Today I introduce a modern writer Zhang Tianyi, whose two books have been included in the "Catalogue of Reading Guidance for Primary and Secondary School Students of the Textbook Development Center for The Basic Education Curriculum of the Ministry of Education (2020 Edition)" released in April this year: "The Secret of the Treasure Gourd" (grades 3 and 4) and "Dalin Xiaolin" (grades 5 and 6).
Born in 1906, Zhang Tianyi is a famous modern writer, who began writing professionally in 1929, joined the Left League in 1931, and after liberation served as the secretary of the Secretariat of the China Writers Association and the editor-in-chief of People's Literature. He is famous for writing satirical novels and writing children's literature, such as fairy tales such as "Da Lin and Xiao Lin", "The Secret of bao hulu", "Bald King", novels "Mr. Warwick", "Bao's Father and Son", "Ghost Soil Diary" and so on.
<h1>Underrated literature, the second milestone in the history of Chinese fairy tales</h1>
The fairy tale "Da lin and Xiao Lin", published in 1933, is hailed as the second milestone in the history of Chinese fairy tales after Ye Shengtao's "Scarecrow"; "The Secret of Bao Hulu", which was created in the 1950s, and Yan Wenjing's "Next Ship" Port" are considered to be two important achievements in China's fairy tale creation since the founding of the People's Republic of China. Zhang Tianyi is an insurmountable figure in the history of Chinese children's literature.
In the entire history of modern Chinese literature, Zhang Tianyi is also a very important writer, and his short stories are particularly well written. Mr. Xia Zhiqing, the literary critic who first introduced Chinese literature to foreign countries, introduced ten writers in the History of Modern Chinese Novels, and Zhang Tianyi was one of them, who commented that Zhang Tianyi was the most talented short story writer in the 1930s, and his satirical talent was higher than Lu Xun.
Zhang Ailing, Qian Zhongshu, Shen Congwen, these great writers who are now famous are inseparable from Xia Zhiqing's admiration, and Zhang Tianyi, who is also respected, later put more energy into the creation of children's literature and became less famous. Some people say that Zhang Tianyi is an underrated writer, and judging from his most representative satirical novels, he is indeed a genius writer who deserves to be praised.
<h1>"Obayashi Kobayashi": Overcome inertia and struggle bravely in order to obtain a free and happy life</h1>
Ye Shengtao's "Scarecrow" in the 1920s is the first collection of fairy tales in China, and in the 1930s, it belonged to Zhang Tianyi, whose fairy tale "Da lin and Xiaolin" is China's first long fairy tale, and is hailed as the second milestone in the history of Chinese fairy tales after Ye Shengtao's Scarecrow.
Zheng Yuanjie, a Chinese fairy tale king who became famous in the 1980s, once said that he was greatly influenced by Zhang Tianyi, and he once wrote in his blog: "'Da Lin and Xiao Lin' is one of the three books that have had the greatest influence on me. If I hadn't seen Obayashi and Kobayashi as a child, I wouldn't have made a living writing fairy tales today. He also said that in his eyes, Zhang Tianyi was a greater fairy tale writer than Hans Christian Andersen.
"Obayashi and Kobayashi" writes the story of a pair of brothers, Obayashi is the older brother, and Kobayashi is the younger brother. Although the two people are brothers, their handling of people is extremely different, the older brother Dalin is very lazy and greedy, and the younger brother Kobayashi is industrious and kind. One day, the two brothers encountered a monster that wanted to eat people, and they fled, only to run away and take a completely different path.
The industrious Kobayashi was picked up by a dog gentleman and sold to a greenbeard named Four or Four. Four or four opened a Gollum company, there was a factory specializing in diamond diamonds, and he asked Kobayashi to work. The factory is full of children who make diamonds for four or four grids, and four or four boxes let them work day and night, and finally turn the children into eggs and eat them.
Kobayashi makes good friends in the factory, they discover the secret of four or four, defeat four or four, and later go to drive a train, relying on their own strength to live a free life.
His brother Da lin has always dreamed of being a rich man, and after escaping from the monster, he meets a fox gentleman, who introduces Da Lin to the kerosene king Mr. Ta Ha as a son, and Mr. Ta Ha has a good relationship with the king.
Obayashi changed his name to Oh, he did nothing, was waited for all day to enjoy an extremely rich life, and ended up becoming a super fat man, becoming a slave to money, and finally starving to death in the gold dollar pile on Rich Man Island.
"Obayashi and Xiaolin" has distinct artistic characteristics, extremely bold imagination, exaggerated techniques, humorous language, and is very easy to be accepted by children. At the same time, this work has a profound social background, in the laughter and lively story, the ordinary working people against the cruel exploitation and oppression of bureaucrats and capitalists have been enthusiastically praised, and the social parasites represented by Obayashi have been ruthlessly satirized and lashed out.
Irony and humor is Zhang Tianyi's best artistic technique, in the creation of fairy tales, he will be more magnified and exaggerated, and behind this is actually to tell children that only diligent and brave, overcome the inertia of the body, rely on their own strength to continue to struggle, in order to obtain a good life, which is also a precious wealth needed in any era.
<h1>"The Secret of the Treasure Gourd": Happiness will not fall from the sky, but rely on your own efforts</h1>
Completed in 1958, "The Secret of the Treasure Gourd" is an important achievement in the field of children's literature after the founding of New China, which has accompanied generations of Chinese children to grow up for decades, and is still a recommended book for teachers today.
The long-form fairy tale was even more influential, having been made in black and white as early as 1963, and in 2007 Disney co-produced a color animated film of the same name in collaboration with a local Chinese company.
"The Secret of the Treasure Gourd" lacks the sharp irony and exaggeration of "Obayashi and Kobayashi", but adds more fantasy color, and at the same time has a more detailed depiction of reality, which is the perfect combination of realism and romanticism.
The protagonist of the story is a primary school student named Wang Bao, who is a little lazy, not very careful in learning, and a little competitive, eager for everyone's approval, always fantasizing about being able to get something for nothing.
One day he gets a magic gourd that can fulfill all his wishes. As soon as he thought about it, he immediately had something, and as a result, he made a lot of jokes.
He and his classmates played chess and tried to eat each other's chess pieces, and the pieces immediately flew into his mouth; the books in the school library were lost and inexplicably ran into his bag; the things in the store appeared in his house as soon as he thought about them; the papers he handed in during the exam were actually full of answers from other classmates, and the words on the classmate's papers were all gone...
The treasure gourd not only did not bring him happiness but brought him all kinds of troubles, and finally Wang Bao decisively abandoned this treasure, corrected his shortcomings, and relied on his own efforts to obtain happiness.
"The Secret of the Treasure Gourd" is still a very educational work, and at the same time it is very interesting to write, and Zhang Tianyi's humorous language features are still very prominent. In addition, in terms of character portrayal and grasp of the real life of children and children's psychology at that time, it is a work that can resonate with children and get children's love.
<h1>"Bao's Father and Son": Coddling makes Wangzi Jackie Chan's hopes shattered</h1>
Zhang Tianyi is an outstanding novelist, in addition to the above two works of children's literature, he also introduces his short story "Bao's Father and Son".
"Mr. Warwick" is Zhang Tianyi's most famous short story, but he has many excellent short stories, among which "Bao's Father and Son" is also quite wonderful, which can represent the artistic standard of Zhang Tianyi's short stories, and at the same time, the content of the work is very educational.
The novel has also been filmed, filmed by Beijing Film Studio, directed by Xie Tieli, starring Guan Zongxiang and Liu Changwei, and released in 1983.
"Bao's Father and Son" tells the story of a father and son surnamed Bao, the old Bao is an errand boy in the family of a rich man, he is kind and loyal, works diligently, and all his hopes are pinned on Bao Guowei, the only son who lost his mother from childhood.
Lao Bao sent his son to a new-style school to study, saving money and frugality for his son's various expenses. But the son is not good at studying, messing with the stupid children, spending money and spending a lot of money.
Xiao Bao failed to pass the grade, and the old bag ran around to collect the tuition. Chinese New Year's Eve, the person who came to collect the debt had not left, and Xiao Bao injured his classmates again, was expelled from the school, and had to bear fifty yuan in medical expenses.
The old bag, who was in debt, had only despair, and his hopes for Jackie Chan were shattered.
In the old bag we can see a very representative type of parents, they wholeheartedly serve their children, do their best to give their children the best, even if beyond their own ability, they put all their hopes on their children, once the hope is broken, they fall into the abyss.
The novel is written in the 20s and 30s of the last century, and it seems that it can still be touched by the old bag today. Pity the hearts of the parents in the world, although Lao Bao loves his son and even dotes on him, causing all kinds of bad deeds on Xiao Bao's body, and finally eating his own consequences, we can't help but feel sad for Lao Bao, sympathize with him, and feel sorry for him.
Today, we parents still have to take the old bag as an admonition, education must first teach people, to teach children to know how to love their parents, Chinese traditional education still needs to be paid attention to. There is a detail in the novel, the new school that Lao Bao sent his son to is not even the Spring Festival, completely foreign, how can such a school education let children know how to cherish tradition and family?
The portrayal of the characters in "Bao's Father and Son" is simply impressive, and the psychological portrayal of the father and the son is exquisite to the extreme, which is a rare artistic masterpiece, and at the same time, it is very enlightening to our educational concepts, and the display of the relationship between the characters of different social classes is also quite profound, which is worth reading.
The 1980s film "Bao's Father and Son" was also selected by the Cannes Film Festival, but due to the opposition of the Film Bureau at that time, it failed to be shortlisted for the Cannes Film Festival, otherwise the name of "Bao's Father and Son" would be louder.