The literary era since 1979

The mainland children's literature delegation headed by Hong Xintao arrived in Hong Kong one day earlier than the Taiwan delegation.

According to the reception plan agreed upon previously, Xiao Zi, Pan Yaoming, Fang Yan and others appeared at the airport in an orderly manner and held up banners to welcome them.

"President Hong, I have heard of you for a long time."

Pan Yaoming's face was filled with enthusiasm as he said, "My children and I like your book 'Magic Brush Ma Liang' very much. Although it is not long, every word is precious. The story contains rich morals and has taught my children many lessons."

"Ha ha!"

Hong Xintao smiled and then turned his attention to Fangyan.

Fangyan shook hands with him and greeted him, then glanced at the children's literature delegation out of the corner of his eye. As he had expected, Zheng Yuanjie was not among them.

Although Zheng Yuanjie became the most popular and richest children's literature writer in the country with the best-selling of "Fairy Tale World", he was always excluded and despised in the mainstream children's literature circle, so much so that he was not even a member of the Children's Literature Research Association.

Naturally, there was no chance for me to join this mainland children's literature delegation.

However, he did not say anything and still greeted every member of the delegation politely.

"Let me introduce you to everyone. This is Comrade Sun Youjun, the author of The Adventures of Little Cloth Doll..."

"He is Comrade Wu Ran, the editor of the Spring City Evening News. In his spare time, he writes for children and is best at children's prose."

"This is Comrade Jin Bo, who has made great achievements in children's poetry, fairy tales, and children's prose."

"That's Comrade Shengye, who also has outstanding achievements in the field of children's poetry..."

Hong Xintao introduced them one by one.

Pan Yaoming uttered a sigh and asked Fang Yan in a low voice, "Why are most of the delegation members children's poets?"

Many people, including Fangyan, have the same doubts. The scope of children's literature is very broad, including nursery rhymes, children's poems, fairy tales, fables, children's stories, children's novels, children's essays, etc. Even dramas with children's themes can be included.

Hong Xintao explained with a smile that since most members of the Baodao Children's Literature Delegation were children's poets, he carefully selected several children's poetry masters from the Children's Literature Research Association so that the two sides could have more conversations during the subsequent children's literature exchange activities.

"President Hong is really thoughtful. Come on, everyone get in the car."

Xiao Zi raised his hand and invited everyone to board the specially arranged bus.

Fang Yan sat in the first row, separated from Hong Xintao by an aisle, and they could talk easily by just turning their heads.

Hong Xintao also had the same idea. "Editor-in-Chief Fang, I heard that you and Zheng Yuanjie are friends?"

Fang Yan nodded, "Yes, it's a pity that he is not in the delegation this time, otherwise we could take this opportunity to catch up."

Hong Xintao said that he also tried to invite Zheng Yuanjie, but was politely rejected by Zheng Yuanjie on the grounds that he was busy with the distribution of "Fairy Tale World".

Fang Yan said: "Yuan Jie is the editor-in-chief and chief writer of "Fairy Tale World", so he may not be able to get away."

"I have also read every issue of the magazine 'Fairy Tale World'. The children's literature in it is indeed very well written."

Hong Xintao gave him an intriguing look, "It is said that Fairy Tale World was co-founded by Yuan Jie and Chief Editor Fang, right?"

"To be precise, it was founded by Yuanjie. The publishing house is responsible for a series of tasks including the review, printing, and distribution of the magazine."

Fangyan slowly explained the whole story. He thought that Zheng Yuanjie originally thought that the remuneration given by the children's literature magazine was too low, so he wanted to imitate "Story King" and independently establish a children's literature magazine. Readers could read all his fairy tales by subscribing to the magazine.

However, when looking for a publisher, he ran into obstacles everywhere, and no publishing house was willing to publish Zheng Yuanjie's book.

As he spoke, he shrugged and said, "Yuanjie and I are good friends. Seeing that he had nowhere to turn to, I wanted to help him."

"I see."

Hong Xintao couldn't help but sigh.

"I never expected that Fairy Tale World would become such a hit once it was published."

Fangyan smiled faintly and did not reveal that what Zheng Yuanjie received was not royalties, but royalties.

发行量20万册以下拿6%，20万到40万给8%，40万到60万是10%，100万以上拿15%。

Without such financial resources, Zheng Yuanjie could not afford to buy so many courtyard houses and apartments to store the letters from the children.

"This shows that this magazine is very popular among children."

Hong Xintao sighed, "It's just a pity that I don't think I've ever seen Editor-in-Chief Fang's work in a magazine."

Fang Yan said: "Children's literature is not my forte, so I won't teach you how to do it."

"You can't say that. Editor-in-Chief Fang's book Artificial Intelligence is well-written, and it was even made into a movie by Hollywood."

Hong Xintao waved his hand.

Fangyan cannot refute this. From a broad perspective, science fiction and fantasy novels such as "Little Smart Travels Around the World" and "Artificial Intelligence" can also be called children's literature. Even "The Matrix" can be considered a children's novel and falls into the category of adult fairy tales.

Just like Dickens' Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Robert Stevenson's Treasure Island...

According to the readers of different age groups, it can be divided into infant literature, early childhood literature, childhood literature, juvenile literature and adult fairy tales.

"I wonder what Chief Editor Fang thinks of fairy tales, or children's literature?"

Hong Xintao asked.

Fangyan pondered for a moment, "I think the life of fairy tales is fantasy, and the 'fantasy' that constitutes a fairy tale must be bold and real, incredible and reasonable, just like the 'magic brush' and the pictures it draws in 'Magic Brush Ma Liang', which are impossible to exist in real life. In this sense, it is a 'fairy tale', but it is also very real, because China has idioms such as 'dream brush produces flowers' and 'painting the dragon's eyes', which makes it easy for people to accept such fantastic ideas, especially for children with extremely rich imagination..."

And you said you don’t understand children’s literature!
Hong Xintao's eyes suddenly lit up, "I didn't expect Fang Yan to hit the point with just one sentence."

"is it?"

Dialect: Eyes follow the nose, nose follows the heart.

"Yes, fairy tales are fictional stories with a strong fantasy color, and fantasy is precisely the basic characteristic of fairy tales."

Hong Xintao's eyes were full of admiration. "But I didn't expect that "The Magic Brush of Ma Liang" could be analyzed from this perspective. It's really eye-opening. I wonder if I can quote Editor-in-Chief Fang's point of view when I meet the Taiwan delegation?"

Fangyan agreed readily and said that if you want to use it, just use it!
Seeing that the two were chatting happily, Xiao Zi added that Fangyan would attend tomorrow's meeting as a representative of half of Hong Kong's children's literature community.

"Really? That's great!"

Hong Xintao half-jokingly said: "The other half is from our mainland children's literature delegation!"

………………The next day, the Taiwan Children’s Literature Delegation arrived as scheduled.

But to Fangyan's surprise, the people who walked down the stairs were not seven, but eight, one more than on the previous list.

A beautiful figure came into his sight, and he immediately recognized her as Hu Yinmeng, who, like Lin Qingxia, was also a "literary goddess" in Taiwan.

Of course, she is also Li Ao’s ex-wife, with whom he got married and divorced quickly.

She smiled and stretched out her hand, saying, "Mr. Fang, I'm glad to see you here."

"Ms. Hu, nice to meet you. I've often heard Qingxia mention you before."

Fangyan responded politely.

"What a coincidence. I often hear Qingxia mention you. Of course, I often mentioned you, Mr. Fang, to Qingxia before."

Hu Yinmeng's eyes were full of cunning.

Pan Yaoming on the side looked left and right, very surprised why Hu Yinmeng, a dignified movie star, appeared with the group?

Lin Huanzhang, the head of the delegation, explained that when Hu Yinmeng learned that the Taiwan Children's Literature Delegation was invited to exchange, she took the initiative to recommend herself.

"To be honest, I have loved children's literature since I was a child. I still remember when I was one year old, my mother told me the story of The Little Match Girl, and I was so moved that I burst into tears. Since then, I have loved children's literature." Hu Yinmeng said seriously, "So the last drama I took on before retiring was the children's-themed drama We All Grew Up This Way..."

"Retire from the Shadow!?"

Everyone was shocked and surprised.

Hu Yinmeng said without hesitation that after being named the "Most Popular Star" at the Asia Pacific Film Festival for her performance in "We All Grew Up This Way", she will completely bid farewell to her acting career and will focus her time and energy on literary translation and writing.

Then she casually tossed her hair and said, "If I can write one-tenth of Mr. Fang's works in my lifetime, I will be satisfied."

"Ms. Hu is too self-deprecating."

Fangyan couldn't help but shake his head and laugh.

As Hu Yinmeng followed the large group out of the airport, she said:

"Mr. Fang, you are wrong. I wonder if Qingxia has told you how much influence you have in Taiwan?"

"No, I'd like to hear more about it."

Dialects are very curious.

Hu Yinmeng said that although the authorities had tried every means to ban the influx of mainland literary works, because Fangyan's novels have great commercial value, there are always booksellers who take the risk to import and sell them from Hong Kong publishers, especially after Fangyan won a series of major awards including the Pulitzer Prize in History, the Mobil Pegasus Prize in Literature, the Akutagawa Ryunosuke Prize, the Kawabata Yasunari Literature Award, and the Oscar for Best Screenplay.

With the "breaking of the ice" between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, various dialect novels have become unstoppable in Taiwan.

“Haha, this is the first time I’ve heard of it.”

Fangyan grinned.

"How about I tell you more on the way?"

Hu Yinmeng could not hide her excitement and admiration in her eyes.

Fang Yan had long known from Lin Qingxia that her best friend regarded him as an idol. Seeing her fangirl look, he was even more convinced and agreed readily. After all, who would refuse to be flattered by such a cool and gentle talented woman?

"Call me Yinmeng, Miss Hu, Miss Hu. It sounds strange."

Hu Yinmeng smiled sweetly.

"Then you can also call me Yanzi, or Yanzi, like Qingxia."

Fangyan stopped in front of the bus and raised his hand to make a please-in gesture.

………………

The Taiwan Children's Literature Delegation was taken to a specially arranged hotel for rest, which was on a separate floor from the mainland delegation.

After taking a short break and having lunch, everyone came to a conference room in the hotel one after another.

Although they were two groups of people who did not know each other, they quickly broke down the barriers and started chatting together because of their love for children's literature.

The atmosphere went from quiet and dull at the beginning to becoming increasingly lively and active, with everyone chatting about topics related to children's literature.

"Yes."

Hong Xintao nodded, "Chinese children's literature is like a big river, with small rivers flowing into Taiwan, Hong Kong and the mainland. Today, children's writers from both sides of the Taiwan Strait and Hong Kong gather here, which is equivalent to re-forming a long river of children's literature."

Lin Huanzhang said that this time the Taiwan Children's Literature Delegation is ready to go to the mainland for cultural exchanges.

"I have already made arrangements in the mainland. I will depart from Hong Kong in five days, with my first stop being Luzhou in Anhui."

"The Anhui Children's Literature Research Association will host an Anhui-Taiwan Children's Literature Exchange Conference. Please attend. The second stop is Beijing. Ms. Bingxin heard that you have come all the way from Taiwan to visit her in the mainland. She is looking forward to your arrival."

Hong Xintao said to Lin Huanzhang, Xie Wuzhang and others.

"It's really great!"

Everyone in the Formosa delegation was overjoyed.

Lin Huanzhang said: "Due to thousands of years of feudal rule in China, coupled with the influence of the imperial examination system, children in their early childhood years read enlightenment works such as "The Rules for Being a Good Pupil and Child" and "Three Character Classic". However, children's literature and children's education issues have long been ignored. It was not until the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China that children's literature became an independent literary category, with the emergence of children's poems, children's novels, and children's dramas created specifically for children. The founding works of modern children's literature are "The Scarecrow" by Master Ye Shengtao and "Letter to Young Readers" by Mr. Bing Xin."

"This should be considered children's literature in written form."

Fang Yan said: "In fact, there may not be no children's literature in ancient China, but there was no separate literary category, and there was no written record for future generations to refer to. It was basically passed down orally, such as stories told to children by illiterate storytellers."

Hu Yinmeng's eyes flickered for a moment. "That's right! Mr. Lu Xun mentioned in his article "From Baicao Garden to Sanwei Bookstore" that he often listened to his nanny Chang Mama telling stories from the Classic of Mountains and Seas. This shows that there was children's literature in ancient China."

"That does make sense. Stories like 'Jingwei Filling the Sea' and 'Kuafu Chasing the Sun' in the Classic of Mountains and Seas can all be considered children's literature stories from an educational perspective," Hong Xintao said with a smile. "It's a pity that it has never formed an independent literary genre."

“It is precisely because Chinese children’s literature was born late that it still cannot catch up with European and American children’s literature in terms of fame.”

Xie Wuzhang said: "Let's not talk about the old classics, just take "The Adventures of Pinocchio", "The Wizard of Oz", "The King's Clothes", "The Ugly Duckling and the White Swan" and other classic children's works. Which one of them has not transcended the barriers of language and national boundaries and can be understood by children all over the world."

"Mr. Xie, that's not right. Isn't there someone here today whose work is loved by children all over the world?"

Pan Yaoming turned his gaze towards Fang Yan, and Hu Yinmeng, Lin Huanzhang and others also stared at him. (End of this chapter)