Write a big literature for children "Chen Bochui Award" and then start again

The intangible cultural heritage theme picture book "Mud Calling" won the "Chen Award" Annual Book (Picture Book) Award last year. (Photo courtesy of China News/ Dolphin Press)

According to the "China News" newspaper, the "Children's Literature Gardener Award" set up by Chen Bochui, a giant of modern children's literature in China, has developed over the past 40 years and has now become the "Chen Bochui International Children's Literature Award" for the whole world. Recently, the 34th Chen Bochui International Children's Literature Award collection was officially launched, and Xu Meiling, the person in charge of the collection and selection, introduced the changes and invariances of the new "Chen Award" - what remains unchanged is that the original intention of the "Chen Award" has not changed, and has always adhered to the concept of "writing big literature for children" advocated by Chen Bochui; The field of dissemination and promotion. Xu Meiling believes that creation, promotion and research form a complete ecosystem that helps promote the prosperity and development of children's literature.

For the first time in 41 years, the "Newcomer Award" welcomes people from all walks of life to tell stories

In 1981, Chen Bochui donated 55,000 yuan of his savings over the years to set up the "Children's Literature Gardener Award" to encourage the creation of children's literature in China. Old Shanghainese knew that at that time, this was a huge amount of money that could buy a villa in the city center.

Chen Jiaer, the son of Chen Bochui, a nuclear physicist who was once president of Peking University and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, once heard his father say that he originally wanted to use the money to run a school, but "after thinking about it again, he still felt that it was more important to develop children's literature."

Later, in 1988 and 2014, the "Children's Literature Gardener Award" was renamed "Chen Bochui Children's Literature Award" and "Chen Bochui International Children's Literature Award". This is the first children's literature award in New China named after a well-known writer, and it is also one of the longest-running literary awards in the mainland. The Song Qingling Children's Literature Award, established in 1986, and the Bingxin Children's Literature Award, established in 1990, are both more "young" than the "Chen Award".

In December 2021, the 33rd "Chen Award" was awarded in Shanghai. At the beginning of this year, the 34th "Chen Award" opened a new round of selection and collection.

According to the organizers, this year, on the basis of the original "Annual Book Award" (Note: divided into two categories: Word Award and Picture Book Award, each with 5 works) and "Special Contribution Award" (1 author), the "Chinese Newcomer Award" was newly established.

"One is the first work of young people, and the other is the first attempt of mature writers into children's literature, both of which belong to the scope of the Newcomer Award." Xu Meiling, the person in charge of this year's collection and selection, the former chairman of the Education Development Committee of the Love Reading Public Welfare Foundation, and an expert in children's book and children's reading research, introduced to this reporter that there are many writers who have "transformed" from other writing fields to children's literature, such as Leo Lionni, a well-known advertising designer in New York, "Leo Lionni, who was bored in his 50s and took his grandson on the train, bored and tore up a few pieces of paper as a character to make up a story, and later became a well-known picture book "Little Blue and Little Yellow". Later, he brought a series of outstanding works."

"Umberto Eco, the Italian writer and author of The Name of the Rose, said: 'I think in a sense every novel is my autobiography.' When you make up a character, you give him or her his or her own personal memories. So, we welcome any new creators across the field, such as architects, musicians, engineers, doctors, drivers, anyone who has a story and wants to express it, and hopes that their different experiences and backgrounds will better enrich the big garden of children's literature." Xu Meiling said.

The "Character Award" extends to the overseas Chinese literature circle to build a bridge of cultural communication with children's books

The "Chen Award" picture book award is an international award, and the text award is for domestic works. This year, the organizers have expanded the scope of the Character Award, and Chinese children's literature works from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and other countries can participate in the competition.

Children's books and children's literature are undoubtedly important links to enhance mutual understanding. Xu Meiling gave an example: "When the epidemic was raging around the world in 2020, Zhang Mingzhou, chairman of IBBY (International Children's Book Alliance), launched the 'Global Anti-epidemic Children's Book Mutual Translation and Reading' campaign to spread the life of Chinese children under the epidemic to the world. The project has received widespread attention, with 11 original Chinese anti-epidemic children's books translated into more than a dozen languages and placed online in 45,000 libraries in 78 countries, with some member states submitting their own original picture books. ”

The "Pray for Peace" picture book project launched by China, Japan and South Korea is a successful example of regional cooperation. The program has organized creators to study in Nanjing, and the picture books launched by the program, such as the picture book "Lost Drama" created by Chinese painter Yao Hong, not only help children understand the history of World War II, but also bury the seeds of love and peace in the hearts of children.

"It is easier for each region in the same Chinese cultural circle to share a set of cultural systems that are interconnected but also have differences, making it easier to understand each other. Children's books written using Chinese can be read and understood without translation, which is conducive to promoting communication and interaction in the Chinese cultural circle. Xu Meiling believes that "excellent children's book works contain consistent values, such as honesty, fraternity, caring for others, hard work... Everyone is in the same pain, in the same love. On this basis, good works transcend national borders. ”

Children reading "big literature" expands the way they know themselves and perceive the world

In the 1950s, Chen Bochui put forward the famous "theory of children's hearts" in the article "On Several Problems in the Creation of Children's Literature": "An accomplished writer who is willing to stand with children, is good at starting from the perspective of children, listening with children's ears, seeing with children's eyes, especially with children's hearts, he will inevitably write works that children can understand and like to see." ”

In another article, "On Fairy Tales", Chen Bochui reminded the creators not to write fairy tales that "heal the head with a headache and heal the foot with a sore foot" and have "narrow utilitarian tendencies in education". He has a figurative analogy of this missionary fairy tale: "The moral lesson of exhortation with outstretched fingers is like a signpost to a verdant, living pine tree." ”

From personally creating to discovering creators, Chen Bochui has been practicing the concept of "writing great literature for children" all his life. His "cat that wants to fly" that can't catch even a butterfly, but always hangs "I caught thirteen rats as soon as I stretched out my claws", is still a "bedtime story" that many parents like to tell their children. In the story, the cat that often runs into trouble and has nothing to do is obviously flawed but inexplicably cute, the child is overjoyed to see, and the adults feel familiar when they see it.

"Good works are both intellectual, literary or artistic, as well as the child's ability to accept it." Xu Meiling said that the "Chen Award" insists on advocating "writing big literature for children", and "big literature" not only refers to "lofty goals" such as inspiring children to think about human nature or fall in love with literature and art, but also should be inclusive and care for individuals in different groups. "For example, if a shy person can see in the book how other similar people develop themselves, he can use this as an example to help himself."

"Great literature" has rich connotations, and Xu Meiling hopes that the creators participating in the selection of this year's "Chen Award" can fully display their creativity and "provide innovative texts that can expand the way readers perceive the world and understand the world." I think this is also in line with the purpose of 'writing great literature for children'."

【Biography】

Chen Bochui (1906-1997), formerly known as Chen Rushi, a native of Baoshan District, Shanghai (formerly Baoshan County, Jiangsu Province), was the founder of modern Children's Literature in China, a well-known children's literature writer, translator, publisher and educator. In February 1952, he joined the Democratic League, and in December of the same year, he became the vice president of the first children's publishing house in New China (Shanghai); in 1954, he was transferred to the Beijing People's Education Publishing House as an editor and reviewer, responsible for editing primary and secondary school textbooks, and at the same time serving as a professor of children's literature at Beijing Normal University; in May 1957, he became a professional children's literature writer and children's literature researcher of the Chinese Writers Association. He was the vice chairman of the Shanghai Writers Association and a professor of the Department of Chinese of East China Normal University. In 1924, he created the first children's literature work "Model Classmate" (renamed "School Life" when published by the Commercial Press in 1927), and successively created and published fairy tales, novels and prose works such as "A Cat Who Wants to Fly", "Flying Tiger Team and Wild Boar Forest", "Picking a Star Down", "Festival in Fairy Tale City", "Meeting a Group of Water Children on the Seawall", "Treasure Hunt for Good Camels" and so on.

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