Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 427: One Shot to the Soul! (Please vote at the end of the month)
Not only was Lin Chusheng, the instigator, confused by this incident, but Zhang Chao, the person involved, was also very confused.

Because in the next few days, apart from some sporadic reports in the "Southern China" newspapers and individual discussion threads in the Baidu forum, there was no further news.

Qiandu is strong in search rather than online public opinion, and it does not have its own portal website or influential public media platform, so the few posts it has are completely insignificant.

This made Zhang Chao, who was "hiding with one hand", feel itchy all over and even a little at a loss.

Until he received a call from Wang Meng: "Hey, Xiao Zhang, don't bother us. If you have any ideas, just say it directly!"

Zhang Chao: “Hmm?”

Wang Meng continued, "I have read all your novels, especially the last one, "The Man in the Shell", which is very well written. These novels are good materials for showing the development and progress of our literature.

But you're going too far right from the start by trying to lure the snake out of its hole!"

Zhang Chao: “Ah!?”

Wang Meng heard Zhang Chao's movements on the other end of the phone, and he seemed to be playing dumb, so he got a little angry and his voice became a little more serious: "Zhang Chao, you have suffered some grievances in the past, and I understand that you are under some pressure.

But now, whether it is the literary world, the media world, or any other world, people generally praise you!
Don't dwell on the past - besides, you haven't suffered any loss, right?"

Zhang Chao: "...Uh...Okay, I'll listen to you."

Only then did Zhang Chao realize that the outside world had regarded the article "The Darkest Moment in China's Scientific and Technological Development in the 21st Century" as something he had directed and acted out himself.

Just like the previous film "Damn Zhang Chao", it takes the most extreme path, leaving other doubters with no way out.

But this time, Zhang Chao felt extremely wronged - the angle of the article was quite tricky, and he himself had not considered it so thoroughly.

A few days ago, Zhang Chao was bragging about his friends from "Tide Culture" and was wondering how big a public opinion storm he would encounter. Unexpectedly, he got slapped in the face.

The current situation is that, except for the real author, everyone thinks that "Ding Fengbo" is Zhang Chao; before the situation becomes clear, no one dares to follow up easily.

This will save him from being hung on the pillar of shame in public opinion by Zhang Chao like many of his predecessors in the past.

Zhang Chao finally figured out the reason, and after thinking about it for a while, he picked up his phone and called Ma Boyong...

Lin Chusheng couldn't sleep at night these days, and several big blisters appeared on his lips due to anxiety and irritation.

Not only was he turned away for several days, but what was even more painful was that he couldn't tell anyone else the fact that he wrote "Darkest Hour" - not even the columnist "Li Xufei" who was having dinner and drinks with him that day.

How could a trader show up so early?
As a senior editor of the "Nan Guo Group" and deputy editor-in-chief of the "Nan Guo Metropolis Daily", it was easy for him to cover up the identity of "Ding Fengbo". He could just say that he was a friend of his who did not want to reveal his real name.

Now that this "friend" has become Zhang Chao, that's a big problem.

If you claim the responsibility of "Ding Feng Bo" yourself, there will be at least three consequences:
First, those reporters, commentators, and columnists will surely smile knowingly - "Oh, it's you! Where did you get the public relations funds?" - and then they will definitely ask for a huge sum of money.

The prices for daily commissioned articles and "special articles" are always different.

Second, he couldn't explain his motives, whether it was his motives for writing or his motives for remaining anonymous. As the deputy editor-in-chief of a newspaper, he had no reason or position to personally participate in such a public opinion event.

If people knew about this, even my position as deputy editor-in-chief would be over.

Third, he also knew that his most important value to Morgan was that, as the deputy editor-in-chief of a major influential newspaper in China, he could act as an intermediary and do many things that Morgan could not do directly.

Once you are exposed and become the target of public criticism, your value will undoubtedly be greatly reduced.

Therefore, the only thing we can do now is to “swallow the anger and think of other solutions”.

But before he could come up with a solution, articles with unfamiliar names were published in succession in different types of newspapers, including "China Reading Newspaper", "China Youth Daily" and "Economic Daily".

For example, "On the Hollowing Narrative in Zhang Chao's Novels" -

【From the analysis of the text structure, this work, which is named as a "social experiment", is essentially a poor imitation of Chekhov's classic. The character Luo Zhi seems to symbolize modern people controlled by algorithms, but in fact he is just a container for the author's collage of social anxiety - dating depends on recommendation systems, classmates discover tampering with memory, work falls into moral dilemmas...

These plots may seem sharp, but they reveal the author's superficial understanding of computing technology and human nature. When algorithm engineer Luo Zhi can be easily pulled back to his original thinking by a push notification on his mobile phone, this dramatic treatment is contrary to the real world.

And "Deconstructing the Social Destructiveness of Zhang Chao's Novels" -

The concept of "information cocoon" repeatedly emphasized in the novel is essentially a misalignment of the understanding of technological evolution. Equating recommendation algorithms with tools for imprisoning thoughts is a black-and-white judgment that completely ignores the principle of technological neutrality.

Taking the example of Luo Zhi discovering that Zhou Yingying browsed content related to programmers, the author implies that the algorithm manipulates love, but deliberately ignores the behavioral data that users actively retrieve - this is precisely the "survivor bias" trap in statistics.

What is even more ridiculous is that when real companies such as Penguin and Alibaba successively issued declarations on technology ethics, Zhang Chao remained strangely silent.

Another article, "The Business of a Pseudo-Enlightener: On the Moral Kidnapping Industry Chain of Zhang Chao's Novels", pushes the moral criticism of Zhang Chao to the extreme.

From the attentive invitation of Huacheng Magazine to the quiet growth of Chaoxi Culture, Zhang Chao's team has perfectly demonstrated how to convert the moral high ground into numbers on financial statements. When we dismantle this two-sided business model of "critic-profiteer", every link exudes the smell of carefully calculated money.

The first step is to accurately grasp the emotions of the masses. They chose today, when the Internet has just become popular, and took advantage of the public's natural fear of unknown technologies; they set the protagonist as an algorithm engineer rather than an ordinary user, and deliberately created a dramatic conflict of "the dragon slayer eventually becomes the dragon" - these are not the needs of literary creation, but textbook examples of marketing psychology.

The second step is to construct a self-sanctifying discourse system. By manipulating the New Yanjing News and other media to elevate the novel to the height of an "Enlightenment Manifesto", Zhang Chao successfully packaged himself as a cultural knight against the capital giants. But a closer look at his business trends revealed that the behavior of pre-installing the "Weibo" and "WeChat" apps on iPhones and HTC G1 phones is exactly the same as the algorithm pre-installation model criticized in his novels.

This absurdity of "criticizing what you do, and doing what you criticize" is an excellent footnote to the backlash of contemporary culture. 】

Lin Chusheng was even more confused. What was going on? Didn't they reject his commission? Didn't they fear that Zhang Chao was "luring the snake out of its hole"?

Moreover, these newspapers are all media that have good relations with Zhang Chao.

For example, the China Reading Newspaper is like Zhang Chao's own backyard, with articles introducing or commenting on his novels published every now and then. The China Youth Daily has interviewed Zhang Chao many times, and in the past few years, nominated Zhang Chao as one of the "Top Ten Influential People Born in the 80s" initiated by their newspaper. Their relationship is very close.

These two newspapers suddenly published articles criticizing Zhang Chao, and Lin Chusheng didn't believe that there was no reason behind it.

If you look closely at the signatures of the three articles - "Chai Tou Feng", "Chou Nu'er" and "Lin Jiang Xian" - and "Ding Feng Bo", they can almost be combined to form a common ci tune name.

Now Lin Chusheng's mind is completely confused. He can't figure out where these people came from, nor what their purpose is.

As a veteran media person, he still has a basic sense of smell and intuitively feels that there is a problem behind this.

But Morgan had already called: "Lin, you are awesome! I have seen those articles in the newspapers, every one of them is very sharp, every one of them is like a dagger!
But this is not enough, you should keep working hard! I believe in you! "

Lin Chusheng could only answer with a perfunctory “yeah” throughout the whole process. After hanging up the phone, he finally decided to ask for clarification. After thinking for a long time, he finally decided to call the editor-in-chief of the Youth Daily, who he knew, to ask who the “ugly slave” was.

The other party was straightforward and gave a shocking answer -

"You mean 'Ugly Slave'? If her name and address are correct, she should be the editor of Youth Magazine who just joined this year and writes non-fiction, Lan Ting... This name is so special, it should be correct."

"We specifically emailed Zhang Chao to ask him about this, but he didn't reply. We also called him but he didn't answer. He must have tacitly agreed... He never interferes in such matters."

"Our editor-in-chief has also said that Zhang Chao didn't say anything, so why should we care so much? Just publish the article if it's well written, don't worry too much!"

After the call ended, Lin Chusheng stared at the phone screen for a long time.

"Ugly Slave" is the editor of "Youth"? What is Zhang Chao up to?

There is no need to ask about the others. "Chai Tou Feng" and "Lin Jiang Xian" must be editors of "Youth Pie" - especially the "Lin Jiang Xian" who wrote "The Business of Pseudo-Enlighteners: On the Moral Kidnapping Industrial Chain in Zhang Chao's Novels". Judging from his writing style, he is very similar to Ma Boyong.

Lin Chusheng absolutely did not believe that the editors of "Youth" had collectively betrayed Zhang Chao. They had only one purpose: to muddy the waters!

Imagine if a large number of articles criticizing Zhang Chao appeared on the market at this time, it would definitely distract readers from the characterization of Zhang Chao in "Darkest Hour".

Because these articles seem to criticize Zhang Chao, but they are intentionally or unintentionally helping Zhang Chao out of trouble.

"Zhang Chao knows nothing about technology", "Zhang Chao is obsessed with poor novel writing skills", "Zhang Chao is obsessed with money", "Zhang Chao does not understand human nature"... In Lin Chusheng's opinion, each of these articles evades the important issues and does not touch upon the logical origin that he most wants people to follow up on:

"Zhang Chao is a pioneer of Internet companies in Western powers, undermining the reputation of Chinese Internet companies and hindering the development and progress of Chinese science and technology."

As for other criticisms of Zhang Chao, they have been criticized since 2004 when he first became famous, and readers and viewers are tired of it...

Sure enough, over the next few days, several more articles circulated in print media and forums.

Deconstructing Zhang Chao: A Carefully Designed Cultural Misery Drama

[Under the spotlight of contemporary Chinese literary circles, Zhang Chao is skillfully playing a dual role—both a critic holding a scalpel and a commodity waiting to be sold in a shop window. When we peel off the enlightenment narrative on the surface of his works, what is exposed is a precisely calculated commercial strategy and an ambition to compete for discourse power.

The most dangerous disguise of this writer is that he alienates cultural criticism into a moral performance. From Painted Skin to Man in a Shell, each work deliberately creates a "shocking experience":
When readers gasp at the "technological violence" revealed in the novel, they ignore the extreme situations deliberately magnified in the narrative. This creative method of simplifying complex social reality into a binary opposition picture is essentially the same as the means by which best-selling authors create reading pleasure.

What is even more alarming is that the recurring image of “victims of technology” in his works is leading serious public discussions into a carnival of tragicism.

"Beware of the frivolity of intellectuals behind the Zhang Chao phenomenon"——

Behind the social panic caused by "The Man in the Shell" is the author's trampling on basic literary ethics. The description of algorithm engineers as "digital executioners" in the novel is not only a stigmatization of a specific professional group, but also a crude denial of the law of technological progress. This writing style that distorts the industry ecology in order to create dramatic conflicts is exactly the same as the practice of some anti-intellectual literature in the last century that vilified intellectuals as "stinky old ninths."

What is even more disturbing is the fanatical behavior of his fans. When a writer begins to enjoy the privilege of being over-interpreted, when readers directly equate the plot of a novel with social prophecy, this has already constituted a new type of cultural despotism. The deep crisis revealed by the Zhang Chao phenomenon is that we are allowing a cultural idol to monopolize the right to interpret the future, and the harm of this ideological monopoly is far greater than the so-called "information cocoon" described in his works. 】

"Criticism of Zhang Chao: Cultural Poisoner in the Era of Globalization" -

【On the chessboard of global civilization dialogue, Zhang Chao is playing a dangerous double-faced role. His works wander between the Western award-winning system and Eastern nationalist sentiments, exposing his typical characteristics as a cultural opportunist. This strategic ambiguity not only damages the international image of Chinese culture, but also provides ammunition for the new Cold War mentality.

In terms of cultural identity construction, Zhang Chao showed an amazing sense of opportunism. On the one hand, he called himself the "Oriental Scalpel" and claimed to deconstruct the discourse hegemony of Western civilization; on the other hand, he kept sending ambiguous signals to the Nobel Prize judges. His gesture of rejecting Ma Yueran's invitation was like a carefully designed game of playing hard to get.

This precise balance between resistance and accommodation is reminiscent of the typical style of cultural brokers.

The authors of these three articles are "Qing Ping Le", "Xi Jiang Yue" and "Ru Meng Ling". It is also circulated that these articles seem to be written by the editor of "Youth School".

The most important thing is that the newspapers that published these articles were snapped up by readers, just like the newspapers that published Zhang Chao’s novels before.

Every day, readers would ask which newspaper had published an article criticizing Zhang Chao; posts in the forum were pushed up very high - half of them were discussing whether the editors of "Youth" were crazy or just crazy.

Now not only Lin Chusheng, but the entire media industry, and even ordinary readers who were paying attention to this matter understood that there must be "something going on" here.

It's just that the two sides have different understandings...

Lin Chusheng: Zhang Chao is muddying the waters, blurring the focus, and deliberately creating confusion!
Media and readers: Zhang Chao is definitely doing something, let’s wait and see!
This matter continued to ferment until late October, when Zhang Chao, who had been silent for a long time, finally spoke up.

He wrote a sentence on his personal homepage on Weibo, which had not been updated for a long time:

"After reading this, has your cocoon been broken?"

Along with this sentence are screenshots of these recent articles - including "Darkest Hour".

Just a few words set off a storm - someone finally realized and connected "The Man in the Shell" with the recent critical articles, and saw some possible truth:
In order to truly break the "information cocoon" that shrouds people's minds, Zhang Chao did not hesitate to put himself into the game, treating the readers' almost unconditional trust in him as a "cocoon"!
What a broad mind and what a courage!
Only Lin Chusheng's eyes turned dark after seeing it: "The author of "Darkest Hour" has really become Zhang Chao!

(End of this chapter)