Modern Express News (Reporter Chen Xi, Zhang Yaoqian /Wen ZhengRui/Video) On the night of "World Book Day" on April 23, the "National Reading Conference • 2021 China Good Books" ceremony was broadcast on CCTV. Under the guidance of the Central Propaganda Department, 42 kinds of "2021 China Good Books" selected by experts organized by the China Book Critics Society were heavily announced, and 4 Phoenix Edition masterpieces were listed impressively, setting a record for the number of awards won by the Phoenix Group over the years.
These four works are: "Yousheng" and "Bungee Jumping" by Jiangsu Phoenix Literature and Art Publishing House, "To the North" by Jiangsu People's Publishing House, and "Mountains and Rivers Chronicle" by Jiangsu Phoenix Science and Technology Publishing House.
Bungee Jumping: The Pioneering Work of diplomatic fiction
"Bungee Jumping" is the first novel to show the diplomatic work of the mainland, telling the story of Chinese diplomat Zhong Liang's arduous journey to the tropical island nation of Guido in the depths of the ocean alone and single-handedly building an embassy.
The award speech of "China Good Book" commented on "Bungee Jumping": "This book tells the story of a diplomat who adheres to his goals and firm beliefs in different nationalities, cultures and different situations in vivid and lively language, does not fear danger when his life is threatened, does not forget his mission, and successfully completes his national mission with loyalty and wisdom." ”
The novel's author, Lu Shan, whose original name is Yang Youming, is a veteran diplomat who served as China's ambassador to Zambia and Trinidad and Tobago. In more than 40 years of diplomatic work, Lu Shan has personally experienced the improvement of China's international status and international discourse power, which makes him feel obliged to record this history in the form of a novel, showing the real and arduous diplomatic work and diplomatic life under the bright appearance. At work, Lu Shan read many memories of diplomats, one of which wrote that a diplomat came to the island country alone and established an embassy by relying on the strength of one person. In addition to being moved, Lu Shan took this story as the prototype and combined the stories of many other diplomats to complete the novel "Bungee Jumping" in two years.
As soon as the novel was published, it was loved by readers. Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian also recommended the book "Bungee Jumping" on social platforms: "Stealing half a day's leisure, almost seeing myself crying." "Bungee Jumping" received a high score of 9.4 on Douban, and Lu Shan said that this was unexpected, "I didn't expect readers to like this book so much, I think readers must have been moved by the story of the novel, touched by the spirit of the protagonist." ”
It is reported that the novel "Bungee Jumping" was originally published on the Internet as online literature and won the second prize of the 2020 Yangtze River Internet Literature Competition. Jiangsu Phoenix Literature and Art Publishing House, as the organizer of the Yangtze River Network Literature Competition, discovered the uniqueness and preciousness of this subject during the judging process, and decisively decided to sign a contract to publish paper books.
"There is life": a biography for the people of the earth
The novel "Yousheng" is a blockbuster work completed by writer Hu Xuewen in eight years, and has been praised by critics as "the best song of Chinese vernacular literature", which can be described as the culmination of vernacular writing in recent years.
In 1967, Hu Xuewen was born in a village in Guyuan County, Hebei Province, and was admitted to Zhangbei Normal School at the age of 18, and returned to teach in the township after graduation. Since writing, Hu Xuewen has been concerned about local life, and presents his thoughts on local changes in his works, "Modernization has a profound impact on the countryside, and the dazzling real world is bound to affect and change the way of life and emotion in the countryside." Thus, the countryside is no longer the land of the past, it is changing in its own way. Of course, this change will affect the creation of writers, and moreover, with different perspectives of observation, vernacular literature will also take on different postures. ”
The title of the novel, "Life", comes from the "Theory of Heavenly Evolution": "This is nothing but life, and it is especially important to have life", and "survival" is also one of the angles from which Hu Xuewen explains the historical development of China's rural areas through novels, "interpreting and interpreting the countryside from the perspective of life history and survival history." Hu Xuewen explained his original intention and creative concept of creating "Yousheng": "The core character of the novel is a midwife, she delivered more than 12,000 people, she is the witness and leader of life. But life comes into the world, and there is a long process from birth to old age, to the end of life, a process of living. That's why I say that the 'leaf strip' in the novel is a process of how to 'live' and how to 'live'. ”
Since its publication, "Yousheng" has occupied the top position in the "2020 Novel Ranking of the Chinese Novel Society", "Yangtze River Literary Review 2020 Annual Literary Ranking" and "Southern Weekend 2020 Good Book List Fiction Category", and has been selected as one of the top ten good books in 2021 by China Publishing and Media Business Daily and 12 good books recommended to the society by the whole people of Jiangsu Province in 2021.
For "Bungee Jumping" and "Life" to be selected as China's good books, Zhang Zaijian, president of Jiangsu Phoenix Literature and Art Publishing House, said: "Now the influence of CCTV's annual Chinese good books is getting bigger and bigger, and award-winning books often have 5 times or even 10 times the sales increase, one kind of selection is not easy, we actually have two kinds of selection this time, which I did not expect." In my impression, in the past nine years, two kinds of books a year by local publishing houses have been selected as the annual Chinese good books, as if this is the first time. The two 'Good Chinese Books' selected by Phoenix Literature and Art this time are theme publishing and serious literature, which also represents the two publishing directions of Phoenix Literature and Art's deep cultivation of original fine works. Since the establishment of Phoenix Literature and Art, original literary publishing has always been the most core publishing sector. "Bungee Jumping" and "Life" won awards, which is a concentrated embodiment of the comprehensive layout of Phoenix Literature and Art over the years. ”
"To the North": Lyrical history of the world's hearts
"To the North" is a non-fiction historical documentary work, which shows the extraordinary story of progressive democrats and representatives from all walks of life who traveled from Hong Kong to the Northern Liberated Areas to prepare for the construction of a new China on the eve of the founding of New China.
Around 1948, the victory and defeat of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party on the battlefield were becoming clear. Establishing a political power that belongs to the hearts of the whole world has become an important national strategy of the Communist Party of China. At this time in Hong Kong, there were still a large number of leaders of democratic parties and representatives from all walks of life. For these democrats, who were once separated from the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, they are faced with a final political choice: either to go north to the Liberated Areas and firmly join the Communist Party; or to give up their unforgettable attachment to their homeland and go into exile. This choice is not only about the change of personal destiny, but also shows the people's desire to turn their backs on the new regime. He who wins the hearts of the people wins the world. Eventually, like the stars arching, democrats moved north from Hong Kong and overseas to the Liberated Areas and into the embrace of the people.
In order to write "To the North", Li Hongmei and Liu Yangdong successively went to Beijing, Guangdong, Shandong, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanghai, Zhejiang and other places to conduct field investigations, collected materials, interviewed the parties, further sorted out and combed a large number of historical materials, analyzed and disclosed many little-known contents, such as the background and preparation of the organization of the north, the changes in the route of each batch of northers, and the psychological feelings of the parties when making major choices. The number of delegates from Hong Kong who went north to attend the first plenary session of the CPPCC, etc. These latest statistics and research results have filled in a number of gaps in relevant academic research to a certain extent; at the same time, they have also highlighted the important contributions made by those who went north from Hong Kong to the establishment of a new China, and the great political significance of the history of going north.
Wang Baoding, president of the Jiangsu People's Publishing House, believes that the book uses the most delicate brushwork to write this magnificent history of democrats going north, and is an excellent historical documentary work that truly integrates history, literature, and education. It shows the superb political wisdom, strong cohesion and organizational ability of the Chinese Communists, praises the spiritual style and glorious tradition of the Chinese Communists and the democrats who are in the same boat and treat each other with all their hearts and guts, and interprets the iron law that "the people's heart is the greatest politics". To the north is to the direction of the light!
"Mountains and Rivers Chronicle": Beautiful China in the Eyes of a Scientist
"Mountains and Rivers Chronicles - Zang Mu's Wild Diary" is a collection of diary of the famous mycologist Zang Mu's field expeditions in the mainland Himalayas from 1975 to 2000.
The pioneering research of Zang Mu (1930-2011) laid the foundation for the comprehensive study of advanced fungi in southwest China. In 1973, after Zang Mu was transferred from Nanjing Normal University (now Nanjing Normal University) to the Kunming Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, he began to turn to mycological research. At that time, he was going to carry out research on fungi, and he could say that he had nothing — no peers, no assistants, no equipment, no professional information, not even a single specimen, everything started from scratch. The first thing Zang Mu had to do was to get out of his house, leave the city, wade through mountains and rivers, and go deep into the inaccessible dense forest to investigate and collect. An assistant who had followed Zang Mu to the field many times recalled that the logistical support that the institute could provide for the field expedition at that time was to send a large truck and fix 4 wooden stools in the carriage. The mountain roads are rough and bumpy, long bumps, and blisters are grinding on the butt. "Sir took off his clothes and laid them on a wooden stool for everyone to sit on, but it is absolutely not allowed to use specimen paper (soil paper) and specimen bags to cushion."
From 1975 to 2008, Zang Mu's field expedition diary lasted for 33 years. In his diary, he made a large number of meticulous and vivid records of the social life and production development of the people in the ethnic minority areas in southwest China, and these vivid and valuable social and historical historical materials are still of great value today.
The book is 520,000 words in the book, including 390 hand-drawn illustrations by Zang Mu. The memories and paintings include the difficulties and dangers of field scientific expeditions, the strange and elegant mountain Jiahui, the magnificent scenery of the mountains and rivers, the strange customs and simple customs of the ethnic minorities in the southwest, the precious collection of cultural history, and the realistic care and independent thinking of a scientist who cherishes his homeland, which can be called "the contemporary 'Xu Xia's travels'".
Fu Mei, president of Jiangsu Phoenix Science and Technology Publishing House, said that "Shan Chuan Ji Xing - Zang Mu Wild Diary" is based on the three-volume Zang Mu scientific expedition diary "Shan Chuan Ji Xing: The Discovery Journey of the Third Pole - Zang Mu Scientific Investigation Notes", in order to let more readers, especially young readers, appreciate the style of Zang Mu's diary. This book shows the scientific spirit of the older generation of Chinese scientists to bravely climb the peak, and shows the poetic life of a scientific person with profound knowledge and rich soul and firm faith, which is of great enlightening significance for how to shape our spiritual vision and life realm.