Xia Min is a member of the Chinese Writers Association and the current chairman of the Zhaotong Writers Association. He has published more than 2 million words of short stories in journals such as "Contemporary", "October", "People's Literature", "Chinese Writers" and other journals, and his works have been selected by "Selected Novels", "Novel Monthly", "Novella Anthology", "Lu Xun Literature Award Works Collection", "New Century Award-winning Novels Collection" and other books and periodicals. Won the third Lu Xun Literature Award, and the film "Good Big Pair of Sheep" based on the novel of the same name won awards in France, the United States and Canada. He has published 10 literary albums, including the novels "Polar Border City" and "The Ancient Town of Two Women", as well as a collection of essays and short stories. His works have been translated into English and Korean and distributed abroad.
To write about any industry is to write about people
Summer Min
"Hazy Moonlight" is a difficult novel to write, and the reason why it is difficult to write is the theme. This is an unlikable novel, the theme of urban management, very few people have written, the reason is that this kind of theme is difficult to grasp, write urban management well, many people will not agree, because in life there are indeed some uncivilized law enforcement of urban management, they work simple and rude, impatient, the small traders who set up stalls in violation of the law, often set up stalls, confiscate tools. Writing a negative image of chengguan is not completely in line with the reality of life, but also adds trouble to the editor. This kind of theme is not well grasped, and it is difficult to write about.
Chengguan and traders are a pair of contradictory unity. Without markets, there would be no chengguan without traders; without chengguan, there would be no order in cities and markets, and cities would fall into chaos, filth, and disorder. Traders are the complements of urban life, imagine that without vendors and markets, the city can still be maintained? They get up early in the morning, get up in the dark, the sun and rain, and provide a variety of services for the citizens of the city, such as slaughtering chickens and ducks, barbers and sharpening knives, selling various snacks, selling a variety of daily necessities... Especially those who sell fruits and vegetables, without them, it is rare to eat fresh fruits and vegetables with water spirits. They play an important role in regulating urban life. All kinds of small traders are basically people at the bottom of society, they have no formal occupation, some families rely on a stall or a tricycle to survive, often there are old and young, but also for children to go to school, life is indeed hard enough.
Speaking of urban management, urban management also has the difficulties of urban management, and there are many departments above the urban management that manage them, and the urban management bureau that is directly managed, as well as the deputy district chief in charge, and even the district chief and mayor will ask questions. They have to keep the city tidy, clean, and orderly, and not allow for clutter. They patrol the streets all day long, dealing with all kinds of people, grinding their lips, losing their temper, hiding from small vendors, fighting guerrillas, and being supervised by citizens and criticized by their superiors.
How to write such a subject matter, quite hesitant, not good on both sides, this is the subject matter that bothers me the most in my creative career. After thinking about it for a long time, I finally decided to write about people, so that people can fully display people's kindness, justice, right and wrong, entanglement, contradictions and pain in the context of urban management, whether it is urban management team members or all kinds of small vendors, they are all people, they are all human attributes, loyal, kind, cunning, weak, strong, in the specific personnel will be fully interpreted and displayed. In this way, chengguan is no longer an abstract concept, no longer a symbol, their joys and sorrows, their pride and inferiority, their assertion and convergence, their entanglements and contradictions, in a word, the chengguan is reduced to a living person, so that people can peek into the vivid and vivid image of chengguan.
("Hazy Night", novella, author: Xia Min, originally published in Qingming, No. 2, 2022, responsible editor: Xu Hanzhang)
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Producer: Liu Yunjia