Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 367 Chinese Literature Must Find Its Own Path

"Zhuo County Declaration? Hehe!"

The three-day lively National Symposium on Rural-themed Novels has come to an end. This national conference is an important part of the work of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles this year. The meeting was successfully held and concluded, and Zhang Guangnian and his party also felt relaxed.

On the train back to Yanjing, a group of people from the Literary Association sat together. Tang Yin muttered to himself and laughed in an interesting manner.

"Young people nowadays are really amazing!" He looked at Zhang Guangnian again and joked, "Old Zhang, let me interview you. How do you feel about being the center of attention at a meeting?"

Zhang Guangnian looked calm and composed, "Are you attending this meeting just to show off? Your ideological awareness needs to be improved."

"Just pretend!"

Zhang Guangnian ignored Tang Yin's teasing, his eyes unconsciously turned to Lin Chaoyang who was sitting not far away in the same carriage.

The other party was chatting with several writers in the same group, with a relaxed and calm expression.

Zhang Guangnian couldn't help but recall the frenzied scene in the banquet hall of Taoyuan Hotel last night. Although he had already recognized the advantages of "root-seeking literature" in promoting and spreading national culture, he never expected that Lin Chaoyang's article "The Roots of Literature" would attract the worship of many participating writers.

Recalling last night's scene, Zhang Guangnian couldn't help but sigh inwardly that without realizing it, so many young and middle-aged writers had united around Lin Chaoyang.

Looking away, Zhang Guangnian noticed that Gao Hongbo, who was sitting on the other side of the aisle, was writing furiously. He must be writing the press release for this meeting.

It is certainly commendable to rush to work on the train, but this effort is not put in the right place. It should be written that evening after the meeting every day.

After all, not all young people are as evil as that boy!

"Old Zhang, what do you think about that article?" Tang Yin suddenly asked Zhang Guangnian.

"What are your thoughts? After all, this article was written during the conference. It has a profound theme and unique insights. Wouldn't it be great to publish it in your newspaper?"

"Of course the article is good, but it deviates a bit from the theme of this conference. Moreover, many people now advocate 'modernism'. I'm afraid Chaoyang and his colleagues' ideas will cause great controversy." Tang Yin said worriedly.

"If you dare to express your opinions, you won't be afraid of debate. As for the theme, the countryside is also the foundation of our culture, and there's nothing wrong with expanding the boundaries of this type of subject matter."

Tang Yin listened to Zhang Guangnian's words and joked again, "Aren't you afraid that people will say that our Literary Association's meeting this time is for Lin Chaoyang?"

“The purpose of a meeting is to unify thoughts, solve problems and achieve goals. It doesn’t matter who is in the spotlight or who has the final say.

Let me ask you, if Chaoyang's views can really spread widely in the literary world and be widely recognized, where do you think writers will focus their material?"

Tang Yin replied: "Of course, it is in many areas related to national culture."

"Does this include our vast rural areas?"

Tang Yin understood what Zhang Guangnian meant, "Of course it is included. National culture is a very broad concept, and the vast rural areas are also the most important soil for the survival and development of national culture."

"That's it. So this matter is actually of great benefit to us, and we should naturally support it."

"Old Zhang, you are indeed mature and steady."

Under Zhang Guangnian's gaze, Tang Yin changed his words temporarily.

A week later, the latest issue of "Wenyi Bao" was freshly released.

The content of the National Symposium on the Creation of Rural-themed Novels occupied the front page headlines of this issue. Meetings of this level are held once or twice a year by the Writers Association, so it is not uncommon for readers to see them.

But an article on the second edition caught everyone's attention - "The Roots of Literature", signed by Lin Chaoyang.

When seeing this signature, many readers were stunned at first, and then realized that this was an article written by Xu Lingjun, but they didn’t know why he used his real name this time.

After reading the content of the article carefully, many readers with deep national sentiments will easily be moved by the views and emotions expressed by Lin Chaoyang in the article.

Over the past hundred years or so, the Chinese nation has been in decline for too long. We have become accustomed to thinking of foreigners as inferior, and we have also become accustomed to our culture being despised, ignored, and disregarded.

Now, suddenly someone raises his hand and says that the root of Chinese literature is our national culture, and that our national culture is more important than ever before. It is hard for these people not to be excited.

Some people also have mixed feelings after reading this article. They think it is a good article, but the views are a bit wishful thinking.

If national culture is really that good, how could it be so easily extinct? And how could it make us fall behind?
This idea is not without reason, but it obviously reverses the order of cause and effect.

There is another group of people whose biggest reaction to seeing "The Roots of Literature" is to sneer. These people are staunch supporters of Western modernism. They regard modernism as a panacea to save Chinese literature and culture and they are dismissive of local culture.

There are a thousand "Hamlets" for a thousand readers. Every reader has different feelings when reading a novel, not to mention that "The Roots of Literature" is a serious work discussing literary concepts.

As the most authoritative mainstream publication in China's literary and art circles, the influence of Literary Gazette is self-evident.

Within just a few days of its release, this issue of the journal attracted the attention of the domestic cultural, literary and ideological circles. Writers, editors, critics, scholars, literature lovers...

Among the millions of readers who saw this article, some agreed and some disagreed. With such attention, a heated discussion soon emerged.

While everyone was discussing the literary concepts and viewpoints put forward in "The Roots of Literature", another correspondence article in the current issue of "Wenyi Bao" was also quietly circulating.

When it was first published, it did not attract the attention of many professionals, but it received wide acclaim among young literature lovers.

The author of "The Shocking Voice of Chinese Literature - The Birth of the "Zhuo County Declaration"" is Gao Hongbo. As an editor and reporter of "Wenyi Bao", he witnessed Lin Chaoyang's speech at the National Rural Theme Novel Creation Symposium, and also witnessed the young writers' fanatical pursuit of this literary concept.

On the last night after leaving, Gao Hongbo was deeply moved by Li Tuo's passionate reading in the banquet hall of Taoyuan Hotel. When he heard Li Tuo shout out "This is the 'Zhuo County Declaration' of Chinese literature", Gao Hongbo felt a shudder from the soul. At that moment, the passion not only filled his body, but also enriched his soul.

He followed the roar of the crowd and shouted meaninglessly. At that moment he didn't know what he wanted to shout, he just wanted to vent.

Our Chinese literature must forge its own path!
These are the lines Gao Hongbo summarized for himself after recalling the incident.

In addition to being excited and shouting at the venue, he also did some serious work. For example, he captured a photo of Li Tuo standing on a chair and shouting loudly.

In that photo, besides the passionate Li Tuo, there is also the smiling Lin Chaoyang.

Although Li Tuo is at the center of the picture, and his expression and body movements are full of passion, he cannot conceal the brilliance of Lin Chaoyang as the leader and soul figure of the "Zhuo County Declaration".

The whole photo is a perfect combination of movement and stillness, with passionate enthusiasm on one side and confident leisurely strolling on the other. Gao Hongbo was extremely satisfied after the photos were developed.

After the party that night, Gao Hongbo's blood was still boiling. His hands were shaking when he returned to the room. He thought he had to do something.

He thought about his experiences in the past few days and felt that he needed to record all these things and use his pen to spread these ideas so that more people would know.

Having made up his mind, he wrote all night, was still writing when he got on the train the next day, and was still writing when he got home.

For two days, except for eating, sleeping and traveling, he devoted all his time to this matter. The article was soon completed, and he took it to the editorial department for review by the leader.

The content of the article was approved and received praise from the leadership, but his idea of ​​putting the photo of Li Tuo and Lin Chaoyang in the publication was firmly rejected by the leadership.

Although he felt a little regretful, the article could still be published after all, so Gao Hongbo kept the photo as a treasure.

He thought that in a few years, this photo would become an important witness to the development of contemporary Chinese literature.

Gao Hongbo wrote "The Shocking Voice of Chinese Literature - The Birth of the "Zhuo County Declaration"" and poured all his enthusiasm into it. The article is overflowing with warm and full emotions and is very contagious.

If "The Roots of Culture" captures readers with its unique viewpoints and insights, then "The Shocking Voice of Chinese Literature - The Birth of the "Zhuo County Declaration"" wins readers' love with its passionate emotions. When reading this article, the reader's biggest feeling is a sense of accomplishment of participating in and witnessing the historical process, and such a feeling is hard to resist.

These two articles were published in the same issue of the journal. One used opinions to undermine the readers' reason, and the other used emotions to conquer the readers' emotions.

The two complemented each other, achieving a wonderful chemical reaction, helping to push the "root-seeking literature" craze to an even hotter level, becoming the hottest cultural phenomenon since the beginning of 1984.

China University of Political Science and Law, Changping, Yanjiao.

After graduating last year, Tao Yumo and Cha Haisheng were both assigned to the Changping campus of China University of Political Science and Law, where they were responsible for the work of the school’s Patriotic Health Committee and the school magazine.

Cha Haisheng loved writing poetry and devoted great enthusiasm to the school magazine. He not only assisted the Youth League Committee in launching the first poetry magazine of China University of Political Science and Law, but also established connections with student organizations, publications and poets of many universities in China.

Seeing his high enthusiasm, Tao Yumo did not compete for it and focused most of his energy on the affairs of the school's Patriotic Health Committee.

More than half a month after the start of the school year, Tao Yumo had to deal with a wave of on-campus inspections and a wave of inspections from the Ministry of Education. Today, she finally had some time to slack off.

She was sitting in the office, flipping through the magazine on Cha Haisheng's desk.

Cha Haisheng was in charge of the school magazines, and he used his position to purchase these magazines with public funds.

"Foreign Literature Trends", "Foreign Literature", "Poetry Magazine", "Foreign Social Sciences", "World Literature"...

"This little Cha is really something. He always makes such crude things. Who wants to watch it?"

Tao Yumo said with disgust, but kept flipping through a magazine with her hands.

She was mumbling to herself when Cha Haisheng walked into the office, followed by a young man wearing a Hong Kong shirt and straight pants, with a side-parted hairstyle.

The young man wore a pair of glasses and had a rather literary appearance, but his dress and speech revealed a pretentious and generous attitude, which seemed a bit artificial.

He and Cha Haisheng had been chatting since they entered the room. Through their conversation, Tao Yumo roughly knew the identity of the young man with glasses.

Hu Dong is from Sichuan and is currently a student in the Chinese Department of Nanchong Normal University. He is pen pals with Cha Haisheng. This time he came to Yenching to get one of Cha Haisheng's poems, "Asian Bronze", to be published in their student magazine.

During the past six months, because he was in charge of the school magazine and the poetry magazine, Cha Haisheng came into contact with many people in the poetry circle, and more people came and went in the office.

Tao Yumo was not impressed by most of them. She didn't know whether she was influenced by her sister and brother-in-law. She no longer had a filter for writers and poets in her mind, and her perspective on these people became very pragmatic.

In Tao Yumo's opinion, quite a number of these people have extreme, sensitive and arrogant personality traits, which makes them difficult to like.

The person who came today tried hard to make himself look heroic, but it really didn't match his appearance and temperament, which made people feel very awkward.

Hu Dong and Cha Haisheng chatted happily for a long time, their voices were so loud that Tao Yumo couldn't concentrate on reading.

As she listened to the conversation between Hu Dong and Cha Haisheng, her brows furrowed more and more.

In Hu Dong's mouth, besides talking about poetry, the most common topics are wine and women, and he would also tell some dirty jokes from time to time.

After all, Hu Dong was Cha Haisheng's guest. Even though Tao Yumo felt disgusted with him, she did not want to have a falling out with her classmate and colleague, so she chose to stay away from the crowd. Seeing that it was almost lunch time, she got up and went to the cafeteria.

What she didn't expect was that just a few minutes after she sat down, Cha Haisheng and Hu Dong also appeared in the cafeteria, and sat at a table across from her.

(End of this chapter)