Transferred from Sherlock Holmes Detective Club
Zhang Ce: Vice Chairman of the All-China Federation of Public Security Literature and Literature, famous writer
The magnificent picture of the public security struggle begins with Wang Zhonggang's long reportage "The Hour Has Arrived"
In 1983, Mr. Zhang Guangnian, then vice chairman of the China Writers Association, said the following at an award ceremony: "I once gleefully declared that due to the joint efforts of China's reportage writers, in recent years, this vivid and lively literary variety of reportage literature has been transformed from a vassal into a great power." The time is advanced to 2021, the famous reportage writer and critic Mr. Li Bingyin, when recalling Mr. Zhang's words at that time, also pointed out with great confidence and pride: "The performance of reportage telling the wonderful story of real China, the broad theme of the development, the passionate embrace, the serious thinking, etc., have reached almost every field of social life, it is really difficult to fully describe, and its wave situation is rare in the world." This 'great power' situation makes reportage almost ubiquitous."
Looking at the development of reportage over the past few decades, it can be seen that the evaluation of the two gentlemen is very accurate. The status and role of reportage in the Chinese literary scene have been paid more and more attention, and the creation, research and criticism of reportage have become more and more active. My personal view is that the great progress of reportage literature is a literary phenomenon brought about by the vigorous development of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, which has been spawned by the rapid changes in China over the past few decades and inspired by the great fighting spirit of the Chinese people. Our review and research on reportage cannot be separated from this great era background.
From this, we can also review and observe the development of public security reportage on this basis, especially the development process of long-form public security theme reportage, which is the same frequency resonance with the overall development of Chinese reportage. With its highly realistic subject matter advantages, high-spirited creative tone and abundant and touching emotional flow, public security theme reportage has always had a large number of fans among readers and played an important inspiring role. Moreover, the unique divinity of the public security theme makes it more unique artistic charm.
In my impression, Mr. Zhang Zhimin's "The Case of Zhao Quanyi" is probably the pioneering work of long-form reportage on public security themes after the founding of New China. This excellent work of reportage tells in detail the process of cracking the case of impersonating Premier Zhou's signature fraud of 200,000 yuan that caused a sensation in the country at that time, so that the vast number of readers were alert to the fraud crime and sincerely admired the wit and bravery of our public security personnel. In the more than forty years since the reform and opening up, the development of long-form reportage on public security themes has been even more rapid. Especially in recent years, good works have been frequently produced. For example, Dong Preservation and Ding Yihe's "Operation To Clear the Net", Li Di's "The Story of Dandong Detention Center" and "The Age of Heroes", Jiang Wei's "Shield of the Nation", Hu Jie's "Secret War in Western China", Zijin's "The Great Wall of Weeping Blood", Feng Rui's "Republic Criminal Police Cui Daozhi", Xu Liqing's "Now to Forever" and so on. Among them, the famous public security writer Wang Zhonggang has continuously contributed two heavy works, "Declassifying the First Major Case of China's Railways" and "The Hour Has Arrived", which deserves our admiration. Comrade Zhonggang has a deep affection for public security work, especially railway public security work, and his creative energy is exuberant, and his exploration and practice of long-form reportage on public security themes is of great significance to the development of public security reportage.
We can analyze the text of "The Hour Has Arrived", and then further understand the creation of Comrade Zhonggang, and further sort out the characteristics of public security reportage. I think this is beneficial to the creation of public security reportage.
"The Hour Has Arrived" tells the story of the police of the Xiangyang Railway Public Security Department, perseverance, overcoming difficulties, tracking down the suspects in major homicide cases in 19 years, and finally arresting them. Such a story is destined to have elements such as tortuous processes, meticulous analysis, the unremitting efforts of several generations of policemen and the tenacity of determination and perseverance, and is a high-quality material for reportage to be expressed. Comrade Zhonggang controls such materials with ease. He has been engaged in railway public security work all his life, has served in many important positions, and has received many meritorious awards. His literary creations have never left the characters and stories of the railway police. So, this kind of ease, in "The Hour Has Arrived", in what aspects?
First of all, the emotional input lays the ideological foundation for creation.
The creation of reportage is confronted with real people or things. In fact, this determines that the creation of reportage should be the product of emotional stimulation from the beginning. If there is no strong empathy for the person or thing to be described, and the author's true feelings cannot be injected into the creation, then even if the text is gorgeous, the structure is exquisite, or the story is twisted and thrilling, it cannot resonate with the reader. It should be said that any genre of literary creation is the venting and exchange of emotions, but I think this problem is particularly important in the creation of reportage literature, because if there is no emotional investment, it will write the living people to death, and the attractive stories will be written like chewing wax, which is precisely the taboo of reportage. We have such lessons. In particular, some works that are suitable for the situation and works that are ordered often have such problems. Comrade Zhonggang is a veteran of the railway public security system, and there is no doubt that he has a close emotional connection with the deeds of his comrades-in-arms and their comrades-in-arms. His interviews and creations can be seen to be carried out entirely in a state of empathy. Whether it is the anxiety of young criminal police officers when they face the pressure of solving cases, or the nostalgia of retired old policemen for the old backlog of cases, or the joy of all criminal police officers after finally solving the case, Comrade Zhonggang has described it realistically and touchingly, giving readers a sense of immersion. Obviously, in the process of interviewing and writing, Zhonggang reached the greatest emotional tacit understanding and communication with the police handling the case.
Secondly, the telling of the story is the main expression of creative technique.
Public security theme reportage, especially long-form reportage, should be said to be inseparable from the telling of stories, so telling good stories is a test for the creation of public security theme reportage, especially long-form reportage. How to tell a complex, tortuous and intense story well is a problem that we must seriously study. There was once a misunderstanding that the public security theme material determines everything, and if a good material is written casually, it is not worried about publishing it without worrying about the sensation, and this view has lagged behind the development of public security theme reportage for a long time. Therefore, when I read public security theme reportage, I am more sensitive to the telling of stories. I feel that Comrade Zhonggang is a master at storytelling. His writing looks simple and unpretentious, but there are layers of arrangements in the unhurried. "The Hour Has Arrived", starting with the newly appointed criminal investigation detachment leader Dong Junfeng fighting against the water and taking over the case, let the reader begin to wonder what kind of case this is, and it cannot be broken for so many years, so that several generations of excellent criminal police officers are so nerve-wracking. Then go back and write the case, write about the past experience and difficulties, and then write about the current process of detection. Comrade Zhonggang's interview was very meticulous, which gave him the prerequisites and foundation for telling a good story. I think that the writing of long-form reportage on public security themes, especially the works of writing case solving, must pass the level of telling a good story when writing.
Third, the shaping of the character is the soul of the work.
Frankly speaking, the shaping of characters is a shortcoming and a weak underbelly of public security reportage literature so far, which is a problem that we have called for for many years and still solve is not ideal. This is also related to our long-term ideological misunderstanding of public security literature creation. Since everyone thinks that there is good material to publish, who still pays attention to what to shape the character, which has become the subtext of the creation of many public security authors. Objectively, the creation of public security theme reportage is often faced with a state of tight time and urgent tasks, and some factors are not influenced by the author, such as the issue of the statute of limitations, each link has a time stuck, and there is almost no time left for the author to go to in-depth interviews, let alone in-depth thinking. However, this is not a reason for us to ignore the characterization, but should remind the authors to put more effort into this issue and invest more energy. Comrade Zhonggang set an example for young writers in this regard. Looking at his "The Hour Has Arrived", whether the front or back characters, it should be said that they are vivid and distinct. Among them, I was particularly impressed by the portrayal of the negative character Liu Zhenhai, who should be said to be not a bad guy to the extreme, and there are some positive factors affected by the family, and his crime and his escape have some helpless factors. And all this, Comrade Zhonggang is reflected in the description of the words and deeds of this character. It should be said that Comrade Zhonggang adhered to an objective and fair attitude and made a meticulous and in-depth portrayal of this character.
From this, I recalled the set of documentary literature series "Documentary On the Investigation of Major Cases in the 1990s" planned by the Mass Publishing House at the beginning of this century, and I always felt that it was a set of public security reportage literature that had been underestimated so far, especially among them, such as Hu Ping's "Crime Escalation" and Yang Daojin's "Death Penalty Inevitable", which are all good works that have influenced so far. Mass publishing houses have mature experience in organizing the creation of such heavyweight works, and they also have innate organizational conditions and capabilities. Therefore, since that series of books, the Mass Society has been committed to the organization and publication of such works. These two masterpieces of Comrade Zhonggang, which the publishing house has launched with all its might, are great good deeds of immeasurable merit, whether they are for carrying forward the spirit of public security, praising public security heroes, or promoting the creation of public security literature.
In this regard, I would like to congratulate Comrade Zhonggang on the publication of his new work, and also to express my respect to the comrades of the Xiangyang Railway Public Security Department described in the book. I hope that Comrade Zhonggang's creative experience can become a precious reference for the young generation of public security writers and a powerful driving force for promoting the development and progress of public security reportage.