Tie Ning, chairman of the China Writers Association, once said: "Xu Guangyao's name is a striking presence in the literature of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. On December 18, the "Symposium on the Publication of The Classic Edition of Xu Guangyao's "Plain Fire" and "Little Soldier Zhang Ga" was held at the People's Literature Publishing House.
Zang Yongqing, president of the People's Literature Publishing House, introduced that "Plain Fire" is the "book of opening the society" and also the "book of honor" of the Humanities Society; since the new edition of "Little Soldier Zhang Ga" was published in the Humanities Society, it has also printed nearly 70 editions (times), about one million copies, providing important support for the majority of readers, especially children and young people, to remember history and look forward to the future.
"Little Soldier Zhang Ga" is a treasure of Chinese children's literature, first published in 1961, and published in a single edition the following year. After its release, the work has been deeply loved by a wide range of readers, and has so far the total circulation of a single book has exceeded 10 million copies, and together with the film of the same name, it has influenced and inspired generations.
"Plain Fire" is the first novel to reflect the War of Resistance Against Japan, which was officially published after the founding of New China and caused great repercussions, presenting readers with a group portrait of the military and people of Jizhong fighting bravely to resist the war, showing the spirit of the military and people of Jizhong who are afraid of life and death under the atmosphere of white terror of the "May Day Sweep".
On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the first publication of "Little Soldier Zhang Ga" and the 70th anniversary of the publication of "Plain Fire" in the Humanities Society, the Humanities Society specially launched the hardcover collection editions of two works. Compared with the previous version, the two books not only added a number of texts such as Xu Laotan's creation, but also accompanied by many precious photos, and the book "Little Soldier Zhang Ga" also invited the famous oil painter Xu Chunzhong to specially draw more than ten illustrations.
Xu Guangyao once said that in literary writing, writers should not only care about their personal hearts, but also pay attention to the fate of the times and the country, reflecting the "big life".
Yan Jingming, vice chairman of the China Writers Association, said that more than 70 years later, classic and excellent literary works such as "Plain Fire" and "Little Soldier Zhang Ga" still have irreplaceable artistic charm, ideological strength, and spiritual strength, and important reasons for this are: First, to take heroes and people as protagonists; second, not only to write about the people, but also to completely integrate the author's thoughts and feelings with the people; and the third is to express them in an artistic way that the people can accept.
Xu Guangyao was born in 1925 in Xiongxian County, Hebei Province, was a 13-year-old soldier who joined the army and joined the Party in the same year, personally experienced the War of Resistance Against Japan, the War of Liberation, the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and is also a heavyweight writer in the contemporary literary world, an evergreen tree in the literary world, and began to publish works in 1947, including the novella "Plain Fire", the novella and the script of the same name "Little Soldier Zhang Ga", and the essay collection "Last Night's West Wind Withered Bi tree".
Source: China Youth Daily client