Yan Geling is a prolific writer, almost every year there are new books launched, old works are always reprinted, coupled with her novels have been made into film and television dramas one after another, saying that she is the most active writer in the contemporary literary world, the most read person, even if inaccurate, it is almost the same.
Recently, Yan Geling has a book republished, in which a 36-year-old single divorced high school female teacher had a "secret and fierce unrequited love" with two fancy teenagers, which made many people who read her novel call "ruin the three views"... In fact, although Yan Geling wrote about the love between teachers and students on campus, in fact, what she really wanted to criticize through this novel was the college entrance examination. This novel, cloaked in "dog blood," explores serious content, called—
"The Teacher Is Beautiful"
Author: Yan Geling
Publisher: Tianjin People's Publishing House
Subtitle: 2016 New Revisions
Publication year: 2016-8
Number of pages: 328
Binding: Paperback
ISBN: 9787201105239
Writing about the old Shanghai of the Republic of China, Yan Geling is extremely good at it, but her gaze is not only betting on her personal fate in the modern century, but also staring at the present at any time. This book "Teachers Are Beautiful" is Yan Geling's observation and reflection on Chinese education, especially the college entrance examination system.
The story of the novel is based on the real murder case that occurred at a key high school in a chinese province eight years ago. On the afternoon of April 29, Liu Chang, a third (1) student in the second high school, killed him with a Western-style kitchen knife at the home of his classmate Shao Tianyi, the day after Liu Chang turned 18. It is rumored on the Internet that Ding Jiaxin, a female teacher of the Second Middle School, is related to this murder.
This story was heard by Yan Geling from her good friend, director Jiang Wen, and in addition to being shocked, she became interested in the relationship between the three people in the case, especially the female teacher in the story. She even confessed that she had great sympathy for the female teacher.
It may be because of the flood of sympathy, many readers feel that Yan Geling's female teacher is a bit "Mary Sue", and the female teacher who usually tries every means to prevent students from falling in love in people's minds actually has lust for students, and it is no wonder that readers feel that this book "destroys the three views".
But for the love of the special period of the campus in the third year of high school, Yan Geling has different ideas, in her opinion, high school students are facing great pressure near the college entrance examination, and may only love can soothe their mood:
Falling in love is a kind of pressure, a high degree of emotional cohesion, especially this deformity, I think it is possible to make them scatter, that is, to distract (divert attention) from a highly stressful life.
Cover of the first edition of "Teacher So Beautiful" in 2012
Although readers most discuss this novel as "teachers and students are not in love", Yan Geling has said many times that her original intention in writing was to pay attention to and criticize the college entrance examination:
I have come to criticize such a social phenomenon as the college entrance examination, and this book is a critique of social culture. If it were not for such a college entrance examination life, there might not have been such a tragedy, and in 2007 and 2008, our country's economy was still in the process of taking off, (parents) were very busy, these two children just lacked maternal love, so what they sought in the teacher was a multiple image, a teacher, a lover, a virtuous wife, and a mother.
Comparing the educational differences between China and some developed countries, Yan Geling expressed her thoughts through "Teachers Are Beautiful":
Because the West is highly rational, especially the American, who believes that anything can be taught to you through how to work, in fact it's all garbage, a lot of it is misleading. I think that although our current mother has been participate (involved) in the life of her child, she does not communicate with many things psychologically. For example, in "The Teacher Is Beautiful", it is also written that the parents (for his convenience in going to school) have moved to the side of the school, but he has never reflected on the whole education (way), so hard to force the child, the child hates the mother.
As Yan Geling said, people always want children to emphasize how difficult it is for parents, but few people think about how difficult it is for children, "He has this kind of hormonal torture, he wants to fall in love." You think, when people reach the age of 14, it is very natural for a love affair like Baoyu and Daiyu to occur. It is rare to think that no one should conform to them or how to channel their hormones. ”
Finally, another gossip. In order to write this "Teacher is So Beautiful", Yan Geling once went "undercover" in Beijing 161 Middle School under the introduction of Jiang Wen, but she did not expect that the director of education recognized her at a glance. Later, after several twists and turns, she visited about five middle schools before she began to write.
Teacher Yan Geling, no wonder you failed to "go undercover", who made you so famous? Not only famous, but also so beautiful?