Li Yan: Not just reading "City" - the writing direction of "Shenzhen Biography"

Among the "Hundred Cities of the Silk Road" series recently launched by Nova Publishing House, there is a book called "Shenzhen Biography: The Future World City", which is written by Hu Yeqiu, a sincere person, a writer with deep knowledge, professional and sharp eyes, and an observer who extends his perspective to the future and the world.

Judging from the actual writing of the book, Hu Yeqiu's devotees do have the side of writing about natural forms (see the book "Self-Introduction": Shenzhen "everywhere is 'pits', everywhere is 'walls', everywhere is 'ridges'"), and of course, there is also a side of the city that is beyond people's imagination in many fields (see also the book "Self-Introduction": "How different the form and content of the city are, no matter how you imagine her, she is outside your imagination"). In other words, reading "Shenzhen Biography" is not only reading the city, in fact, reading the consensus of the people, the will of the population, reading its political science and economic connotations, and reading its richer and more distant parts.

The choice of objects and the fiction of the title of the book have partially revealed the purpose and writing direction of the whole volume.

Why did Shenzhen become a special master? Obviously, this is the product of the "collusion" of writers and publishers, and it is determined by the special status of Shenzhen, and at least reflects the public opinion of the whole of Shenzhen. No matter what the position is based on, as long as it is not ignoring the miracle created by Shenzhen, as long as it is not biased, it is appropriate to hold an objective attitude and take the city as the master. What is certain is that the development of Shenzhen has a strong correlation with the city's vision and the fate of ethnic groups; Shenzhen has become a "city of one night", which itself has the landmark significance of social transformation and order reconstruction.

Music professor Wang Changkui once described his understanding of the Gothenburg Variations this way: it is "like a carefully constructed musical building, balanced, symmetrical, rational and exquisite." On the basis of the theme, 30 wonderful variations were made".

Hu Yeqiu also adopted many "variations" in the writing of "Shenzhen Biography": ancient and modern, far and near, gain and loss, xingdi...

He did something quite courageous and heart-wrenching, and did a kind of opening up. In the interval spanning thousands of years, in the direction from sea to land and from land to sea, at the humanistic connection point across time and space, Hu Yeqiu takes this "Shenzhen Biography" as the carrier, shenzhen reform as the support, Shenzhen people and Shenzhen stories as the model, and the bird's soaring figure as the core image, and the sleeping and high-level work of clarifying the truth is undoubtedly extremely challenging. Hu Yeqiu once made a special explanation of this in the "Afterword". He said: "... After entering the data collation, I found that it was a complete adventure, and every foot was a mine and a trap. Perhaps the city grew too fast to record its own history in its haste. Needless to say that ancient historical records are few and far between the morning star, the language is vague, the provenance is single, and the evidence is mostly isolated, even the contemporary history since the reform and opening up is also the same snake gray line, each holding its own opinion and no authoritative determination... In the vast sea of historical materials, where is Shenzhen? ”

And it is in the case of difficulties in the past, Hu Yeqiu brilliantly completed a Le Shi Yanran-style creative task, and what is important is that he directed the writing of "Shenzhen Biography" from unclear to gradually clear. In this book, you can read "the 'invisible hand' of the market", you can read that the city's population "average age is only 33 years old, the aging rate is only 6.6%", you can read "Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area", you can read about the "new mission" received by Shenzhen: "from the 'special economic zone' to the 'pilot demonstration area'", you can read "Qianhai Center"... The calendars and statements of these concepts and facts all have a certain political and economic connotations— although "Shenzhen Biography: The Future World City" is a literary Shenzhen record rather than a political science or political economy work.

However, examining the writing direction of this non-fiction work about Shenzhen, even if it is flicked, it can still make people feel that there is a lightning in front of them and a heavy thunder rolling by their ears, because this old land of the southern country, this coastal new city, not only has a strange narrative near and far (the far is an ancient historical site, the near one is a young city appearance - in the fourteen chapters of the book, its situation, its people and its affairs, everywhere), the relevant narrative caliber and each other's social values are appropriate, and in the era of the tide of reform and opening up, The relevant events, collectively known as Shenzhen, have long ceased to follow the usual track, but have opened up a new realm, or even stood at the head of the tide, excavated and created, all of which have become landscapes. In the meantime, it is hidden that its entanglement with political science and economic propositions has its own original appearance and internal logic.

We may wish to follow the context of the book to see what kind of original appearance and internal logic "Shenzhen Biography" has.

The first chapter of the book, the general title is "How deep is Shenzhen?" ”

Behind this question, in fact, there is a different implication, and it can even be extended to "Why is Shenzhen deep?" ”

In the open volume of "A Tale of Two Cities", the author wrote a dialogue between Daoguang and Qishan. Although this dialogue has faded into the smoke of history, we will still be deeply stung by a humiliating memory associated with it when we read it today: "Daoguang asked Qi Shan: 'What is Hong Kong really like?'" How did the British get it so much? Qi Shan replied, "The land of projectiles is too small to mention." Daoguang asked how small it was? Qi Shan said: "Daqing is a big fat chicken, and Hong Kong is just a small dot on the egg, and it is wiped away with a sleeve." It is this gentle "touch", "the far east has been forced to be divided into a twin cities"...

After reading this documentary, we should have a more realistic understanding of the phrase "how deep Shenzhen is".

The writing of "Shenzhen Biography" points to two heavy texts in the same chapter: "1979, It Was a Spring" and "1992, Another Spring". In these two chapters, the former excerpts an inscription from Deng Xiaoping's first southern tour: "Shenzhen's development and experience have proved that our policy of establishing a special economic zone is correct. The latter excerpted a speech from the old man's second southern tour: "The problem now is mainly 'left', but there is also right, and 'left' is fundamental." Some theoreticians and politicians scare people with big hats, and they are very deceptive in the name of revolution. The 'Left' stuff is terrible in our Party. ”

This kind of historical soundtrack is actually related to the core writing direction of "Shenzhen Biography": we must always adhere to the correct direction of reform and opening up, no reform and opening up, no way out, no reform and opening up, no future.

Shenzhen in the past was very old, and Shenzhen today is very young. Young Shenzhen, it is inevitable to be reckless, it is inevitable to make mistakes, like "Fire Sacrifice Qingshui River", like "Blood Warning", it tells the tragic experience of the city. As the famous poet Liu Liyun showed in the work "Poison in the Eyes": "I have seen the glory of the stele / In front of the grass, green trees and the grand sunset", there is sorrow, there is crying, there is death, there is unbearable... But no matter how he stumbles, Shenzhen is still striding forward with unstoppable momentum, and it is the combination of majestic and subtle.

The writing of "Shenzhen Biography" points to another point that is difficult to omit, that is, the author Hu Yeqiu is full of love for Shenzhen in his heart. This kind of love is throughout the book: "Your eyes are really beautiful, because there are rain and sun, sun, moon, mountains, clouds, flowers and birds in your eyes, but my eyes are better, because my eyes are only you." 」 (Afterglow, "Only You in My Eyes")

Such a writing points that it can no longer just stay in the reading city...

Author profile: Personal profile: Li Yan, real name Li Yunlong, male, originally from Jiangxi. He has taught in several colleges and universities and has a complete teaching experience. He is a special researcher of the Research Center for Contemporary Literature and Creation of Shenzhen University, and the vice chairman of the Shenzhen Nanshan District Writers Association.

Copyright Notice: This article is created by Li Yan and authorized to be published exclusively by Guoxuetai in today's headlines.