The eradication of poverty has been the dream of mankind since ancient times. In this largest and most powerful battle against poverty in human history, a group of Chinese writers have gone deep into the frontline of poverty alleviation and joined the great cause of poverty alleviation with literary enthusiasm and strength, and they have painted a true, three-dimensional, affectionate and full Chinese story to the world with the pen in their hands. In order to show the writer's action and literary strength in the great process of poverty alleviation, the China Writers Association planned and the China Writers Network undertook to shoot the feature film "Literary Power on the Road of Poverty Alleviation". In more than four months, we have interviewed dozens of writers, critics, and editors, and will now launch a series of interviews, thank you for your attention.
2020 is the decisive year for poverty alleviation and the comprehensive construction of a moderately prosperous society, Guangming Daily has planned to launch a column entitled "Decisive Battle of Poverty : Twelve Chapters of China's Poverty Alleviation" since the beginning of the year, and vividly records the vivid practice and touching stories in the process of fighting poverty throughout the country in the form of reportage in a full-page page every month. Reportage literature such as "Dawning", "The Secretary of Poverty Alleviation in the Red Land", "Tough Guys in Cooperatives", "Opening the Mountains on the Ridge", "DreamIng Keping" and other reportage literature either observes the process of China's poverty alleviation from a macroscopic perspective and from a multi-point perspective, or chooses a certain section and cuts into the fate of individuals from a microscopic perspective, delicately and vividly establishing this photo for the great process of China's poverty alleviation. Deng Kai, deputy director of the Cultural Department of Guangming Daily, said in an interview with a reporter from the China Writers Network, "Literature should give readers the strength to the people, give them confidence in times of difficulty, comfort them when they are hurting, and give them strength when they move forward." ”
01. "They have a deep sense of the people, and their works are worthy of the times"
China Writers Network: How do you think that the China Writers Association organized 25 writers to go deep into the first battlefield of poverty alleviation and conduct interviews? What do you think is the value and significance of this event?
Deng Kai: Since the beginning of Reform and Opening Up, 850 million people in China have been lifted out of poverty. Especially in the past 5 years, the achievements of poverty alleviation have attracted worldwide attention. In 2017, at the annual meetings of the World Economic Cooperation organization and the World Bank, the president of the World Bank called China's poverty alleviation the greatest event in history. In the new era, literature is not absent, writers are not absent, works are not missing. In order to help alleviate poverty, the China Writers Association has done a lot of work to record this great historical process in the form of literature. The vast number of writers have also thrown themselves into the fiery life. They leaned down to get close to the soil and wrote a lot of excellent works with temperature, dewdrops, breath of life, emotional concentration, thickness of life, and height of thought, which caused great repercussions in society.
I would like to give a particular example, mr. Li Di. His deeds have touched many people, not only writers, but also many people in these mountainous and rural areas he has visited. Guangming Daily published a front-page headline in early August to introduce Mr. Li Di's deeds to the whole society.
I remember that he went to Xinjiang three times to interview the guardians of the desert highway wells, and five times when he interviewed the poverty alleviation in Yonghe County, Shanxi. Previously, he had even spent several Spring Festivals in the interview detention center— he asked to live in the room next to the detention center.
I think it's not easy for writer Li Di to do that. He has written a lot of works with a great sense of scene and extremely communicative with the people, and many details in the works are very touching.
There is also the writer Jiang Wei, who spent most of his time interviewing in the deeply impoverished areas of Guizhou's mountainous areas, mingling with the local masses. As long as he goes deep into one place, he is like a "boiling" person, and the whole state is very excited, because he feels that he is infected by the great changes of the times in this era.
I think that such a writer is precisely what is particularly needed by this era, keeping pace with the times and truly having the people in mind. When they write, they polish each work as a fine work, and the works they produce are worthy of this era.
China Writers Network: How do you view the literary writing of these writers on the great journey of poverty alleviation?
Deng Kai: The China Writers Association has made a lot of preparations for the reportage creation project of poverty alleviation and has made great efforts. 25 powerful writers and poets were selected from all over the country and went deep into all parts of the country to interview.
The works of writers such as Pan Xiaoping, Guan Renshan, and Wang Song were launched in the Guangming Daily column "12 Chapters on Poverty Alleviation in China.". We devote a full page each month to the excellent works of these writers. Their writing has its own perspectives and characteristics. Like Pan Xiaoping, vice chairman of the Anhui Writers Association, she wrote about Jinzhai's planting of rural medical care and new agricultural cooperatives, and this new change in rural medical care is really helpful to the local people. Poverty alleviation in Xinjiang is also admirable, in the environment of extreme water shortage, the local government at any cost from thousands of miles away from the canal, so that clean water flowed to thousands of households, greatly improving the lives of the local people. It is also about Renshan's poverty alleviation process in Fuping, focusing on how the local people relied on new agricultural formats to get rid of poverty and become rich.
We see that all writers have their own unique perspectives, they have a deep understanding of the situation of poverty alleviation in various places, and they show different styles in their creations. The works of these writers are gathered like a kaleidoscope, showing the great project of poverty alleviation in a colorful and nuanced way. Unlike literature and images, the power of words can make people think deeply, and it can often freeze some very precious parts of emotions and preserve them for history. I think that literature is a very meaningful creation for the writing of poverty alleviation.
China Writers Network: After these works were published in Guangming Daily, what kind of social repercussions did they arouse?
Deng Kai: First of all, the local people are particularly excited, everyone feels that they have been written into the work, from a person walking on the ground to a typical person who is recorded in the newspaper, and they have a very good interaction with the writers, very excited.
In addition to the encouragement of the masses, these works have also been affirmed by the literary community. Everyone believes that writers should record this era, should put themselves in the great historical process of the times, this is meaningful, is the value of writers to live with their works, many critics have expressed concern for these works, given enthusiastic evaluations.
More reader feedback is manifested on the web. After reading the works, many netizens feel that poverty alleviation is tangible. They were touched by the delicate writing of the writers, touched and delighted by the details of the poverty alleviation project, felt that everyone was a witness, participant and beneficiary of the poverty alleviation project, and some people constantly sighed that the great practice of poverty alleviation was "indeed a miracle in human history".
02. Across the mountains and the sea, literature goes deep into life
China Writers Network: The China Writers Association organizes interviews with writers to go deep into the frontline of poverty alleviation, which also provides a creative opportunity for writers.
Deng Kai: Yes, as far as I know, there are many writers who hope to participate in the project of poverty alleviation and reportage creation, very enthusiastic, and it is a huge group, and everyone is willing to devote themselves to the fiery life.
Because the theme of poverty alleviation happens around us, each of us is in a historical field, facing a huge writing background of the theme of poverty alleviation, it is a resource library for our writing. Even if you want to be a bystander, it's unlikely. Everyone is very active and enthusiastic, and they are willing to let their talents shine on the theme of poverty alleviation.
In an era when the Internet is highly developed, the boundaries between cities and villages are blurred, economic forms are also diversified, people's values are also diversified, and the Internet has profoundly changed the way people convey information, emotions, and communication, and even changed the way we live. Therefore, in the face of a changing and extremely complex era background, literature must have its own responsibilities.
The return of so many writers to life itself and to the literary scene is a respect for the essential sense of literature. We look forward, and liu qing and Lu Yao, who we have repeatedly talked about today, are in this way that they have marked a height of Chinese literature and set an example for writers. For example, liu qing went to Huangfu Village to hang up his post, and he came for 14 years, and among the people, you can't recognize him. When Lu Yao wrote, he also faced such a huge treasure house of life with a pious mentality, he was fully committed to absorbing various resources from life, and then refining, he and the characters in his pen were in touch with each other and with the same voice. Therefore, the classic character images and his works extracted from life have received great repercussions and resonate with hundreds of millions of readers.
Therefore, it is very meaningful for the Writers Association of China to organize writers to return to the scene of life and return to the field of such a major historical process as poverty alleviation. Writers must be close to the soil, and writers must truly perceive the lives of ordinary people and empathize with their joys and sorrows. There is a reportage about the cliff village, and there is a detail in it, saying that when you go to photograph the cliff village, a stone that accidentally falls under the cliff - of course, people are likely to fall down at once. This is the local living environment, which is extremely sinister. Therefore, we can imagine that when the villagers of cliff village saw that the government had built a well-protected boardwalk for them, it was difficult to express their inner feelings in words. Writers must go deep into the scene of life in order to obtain fresher and more touching feelings.
China Writers Network: When the poverty alleviation is concretely implemented, what kind of transformation has occurred for everyone in it, it is precisely literature to record, and the core of literature is actually people.
Deng Kai: Right. Policy is more like a rigid thing that operates to promote social development. When we look back, all kinds of policies may be like a skeleton in the narrative of history; but literature is very beautiful, literature is like flesh and blood, like capillaries, delicate and presents a lot of historical details. Literature brought some people to life at that time, or those in literary works, let history come alive. Literature perfectly combines the truth of life and the truth of art, and the charm and value of literature lie in this.
The power of literature, different from boring reports and figures, its charm lies precisely in the fact that it can be profoundly expressed in the changes in people, changes in life, and changes in the perspective of the world behind the entire big poverty alleviation policy, people's faces have changed from sadness to smiles, and the countryside is no longer withered but endless - literature is the best way to express spiritual changes.
The significance of so many writers going deep into the scene of poverty alleviation is also here: recording history, recording the great changes that have taken place on Chinese soil, and recording China's great contributions to the history of human poverty alleviation.
(Arranged by Chen Zeyu)
Writer Profile
Deng Kai
Deputy Director of the Culture Department of Guangming Daily, Member of the Chinese Writers Association, Poet.
Check out the feature "Literary Power in Poverty Alleviation"
Editor of this issue: Deng Jiejun