Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 175: A New Situation in Chinese Literature (Part )
"Is Zhang Chao crazy? I don't care what methods you use, mobilize your relatives, friends, students, classmates, teachers... You must not let Zhang Chao quit the literary world!"

The person yelling on the phone was none other than Bai Ye.

When Bai Ye heard that Zhang Chao was going to initiate a vote on the Xinlang Blog to decide whether he would retire from the literary world, he felt like the sky was falling.

"Zhang Chao's withdrawal from the literary world" seems to be a good thing for him and many critics who have staked their futures on the "Zhang-Bai dispute", but Bai Ye knows that if this really happened, the entire literary criticism community would definitely be destroyed.

If this had happened in early March when they had the upper hand, Bai Ye would have watched with indifference, or even been happy to see it happen, because at that time Zhang Chao's literary reputation and public image were shaky.

But if it happened in late March or early April when the public opinion completely reversed, the meaning would be completely different.

Because no one would think that wanting Zhang Chao to quit the literary world would be the mainstream opinion of society. If the voting results were contrary to public expectations, then everyone would only have one idea -

The literary criticism community, led by Bai Ye, resorted to ulterior motives and forced the brightest new literary star born in China since the new century into a dead end for their own selfish interests and grudges.

The anger that Bai Ye faced was not just from those netizens.

The Writers Association, the Federation of Literary and Art Circles, Yenching University, Yenching Normal University, and even higher literary authorities would not let him go, because it was Bai Ye who started the literary dispute into a personal struggle.

Moreover, the literary criticism circle is already experiencing severe infighting. Chang Lihua, Hong Yu and others have published articles in succession to expose how Bai Ye "maneuvered" at the time to completely destroy Zhang Chao.

Therefore, the person who cares most about the voting results is not Zhang Chao himself or those who support him, but Bai Ye.

He used almost all the power at his disposal and tried his best to encourage everyone he could influence to vote for Zhang Chao.

On April 4, April Fool's Day, the clock had just turned 1 o'clock in the morning, and Xinlang Blog officially placed the page "Should Zhang Chao withdraw from the literary world? Please cast your precious vote!" in the most conspicuous position on the homepage.

When you open the page, at the top is an introduction to the "Zhang-Bai dispute", and then on the left and right sides are listed the articles, opinions, evidence, etc. of Bai Ye and Zhang Chao respectively, and at the bottom is the voting button.

Each IP address or account can only vote once; the period is one week, ending on April 1th.

The huge topicality, novel form of participation, and the excitement of having one vote decide whether a well-known writer's creative career can continue have attracted a lot of attention to this vote from the very beginning.

In the first hour after the page was launched, the total number of votes exceeded 5!

Among them, "Support Zhang Chao to continue to create" received an overwhelming 4 votes, which also made Bai Ye feel relieved.

……

"Boss, are you really that confident?" Huang Jiefu asked in confusion. "I have systematically studied market survey questionnaires in business school, so I know a little bit about this voting mechanism. People have a rebellious mentality. The options you provided are too few and too absolute. The votes on the first day were too overwhelming, and there is a high possibility of a serious rebound later."

Zhang Chao patted Huang Jiefu on the shoulder and said, "You understand voting, but you don't understand China well enough. Let me put it this way, even if the votes just now were reversed, I would not lose - OK, let's talk about the recent work progress."

Huang Jiefu showed an "OK" expression and began to report: "The two people who went to the island country to participate in the animation production of "Your Name" have returned. We will send two more people this month. During the entire production cycle, it is expected that 2 people from the art team will go to the island country..."

"The serialization of "The Long Ballad" in the main issue of Weekly Shonen JUMP has been agreed upon. It will start from next month, but it will need to undergo the test of their popularity vote. If the popularity is too low, it may be aborted or transferred to a secondary issue for continued serialization."

"Someone is now discussing the script for Lao Ma's "The Wind Rises in Longxi", but Lao Ma doesn't want to write the script, so we may have to let Qin Wen do it. But Qin Wen is now involved in the "Wotou Guild Hall" project, so should we find another screenwriter... I heard that Quan Yongxian is free now?"

"The first volume of the English edition of The Great Physician will be released soon. Are you sure you don't need to go to the United States?"

"The company most interested in Gone Girl right now is New Line Cinema, but the offer is not high, no more than $80..."

"No one dares to shoot "Snail House", otherwise this project will be put on hold for now..." Zhang Chao, who had been a hands-off boss for two months, had to spend two days at work before he sorted out and organized all the tasks.

The most tedious step is running back and forth between four different office locations in this community.

Zhang Chao said to Huang Jiefu, "Find a place nearby as soon as possible and buy it. Let's work together..."

Just when Zhang Chao was deliberately blocking information from the outside world, the entire literary circle had already exploded.

No writer would have thought that Zhang Chao would use such a decisive way to "solve" the so-called "Zhang-Bai dispute." Although he could not lose, this was equivalent to pushing the entire literary criticism community to the opposite side of himself.

Similarly, Zhang Chao also pushed the entire group of writers into the media and into the spotlight.

Not only leaders of the Writers Association such as Wang Meng and Tie Ning, and well-known writers such as Yu Hua, Moyan, and Liu Zhenyun, but even Han Han, Xiao Si, Zhang Yueran...anyone who can be named was dug out by reporters to see how they would express their opinions.

After 20 years, literature has returned to the center of public attention in a peculiar way!
As a result, the sales of various literary journals, even literary criticism magazines that had not been popular with the public for a long time, increased.

"Give the right of literary criticism back to the public!" has gradually become the call of writers and mainstream media.

"Why is it so? Why is it so?" Yang Yi, director of the Institute of Literature and Art of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, sighed as he looked at the resignation report in front of him.

Bai Ye, who is in his 50s, has become very calm at this time. He no longer has the mixed emotions of restlessness and frustration he had in the past month. He just looks a little tired.

He said to Yang Yi frankly: "Director, this matter started because of me, and only I can end it. I have thought it through. If I hadn't been so obsessed at the beginning, things wouldn't have developed to the point where they are today. ..."

After a long talk of more than an hour, Yang Yi finally approved the report.

As of April 4, the total number of votes on Xinlang Blog has reached more than 5 million, and the option "Support Zhang Chao to continue creating" has received more than 360 million votes.

Some media have joked that last year's "Super Girl" champion Li Yuchun only received more than 390 million votes, and Zhang Chao's number of votes is likely to break this record, making him the "Super Boy" of the literary world.

On April 4, Bai Ye released a statement through authoritative media: In view of the turmoil over the past month, he will resign from his administrative positions as a researcher at the Institute of Literature and Art and president of the Literature and Art Research Association to focus on academic research; and apologize to Li Juan, Zhang Chao, and the general public...

Soon after, many professional literary critics published articles on their blogs or in the media, expressing their need to reflect deeply on the relationship between creation and criticism, and at the same time to pay attention to the feelings of readers outside their professional fields.

When he saw this news, Zhang Chao was visiting Professor Qian Liqun's home, along with Wang Meng, Kong Qingdong and others.

Kong Qingdong smiled and said, "You win."

Zhang Chao shook his head and said, "Literature won, and the masses won."

Wang Meng said: "In fact, no one won. It just allowed writers and critics to return to their respective positions. Perhaps this will open up a new era for Chinese literature."

Qian Liqun said: "The excitement these days can only be compared to the 20s and 30s when Lu Xun and Liang Shiqiu, Lin Yutang, and Hu Shi were engaged in literary battles...excitement is a good thing."

Kong Qingdong suddenly smiled mysteriously at Zhang Chao: "Did you forget something?"

Zhang Chao shuddered, and the hairs on the back of his head stood up...

(I originally wanted to post it at 12 o'clock, but then I changed it again and again... until now...)
(End of this chapter)