In 2004, Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House published a book, which achieved great success and caused great controversy.
This book has been in the top ten of the best-seller list of literary books for 6 consecutive years, won dozens of awards of various kinds, republished more than 160 times in China, published thousands of research papers on various platforms, and in 2008, withdrew from the "Mao Dun Literature Award", was adapted into a movie in 15 years, and was selected into the "New China 70 Years 70 Novel Collection" in 19 years...
At the same time, the book also received a lot of negative reviews, which was defined by some readers as promoting "fascism of the weak and the strong", and was attacked as "black and white racial determinism, which greatly ugly and lashed out at the agrarian peoples". This book is the Wolf Totem, which has been hailed as "the only 'ancient book' in the world to depict and study the Mongolian steppe wolf so far."
"Wolf Totem" is a work of fiction by Jiang Rong.
Jiang Rong, born in 1946. At the age of 21, he volunteered to go to the Xilin Gol grassland in Inner Mongolia to work as a young man. At that time, the grassland he had planted was only a grassland close to the border, because it was included in the military restricted area, and it was not allowed to reclaim grazing, but it was not destroyed. This book is based on what he saw, heard, and felt in the grassland at that time, using some artistic creation techniques, fictional beautification.
During his time in the Inner Mongolian grassland, Chen Zhen came into contact with the steppe wolf and was instantly attracted by the steppe wolf's bravery, strong patience, organization and unity spirit. In contact with the old man of the steppe, Chen Jin learned that in the eyes of the steppe people, the steppe wolf was a kind of god-like existence, and they were believed to be creatures sent by Tengger to guard the entire grassland and maintain the balance of the grassland. Not only that, but the steppe people were willing to sacrifice themselves to the wolf after death, and regarded it as a supreme honor. This concept greatly subverted Chen Jin's previous understanding of wolves and aroused his interest in understanding wolves, so in the process of picking up wolf cubs, he secretly raised a small wolf, hoping to use it as an opportunity to study wolves, but he did not think that such a move brought a very tragic end to the little wolf. At the same time, the addition of some cadres in agricultural areas is gradually changing the inherent ecology of this land, and they have begun to hunt wolves on a large scale, drive away wolves, and transform the grasslands with their own will... All kinds of assertive behaviors are devouring this land little by little.
In 1859, someone brought 24 rabbits from England to Australia, when there were no rabbits in Australia, rabbits lacked natural enemies and bred wildly, forming a "rabbit plague" for a time, causing serious damage to the Australian ecosystem.
In 1906, in order to protect the deer herd, the Kaba Forest in the United States hunted a large number of their carnivorous predators, and subsequently, the reproduction of the deer herd increased greatly, seriously destroying the forest vegetation, resulting in a great reduction in food sources and the endangerment of the deer herd.
……
Historically, there have been countless such examples. Human beings always try to understand and transform nature in their own way, but they ignore the inherent laws of nature itself. In nature, every living thing is an inherent link in it, carrying its own unique mission, and once human beings intervene in it with their own will, arbitrarily reducing or adding a link, nature is likely to change from a "benevolent mother" to a "cold butcher".
The Wolf Totem tells exactly such a story. The grassland where Chen Jin is located was originally a place with fertile grass and harmonious coexistence between man and nature. In this grassland, the steppe people and other creatures on the grassland jointly guard a unique tacit understanding. They help each other and check each other, maintaining a delicate balance. But this balance was upset by cadres in rural areas.
In "Wolf Totem", the cadres of the agricultural area are a group of people who do not understand the rules of the grassland, they have always understood the grassland with their own will and the agricultural civilization in which they live, greedily occupying the prey of the wolf pack in order to curb famine, and when the wolf pack has to carry out a retaliatory attack due to hunger, they carry out more fierce revenge on the wolf pack and kill the wolf pack.
What would become of the grassland without wolves, it is conceivable that the yellow sheep and pika lack natural enemies, rampage growth, and trample on the grassland madly, followed by the destruction of the grassland, the lack of food sources for cattle and sheep raised, the survival rate is greatly reduced, the grassland horses lose their threat, the inertia increases, and the quality drops sharply... In the end, the grassland lost the turf that protected it, and the yellow sand filled the sky... And this is the unacceptable ending in "Wolf Totem".
In The Age of Mass Extinction, Elizabeth Colbert mentions that humanity may be facing the "Sixth Age of Mass Extinction," an amphibian that disappears from nature every thousand years at the rate of the past, and that today, this disappearance is accelerating exponentially. But now it seems that the disappearance of species and the loss of species diversity are no longer the most worthy of discussion of ecological topics, and when the disappearance of species brings about the imbalance of the entire ecology, it is the problem that is most worthy of human fear. This is not only the tragedy of the Wolf Totem, nor the tragedy of the steppe, but the tragedy that we humans are experiencing together and must face. Land desertification, sea level rise, the frequent occurrence of various plague diseases... Maybe it is a certain behavior, or maybe it is some behavior, unconsciously, human beings have touched the bottom line of nature, breaking the balance of nature, and "ecological cancer" is devouring this land, expelling or even destroying human beings.
This is dangerous for humans, but it may not be for nature, as nature says in "Nature Speaks": "Your actions determine your destiny, not mine." I am nature and I will continue to exist. I'm evolving all the time. And you guys? How we should avoid such a tragedy is precisely the subject that Jiang Rong reminded people of in "Wolf Totem".
Located in the eastern and central part of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the Xilin Gol Grassland is one of China's 'Four Great Grasslands', which is not only one of the birthplaces of the Mongols, but also the starting point for Genghis Khan to lead his army and descendants to the Central Plains and even the world.
The historical evaluation of Genghis Khan is mixed, he is considered a great success in human history, leading a brave and warlike Mongol army, marching into the Central Plains and breaking into the world. The world he conquered is considered to be the largest map of China in history. The people he led were judged to be "the most powerful peoples in early Asia."
Why was Genghis Khan able to achieve such an achievement? Former Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru said in his book How to Treat World History: "The Mongols achieved such a great victory on the battlefield, not because of the large number of soldiers and horses, but by strict discipline, institutions and viable organization." It can also be said that those brilliant achievements came from the art of conducting by Genghis Khan. "So where did his art of conducting come from?" Is it gifted or is it nourished by a steppe civilization? In "Wolf Totem", Jiang Rong seems to attribute it to the latter.
"Wolf Totem" is a rare book about wolves in the history of literature, and it is also a rare book about grassland civilization, Jiang Rong combines his understanding of steppe wolves with grassland civilization, presenting us with a vast spiritual world.
The reason why the steppe wolf is loved by herders is not only because it protects all creatures in the grassland, but also because it has a very strong fighting spirit and amazing tactical strategy.
Chen Zhen first became addicted to wolves because in many confrontations with wolves and side understanding, he learned that wolves are a group that is very good at using combat strategies. For example, when hunting yellow sheep, they have strong organization and patience, know how to use the time and place, see the opportunity, drive the yellow sheep into the snow shell "snow burial"; in addition, the wolves attach great importance to unity, their unity is not only reflected in team combat, but also in the care of the old, weak, sick and disabled. Wolves usually hunt on a large scale every winter, and in the cold weather in winter, ice and snow will become a natural freezer to keep food fresh and save a full meal for next spring. But in the hot summer when food is perishable, wolves will occasionally hunt more food, which they will not eat immediately, but will be reserved for the old, sick and disabled wolves in those groups, so that they will not starve to death because they cannot hunt. It is precisely because the wolves think of each other and report to each other that a great cohesion has been created. This is also believed to be the reason for Genghis Khan's victory.
Steppe wolves have a strong sense of freedom and indomitability. In order to be able to get closer to the steppe wolf and study the steppe wolf more deeply, Chen Jin kept a selfish heart in the wolf cub removal operation and raised a small wolf behind his back. As the little wolf grew up day by day, the wolf nature of the body became more and more obvious, first it began to show great dissatisfaction with the breeding, admiring and longing for freedom, and then showed a strong indomitable spirit, resolutely refusing to obey the arrangements of humans and unwilling to leave its own grassland. So in one migration, it adopted a suicidal resistance model, was dragged behind the team, and finally injured its own neck due to resistance, and died. This indomitable spirit of pursuing freedom deeply shocked Chen Jin, and also buried the yearning and reverence for the steppe wolf and the grassland spirit in the hearts of many readers.
In the book "Wolf Totem", the ecological issues involved, as well as the issue of wolf nature, are the value of the book, and at the same time, the biggest controversy of the book. Whether Jiang Rong advocates grassland civilization and demeans agricultural civilization is not discussed for the time being, from the perspective of the problem itself, whether it is ecology or national spirit, it is exactly the problem that we urgently need to pay attention to. The corruption of ecology and the corruption of the national spirit are the most dangerous viruses for a country, if we can temporarily put aside the identity of Han or Mongolians, simply read the stories in the book, and get a little vigilance from it, which will be used to save ourselves or society or nature, presumably the value of this book lies.