In the ranks of China's military theme literature creation, Wang Wanjian is a name that cannot be forgotten. He joined the revolution in 1944 during the Anti-Japanese War, and during the Liberation War, he served as a propagandist, a member of the cultural and labor corps, a leader of the cultural and labor troupe, and an editorial and journalist of the newspaper. During this time, he developed a keen interest in writing, writing skits, singing materials, and newsletters. In 1952, he was transferred to the people's liberation army literature and art magazine as an editor, and from 1956 to 1966, he participated in the editing of the memoir collection "Spark of Fire" reflecting the history of the 30-year revolutionary struggle. In 1978, he became a screenwriter and director of the Literature Department of the Bayi Film Studio, and later served as the head of the Literature Department of the Revived People's Liberation Army Academy of Arts. He died of illness in 1991 at the age of 62, and throughout his life, he was inextricably linked to literature.
During his time as a reporter and editor at a newspaper, Wang Yuanjian came into contact with some revolutionaries of the older generation and learned about their combat experience and heroic deeds. After working in the "People's Liberation Army Literature and Art" magazine, he took the in-depth understanding of revolutionary war life as an important task to complete. He successively went to Dongshan Island in Fujian Province and the revolutionary base area in Jiangxi, retraced the Long March several times, interviewed a large number of veteran soldiers of the Red Army, old Red Guards, underground workers who persisted in the struggle in the white terror, and the local masses of the people. At every place of interview, he would visit any revolutionary historical memorial hall or museum, and carefully record the materials he thought were useful. In particular, he had to collect materials and materials related to the Red Army and copy them into volumes. He believes that these stories of blood and tears are too educational for the young generation born in New China. The people's life is definitely getting better and better, and for the young people who grew up in a superior environment, it is too necessary to let them know the heroic struggle and the spirit of sacrifice of the older generation of revolutionaries, who have gone forward to create a new China and the happy life of the present, and we young people should not forget our original intentions and continue to march forward courageously in the footsteps of the revolutionary ancestors. Therefore, I would like to insist that as a party propagandist, he has the responsibility to write these stories. (Wang Yuanjian's wife, Onjani)
Although Wang Yuanjian did not personally experience the struggle during the second civil revolutionary war, the reality of the combat life of the troops made him have a very direct feeling, experience and accumulation of the war, and coupled with his interviews with the epic struggle life of the Red Army and the people in the revolutionary base areas, he possessed a wealth of living materials in this area, which enabled him to have a very profound understanding of this period of history, so that he chose the main creative direction in this period. The magnificent mountains and rivers and thrilling stories he heard greatly shocked and stirred his young soul, and his enthusiasm and talent were spewed out and burned by the literary creation of the struggle life during the Red Army period. Since the publication of his first short story "Party Fee" in 1954, Wang Yuanjian has successively written a number of excellent works, such as "The Story of Grain", "Footprints", "Mother", "Seven Matches", "Threesome", "Detachment Political Commissar", "Descendants", "Rushing", "Little Guerrilla", "Grass", as well as the film script "Shining Red Star" and "Four Crossing Red Water". These works are uniquely based on unique materials, distinct themes, ingenious conception, good at grasping and capturing the outstanding characteristics and heroic behaviors of typical characters in a specific environment, to show the extraordinary character and noble spirit of the protagonist, written delicately and sincerely, vividly and movingly, full of story and literature, most of which have become popular and charming works.
Among Wang Yuanjian's short stories, "Party Fee" is the most famous. This work of only more than 7,000 words, first published in the December 1954 issue of "People's Liberation Army Literature and Art", is Wang Yuanjian's first short story and a representative work of his short stories. His works have been selected many times in secondary school Chinese textbooks and have had a profound impact.
From the first-person perspective of "I", the work is touched from the time when he receives a monthly allowance and takes out money to pay the party fee, leading his thoughts from the peaceful era to the bloody autumn of 1934, thus cutting into and unfolding the author's emotional narrative. At that time, due to the withdrawal of the main force of the Red Army, a small unit that remained behind to persist in the struggle was frantically "encircled and suppressed" by the white bandits and forced to go up the mountain. The troops who have gone up the mountain must not only "strike at the enemy by looking at the holes" and "maintain contact with the underground party organizations in various places through invisible lines of communication." However, the enemy resorted to the poisonous tactic of "emigrating and merging the villages", cutting off the connection between the troops on the mountain and the masses down the mountain. In this grim situation, "I", as a scout, was sent to the mountain to join the joint, so the image of Huang Xin, a firm and brave female Communist Party member who was loyal to the party, entered the reader's field of vision.
The novel mainly writes about "I" and Huang Xin's two meetings, and her two payment of party fees. The heroine is named Huang Xin, she sent her husband who married her through free love to become a Red Army, after her husband went to the Long March, only a 5-year-old daughter lived a difficult life with her, and the village where she lived was also burned by the enemy. Under the white terror of the enemy, Huang Xin always maintained the firm belief and loyalty to the party as a Communist Party member, and when she lost contact with the troops and the party organization, she contacted several underground party members to try to secretly make pickles, and whenever she had the opportunity, she gave these pickles to the troops who did not have salt to solve the urgent need. The first time "I" met her, it was "I" who "quietly touched Zhuangzi, counted from the east to the seventeenth shack according to the mark told by the political commissar, crept to the door of the shack", heard "someone in the house gently hummed a little tune, which was the most popular "Send Lang to be a Red Army" in the past when 'expanding the red'", this situation of not seeing his person and hearing his voice first shows that the character recalls the past and hopes for the future in a difficult situation. The novel continues to write about the cleverness and sophistication shown by Huang Xin when the two meet, as well as the warmth and apology of entertaining the hungry "I" with a nest made of two sweet potato shreds mixed with vegetable leaves and a piece of salted radish. When she said goodbye, she thought that she had not paid the party fee for several months, so she took out her bright red party card and the only two pieces of silver left by her husband to pay the party fee. This is the first time she has paid her membership fee, and this move reflects her conscious initiative and dedication as a party member in a specific situation, and the work here describes the payment of party fees as a typical act of revealing and portraying characters.
The second time the protagonist pays the party fee, it is the focus of the novel's narrative. This was the second time "I" met Huang Xin half a month later, and it was also their last meeting. The narrative of the novel is extremely layered, first "I" looked into the house from the corner of her house, and saw Huang Xin put "pickled cabbage, pickled radish, pickled broad beans... There are yellow, there are green" and other kinds of pickles are placed in a basket, and a strong coaxing daughter not to eat these pickles. "You're not as tortured as an adult, thinner than her mother, with a slender neck holding a thin head, leaning on her mother's body weakly, probably not seeing much oil and salt easily, and two big eyes staring at the pile of pickles, smacking their mouths uncontrollably." She refused to listen to her mother's advice, or twisted her mother's clothes to eat. He climbed to the mouth of the empty broken altar, put his thin little hand into the jar, dipped his fingers in some salt water, filled it in his mouth and sucked it, and finally couldn't help but reach out and grab a pickled bean horn and fill it in his mouth. Her mother turned her head to see it, glanced at the child, and then at the dish in the basket, and hurriedly reached out to bring the dish over. The child cried. "Through the detailed description of Yu'er's desire to eat pickles and Huang Xin's prevention, it is poignant and touching. After witnessing this scene, "I" really couldn't bear it, so I pushed the door in and complained that she shouldn't treat her daughter like this, but she told "me" that the reason why the pickles could not move was that she used to pay the party fee. Such details are unique and surprising, showing the most simple, pure and sincere feelings of an ordinary revolutionary woman towards the Party.
The climax of the novel is at the moment when the white devil comes to search for people because of the leakage of news: "She suddenly became serious, her face was flat, and her speech was not at all as soft and gentle as just now, and she became strong and decisive." She said emphatically: According to the discipline of underground work, you have to listen to me here! For the sake of the party, you have to live! She pointed to the attic and said: Go up and hide, don't move no matter what happens, I have to deal with everything!" This shows her spirit of not being afraid of danger, and in order to lure away the white devils and cover the troops that "I" brought this basket of pickles back to the mountain, she even sacrificed her own life, which reflects her heroic and fearless dedication. The characters are also standing up in the novel's layers of progressive description, exceptionally plump and vivid, touching and profound. At the end of the work, it is written: "A basket of pickles can be counted numerically, how can a Communist Party member's love for the Party be calculated?" How can the dedication of a Party member be counted?" The protagonist Huang Xin's action of paying party fees itself reveals the infinite loyalty of an ordinary party member to the party and reveals the fundamental reason for the victory of the revolution led by the Communist Party of China.
Wang Yuanjian is famous for his short stories and is an excellent short story writer who grew up after liberation. On his bumpy creative road, he persistently explored the theme of revolutionary history, made unimaginable hard work, and also showed his unique literary talent. He insisted that he was only a propagandist of the party, always maintaining faith in communism and loyalty to the revolutionary cause. In his heart there is always an indelible lamp, which illuminates his creative path for decades, that is, the revolutionary spirit of the older generation. He believed that a writer should insist on writing the history of the revolutionary struggle, and he could write good works. His works have been widely welcomed and praised at home and abroad, and his creative orientation and literary skills are still enlightening and instructive for today's creators.