After the publication of Ji Dongliang's reportage "Notes on Xihaigu," it was soon included in the list of good books recommended for reading in the "Striving for a New Journey and Building a New Era of Meritorious Service" published by the Publishing Bureau of the Central Propaganda Department, which attracted widespread attention in society. The unusual significance of this work is not only that the history of poverty alleviation in Xihaigu presented in the book can be regarded as a typical microcosm of the history of poverty alleviation in New China, making it a work that will be born; it also lies in the fact that the group of Xihaigu writers has long transcended regional limitations and become a well-known national literary brand, and a long documentary work written by representative writers of Xihaigu to show the face of Xihaigu's poverty alleviation also symbolizes a new situation in the coordinated economic, social and cultural development of Xihaigu, which is rich in meaning.
Ji Dongliang, known as the "son of Xihaigu", grew up in his hometown for more than twenty years, and his ultimate dream from childhood was to "eat food stamps", and later became a teacher to eat food stamps, and he was ridiculed on the podium for exposing Xihaigu's accent, which shows what kind of deep shame the poverty in his hometown has brought him. His hometown is indeed "barren in the world" and has been designated by the United Nations Food and Development Agency as one of the twenty-two "least suitable areas for human existence" in the world. In "Xihaigu Notes", we read that a lot of the content is not from the author's interview, but from the life memories he left since he was a child. In the memory, as long as you spend money to buy, Xihaigu people are too expensive, a box of two-cent matches are not used, rely on fire grass to continue the fire. In some families, there is only one bowl, the grandfather eats first, the son eats, then the two children eat, and then the woman eats, and the people there struggle to survive in such a predicament. Today, Ji Dongliang began to interview with another emotion, he did not use public resources, since 2018, his son drove back to Xihaigu, thirty or forty trips back and forth, walking slowly, looking closely, and simply to complete a work task of the state of mind is very different. This is more of a body odor of witnessing the vicissitudes of the world, an old Xihaigu person and his hometown to re-examine their own experience, the intersection of feelings is naturally indescribable. This can be understood why his "Notes on Xihaigu" was touching and penetrating into the heart. It comes not only from a dedicated writing, but also from the real life experience of a local writer, and his long-accumulated deep emotions are cathartic and purified.
In the book, the author counts the unremitting efforts made by the party and the state to change the face of Xihaigu since the founding of New China. Hundreds of leaders have come to inspect and investigate many times, and have repeatedly made decisions and instructions. Since 1982, the state has launched the implementation of the "Three Wests" agricultural construction poverty alleviation project, creating a precedent for China's regional overall planned, organized and large-scale "development-oriented" poverty alleviation. In 1996, the central authorities implemented the strategic plan of promoting east-west counterpart cooperation. For more than 20 years, the "Minning Counterpart Poverty Alleviation And Cooperation and Assistance Group" has shouldered the historical mission and worked with the people of Ningxia to create the "Minning Model" of counterpart poverty alleviation and cooperation and assistance in the east and west, and finally enabled the Xihaigu region to enter a well-off society synchronously with all parts of the country. The fact that the world has changed shows that in the end, it was the reform and opening up that brought about economic take-off and made the country rich, so that it has the strength to promote a new look in a bitter and barren land that is under the heavens. The author has reason to believe that what he is seeing and describing is also a great change in reality that has spread across the country.
Now we know that "Notes on Xihaigu" is different from many works of similar themes. Its preparatory stage does not begin with the introduction of relevant government departments, the collection of materials, and the visits and visits of a number of key areas and key figures, but mainly takes place in a series of "self-guided tours". The author travels throughout the whole territory of Xihaigu without being arranged and guided. Not many people knew him on the road, and few people knew his intentions; although he was often received by friends, friends were not involved in his work. He can make small talk with roadside people when he is parking casually, or he can be attracted by a house by chance and walk over to inquire. Of course, for some important facts that need to be clarified, such as "terrace construction", "salt land sand control", "yellow irrigation", "cellar opening project", "labor export", "fungus grass planting", "beach sheep bank", etc., he will also go to the relevant departments to understand, followed by special visits. This kind of pastoral investigation-based interview method has formed a significant advantage, that is, it can get close to the original appearance and truth of life to the greatest extent, and also close to the reality of ordinary people's existence. So we found that in this book, the accurate feelings of the Xihaigu people are "counted" in another form. For example, the relationship between people and water here has been repeatedly mentioned and verified by Ji Dongliang. The author went to the Guyuan Zhongzhuang Reservoir one day, found an old man crouching at the edge of the reservoir squinting his eyes for several hours, and after asking, he learned that the old man had rushed dozens of miles to see the water, and this reservoir solved the water problem of 1.4 million people. In previous years, Ji Dongliang visited the farmhouse as a guest, and the warm greetings of each family were "drink water". At that time, there were mountain villages that drank "chickens calling water", that is, every morning when the chickens called people to go to the ravine with the cattle to grab water, but now, such villages are connected to running water, and the courtyard is full of vegetables and flowers. The master's smile was blooming and said"The water is sweet and clean, now it's good, it's beautiful!" It is from these non-deliberate interactions that the author understands the true state of mind of the peasants, and there is no "posing" in the process.
Even the records of the more widely circulated advanced deeds and characters are different in the author's writing. Lin Yuechan, the former director of the Minning Cooperation Office written in the book, is well known in Ningxia. She has served in her post for ten years, and the land of Guangxi Haigu has set foot on more than 40 times, going from village to village, investigating and exploring the bottom, and personally promoting the "Maternal and Infant Project", "Medical Service", "Mother Water Cellar", "Caring for Hui Girls", "Caring for College Student Volunteers", "Minning Yuejie" and other public welfare activities to help Ningbo, which can be described as dedication, and won the Special Award of "Moving Ningxia Annual Person" by the Ningxia government. After retiring to Fujian, he suffered from severe Parkinson's disease and was still concerned about Ningxia. There have been many reports about her deeds, but in the "Notes of Xihaigu", a new scene has emerged. In the work, the writer came to a small haggis shop on the street of Guyuan one day to eat, saw the little daughter-in-law in the shop constantly leaning on the door and looking out, and when she asked, she felt as if she had just seen the retired "Mother Lin" passing by on the street, and she wanted to miss the opportunity to invite her into the store to eat. The cook's husband later also said that he and his daughter-in-law went to Fujian to work and got acquainted under Lin Yuechan's organization, saved some money and came back to open this restaurant with the help of Lin Yuechan. They all called Lin Yuechan her mother, and they were kind to her and grateful. This section, which comes entirely from Ji Dongliang's occasional sightings among the people when he walks the streets and alleys, is unusually vivid in the image of Lin Yuechan in people's minds. The formation of this kind of plot also highlights the author's creative philosophy, as Ji Dongliang himself said, he wrote from a "low place", from a small angle, from the perspective of ordinary people to cut into the theme. This is a very important writing choice and the most commendable point in this book. He calls the work "notes", which is a posture of lowering, so low that it parallels life, and gains the unreserved trust of the reader, and perhaps no one doubts that everything described in the book is false.
"Notes on Xihaigu" is more figurative, and exudes a temperament that is not very common. It tries its best to avoid, as some reportage literature does, to include a large number of documents, news and argumentative texts in addition to the scene portrayal, forming a mixture and compatibility between the two genres of works. The writing style of this work is basically unified, even if it encounters general and explanatory content, it is mostly expressed in plain words, which makes the whole passage closer to a long essay, a large number of scene sense and intuitiveness, active vivid environment and characters, and read as comfortable and natural as prose. It is important that the author pays more attention to the literary nature of reportage, which makes a theme creation add a lot of its own charm. In addition, the author also avoids imitation of the novel style, excludes too delicate descriptions, and maintains the smoothness of the narrative. All this shows that Xihaigu writers are powerful.
Xihaigu writers started from the "narrative of suffering", and now that Xihaigu has gained wealth, he also hopes that Xihaigu writers will undergo new tests and create glory again.
(This article was originally published in the March 28, 2022 issue of Literature and Art Daily.) The author is a well-known literary critic, writer and researcher, former deputy director of the Novel Committee of the China Writers Association, and former director of the Creative Research Department of the China Writers Association. ）
Editor: Xu vv