Exciting 1979!

Chapter 453 is the first winner of the Mao Dun Literature Prize.
The Mao Dun Literature Prize certainly has the credentials to be the top literary award in China.

First of all, the founder, Mr. Mao Dun, was the highest-ranking literary worker before his death.

Secondly, the prize money is high, ridiculously high for this era.

Back then, Mr. Mao Dun took out all his savings of 20 yuan and used the interest to pay out prizes to the winners. Each person received a prize of 3000 yuan. Bank interest rates are really high these days.

3000 yuan is just a drop in the ocean for Wei Ming, but it's five years' wages for an ordinary worker. Many authors might not even earn that much in royalties over several years of writing a novel.

The Nobel Prize in Literature of the same era was even more prestigious, worth 100 million Swedish kronor, equivalent to 20 years' salary for a Swedish professor.

Moreover, the prize money for the Mao Dun Literature Prize has continued to increase. In 11, with the sponsorship of Li Ka-shing, it increased directly from 5 yuan to 50 yuan. Liu Zhenyun's "One Sentence Worth Ten Thousand Sentences" happened to be the winner of this year's Mao Dun Literature Prize.

Although the Mao Dun Literature Prize has been somewhat diluted in later years, the last influential work to win the prize was Liang Xiaosheng's "The World," but the prize money is still unparalleled in its time, attracting countless people to pursue it.

Moreover, the reason for awarding prizes may be that there simply aren't that many excellent long-form literary works left.

"Teacher Wei." As soon as Wei Ming entered the Great Hall, he saw a familiar face: Chen Jiangong, a student from the Chinese Department of Peking University in 77, who was also a member of the Writers Association.

"Old Chen!" Wei Ming chatted with him warmly for a few minutes. Chen Jiangong is now a professional writer at the Yanjing Municipal Federation of Literary and Art Circles. Unfortunately, he later pursued a career in politics and did not leave behind any influential works, which is a great pity. Among the three graduating classes of Chinese literature students, the one who achieved the greatest literary success was actually Liu Zhenyun, who did not stand out during his time at school.

"Professor Wei, I'm representing the Chinese Department of Peking University, and we're all waiting for you to win the award," Chen Jiangong said to Wei Ming at the end, looking even more confident than Wei Ming.

After entering the venue and taking his seat, Wei Ming was pretty sure that he had a high probability of winning an award.

Because to his left is 82-year-old Yao Xueyin, with a head of silver hair.
On the right is Gu Hua, the author of "Hibiscus Town," who is only 40 years old and considered a rising star in the literary world.

When Gu Hua was studying at the training institute, Wei Ming treated them to a meal. Moreover, Wei Ming had a very high opinion of "Hibiscus Town," considering it the best among the first winners of the Mao Dun Literature Prize. However, Wei Ming was only polite to Gu Hua and did not seem particularly close to him.

Wei Ming thinks that having an affair with a female editor is just your typical male behavior, and going abroad and becoming a foreigner isn't something worth condemning. But writing things to gain attention and ride the wave of popularity just to make money is going too far, especially since he's from the same hometown in Hunan.

Also sitting with them were Wei Wei, author of "The East" and "Who Are the Most Lovable People", Mo Yingfeng, author of "The General's Song", and Zhou Keqin, author of "Xu Mao and His Daughters".

When Wei Ming saw that Li Guowen, who wrote "Spring in Winter," was sitting in the back, he couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him.

Although there was no limit to the number of works that could win the Mao Dun Literature Prize, the judges clearly knew that scarcity increases value, so they ultimately limited it to the number "six".

Apart from the six of them, the people in this row are mostly leaders from the Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the Writers Association.

Wei Ming, who had just turned 21, still looked too young among this group of people.

Fortunately, Wei Ming spent a few months in the countryside, which was both mentally and physically demanding. He became less refined and more mature and composed.

Mr. Ba was unable to attend due to health reasons. Zhou Yang presided over the award ceremony. In his speech, he proposed to adhere to the "double hundred" policy (let a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend) and to promote the development of art criticism work, etc.

Art criticism is the career path and livelihood for many Chinese literature students in universities across the country. If you can't write literature, can't you at least critique it?

After more than an hour of preliminary work, the official awards ceremony finally arrived. Many people in the audience had participated in the judging process or had a good relationship with the judges, so the announcement of the results did not cause too much surprise.

If Wei Ming hadn't been out of town recently, he would have known the outcome long ago, given his connections in the literary world.

What was unexpected was that "The Right Path of the World is Full of Vicissitudes" was the first work to be mentioned, and Wei Ming was also the first to take the stage.

When awarding the prize, Chairman Zhou directly quoted Mao Dun's words from the preface to the book in his evaluation of the work.

"The so-called 'right path' is never a plaque hanging high in the temple, but rather the footprints trudging through the mud, the cold sweat that waking the betrayers in the middle of the night, and the final outburst of the silent. Let us give a round of applause to Comrade Wei Ming, who consulted a vast amount of historical materials and documents and finally created this masterpiece of family and national epic!"

The applause from the audience was thunderous. Almost everyone present had read "The Right Path of the World is Full of Vicissitudes." In just over a year since its publication, the book has been reprinted multiple times and has sold more than two million copies.

Standing on the stage, Wei Ming received the bronze medal, certificate, and prize money representing the Mao Dun Literature Prize.

They didn't give me cash; 3000 yuan would have been too much—three huge stacks of it—and it would have seemed vulgar, so they gave me a bankbook instead.

Holding the honor, Wei Ming looked down at the audience. Besides Chen Jiangong, he also saw Liang Zuo, who had come with his mother, Sister Chen Rong.

In addition, there were editors from People's Literature, Harvest, Contemporary, Yenching Literature and October who were familiar with Wei Ming, Wang Zengqi who had eaten Wei Ming's salted duck eggs, Sister Zong Pu whom he met at Peking University, Jiang Zilong who was once called one of the twin stars of reform literature along with Wei Ming, Ye Xin, a leading figure in educated youth literature, Wang Anyi, a female author from Shanghai, Jia Pingwa who came from Xi'an, and so on.

Looking at them, Wei Ming seemed to see the path he had come from. Seeing the envious looks in some people's eyes, Wei Ming thought to himself: Don't worry, it will be your turn soon.

He then gave a brief speech, thanking the judging panel, reminiscing about Mr. Mao Dun, and recalling his brief acquaintance with him.

Next, Zhou Keqin was invited to the stage, followed by Wei Wei, and Gu Hua was the last to go on stage. Sure enough, there were only six people and six works in total. Among them, Yao Xueyin won the award for the second volume of "Li Zicheng".

Although the order of appearance does not specify the ranking of the award-winning works, it seems that the order was not randomly arranged.

It is not based on the first letter of the work's pinyin, nor on the author's age, or the novel's publication date.

At the end of the event, the six award winners took a group photo with Chairman Zhou, marking the successful conclusion of the event.

The first edition was relatively uncontroversial, featuring influential and well-received novels from 76 to 81.

Of course, dozens of novels have been published over the years, and these six winning awards will certainly bring them more attention, more research, and more criticism.

For example, Xie Jin saw "Hibiscus Town" because of this and came up with the idea of ​​adapting it. However, he also recently saw a novella called "Garland Under the High Mountain" published in "October".

Years later, works bearing the title of "Mao Zedong Award" will at least have better sales than works of the same era. Of course, whether they can withstand the test of time and still be sought after by readers decades later is hard to say.

Most of the award-winning works are about this era, which is time-sensitive. The stories they describe and the emotions they portray can no longer be felt by later generations.

Of course, adaptations of popular films and television series are another matter entirely.

But at least for now, after the Mao Dun Literature Prize winners were announced, these six books immediately became hot sellers in Xinhua bookstores. Many of the books still had stock, but the best-selling book among the six, "The Right Path of the World is Full of Vicissitudes," was truly sold out. So the People's Literature and Art Publishing House immediately started another reprint, this time ordering 50 sets.

50 copies sold is a lifetime's work for many books.

Even among award-winning works, "The Right Path of the World is Full of Vicissitudes," which excels in storytelling and legendary elements, is the best-selling.

~
Wang Shuo entered the Xinhua Bookstore, but seeing the surging crowd, he scoffed and didn't follow the trend. Instead, he bought a copy of Wei Ming's novella "In the Heat of the Sun," which he had read in a magazine before and now wanted to keep as a memento.

This book is always fresh and insightful, and it's definitely worth revisiting.

Nowadays, a wave of individual business has swept across the country. Wang Shuo, who likes to make money, felt that writing novels was too slow to bring in money and that a fixed salary was meaningless. So he quit his job and partnered with his friend Shi Xiaoman to open a roast duck restaurant. If it goes well, 3000 yuan is nothing, and 30,000 yuan is also his.

However, a friend of his, Ma Weidu, who is now an editor at "Youth Literature," praised Wang Shuo to the skies in order to solicit his manuscript.

Just as the Mao Dun Literature Prize results were announced, Ma Weidu came to him again: "My dear teacher Wang, you still have to write the novel! The next Wei Ming could be you!"

He held up the newspaper and pointed to Wei Ming's photo: "Look at him, how spirited he is, and he still has 3000 yuan to take. How many ducks can you make for 3000 yuan?"

"Go away, go away, I won't write anymore, don't block my way from making ducks. I'm going to make this roast duck restaurant the Oriental New World of roast duck."

~
If he doesn't write it, plenty of others will.

Yu Hua, a dentist from Haiyan County, saw the news about the first Mao Dun Literature Prize in the People's Daily. In addition to paying attention to the six novels, he was most concerned about the 3000 yuan prize. He read it several times to make sure that it was 3,000 yuan per person, not 3,000 yuan to be split among six people.

"Three thousand! With three thousand yuan, why would I need to work!"

Writing novels is great! Without further hesitation, Yu Hua submitted his short story "The First Dormitory," which he had already written, directly to "People's Literature," the highest-ranking literary journal. He was determined to become the next Wei Ming!

Yu Hua's move was somewhat overconfident, but Liu Zhenyun was well-prepared.

After joining the China Farmers' Daily, he continued to hone his writing skills and wrote his representative short story, "Tapu," ahead of schedule.

He had been revising and polishing this novel for a long time, aiming for publication in "People's Literature". It tells the story of a demobilized soldier's experience of preparing for the college entrance examination after returning to his hometown.

Liu Zhenyun was also a demobilized soldier, so this novel has some autobiographical elements.

But he was still worried. He thought that since Teacher Wei had returned to Beijing, he would walk over and go visit him.

Liu Zhenyun eventually found Wei Ming's motorcycle at his alma mater.

Wei Ming is currently defending his thesis in his correspondence education program.

He actually wrote a graduation thesis entitled "Application of Electronic Computers in Library Management". He hoped that Peking University could purchase a batch of computers and apply the latest foreign barcode technology to library management, thereby optimizing the process of students borrowing and returning books and reducing the workload of staff.

"Wei Ming, how did you come up with this idea?" asked Xie Daoyuan, the librarian. Wei Ming replied, "I've been to the United States. In shopping malls in big cities like Los Angeles and New York, barcodes are becoming increasingly common. You can just scan the barcode on a machine to get product information and prices, which is very convenient and fast."

The earliest barcode products actually appeared in Ohio 8 years ago. Because it required a lot of investment, its promotion initially faced great resistance. However, with the huge efficiency improvements and cost savings it brought, barcodes quickly spread from supermarkets to all walks of life.

For example, logistics and warehousing, manufacturing, and healthcare.

"My British editor told me that starting this year, most British publishers have begun printing a special ISBN-based barcode on their books."

Both the UK and the US were pioneers in the application of book barcodes, but the UK is now moving faster, with 1982 considered the starting point for the large-scale application of book barcodes.

However, the integration of barcodes with library inventory and borrowing systems is not yet seen in either the UK or the US, making Wei Ming's idea quite novel.

Professor Zhuang Shoujing, the head of the Library Science Department, laughed and said, "No wonder those British books we bought from Frankfurt this year had that thing on the back. It turns out it's a barcode. We old folks are really out of touch."

This solidified his idea of ​​sending students abroad to study. Wei Ming had only been abroad twice and already had such advanced ideas. If he could send more students abroad, even if only one out of ten could bring back advanced ideas, it would still be good.

He then looked at Xie Daoyuan and said, "Teacher Xie, why don't we apply for funding to buy two computers and give it a try?"

Xie Daoyuan said helplessly, "Who would use it if we bought it? Besides, this thing is too expensive."

Wei Ming suggested, "It's not very convenient to use now, but Founder Group is developing a Chinese character card, which will greatly lower the barrier to computer use. As for the money to buy the computer, I can pay for it."

Wei Ming felt guilty towards his company because he was always taking leave and rarely worked a regular job throughout the year. He always wanted to do something for his company.

Director Xie and Director Zhuang exchanged a glance, then waved their hands with smiles: "How can we let you pay for it? We'll apply for funding first."

Wei Ming's thesis naturally passed with full marks. This thesis was not only superior to that of other correspondence course students, but also several levels higher than that of undergraduate students. It directly crushed the competition from a scientific and technological perspective, while undergraduate students were still considering what mathematical model to use to make it easier for students to find books.

Although Wei Ming's proposal in his paper to promote book barcodes nationwide, establish standards, and give every book an identity is somewhat ahead of its time, it may actually be realized in the future.

Regarding Wei Ming's paper, the two teachers plan to publish it in the school newspaper, and also submit a copy to Computerworld. They feel that library science and computer science will have a deep connection in the future.

Who would have thought that while Wei Ming was doing his main job and developing his side businesses of writing, directing, and songwriting, he would also not forget his academic explorations?

Now that he has obtained his undergraduate degree through correspondence courses, he can really take the postgraduate entrance exam in the Department of Library Science. Zhuang Shoujing even wants to personally mentor him.

After his defense, Wei Ming went back to the library and saw Liu Zhenyun waiting for him.

"Teacher Wei, my dear friend!" The two hadn't seen each other for almost half a year.

Wei Ming thought he had simply come to congratulate him, but instead he pulled out a stack of manuscript paper and asked Wei Ming to correct it.

Wei Ming was deeply impressed by the novel "Tapu" because it was published in "People's Literature" and Wei Ming happened to read that issue. Later, the novel won the National Excellent Short Story Award. This can be considered Liu Zhenyun's first influential work in five years since graduating from university.

He has finished ahead of schedule, but there is still some gap between his current skill level and that of five years later, as Wei Ming remembered.

Wei Ming offered some suggestions from a creative perspective. Even if these suggestions were submitted to People's Literature, the editor would probably suggest revisions rather than reject the manuscript outright, since the story's underlying tone and the author's writing style are both quite good.

"Would it be acceptable if I submitted it to People's Literature?" Liu Zhenyun asked after noting down all the parts that needed to be revised.

Wei Ming said, "It can be done by pointing at the buttocks."

Liu Zhenyun: "I'm so happy, Teacher Wei! I'll treat you to dinner today at the Long March Canteen, let's go!"

It was a rare treat to be invited by Liu Zhenyun, so Wei Ming gladly accepted. However, the guy was only inviting Wei Ming on the side; his main purpose was to treat his girlfriend, Guo Jianmei, to a better meal, as the two of them hadn't seen each other for a while.

After finishing his meal, Wei Ming went to Wei Ping'an's home in Weixiu Garden.

When Lü Xiaoyan saw him, she thought he had come to pick up Xizi to go to Sichuan for filming, and she couldn't help but hug her eldest son, her maternal love beginning to shine through.

Wei Ming said, "Auntie, don't rush. I need to talk to Uncle Ping An about something. I won't be leaving for another two days."

Lü Xiaoyan released Xizi, so everything was fine.

Wei Ping'an asked, "What's wrong? Is it about taking the postgraduate entrance exam?"

It seems he also knew that Wei Ming was defending his thesis today.

Wei Ming shook his head: "No, it's not that. I just received the Mao Dun Literature Prize a couple of days ago, and I suddenly had an idea."

Lü Xiaoyan immediately leaned over: "You're going to donate an award too?!"

Wei Ming smiled and said, "I am still inexperienced and dare not compare myself with Mr. Mao Dun. Actually, I wanted to donate a scholarship to Peking University."

Wei Ping'an sat up straight: "I think this is more meaningful than a literary award."

Lü Xiaoyan said, "Then should it be named after Xiao Wei?"

Wei Ming had given this serious thought, and he said, "I hope so. Although fame and fortune are fleeting to me, Peking University will definitely produce many wealthy people in the future. If we want everyone to contribute their wealth to education, it is necessary to give them certain honorary rewards. I just don't know if this is in accordance with the regulations."

He knew that Bao Yugang had established the Bao Zhaolong Chinese Students Scholarship in the name of his father, Bao Zhaolong, specifically to support Chinese students studying abroad. However, Bao Yugang was a Hong Kong tycoon and someone who needed to be won over, while Wei Ming was one of his own, so the treatment he received could not be exactly the same.

Wei Pingan said, "No problem. There is a precedent for this. When Mr. Guo Moruo passed away, he donated 15 yuan of his royalties to the University of Science and Technology of China to establish the Guo Moruo Scholarship to encourage students to strive to reach the peak of science and technology."

After listening to Uncle Ping'an's explanation, Wei Ming basically understood that the scholarship was paid with the interest from Guo Moruo's royalties, with 15 places available each year. The winners would receive a silver medal as "Guo Moruo Scholarship Recipient" and 200 yuan in cash.

Then Wei Ping'an asked, "So how much do you plan to donate, and in what direction?"

Scholarships are different from grants. Grants are available to everyone, while scholarships are awarded to those who excel in a particular area, with the aim of cultivating highly skilled talents.

Wei Ming said, "I plan to take out 100 million first..."

"Seize the young master!?"

Before Wei Ping'an and his wife could speak, Xizi couldn't hold back anymore. He only earned 50 cents for buying cigarettes for Wei Ming. Was his dear brother really that rich?

Xizi wouldn't have reacted so strongly in the past, but now that he's in second grade, he knows what "ten thousand" means.

Although Wei Pingan and Lü Xiaoyan were somewhat surprised, they weren't alarmed, because they knew that Wei Ming could definitely afford the money.

Although Wei Ming's income decreased at this year's Frankfurt Book Fair, he also received a large amount of foreign exchange, which the government converted into more than 70 RMB.

Wei Ming has accumulated nearly 400 million RMB in deposits. If his share in Xintiandi's accounts is included, the amount will be even more staggering.

In this era, money cannot bring Wei Ming a sense of security; only a golden body can.

Of course, he genuinely wanted to do something for the impoverished students at Peking University.

Lu Xiaoyan suddenly pulled out a calculator: "Director Wei, how much is the annual interest on this 100 million?"

Wei Ping'an said, "No need for a calculator. The government just adjusted the interest rate for savings deposits in April this year. If you deposit for a one-year fixed term, the interest will be 4."

In other words, if someone became a "ten-thousand-yuan household" in this era, the annual interest on a fixed deposit would be 576 yuan, which would theoretically allow them to simply lie down and not work.

Wei Ping'an continued, "That's how it is for one year. If you deposit for a longer period, the interest will be higher. For example, three years is 6.84, five years is 7.92, and now there's an eight-year fixed deposit option. The interest for one year is 9, and the interest for eight years is 72!"

The country is currently in the period of "four modernizations" construction, which requires a large amount of funds. Therefore, we encourage savings and attract more idle social funds to deposit in banks by increasing savings interest rates, especially long-term savings interest rates, to support the country's economic construction.

However, Wei Ming's money is all in current accounts, which are convenient to withdraw at any time. The annual interest rate for current accounts is 2.88%, and he can earn about 100,000 yuan a year from the interest alone.

With so much money, Wei Ming really didn't have many places to spend it in China. Many things he wanted to buy required foreign exchange or foreign exchange certificates, so he was indeed willing to spend it.

Aunt Xiaoyan was completely shocked. With so much interest every year, how many Peking University students would benefit? From now on, they would have to treat Wei Ming like a god!

Wei Ming then went on to explain his research goals for the scholarship: “I think the criteria for judging excellence in the humanities are difficult to determine and are rather subjective, so I think the scholarship should be mainly used for science and technology. Didn’t the National Science and Technology Awards Conference recently award the first prize to the artificial synthesis of bovine insulin? I heard that Peking University was part of the research team?”

Wei Ping'an nodded proudly: "This achievement was jointly completed by the Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Department of Chemistry of Peking University, and the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences."

Wei Ming slammed his fist on the table: "Awesome! My scholarship is meant to stimulate more research results of this type, so that researchers don't have to worry about making a living!"

……

(Yesterday's guaranteed minimum)
(End of this chapter)