Cover news reporter Zhang Jie
In the early morning of December 27, 1978, Hou Jun, a reporter for Tianjin Daily, who was less than 20 years old, braved the heavy snow and pedaled his bicycle for two hours to a vineyard in the northern suburbs of Tianjin to conduct an interview.
Just the night before, during the evening news slot, the communiqué of the Third Plenum of the Eleventh Central Committee was broadcast on the radio. The meeting made a major breakthrough decision on rural reform, and the newspaper deployed a reporter from the Rural Department where Hou Jun was located to vigorously report on the social repercussions brought about by the plenary session. Hou Jun's chosen interview subject was Tianjin Vineyard, and when Hou Jun indicated his intentions, some of the responsible persons of the vineyard were still aware of the good news published in the communiqué of the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee for the first time.
For the "primrose" information sent by the reporter, everyone responded warmly. Hou Jun's interview was published on January 17, 1979 by the Tianjin Daily. A year later, Tianjin Vineyard cooperated with a French winemaking group to establish the first joint venture in Tianjin, which promoted the wine brewed to the world...
In 2018, on the occasion of commemorating the fortieth anniversary of reform and opening up, Hou Jun was asked to recall his interview of great significance that witnessed history and wrote a retrospective essay, "Xue Ji - An Interview Reminiscing 40 Years Ago", which was published in the supplement of People's Daily Dadi.
In 1993, Hou Jun moved from the north to the south, from Tianjin to Shenzhen, from a young reporter in the agricultural mouth to a deputy editor-in-chief of a large newspaper group, a scholar-type media person. In 2021, Hou Jun, who has worked in the media industry for 42 years, ushered in the retirement year and concentrated on writing. Among them, a collection of essays published by the Sichuan People's Publishing House in 2021, the first article included in the collection is "Xueji - Recalling an Interview 40 Years Ago", and the title of the book is set as "Xueji"
"The air at the beginning of the snow is very fresh and fascinating. At that time, it felt like a new era was coming, which was really memorable. Hou Jun said, "The profession of journalist has added many opportunities in my life, and many times, I have unconsciously had the opportunity to witness the footsteps of history up close." ”
A veteran media person with a career of more than 40 years of newspaper operation, while writing about others and recording the times, has also accumulated his own inner landscape, which is worth exploring. Hou Jun has a wide range of friends and loves books, and has a considerable number of books in Tianjin, Shenzhen and Beijing. He has his own unique views on the way of reading. From a journalist to a literary writer, Hou Jun's views are also very enlightening.
Hou Jun in the study (photo provided by me)
Books are friends and part of life
Cover News: In the book "Xueji", the most talked about topic is your reading and book collection life. From Tianjin to Shenzhen to Beijing, your collection is huge. People with a large collection of books are often asked a question: With so many books, can you finish reading them? How do you generally answer this?
Hou Jun: Actually, the purpose of the book collection is not to read all the books, nor does it mean that each book must be read word for word from beginning to end. Some books are casually flipped through, and some books are archived for future reference. For example, "Ci Hai". Many books, purchased and collected, are also a kind of spiritual comfort. It's there, and you're there at some point, flipping through it, and maybe it's enlightening. Reading is not entirely for practical purposes, not even for the sake of reading it. The existence of a book, more like a friend, is a part of life. I have a strong feeling that where books are, home is. Where my favorite book is, where is home.
A corner of Hou Jun's Beijing study (photo provided by me)
I have lived in Shenzhen for more than 20 years, and now I have moved to Beijing, and my concern for Shenzhen is mainly the books I have at home in Shenzhen. Of course, I now have a full bookcase at home in Beijing, and I feel at home in Beijing. I like the feeling of sitting in the book city, as if the soul has a place to settle.
Wandering in your own spiritual home, you can talk to various characters through text. No matter what era the authors are, in what country, as long as their works are in my study, they are my friends, a part of my life, and I feel close to them. For example, I especially like the novels of O.Henry and Chekhov, and I think they are my friends.
I most admire and appreciate Sun Li's character and style
Cover News: I've worked in the media industry for over 40 years and have dealt with a lot of people. Looking back, who are the characters who impressed you?
Waiting: I generally talk less about dealing with celebrities, so as not to seem to rub the fame of celebrities. However, I would especially like to talk about my dealings with the writer Mr. Sun Li, who is my predecessor who worked at Tianjin Daily, and we have worked together. I am both a junior of his colleagues and his readers and fans. I admire his charisma, enjoy reading his articles, and have had close dealings with him in my life.
In the early years, my home in Tianjin was very close to Mr. Sun Li's residence, just across the road. His daughter's house was even downstairs from my house. In his later years, Mr. Sun Li rarely went to the newspaper, but I would correspond with him, pass on the manuscript, and ask questions, often through his daughter and grandson. It can be said that Mr. Sun Li is not only my mentor in literary writing, but also a spiritual guide. In my opinion, Mr. Sun Li's literary style has not been surpassed by anyone for a long time. In this world, there are too many people who can write with Chinese, but it is really more difficult to use Chinese writing to form their own highly recognizable style than climbing a mountain.
Cover News: In 1993, you went south from Tianjin to Shenzhen and worked and lived for nearly 30 years. We know that Shenzhen Reading Month is doing well. What is the reading atmosphere you feel in Shenzhen? As a northerner, how do you feel about living in Shenzhen?
Hou Jun: I can share a little bit of my feelings: when I first arrived in Shenzhen, I felt that pragmatism is prevalent here, and there is talk of making money everywhere, which is indeed a little uncomfortable. However, if you really live in Shenzhen for a long time and dive in, you will find that in fact, this kind of "pragmatism" contains a strong modernity: stressing the rule of law, stressing credit, stressing rules, and stressing fairness, and everyone relies on their ability to eat. The desire to pursue fairness is generally strong. The commercially developed city seems to be more individualistic, but in fact, the dedication of this city is also prominent. That is to say, here the emphasis on taking and giving, there is a good balance between individualism and dedication.
As for the reading atmosphere in Shenzhen, I have witnessed and felt that people here have a strong desire and motivation to learn. The library is always full, and I also liked to read before coming to Shenzhen, but it was mostly "private behavior", but the real intervention of reading in society was still in Shenzhen.
Cover journalism: Journalism and literature are two professions. When media people write literary works, what advantages and disadvantages do you think are?
Hou Jun: I think literature has little to do with the industry in which authors are engaged. It's mainly about the individual. Literature has more to do with individuality. But it has to be said that people who have worked in journalism, sensitivity and multi-angle are relatively easy to highlight, which is an advantage. People who have had professional training in journalism, do other work, such as doing film and television, and being scholars, will have a more sense of angle and problem awareness.
Sun Li signed Hou Jun(courtesy of Hou Jun)
People who master top technology often don't have too bad writing skills
Cover News: You started as a journalist in 1977 and have been in the newspaper business for 42 years. As we all know, the information media has undergone tremendous changes in recent years. The characteristics of various information carriers such as words, images, images, and sounds have aroused a lot of thinking and debate. How do you think?
Hou Jun: Words can express and record ideas, and sounds and images can also express and record, and I think the core is whether the communicator has any thoughts himself? Where do ideas come from? Relying on the accumulation of knowledge and the ability to perceive, observe, collect, and so on, it is integrated, which is the core competitiveness of "expression" (including writing, including speech, audio-visual and even WeChat, small video, etc.). With this core ability, you can express it in words, voice or image, and you can do a good job. This is the true meaning of what is often called "content is king". Now that the means of information dissemination are diversified, different people are good at using different media and different fields, which is normal.
Hou Jun's book of Sun Li (courtesy of Hou Jun)
Based on the above views, I still believe that written expression is the basic skill, and I am optimistic about the advantages of words. For example, now that the competition for views on the Internet is fierce and the competition for eyeballs is fierce, everyone can write articles and publish them online, but only those who are well-written, deeply written, accurate, and beautiful are easier to remember. From this point of view, I hope that young journalists, even if you are engaged in communication in the field of sound and video, you also need to get the ability to express words well.
If you just want to shoot the video well and improve technically, it is difficult to go further. According to my observation, people who master top technology often have no bad writing skills. If you look at the top scientists and engineers, often their writing skills are also very strong, logical and rigorous, and they say one thing very clearly. If the writing is not accurate and unclear, the technology will not go to the top.