Liu Xiaowei is the director of the editorial office of the Cultural Supplement of the People's Liberation Army Newspaper, a member of the Plenary Committee of the Chinese Writers Association, and the vice president of the China Newspaper Supplement Research Association. He has published nearly 20 works such as "Strong Army, Strong Army", "Home and Country: Model of the People" Wang Jicai, "Bronze years" and so on, and has won the 7th and 9th All-Army Literary and Art New Works Award, the 11th All-Army Literary and Art Outstanding Works Award, the 8th Xu Chi Reportage Outstanding Works Award, the 29th China Journalism Award and other awards, and was once named the first "China's Top Ten Military Poets".
■ Liu Xiaowei Literature and Art
Feel the pulse of military poetry from the pulse of the times
Literature and art: Xiao Weihao, the first time I saw you was in 2001. At that time, we became classmates at the "People's Liberation Army Literature and Art" commissioned by the Art Bureau of the Propaganda Department of the General Political Department and the training class for young writers of the whole army undertaken by the People's Liberation Army Art Academy. At that time, I had just been transferred to the Editorial Department of literature and history of the People's Liberation Army Publishing House, the People's Liberation Army Publishing House and the People's Liberation Army Literature and Art Society had not yet merged, and you were still in the Hong Kong garrison, wearing a 97-type military uniform that had just been issued and was different from ours. In particular, the armband with the bauhinia pattern is still clearly remembered. Then, "People's Liberation Army Literature and Art" was "a special number for poetry commemorating the 80th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army of Chinese", about a group of well-known poets wrote long poems, and later came out with a special number for poetry. The title of the poem you wrote is "Ode to Peace": "The dream of youth / The bird that shines through the sun / Leave a shining mark in the sky / This fresh military uniform / This beautiful military uniform / Picturesque / Look at the hat emblem / You can see the blue sky of the northern country / Stroke the corner of the coat / You can touch the rushing waves of the South China Sea / Solemn August 1 / Ignite the dream in our hearts above our heads / Red collar / Record this glorious memory / Ah, nine and a half million square kilometers of land / All condensed into this moving green / Every morning, when I put on this military uniform / Just feel the weight of all of China..." It's a passionate read. Wang Ying, the editor-in-chief at the time, spoke highly of your poems, and I can't remember the original words, to the effect that Xiao Wei can master big themes very well, not only can write the times and the depth of thought, but also can extract the vivid poetry of the qi rhyme. What do you think about that?
Liu Xiaowei: Yes, I remember that training class. I once wrote an essay of nearly 10,000 words, "Feast", which recorded in detail the participation in the training class for young writers in the whole army, and this essay was also published in the "People's Liberation Army Literature and Art". It was "PEOPLE's Liberation Army Literature and Art" that led me to the road of amateur literary creation, and I have always regarded "People's Liberation Army Literature and Art" as my "creative home". A series of my long poems, including the "Ode to Peace" you just mentioned, and later "Monument", "Yushu Nirvana", "Cast Soul", "Voice of China", etc., were first published in "People's Liberation Army Literature and Art". I dare not say how high the artistic standard of my poetry is, but there is one thing that can be said, that is, it has the atmosphere of the times. Keeping up with the times and promoting patriotism and revolutionary heroism is the continuous context of Chinese military poetry, and it is also what I have always pursued. Feeling the pulse of military poetry from the pulse of the times is what I think and wish.
Literature and Art: I know that because of your hard work, you were selected from the Hong Kong garrison to the political organs of the Central Military Commission. Generally speaking, poets are more individualistic, but you also do a better job in the organs. Later, from the former deputy division secretary of the General Office of the General Political Department to the deputy director of the Ministry of Culture of the People's Liberation Army Daily, the role was changed and the work also achieved results. How do you deal with the relationship between work and hobbies?
Liu Xiaowei: In fact, work and hobbies are not contradictory, the key is to deal with the relationship between the two. I joined the army in 1990 and served as a reporter in a regiment in the Beijing Garrison District and in the Propaganda Department of the former Military Education College. I loved writing poetry when I was in school. I still vividly remember that after becoming a reporter, a teacher of the Central People's Radio told me that work is temporary, hobbies are long-term, and we must stick to our hobbies. That's why I've been working amateur for years, even in nearly a decade of secretarial work. First of all, the work should be diligent and down-to-earth; second, it is necessary to combine hobbies with work, and it is best to be conducive to work. For example, literary creation improves the level of writing and the ability to plan the layout of the article, which does not contradict the writing materials of the work of the organs. As long as it is carried out in spare time, it will not affect the work and can also improve the level of writing in the organ. In my opinion, work and study are not contradictory, work can make learning more directional, and learning can make work more efficient. The two are mutually reinforcing.
Literature and art: You were the first press officer of the Hong Kong Garrison, and you must have had many good memories or the most impressive things or people on that important day, and these also gave birth to the uniqueness of your work. Please recall the impact of these experiences on your creations.
Liu Xiaowei: Yes, the day when Hong Kong returned to the motherland was the most memorable day in my youth resume. I once wrote an essay entitled "The Most Beautiful Poem in My Life", which is about the day when Hong Kong was returned to Hong Kong, and I completed "the most beautiful poem in my life" with my actions in Hong Kong. Looking back on that day, I made the choice to garrison Hong Kong, and after years of smelting and the test of wind and rain, I finally ushered in the return of Hong Kong. I deeply feel that the future and destiny of an individual can only shine brightly if it is deeply integrated into the future and destiny of the country and the nation. In fact, the individual is insignificant. But although the dew is small, it can be immersed in a round of sunrise. Although the individual is small, under the grand historical background, as long as the fate of the individual is closely linked to the fate of the country, it is possible to create a merit worth remembering. The life and experience of the hong Kong garrison have deeply influenced my amateur literary creation. I remember that on the ninetieth anniversary of the founding of the army, you also asked me for a group of poems, that is, the three poems that were later published in the "People's Liberation Army Literature and Art", "Flame", "Blade", and "Sea of Flowers", which depicted the sacred moment when the troops stationed in Hong Kong were stationed in Hong Kong. I found that literary creation is more like winemaking, the longer the time, the more mellow the taste. My poetry collection "Singing", which won the "All-Army Literary and Art New Works Award", and the novella "Grazing Houses" are all based on the lives of the troops stationed in Hong Kong. Today, although it has been more than twenty years since the return of Hong Kong, all the memories of youth and bauhinia are still so clear to me. Recently, The Hundred Flowers Literary and Art Publishing House published my long-form reportage", "Bauhinia Defenders", which is equivalent to a "memoir" of my own years in Hong Kong. I also plan to write a special book of poems about the troops stationed in Hong Kong. I believe that one day, I will write it out.
If you can summarize the current situation of military literature in one sentence, it is: perseverance and charge
Literature and Art: The supplement of the People's Liberation Army Daily has a strong military flavor, strong literary nature, and a solemn layout, and through the spiritual strength radiated by literary and artistic works, it inspires the officers and men of the whole army and is also loved by readers inside and outside the army. As the editor-in-chief of the deputy editor of the organ newspaper of the Central Military Commission, it can be said that the mission is on the shoulders and the responsibility is heavy. In your opinion, in the journey of strengthening the army and rejuvenating the army, how should the supplements of military newspapers and literary magazines bear in mind the "great power of the country" and how should they assume and act?
Liu Xiaowei: This topic is very interesting, and it is a long story. First of all, I would like to talk about the role of literature. Why does our party attach so much importance to the power of literature? It is because literature is the softest and hardest force that silently affects people's values. She can get people to form common values, and on the basis of this value, form a common code of conduct. Therefore, her strength is enduring and even more profound. On December 14, 2021, President Xi Jinping delivered an important speech at the opening ceremony of the 11th National Congress of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the 10th National Congress of the China Writers Association, summarizing the major role played by literature and art in the past 100 years since the founding of the Party with four "incentives": "Encouraging the exploited and oppressed toiling masses to fight with blood and perseverance, encouraging the Chinese people who stand up to become self-reliant and angry, and encouraging hundreds of millions of people in the tide of reform and opening up to emancipate their minds and forge ahead." Encouraging the Chinese people in the new era to be self-confident, self-reliant, upright and innovative has played an important role in enhancing the people's strength and invigorating the national spirit. "Entering the new era, we need the horn of literature to stir people's hearts, and the torch of literature to illuminate the journey." Military literature in the new era must, with firmer self-confidence and stronger responsibility, actively act in singing the main theme of the times and serving a strong army and rejuvenating the army, and contribute wisdom and strength. Secondly, I would like to touch upon the role of newspaper supplements and literary magazines. These are the party's literary and artistic fronts, where groups of writers gather and set out, like a fire igniting the fertile field of military literature. More importantly, this position is spreading the voice of the party, singing the main theme of the times, and inspiring the spirit of officers and men, so this position must be defended and defended well. Third, I would like to talk about how to take responsibility and act. Responsibility is inseparable from deeds, and there must be deeds that must be dared to take responsibility. Today, with the transformation and reshaping of the people's army, military literature is also facing opportunities and challenges. The army's newspaper supplements and literary magazines are a hundred gardens of military literature. This hundred gardens have their own unique laws of operation, both political acumen and literary professionalism; they must carry forward the main theme and cannot shout slogans. Literature is soft and delicate, and it must be carefully cared for in order to bloom a hundred flowers and let the hundred gardens of literature bloom forever to officers and soldiers. It is our mission and responsibility to let the hundred gardens of military literature always bloom and overflow with fragrance, and to provide spiritual nourishment for the great cause of strengthening the army and rejuvenating the army forever.
Literature: "Maybe it's a verb / Or maybe it's a noun / I have to be careful to polish / Keep their delicate balance / Let them emit an adjective-like shimmer / I hold this shell in my arms / Try to make the gunpowder inside gentle / Turn into black earth / Give birth to a flower / Military poetry is born that way / You have to polish this metal shell / Split Combination Polish / Make it round / No longer have edges / Let it sink in your hands / Have a desire to be loaded." I have read it no less than ten times, and its novel metaphor makes it difficult to ignore the words, and it also reminds me of a passage in an article of yours: "Military literature moves forward in reform, reshapes in transformation, breaks through in challenges, adheres to ideological guidance, focuses on preparing for war, dips the pen and ink of the times, lyrics heroic feelings, vividly records the great historical process of strengthening the army and rejuvenating the army, and praises the spiritual outlook of the people's army to repack and start again." "Please talk about the current state of military literature.
Liu Xiaowei: Thank you for your encouragement. The poem "Bomb Breaker" I mainly want to express is the process of creating military poetry, that kind of arduous adventure, that kind of spiritual sparkle, that kind of explosive powder explosion and ascension. In order to greet the Tenth National Congress of the Chinese Writers Association, I systematically summed up the situation of military literature since the Ninth National Congress of the Chinese Writers Association, and wrote an article, which was published in the "People's Liberation Army Daily" with the title of "Singing the Main Theme of Strengthening the Army and Rejuvenating the Army." In recent years, military literature has adhered to the glorious tradition and made relatively remarkable achievements in theme creation and literary appraisal. At the same time, military writers have arrived at the scene of the strong army and focused on realism, which has formed a trend. At the same time, in recent years, military writers have insisted on highlighting the characteristics of military literature and highlighting heroic narratives, forming a distinct style and orientation in praising heroes and praising heroes. In recent years, under the guidance of the Propaganda Bureau of the Political Work Department of the Central Military Commission, the "People's Liberation Army Literature and Art" and our military newspaper "Long March Supplement" have made a lot of efforts to cultivate military literary creative talents, and the contingent of grass-roots literary and artistic creations has been constantly growing. Military literature has a glorious tradition, has vigorous and strong vitality, and has created brilliant achievements that have attracted worldwide attention in the past, and will certainly play a greater role in serving the strong army, the grass-roots units, and the officers and men in the future. If you can summarize the current situation of military literature in one sentence, it is: perseverance and charge.
Literature and art: You not only write poetry, prose, but also write reviews, in my opinion, those articles that are easy to write boring and boring you write beautifully, both a profound interpretation of the spirit of the policy, and a poetic fly, to tell the truth, your review I read as prose and poetry. Your long-form reportage " Home and Country: "People's Model" Wang Jicai recently won an award, tell me about your interview. How do you think this book is similar or similar to other reportage? In other words, where is its novelty?
Liu Xiaowei: Writing reviews is a skill that I have honed in the past when I worked in the political organs of the Central Military Commission. Any experience you have will be reflected in your words. The same is true of writers, whether you are deeply involved in life, whether you write with emotion, the reader can see at a glance. "Home and Country: "People's Model" Wang Jicai is a work that I have written more difficultly, and the reason why it is difficult is mainly because the work is too busy. The work was all done using the two time slots of late night and early morning. In my spare time, I collected more than 200,000 words of written material. During his vacation, he went to Kaishan Island twice for interviews. He also went to Tianjin, Nanjing, Lianyungang and other places to interview Wang Jicai's children, relatives and friends. After several months of arduous creation, the long-form documentary literature "Home and Country: Wang Jicai, The Model of the People" was finally created. The works were published by the People's Liberation Army Publishing House, and at the same time, they were published in the documentary edition of "Chinese Writers" under the title of "Ten Thousand Miles of Heaven and Red Flag", which caused a relatively large response. Central media such as People's Daily, People's Liberation Army Daily, and Guangming Daily have published commentaries one after another. In the 5th National Party Member Education and Training Textbook Exhibition and Exchange Activity announced in January 2021, the book won the "Excellent Textbook Award". In addition, it also won the Excellence Award of the 8th "Xu Chi Reportage Award". In my own opinion, the novelty of this long documentary literature is the attempt at cross-genre writing. Some critics recognize this as well. A review pointed out that news, novels, essays, poetry and other stylistic elements have been organically integrated in this documentary literature, so that the text has both the suspense of the novel, the conciseness of the news, the lyricism of the prose, and the agility of poetry. Others commented: "The poetic narrative is also a distinctive feature of the book. The rules of poetry lie in the rhythm, or melody. This book is like a poem, the author's main consideration in selecting stories is not to time, characters and other logical clues, but to turn the theme into a baton, leading the playing of Wang Jicai's life. "I think there's always something different about a documentary literary work created by a military poet. As for the effect, it is only up to the reader to judge.
Literature and art: Your military poems have a clear degree of recognition, good at using language to "paint" realistic and shocking pictures, not only write the daily beauty of military life, but also express the super-beautiful beauty of the spirit, "every person who has been a soldier / I only look at it in the crowd / I can recognize / Because there is light in his hair / There is light in his body / There is a shiny / Others can't see things on his chest / This is the peace of the years / Such a dazzling medal / Hanging on / Every soldier's chest." A friend who writes poetry tells me that there is nothing more painful for a poet than not being able to find words. How to write out the freshness and intoxication of all things you feel is the goal of the poet's life. You've been writing poetry for more than thirty years, what do you think is the standard for good poetry? Content, form, or chic sentences? Please talk about the entire creative process of a poem from the sudden arrival of inspiration to the completion of revision in combination with your own works, especially how a certain heartwarming verse "came out of nowhere"? It also inspires writers.
Liu Xiaowei: I started writing poetry when I was in middle school. One day in 1992, the "Company News" column of the "People's Liberation Army Daily" also published a report entitled "Soldier Liu Xiaowei Published Two Poetry Collections in Two Years after Joining the Army." What is good poetry? I think there is no standard answer, but there are several criteria for my judgment: one is the epochality of poetry, whether your poem reflects this era; second, artistry, whether your poems have touched people's hearts; third, people's nature, whether your poems are accepted by the people; fourth, uniqueness, whether your poems have a high degree of recognition; fifth, modernity, whether your poems have new creations on the basis of inheriting predecessors. This is my "minimalist" evaluation of good poetry. You asked me to take a poem as an example, and I am reminded of a short poem "The Old Company", which has been written for nearly thirty years. My old company is in a tank regiment of the troops stationed in Beijing. In 1992, after I was admitted to the Journalism Department of the Nanjing Academy of Political Sciences, I wanted to write about the old company. I opened a few heads, but they were not ideal, so I put it down. Until one day in 2016, I saw the poem from my school notebook that only opened its head, and I couldn't sleep at night, and I thought that when I went to Fufeng in Shaanxi to visit Famen Temple, the most precious Buddha finger relics were wrapped layer by layer. I think that in my memory, the most precious old company should also be like this. Thus, the verse gushed out at once: "The years are like a huge magic box / So is the memory / / Open the first layer is the wind / Holding the flying sand / The second layer is rain / Hold some thunder / The third layer is Beijing / The silhouette of the Forbidden City is faintly visible / The fourth layer is Changping / There are many hot springs and a large forest / / I use my fingers / Open the box of memory layer by layer / With a heartbeat and tears / The fifth layer Began to appear / The appearance of a small town / Still called 'South Exit' / The sixth floor is a camp / Reminds me of the famen temple / The layers of exquisite boxes / The relics that appear at the end / / The seventh floor is an old well platform / The eighth floor is a playground / The ninth floor You appear / - An old bungalow of a Soviet-style building / When I open this last floor / I weep / This is my old company / There is my youth living in it", I quote this poem in its entirety, because I finally discovered the value and meaning of the old company: " My bones are here/after those years/also crystal clear/sparkling/and often clanging." The hardest thing about writing poetry is discovering the most unique things. Sometimes it's an image, sometimes it's an idea, sometimes it's just a sentence, and as soon as you discover it, your creation is basically successful. Generally speaking, in recent years, I have sought creative inspiration from the great practice of strengthening the army and rejuvenating the army, and written about the Gutian All-Army Political Work Conference, the Zhu Rihe Military Parade, the training of the "Liaoning" aircraft carrier, the escort in the Gulf of Aden, and so on. These are all new images of the new era. In the poem, I captured the "cold and hard light" of the submarine's extreme deep dive, the huge wings of "carved thunder and lightning" that flashed in the hearts of officers and soldiers on the night of the troop transfer, and the thinking lightning of "faster than light" in the Air Force Golden Helmet Competition... These are images that have not appeared in military poetry in the past. Write poetry to be good at capturing and discovering. Writing military poems should have agile thinking and vision.
Literature and art: You are so busy running a newspaper, in addition to the Long March supplement, there are sports and life weekly magazines, there are more than ten editions every week, so when did you write poems, which one is the most satisfying? Or which one? I personally like your "Bronze years", the famous poetry critic Xie Mian gave it a high evaluation, "unfold this collection of poems, full of majestic voices" "Those verses are the rhythm of steel", it is "a melody made of firmness and rigidity, presenting a solemn and majestic beauty" "Military poetry can have tenderness, but it must not be without the sound and rhythm of steel." It is precisely in this regard that I fully affirm Liu Xiaowei's writing" "Liu Xiaowei has a pen that turns iron into gold, and he can write extraordinary in the ordinary." I think these comments are extremely accurate, what do you think about that?
Liu Xiaowei: Regarding the most satisfactory poem or poetry collection, it is a difficult question to answer. As for the most satisfactory poems, I can only say that so far, I think I have one more important poem, that is, "Zhu Rihe: The Gathering of Steel". The reason why this poem is important to me is because it writes the spiritual outlook of strengthening the army and rejuvenating the army in the new era. This poem originated from the morning of July 30, 2017, when a military parade to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People's Liberation Army was held at zhurihe joint training base. The battlefield is full of soldiers, and the momentum is like a rainbow. Looking at the majesty of the phoenix nirvana and the reborn people's army on the parade ground, I was so excited that I wrote this poem and published it in the "Poetry Journal". Since then, this poem has been selected into a number of important poetry anthologies selected by the Central Research Museum of Literature and History, the Chinese Writers Association, the Poetry Journal, and the People's Literature Publishing House. It has been broadcast on CCTV and a number of provincial-level television stations, and has also been made into a series of integrated media products, as "the story of party history in red poetry", and broadcast on many platforms such as learning to strengthen the country. The reason why this poem is valued by people is precisely because I use the poem to express the great era of strengthening the army and rejuvenating the army, and when people think of the military parade on the ninetieth anniversary of the founding of the army, they will think of this poem "Zhu Rihe: Steel Gathering". Speaking of poetry collections, of course, my greatest satisfaction so far is the latest copy of "Bronze years" (published by China Yanshi Publishing House), because this is a pure collection of military poetry, which is all about the autumn wind of the iron horse, the yellow flowers of the battlefield, the night snow of the building ship, and the cold moon of the border pass. After the publication of this collection of poems, it has been well received by many readers, and it has also caused a relatively good response in the industry, and dozens of media have published comments on the poetry collection. I would like to thank Mr. Xie Mian for his encouragement to me. I think this encouragement is not only for me personally, but also to encourage a direction of poetry writing: that is, poetry creation must have the "wind and clouds" of the times, and must have a masculine spiritual atmosphere.
Reading and writing, like a pair of wings of a bird, are indispensable
Literature and art: I have read a lot of your poems, and found that the word you use the most frequently is "youth", as well as "poetry", such as "sit on the high-speed train, go to see the China of youth" and "Poetic South Lake". Some subjects that others have written many times, you can always dig out new ideas, such as you said that the red boat, is "the whole South Lake, spit out / the most beautiful language." I dare say that no one can write such a seemingly ordinary but heart-shaking verse. Which poets do you like? Both ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign. What nutrients you have drawn from it, please talk about it in detail.
Liu Xiaowei: When I was in elementary school, I loved to read poetry. At that time, I was reading classical poems such as "Three Hundred Poems of Tang Dynasty", and when I was in the fourth grade of elementary school, I memorized Li Bai's long poem "Shu Dao Difficulty", and I can still recite it fluently. When I was in junior high school, I began to study Wang Li's "Poetic Rhythm", read a lot of Song ci works, and began to contact modern poetry. At first, he liked Guo Xiaochuan's poems, and was able to recite his famous poems "Sugarcane Forest - Green Yarn Tent", "Autumn of Tuanbowa" and so on. Later, I liked Ai Qing and was deeply moved by his poems such as "Dayan River, My Nanny", "Torch", "Trumpeter" and so on. Now that I think about it, I was still a middle school student, but I liked to read military poems, including Cai Qijiao's "Hand-to-Hand Combat", which could be memorized at that time. When I graduated from junior high school, under the influence of a painter's eldest brother, I began to contact the works of obscure poets, and read the main works of several important poets, such as Kitajima, Shu Ting, Gu Cheng, etc. In the "New Poetry Collection" (volume 1 and volume 2) compiled by Lao Mu, I memorized the works of many poets. So, if you read my poetry carefully, you will be able to find a certain rhythm, which is the result of memorizing poetry for many years. Looking back now, I am impressed that when I was in middle school, I copied a lot of poems by hand, such as Kitajima's poetry collection, Dai Wangshu's poetry collection, and I even copied Wen Jie's long poem "The Flame of Revenge" by hand. Later, I slowly came into contact with foreign poetry. Among those who influenced me in school were Neruda, Pushkin and Goethe. I bought many thick books of Neruda's poems, read Pushkin's Evgeny Onegin and Goethe's Faust, and felt exposed to a broader spiritual world. Later, my favorite poets are the American poet Heaney, the Polish poet Milosz, the Syrian poet Adonis, the Swedish poet Sodergran, the Korean poet Gao Yin, and so on. There are also poet works that have won the Nobel Prize in Literature in the past, and there are translations in China, and I will try to find them to read and learn. As for the nutrients I have absorbed, it is not something that can be clearly explained in one or two sentences. To put it simply, I learned to create artistic conceptions and refine vocabulary from classical poetry, and how to deal with the relationship between poetry and the times from the poems of ai Qing and other outstanding modern Chinese poets. From foreign poetry, many modern poetry techniques have been drawn, such as metaphor, symbolism, synaesthesia, etc., and different genres have their own different techniques. None of this can be expressed in a few words. In short, reading and writing are like a pair of wings of a bird, and they are indispensable. Read more books, read more classic books, that is the real gold washed out by the waves of time. Write more, write more sincere works, it is an oasis that will never be obliterated by time.
Literature and Art: We are all graduates of the Journalism Department of Nanjing University of Political Science, you love to write poetry so much, it seems that you have not gone to the Department of Military Arts and Literature or the Lu Xun Literature College, how do you think the university can cultivate writers?
Liu Xiaowei: It is true that writers cannot be cultivated by the class. What is learned in colleges and universities can only be basic writing knowledge, and the most important thing about writing is practice. It's a bit like swimming, no amount of knowledge you teach on land is useless, you have to go into the water to learn to swim. Writing is about "swimming" with words. There are basic techniques, of course, but more importantly practice. Although I have not attended the Department of Military Arts and Literature, I have attended the training class for young writers of the whole army undertaken by the Department of Military Arts and Literature; although I have not attended the LuYuan, I have also received short-term training from the Luyuan, such as the "New Era Poetry Advanced Study Class". These trainings, learning is one aspect, more importantly, broadening the horizons, colliding with the spark of ideas in the exchange, and allowing yourself to have a deeper thinking about literature.
Literature and art: Talk about the beginning of your literature, such as how the first work was born and published. I seem to remember your dad as a newspaperman and writer, were you influenced by it?
Liu Xiaowei: The first work I published was a poem, and I remember that the title seemed to be "The Wind of Spring", which described the scenery on the field in spring, and was published in a youth journal sponsored by the Hebei Provincial Federation of Students. Of course, the work is very young, but because it is a junior high school student, after it was published, it still caused a little repercussions in the school. When I was in middle school, the literary career was sacred, and there were young students who dreamed of being masters everywhere. We also ran a small mimeographed journal called "Black Eyes", the main image comes from Gu Cheng's poem: "The night gave me black eyes, but I used it to find the light." "We compose our own manuscripts, engrave our own wax paper, print ourselves, and each issue can attract attention on the secondary school campus. It was a golden age of literature. My father, a hobbyist, worked in a core department of the provincial party committee and later offered to become the editor-in-chief of the newspaper. His influence on me must have been very great. When I was a student, I began to enjoy literature, mainly under the influence of my father. The word "scrutiny" was perceived by my father in elementary school: he often remembered a poem on his way home, recited it to us when he got home, and wrote it down. When he reads good literature, he will also actively advocate that we read it. For example, "Wreath Under the Mountain" was recommended to me by him, when I was a junior high school student.
Literature: What year were you a soldier? Please recall the most beautiful youth of your military career. Finally, combined with your path to becoming a talent, would you like to tell the officers and soldiers who love to write a few words about their life experience?
Liu Xiaowei: I was a soldier in 1990, so I wrote a poem entitled "Iron Nails in 1990". I also wrote "The Old Company", as well as poems on military uniforms, military postures, military quilts, etc., which are faithful records of company life. When I joined the army, it was spring, and the place was at the south entrance of Changping, Beijing. I remember that the wind and sand in Beijing were very strong and cold, and the conditions of the company were not too good. At present, the conditions in the various barracks have been much better, and it can be said that there have been earth-shaking changes. Now it seems that my company life is still short, still too comfortable, if I had to choose again, I would choose to work in a border defense company for a few more years, and I would certainly be able to write a higher, purer, more bronze-colored military poem. I often say that literary creation is also a long march, you will encounter a lot of Loushan Pass, Lazikou, encounter a lot of snowy mountains, grasslands, but as long as you persist, you will definitely experience the realm of "the sky is high and the clouds are light" and enjoy the joyful time of "red flag rolling". Many years ago, a friend said that writing is a prayer of the heart. In my opinion, writing is more of a charge, to occupy one position after another, to plant the flag of spirit at the top of the times. If I had one word for literature lovers, there were only two words: persistence. Persistence has the great wisdom of life, the great realm, and the great joy. Thank you for this interview.
——Published in PLA Literature and Art, No. 4, 2022
Title Calligraphy | Zhu Xiuhai
Original editor | Wenqingli
Coordinate the review of | Whoa
| issued Wen Qingli