On the afternoon of January 11, on the banks of the Yangtze River, a special gathering added a touch of warmth to the winter day: Bi Feiyu, vice chairman of the China Writers Association, chairman of the Jiangsu Writers Association, and professor of Nanjing University, and Wang Xingguo, secretary of the party leading group of the Jiangsu Writers Association, first secretary of the Secretariat, and executive vice chairman, knocked on the door of the writer Huang Beijia.
From left to right: Bi Feiyu, Huang Beijia, Wang Xingguo
This is an important visit after the beginning of the "leader" of Jiangsu literature. In 2022, the Jiangsu literary circles carefully remember this special year - this year is the 50th year of Huang Beijia's literary writing.
"'Grandma Huang' made her debut novel in 1972, and this year marks the 50th anniversary of her 'art'. Today, I came to the door with Secretary Wang, which is to pay tribute to you on behalf of the Jiangsu literary circle and say thank you! Bi Feiyu solemnly stated his "intentions."
"Thank you, thank you!" Huang Beijia said with a smile.
Calling Huang Beijia "Grandma Huang" was originally a joke when Bi Feiyu and her friends gathered to talk, but she did not expect it to spread quickly and become an honorific title for her in the Chinese literary circles. A "Yellow Grandmother" is not only a tribute to her decades of literary perseverance, but also a sincere thanks to her for "writing great literature for children" in a child's tone.
Huang Beijia's Collection of Novels (Set of 10 Volumes)
Jiangsu Phoenix Children's Publishing House
May 2021
As Bi Feiyu puts it, many people "grew up drinking Grandma Huang's milk." Born in 1955 in Rugao, Jiangsu Province, Huang Beijia published her debut novel "Supplementary Examination" in 1972 and graduated from the Department of Chinese of Peking University in 1982. In the following decades, she has worked tirelessly and produced masterpieces, especially in children's literature, including "I want to be a good child", "Today I am a flag raiser", "5 8 years old" series of novels, "Kiss My Mother", "You are my baby", "Ai Wan's Narcissus Ball", "Yu Bao's World", "Child Eyes", "Wild Bee Flying", "Running Dai Er Niu", "Pacific, Atlantic" and so on. Huang Beijia's works have been exported to dozens of overseas copyrights, and have won many awards such as the National "Five Ones" Project Award, the National Excellent Children's Literature Award, the Chen Bochui International Children's Literature Award, the Bingxin Children's Literature Award, the Song Qingling Children's Literature Award, etc., and her works have become the spiritual landscape that has influenced generations of children.
"I've read four of your books, 'I Want to Be a Good Child,' Today I'm a Flag Raiser," "Wild Bees Flying," and 'Pacific, Atlantic'—I've read a lot." Bi Feiyu is like a "senior reader".
"You should read Children's Eyes." Huang Beijia felt that Bi Feiyu's book list did not cover her best works.
"The Pacific, the Atlantic is very good."
"It's better to write about the line during the War of Resistance."
——When evaluating her own works, Huang Beijia appears "harsh" and cautious. A few words of conversation outlined a writer's self-consciousness of "writing a thousand jun" and his adherence to the "high standard" of literature.
In fact, the mutual appreciation of Bi Feiyu and Huang Beijia has become a good story in the literary world. When Bi Feiyu "crossed over" to write about his childhood and launched "Northern Jiangsu Teenager "Don Quixote"", Huang Beijia once directly called out "The wolf is coming!" Bi Feiyu wrote "Huang Beijia in My Eyes", mentioning the impact of her works on her family: in his family, Huang Beijia's books are particularly numerous, almost the most, part of which is his own collection, Huang Beijia's adult literature, and the other part is her son's collection. Not only that, when the child's aunt watched "I want to be a good child", she saw "stunned" and suddenly came up with a sentence: "This book is written about my family." In Bi Feiyu's view, a reader who can't beat eight rods has recognized that the writer's words have invaded her heart and broken into her private territory, which is the confirmation of the vitality of the work; and like Huang Beijia, dedicating her life to the things she loves, never sitting away, and always maintaining high standards, this is a remarkable thing in itself.
Sitting in Huang Beijia's living room, Bi Feiyu once again salvaged the "first time" about Huang Beijia from the complicated memories: the first time he knew Huang Beijia's name was to read her "Story on the Elevator" in the 1980s, and bi Feiyu insisted that "today, this is a good novel". He first met Huang Beijia at a literary conference held by Yuhua magazine in the 1990s. A hot pot that Bi Feiyu hosted at a banquet on Hunan Road in Nanjing has also been "warming" Huang Beijia for more than 20 years. What impressed her most was that she was invited by Bi Feiyu to give a lecture at the Nanjing Special Education Normal School where he had worked, "I sat there and said a few words, and the students clapped once." Then Bi Feiyu said to the students that they would applaud teacher Huang after he finished speaking.
With the memories of the parties concerned, a series of small and shining literary past events gradually surfaced. What makes people feel nostalgic is not only the sympathy between the two great writers, but also the harmony and harmony of the Jiangsu literary family. "This kind of healthy body and healthy culture in jiangsu literature is really amazing!" Bi Feiyu sighed.
At present, Huang Beijia's literary ring has officially entered the "50+", but the qi pulse at the bottom of the swaying pen is still lingering. As Secretary Wang Xingguo said, Huang Beijia's creative momentum is "even stronger than that of cutting-edge writers, and even becomes the most vigorous growth point of Jiangsu's literary productivity." ”
"I used to write pretty fast, but now I write very slowly. I feel like my writing life is becoming more and more limited, and I want to enjoy it slowly. Now I am reluctant to write, only write two hours a day, enjoy the process, otherwise I will be finished all at once, and I can't push a few long stories a year, that is too 'excessive'. Huang Beijia's words were awe-inspiring. Deliberately keeping "slow", but also because of the requirements for the text in the pen, there are exquisite, "when you write down the river particularly freely, when you can write thousands of words a day, you must be vigilant, because the things written out are definitely not good." ”
It is not only a tribute to Huang Beijia's literary achievements, but also a tribute to Huang Beijia's literary attitude - this New Year's visit by the "leader" of Jiangsu literature is also the hope that the power of example can inspire the descendants of the "Soviet Army" to work hard and continue to be blue and blue.
"There is no way to talk about role models," Huang Beijia laughed, "but I can let young people see that there is such an 'old' person who still keeps writing." ”
Source: Intersection News, Jiangsu Writers Association
Video Production: Yu Bangrui
Editor: Liu Ya
Second instance: Wang Yang
Third instance: Chen Tao