On November 3, 1945, Ling Erwen, director of the Armed Forces Committee of Xiyang County, Shanxi Province, came to the door. On the one hand, the good news of the Shangdang campaign came; on the other hand, his wife gave birth to a fat boy. What is the name given to my son? Ling Erwen and his comrades studied a large array and decided to name it "Liberation".
Ling Jiefang grew up and walked with his parents on both sides of the Yellow River in Sanmenxia. Every February, the ice floes of the Yellow River melt open and go down the river, like thousands of troops and horses, which is very spectacular and leaves a very deep impression on Ling Jiefang. Later, When Ling Jiefang became a writer of historical novels, when he considered giving himself a pen name, he suddenly thought of the spectacular scene of the Yellow River rushing in February every year, so he took the pen name "February River".
February River
In today's parlance, February River was a "school scumbag" when he was a child. His parents were very busy at work and did not discipline him well, which made him particularly naughty in his youth, and his grades were very poor, and he repeated grades all the way in elementary school, junior high school, and high school. At the age of 21, he graduated from high school. Subsequently, February River did not get into college, but went to the army and became a soldier like his father.
Because of his propaganda work in the army, after being discharged from the army in 1978, February River was assigned to the Propaganda Department of Nanyang City, Henan Province, and became a deputy section chief. In 1984, February River was appointed chairman of the Nanyang Municipal Federation of Literature and Literature.
The use of the four words "late completion of the big instrument" to describe the literary creation process of February River is more appropriate. He began to submit articles in his thirties and was frequently treated as a retraction; it was not until he was forty that he began to write the huge work "The Kangxi Emperor". February River's low level of education and his own job forced him to spend all his spare time searching for literary and historical materials and writing word by word. After four years of unremitting efforts, the 4-volume 1.5 million-word "Kangxi Emperor" was completed, and Luoyang paper was expensive for a while, and the February River became famous in the First World War.
The Kangxi Emperor
"The Kangxi Emperor" is a famous work of February River, which brought him many honors, including the first literary and artistic achievement award of Nan Province and the first prize of the Excellent Book award of the Ten Years of Reform in Henan Province. In the early 1990s, "The Kangxi Emperor" was adapted into a TV series of the same name and broadcast on CCTV in prime time, and there was a spectacle of crowded alleys.
February River did not stop at the success brought by "The Kangxi Emperor", he had a greater pursuit. Next, February River set his sights on the other two protagonists who created the so-called "Kangqian Prosperous Era", the Yongzheng Emperor and the Qianlong Emperor, and spent nearly 10 years inquiring about the vast sea of historical materials, successively writing "Yongzheng Emperor" and "Qianlong Emperor". At this point, February River completed what he called the "Sunset Trilogy"—readers prefer to call it the "Emperor Series"—a full set of 10 volumes and 5.2 million words, equivalent to most of Lu Xun's Complete Works.
Lu Xun
February River's "Sunset Trilogy" has become the "darling" of the book market, and many reprints and reprints are still in short supply. Not only that, the "Sunset Trilogy" has been adapted into film and television dramas, and the ratings are extremely impressive. As a result, February River received a generous royalty income. On December 18, 2006, the first Chinese Writers Rich List was freshly released, a total of 25 writers appeared on the list, and February River ranked second with an annual royalty income of 12 million yuan, ranking after Yu Qiuyu.
If There is any regret in February River, it is that it did not win the Mao Dun Literature Prize.
According to Mr. Zhou Baiyi, the responsible editor of the book "Yongzheng Emperor" in February and the former president of Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House, "Yongzheng Emperor" was twice shortlisted for the Mao Dun Literature Award, but eventually passed by and missed this award, which represents the highest achievement of Chinese literature.
Yongzheng Emperor
The first time was in 1997, when "The Yongzheng Emperor" entered the final evaluation stage of the Fourth Mao Dun Literature Award. However, some judges suggested that some of the plots and characters of "Yongzheng Emperor" did not conform to history, such as the cause of Yongzheng's death, Li Wei's origin, and the special relationship between Yingdi and Yongzheng, which were eventually taken down. The 4th Mao Dun Literature Award was won by Wang Huo's "War and Man", Chen Zhongzhong's "White Deer Plain", Liu Sifen's "White Gate Willow", and Liu Yumin's "Autumn of Turmoil".
The second time was in 2000, when "The Yongzheng Emperor" broke into the final evaluation stage of the Fifth Mao Dun Literature Award. When discussing this work, a university professor always believed that the plot of "Yongzheng Emperor" did not conform to historical facts, and with the support of other judges, "Yongzheng Emperor" was eliminated. The 5th Mao Dun Literature Award was won by Zhang Ping's "Choice", Ah Lai's "Dust Settled", Wang Anyi's "Long Hate Song", and Wang Xufeng's "Tea Man Trilogy".
Stills of the Yongzheng Emperor
February River's "Yongzheng Emperor" twice participated in the Mao Dun Literature Award, and both times in the final evaluation were lost by one vote. Although February River himself didn't mind this, I always felt very sorry. Zhou Baiyi said.
Although February River did not receive the Mao Dun Literature Prize in his lifetime, he received a very high honor after his death.
On September 23, 2019, February River's "Yongzheng Emperor" was selected as the "New China 70 Years and 70 Novels Collection". The "New China 70 Years and 70 Novels Collection" aims to comprehensively show the development level of New Chinese literature, and is jointly launched by 8 publishing institutions such as Learning Publishing House and People's Literature Publishing House. The selection of "Yongzheng Emperor" marks the recognition of the literary circles for the achievements of February River's literary creation.