先生激动不已。他说，“我给波罗的海好多孔子学院和教学机构都写过信，我想学习波罗的海三国的语言，但都没有得到回复，我真的没想到你们能来找我，十分感谢你们，我的心里现在终于有了着落。”隔着屏幕，郑老先生织毛线的手在颤抖，一边讲述他学习拉脱维亚语的艰难故事，一边偷偷用衣袖拭泪，还不断表达着发自内心的感激之情。

       和郑先生通话后，唐静久久不能平静，随即将这一好消息告诉了尚劝余院长，尚院长听后大为欣喜，立即提议“你暑期回国前我们请贝德高教授赠送给郑先生《汉拉辞典》和《唐诗选译》，并请他亲笔签名，给郑先生带去，让老先生高兴高兴！”今年8月，回到家乡绵阳的唐老师不负众望为郑老先生带去了赠书，郑先生的喜悦溢于言表，他说，“编词典不简单，编一本如此厚重的《汉拉词典》更不简单，我对贝教授充满了尊敬之情”。巧合的是，郑爷爷当即也送给贝爷爷一本书，恰好是《全唐诗赏析》，这与贝爷爷赠送的新书《唐诗选译》不谋而合。另外，郑爷爷虽已近90高龄，但富有精气神，手工钩花60多年，更赠送给贝教授两条精致的手工织品。围观的路人得知了这个感人的故事，纷纷说到：“两位老人家真了不起！”

跨越千里互赠智慧，书为纽带，续写友情

       9月，唐老师返回拉脱维亚继续汉语教学，此时，行李箱中沉甸甸装着厚厚的《全唐诗赏析》。9月22日，这本赠书终于捧在了贝德高教授的手上。在场的尚劝余院长、新到任的何东院长以及学院的秘书高安娜共同见证了赠书的感人一幕。贝德高教授喜笑颜开，对郑先生赠送的手工制品爱不释手，并对唐静老师表达了真挚的感谢。

       贝德高教授今年85岁，郑洪勋先生已年近90岁，虽已是仗朝之年，却不改老骥伏枥之心；纵不复青春年华，仍不移壮心不已之志。至此，两位耄耋老人的心心相惜仍在延续，两位老先生的故事传达了永不止步的学习精神和中拉人民相互珍惜的深情厚谊，激励着我们这些后辈不断追求知识，为中拉文化交流和世界和平事业奉献青春。