Members of the Jury for February 2022:
Han Haoyue Zhang Jiahong
Column host: Shen Jiequn
"Ten Years of Liangzhuang"
Judges' Comments:
"Ten Years of Liang Zhuang" is the latest in a series of books written by Liang Hong's hometown, which recounts the story of many people who have gone away from home, including herself, and once again fallen into their hometown. Yisheng built a four-story villa in Liangzhuang that was visited as a scenic spot, Qinghui lent his grandmother the opportunity to hold a funeral and built a two-story small building on his homestead, the bolt returned to the village to take on the burden of the village party secretary, and Liang An cured depression in his hometown... The mere use of "rich and noble do not return to their hometowns like brocade night walking" cannot explain the motivation of the Liangzhuang people to return to their hometowns, and in this village composed of new buildings and old houses, there is also an emotional logic that has never been broken by external changes, which is a sweet secret that belongs to the entire village. Liang Hong found an irreplaceable angle in his search for a new form of Liang Zhuang — becoming Liang Zhuang's daughter again. This firm posture also determines that the countryside that Liang Hong is talking about is no longer so shaky. As an author, Liang Hong has become one of Liang Zhuang's thickest footnotes.
"Should Know hometown affairs: a picture of China's countryside through the eyes of returnees"
"When a king comes from his hometown, he should know the affairs of his hometown", Wang Wei's poem, in the distance between his hometown and the distant travelers, has a special meaning today, returning to his hometown, knowing and discovering his hometown, not only becoming a cultural person, but also becoming a cultural consciousness of people from all walks of life. The articles included in the book "Should Know Hometown Affairs - The Picture of Chinese Countryside in the Eyes of Returnees" are written by writers from all walks of life, including media people, college teachers, college students, workers, farmers, etc., reflecting the face of China's contemporary countryside from various perspectives, revealing the beauty of the hometown and various problems in rural construction, and is a collection of works that write about hometown affairs and lyrical hometown feelings in a non-fiction way. It is also the result of a collective writing movement for the homeland in the era of social media.
"Cooking Smoke Rises by the River"
Fu Fei's prose creation in recent years has always revolved around his hometown, with the great ideal of writing the "hundred-year history" of the village where he was born and raised, and he tried his best to leave a written sketch for his hometown. Fu Fei's work aims to look back at his hometown, go deep into reality, and compose the spiritual history of small people in the countryside. There are often emotional whirlpools in smooth narratives, and there is no lack of tragedy and warmth in calm China. As a walker and observer who wanders around his homeland every day, the author is immersed in the grass and tree world and human sophistication of his hometown. Most of the chapters in this book are fan-style writing of "multi-line narrative and multi-character structure", thus getting rid of the monotony of traditional narrative and the emptiness of lyrical prose, and outlining the sadness and joy of the fate of rural characters in large time and space.
"My Mother Is Younger Than Me"
Parents are there, no matter how far the child goes, there is still a hometown, and when the parents die, the child may have the courage to write the hometown - this is the consensus of most writers engaged in "hometown writing", media person Xu Hanxiong can have the courage to lift the pen, in the book "Mother is younger than me", sincerely face the parents and themselves, calmly show wounds and tears, very rare. Relieving the inner dilemma is probably the author's motivation for writing, seeking empathy is his original intention to obtain emotional strength, and leaving a text about family affection and hometown for peers and young people to read is the common desire of all people engaged in "hometown writing".
A Hundred Years of Home Country: The Story of the Tang Family
This is the first time that the century-old legend of the Tang family in Guanyang, Guangxi, has been published, and the author takes this opportunity to look back at a family fate that is closely related to China's modern history. Tang Jingsong fought in the Sino-French War, and the lone soldiers of Jia Wu baotai wept blood; Tang Jingcheng accompanied Tang Jingsong in resisting the law and defending Taiwan, and then involved in the Penghu Reform Law and the Xinhai Revolution; Tang Chaohuan participated in the Northern Expedition and the Nanning Defense War, and helped the liberation of Nanning in 1949; Tang Jingcheng's current teacher Chengtao Xingzhi prepared for the establishment of the predecessor of Guangxi Normal University. Trace the trajectory of their lives and string together a family history of the intestines. For the author, this time writing is also his spiritual homecoming.
"113 Wukang Road - Into Barkin's Home"
This book takes the former residence of Ba Jin at No. 113 Wukang Road in Shanghai as the narration object, and intuitively and clearly presents Ba Jin's literary achievements and life deeds with concise and vivid language, exquisite and delicate pictures. In particular, the family life behind him and the related texts of his wife Xiao Shan make this book have temperature and pyrotechnics. Readers stroll through it, such as meeting with Barkin to talk about the bits and pieces of life, but also explore the spiritual source of "Home", "Cold Night" and "Caprice" into books.
The Rhyming Family: Multiple Faces of China's Peasant Family Order in Transition
Through the investigation and investigation in the village, the author excavates the life logic and family mechanism hidden in the daily life of the countryside, and uses a large number of first-hand materials as the basis to sort out the transformation of the family order of Chinese peasants in the transition period. This book focuses on specific phenomena in the family field, such as marriage patterns, intergenerational relations, pension problems, etc., and extends to villages, markets and other fields, analyzing the rich and subtle linkage relationship between each other. The fluid family is both a product of the transformation of society from tradition to modernity and a witness to its development and change.
The Great Equilibrium: Historical Judgments and Institutional Considerations on Entering the City and Returning home
In this book, the author conducts a comprehensive historical judgment and institutional thinking around the urgent social issue of whether contemporary farmers are willing to return to their hometowns, whether they can return to their hometowns, and how to return to their hometowns. The author also extends the historical proposition of "going to the city and returning to the hometown", and conducts three-dimensional and in-depth field observation and academic interpretation of social hot issues such as the land system, urbanization path, and the gap between rich and poor in China's current society.
Taste of the World
"Taste of the World" is loaded with the author's nostalgia that is too thick to be dispelled. Because it is dense, every time I meet a reader, the book will "even" some to others. Slowly and evenly as if slowly speaking, this makes this sorrow have the affinity of telling. Following Xiao Yu's brushstrokes, while tasting all kinds of sour, sweet, spicy and salty tastes, it was as if he had taken a trip to the northeast and witnessed the twists and turns of the fate of many families in the small town of northeast China. Another reason why this book is quite heavy after reading is that after combing through the food and outlining people's hearts, there is also the excavation of regional temperament.
Fat Dreams
Based on "Fularki", the novelist Alang wrote the story that took place in his hometown with 5 novellas. There are stoic and violent characters in the book, there are tenacious and powerful survival postures, there are pain, torn family scars... With a silent brushstroke, the author places himself in the story, and with the role of a calm bystander, he recalls, stitches and displays the fragments of the past. Through this book, readers can see the hometown of others, but also think of their own hometown, from the character and fate of the characters in the book, think of the common encounters of generations of people who have gone away from home.
Source: China Youth Daily client