Bai Ye|Novel: Striving for a New Era and Opening Up a New Realm

The new era has opened a new journey of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and has also established the historical orientation of contemporary Chinese literature and art. General Secretary Xi Jinping, who has always paid great attention to the construction of literary and artistic undertakings and culture, presided over a symposium on literary and artistic work in October 2014 and delivered a speech at the symposium on literary and artistic work, expounding new views and new assertions on a series of important issues facing the current development of literature and art, and putting forward the party's new hopes and new requirements for literary and artistic work. All of them have important guiding significance and great motivational effect.

New orientation is a new era, and new ideas lead a new journey. Under the guidance and encouragement of General Secretary Xi Jinping's "Speech at the Symposium on Literary and Artistic Work" and the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's series of important expositions on literary and artistic work, the majority of writers keep in mind General Secretary Xi Jinping's statement that "literature and art can only develop and prosper if they are rooted in real life and keep up with the trend of the times; Only by conforming to the will of the people and reflecting the concerns of the people can we be full of vitality", "extracting themes and extracting themes from the changes of the times, the progress of China, and the call of the people", so that the creation of novels has presented a new form and shown new changes in the selection of themes, theme management, artistic pursuits, etc., and the works have obvious changes and significant improvements in terms of ideological connotation, charm of the times and artistic quality. Striving for a new era, opening up a new realm, and becoming the most significant sign of the times in the field of novels.

Read a new era and write a new epic

General Secretary Xi Jinping's "Speech at the Symposium on Literary and Artistic Work" not only emphasized that literature and art should be "rooted in real life and keep up with the trend of the times", but also required that "writers and artists should become the forerunners, pioneers, and advocates of the atmosphere of the times". These important expositions on the relationship between literature and art and the times are full of ardent expectations for writers and artists to keep up with the rhythm of the times, leading writers to take the root of literature into the depths of life, encouraging writers to extend their creative tentacles to the current reality, and making the creation of realistic themes move forward calmly and develop strongly. A number of masterpieces of novels singing about the new era and writing new epics have come one after another, continuing to play the magnificent and loud main theme of the times.

The comprehensive victory in the battle against poverty is a historic achievement made by the party and the state under the leadership of the people, and rural revitalization has opened a new chapter in the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Many writers have gone deep into the forefront and front line of poverty alleviation, integrating what they see and feel into artistic imagination and turning them into wonderful stories, so that the works that reflect the themes and themes of poverty alleviation and rural revitalization are more numerous and of higher quality in a period. Many of these works are particularly eye-catching because of their wide acclaim, such as Teng Zhenfu's "Warring States Red", Zhao Defa's "Through the Mountains and Seas", Chen Yida's "Spring and Autumn by the Sea", Guan Renshan's "Golden Valley and Silver Mountain", Wang Song's "Warm Summer", Wen Yanxia's "Pipa Wai", Chen Yingsong's "Tianlu Bay", He Xiangyong's "Heaven and Earth", Li Mingchun's "Sichuan Township Biography", Li Tiancen's "Three Mountains Cave", Qiao Ye's "Treasure Water", Wang Hua's "Da Lou Mountain", Yang Zhijun's "Snow Mountain Land", Zhou Xuanpu's "Fragrance", etc. These works either express the difficult experience of rural poverty alleviation and prosperity with touching stories, or reflect the magnificent picture of rural revitalization with the trend-setting newcomers as the protagonists, all of which express the profound changes that have taken place in China's rural areas through poverty alleviation in the new era with wonderful stories and innovative expressions, and continue to write a new chapter in the glory of rural literature. In 2022, after the launch of the "New Era Mountain and Township Great Changes Creation Plan" carefully organized and implemented by the China Writers Association, new masterpieces have been continuously launched after careful polishing, which has effectively ensured the stable development and continued prosperity of the creation of novels with rural themes.

The creation of novels in the new era, while the writing of rural themes is booming, there are gratifying new developments and new achievements in the fields of urban transformation, urban life, industrial themes, military themes and other themes. In terms of urban transformation, there are Wu Chongyuan's "Crossing Shanghai", Yang Shaoheng's "The Cusp of the Storm", Song Dingguo's "The Way of the Waves" trilogy, Wang Xuguang's "City Watchman", Zhang Ping's "Life and Death Guard", "Change", Hong Fang's "Chasing the Wind", etc.; In terms of industrial themes, there are Xiao Kefan's "Pig Iron Blossom", Li Tie's "Hot Flow" and "Splendor", Lunei's "Fog Walker", Shui Yunxian's "Wearing Flowers", etc.; In terms of urban life, there are Liu Xinwu's "Bay Window", Wang Yuewen's "The First Year of Love", Yan Zhen's "Above Alive", Zhang Zhi's "Peach and Plum", Yi Zhou's "Our Hesitation", etc.; In terms of military themes, there are Miao Changshui's "Dream Flame", Liu Kezhong's "Heroic Land", Dang Yimin's "Snow Festival", Shi Zhongshan's "Five Lakes and Four Seas", Tao Chun's "A Camp" and "Honor Guard" and so on. These works either write about the new changes in urban life brought about by the deepening reform, or the difficult transformation of the industrial field in the transformation and restructuring, or the emotional reflection and spiritual search of people in the noisy urban life, or the quenching and tempering of contemporary soldiers in the military camp and the re-entrepreneurship after discharge.

Looking back at the past, write a century-old history

Literature is a reflection of social life, which is rich and colorful and all-encompassing, so the world of literary creation is incomparably broad. General Secretary Xi Jinping's "Speech at the Forum on Literary and Artistic Work" talked about the richness and possibility of literary and artistic creation, and especially said: "The civilization progress of the Chinese nation for more than 5,000 years, the bloody struggle of the Chinese people for national independence and people's liberation in modern times, the great course of revolution, construction and reform carried out by the people under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the profound changes in ancient China and the extremely rich production and life of the 1.3 billion Chinese people have provided extremely fertile soil for literary and artistic creation, and there are too many things worth writing." "In fact, our literary creation is not only based on the current social reality, but also rooted in a long traditional culture, and the themes of writing and expression have always been different and colorful. In the past ten years of the new era, coinciding with the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China, the 75th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, and the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, the variety and number of works with party history, military history, and national history as materials and themes have increased significantly. There are many novels that can be called masterpieces.

Revolutionary historical themes related to the history of the Party and the military have always been the traditional strength of contemporary novels, and representative works that can be called classics have been produced in different periods. Since the beginning of the new era, writers who are interested in writing in this area have inherited the past and forged ahead into the future, and continued to write new glories in this field of subject matter with profound and unique theme management and determined to explore new arts. In this regard, the most eye-catching is Xu Huaizhong's "The Legend of the Wind", which won the 10th Mao Dun Literature Award, Sun Ganlu's "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" which won the 11th Mao Dun Literature Award, Hu Xuewen's "Blood Plum Blossom" who won the 14th "Five One Project" Award, and Zhu Xiuhai's "Distant White Horse" which won the 16th "Five One Project" Award. The profound ideological content of these works is complemented by exquisite artistic forms, which to a certain extent marks the artistic height of this type of fiction writing in this era. In addition, there are also some works that have received wide attention from the literary world and people after publication because of their unique themes and unique writing methods, such as Pompeii's "Wujiang Yin", Xu Guixiang's "Hero Mountain", Haifei's "Xiang Yan'an", Zhang Pincheng's "Red Medicine", Wen Yanxia's "Tiger Calf", Ji Yu's "Mountains Roaring", Ye Wei's "Eastward Expansion", etc. In the field of children's literature, some noteworthy novels with red themes have also emerged, such as Xu Lu's "Lights in the Distant Mountains", He Fang's "Youth Company", Cao Wenxuan's "Fire Seal", and Ryle's "Female Soldier Annie".

Looking back at the past, in the pursuit of writing history, there is another type of work that does not directly write revolutionary history, but contains relevant historical content and writes different cultural connotations and historical customs in the writing of local history and family history as the main line. This kind of writing, with its unique angle and rich meaning, adds a new color to the writing of historical themes. Works that belong to this kind of writing include Ah Yin's "Tusi and His Descendants", Lei Duo's "Merry Family", Si · Barthe's "Red Moon", Ge Liang's "Northern Kite", Lu Zhuanping's "Roots", Li Liang's "Da Luo River", Li Jingrui's "Shenyutang" and so on. Xu Zechen's "Going North" can be described as the culmination of this kind of writing. The work uses two threads of history and the present to tell the close relationship between the family and the canal, showing the history of a river and the secret history of a nation. In recent years, Wang Yuewen's "Family Mountain", Peng Xueming's "Dad", and Jin Ziwei's "Da Liao River" can be regarded as new achievements in the writing of such novels and new achievements in artistic exploration.

Focus on everyday situations and write about ordinary people

In the ever-changing social reality, life is all-encompassing, and there are all kinds of characters, but the most familiar is daily life, and the most common are ordinary people. General Secretary Xi Jinping's "Speech at the Symposium on Literary and Artistic Work" taught literary and artistic workers to "rejoice in the joy of the people and worry about the people's sorrows", and pointed out with Lu Xun as an example: "If Lu Xun is not familiar with the situation and mood of the people at the bottom before and after the Xinhai Revolution, it is impossible to create lifelike characters such as Xianglin's sister-in-law, Runtu, Ah Q, Kong Yiji, etc. In the new era, the majority of writers insist on keeping in mind the spirit of these important expositions in the process of "going deep into life and taking root in the people", deeply understand the close connection between literary and artistic creation and people's lives, and strive to keep their eyes downward, "pour the joys, sorrows, and sorrows of the people into their own pen", and convey their deep worries from the daily shapes of real life and civilian characters, revealing the profound changes in the form of life and the subtle changes in people's mental state. This kind of literary pursuit is embodied in the creation of novels, that is, works that depict daily life and depict ordinary people come one after another, and they are permeated with sufficient earth and vitality, so that the works retain strong vitality and extensive influence.

Taking the little people in life as the protagonists, describing their involuntary life fate, and describing their indescribable joys, sorrows, and sorrows has always existed in the field of novel creation, and is more popular in the creation of post-70s writers. But around 2012, things have changed significantly, and some senior fiction writers, relying on their rich life accumulation and excellent artistic management, have written a long masterpiece with civilian characters as the protagonist and civilian life as the content to express the mood and social changes of the times. For example, Su Tong's "The Yellow Sparrow", from the cocoon of a juvenile rape case, writes about the profound impact of the youthful confusion of urban young people on their life destiny in a specific period. Jin Yucheng's "Flowers" takes Bao, Xiaomao and other ordinary people in the alleys of Shanghai as the protagonists, connecting the scenes of social life in two periods, and behind the life and death songs of the characters are the quiet changes in the life of the times and their subtle and profound influence. Subsequently, Chen Yan's "Loading the Stage", Liu Qingbang's "Black and White Men and Women", Dongxi's "Tampered Life", Chi Zijian's "Fireworks Scroll" and other works that depict the fate of little people appeared one after another. The solemn launch of Liang Xiaosheng's "The World" has pushed this writing pursuit to a new peak. This work is based on the life trajectory of Zhou Bingkun, a child of ordinary people, and reflects the drastic changes in social life and its profound impact on ordinary people. Ordinary characters and ordinary lives make the works small and big, and strange in the ordinary. Among such works, "The Yellow Sparrow", "Flowers" and "The World" have won the Mao Dun Literature Award, and "Installation" and "The World" have been widely praised and welcomed by the audience after being adapted into TV series, which fully demonstrates the unique advantages of this kind of work and the broad prospects of this kind of writing.

It must also be mentioned here that the progress and changes of young writers in their writing. Among them, the young writers who have made the fastest progress and changed the most are the young writers who have won the Lu Xun Literature Award. Shi Yifeng is good at writing small characters with playful brushwork, and later from banter to irony, and the cultural and social meanings contained in his works have also been continuously expanded and strengthened. Ma Jinlian, who focuses on the narrative of rural life, writes a warm poetry soaked in the difficult life through close observation of daily life. The border guards in Dong Xia Qingqing's pen and the urban provincial people in Cai Dong's pen are ordinary people who show a firm belief in life in their silent dedication, but there is something extraordinary in the ordinary, and there is an implication in the ordinary, so the works have the essence of life and the internal force of art.

In the more than ten years of the new era, the novels are full of flowers, and the list is endless. The above summary description from three aspects is just a point to the surface, and it is inevitable that there will be one omission. However, such an overview is not comprehensive, but it also shows the new progress and new atmosphere unique to the new era. This colorful and vibrant scene is not only a new advance in the creation of novels on the basis of the accumulated achievements in different periods, but also a brilliant achievement made by the majority of writers under the guidance of General Secretary Xi Jinping's "Speech at the Symposium on Literary and Artistic Work" and General Secretary Xi Jinping's series of important expositions on literary and artistic work. Therefore, we also firmly believe that the novel will make great strides forward on the road of promoting the prosperity and development of literature and art and creating the artistic peak of the times.

(Author: Bai Ye)