Wang Di's new work "The Tea Shop on the Corner of the Street" was published

"The Tea Shop on That Street Corner", a new work by historian Wang Di, who has been calling for "writing history for the people" for many years, was published and listed by the People's Literature Publishing House in October 2021. This book focuses on ordinary people, jumps out of the research mode of emperors and heroes in the past, and writes a history of people's lives with a downward vision. As soon as this book was released, it received attention and praise from readers.

Wang Di advocated that historical writing should also be literary, practicing cross-border writing, and his writing spanned many fields such as history, anthropology, sociology and literature, and he advocated that academic writing should not be separated from public reading. This book uses a large number of literary works and is a model for the history of literary evidence. The tea shop is the center of daily life in Chengdu, and some historical novels set in Chengdu, many of the plots take place in the tea shop.

Focusing on the Chengdu Tea Shop from 1900 to 1950, Wang Di uses fieldwork, official archives, modern novels and Chengdu bamboo branches to vividly show the daily life, mass culture and the economy, society and politics presented in that public space with the research orientation of microhistory and the literary writing technique of deep painting.

Wang Di believes that the essence of historical non-fiction writing is "the devil is in the detail" (the devil is in the detail). To write history, we need to have details; history with details is history with flesh and blood. Details seem to lack grand narratives, but they provide support for grand narratives. Those seemingly inadvertent chickens and dogs are the needles of the sea god that return to the scene of history.

The author jumps out of the rigid historical discussion and analysis mode of the academic school, not only maintains the tradition of historical writing with a basis in words, but also portrays the tea shop, the public space of daily life, vividly.

"Chengdu is a big tea shop, and the tea shop is a small Chengdu", this book excavates and tells the story of modern Chengdu and tea shops. People meet friends, chat, watch plays, listen to commentaries in the tea shop, the tea shop is half of their home, a tea table reflects the connection between people. Many people have small, rudimentary, and dark houses, not a place to stay for a long time, and those who can't stand loneliness at night have to go to the tea shop to have fun. In times of social unrest, tea shops are also the best places for people to escape from real suffering, at least to seek a little comfort there, or to temporarily forget the pain of real life. In the tea shop, there are bamboo chairs, wooden tables, tea bowls... In the tea shop, people can pluck out their ears, tell fortunes, buy and sell goods, talk about business, doze off, be in a daze, watch the streets, look at women, spread gossip, talk about state affairs, find jobs... There are many kinds of things, like a vivid film of daily life. Many aspects of the past of daily life and popular culture, chengdu tea shops, are our traditions, but they disappear before our eyes day by day. This is a problem that everyone faces in the process of modernization, and it is also the significance of historical non-fiction writing.

The book also shows gender issues in public life. From the stories of female guests and waitresses watching dramas in tea shops, we can see the discrimination suffered by women in modern times and their struggles.

The tea shop is a representative of Chengdu's culture, which is one of the most obvious signs that distinguishes Chengdu from other cities. An exploration of a tea shop in Chengdu that offers a sample and an experience.

In the field of history and even literature at home and abroad, Wang Di is famous for the research and creation of micro history and new cultural history, and his previous writings and publications of "Brother Robe", "Tea House" and "Street Culture" have aroused great repercussions in the academic circles and ordinary readers, and have become classic texts studied by teachers and students of many universities in China. The significance of microhistory lies in providing a case study for understanding the universal laws of urban history, and "The Tea Shop on that Street Corner", together with Wang Di's previous research on the Chengdu Tea House, not only deepens our understanding of Chengdu, but also helps to understand other Chinese cities. The unique value of "The Tea Shop on That Street Corner" in Wang Di's writing sequence is that it is Wang Di's attempt to translate his academic research into popular reading, establishing a connection between history and literature. He believes that the literary nature of history and the historicity of literature are very necessary. He stepped out of the ivory tower and used his writing to fulfill the mission of "writing history for the people" and providing the public with thought-provoking historical and literary readings. In fact, all of Wang Di's academic creations are not difficult to understand, but make people feel refreshed, so this turn of his writing is also inevitable.

In the study of Tea Shops in Chengdu, Wang Di has been exploring for more than 20 years. "The Tea Shop on That Street Corner" is another attempt by Wang Di to translate academic research into public reading after "The Vanishing Ancient City". Full, dense, rich in detail, as well as vivid, fluid and restrained narration, coupled with objective, rational and multi-dimensional analysis, this work forms a simple, fresh and passionate style. The author pursues the artistic dreams of his youth, personally draws illustrations, and visually presents the impression of the tea shop, making this book a masterpiece of history, literature and art.

(Yan Durong media reporter Song Yan)