In contemporary China, the country is magnificent, the people are heroic, and the future is bright. The times have provided an unprecedented broad stage for the prosperity and development of our country’s literature and art.
——Excerpt from General Secretary Xi Jinping’s speech at the opening ceremony of the 11th National Congress of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the 10th National Congress of the Chinese Writers Association
The weather is hot like a fire, such as the excitement of Hunan people to welcome the distinguished guests, and from time to time a torrent of rain washes the beautiful mountains and waters even greener and greener.
From July 29th, the Chinese Writers Association led more than 100 writers to come to Hunan to launch a series of activities such as the “Creation Plan for Great Changes in Mountains and Townships in the New Era” and “Literature Climbing Plan for the New Era”.
It is about the future of Chinese literature. On July 30, the writers followed the footsteps of the general secretary, stepped on the Aizhai Bridge, and walked into Shibadong Village, which opened an unprecedented event in the history of Hunan literature, which will surely have far-reaching historical echoes.
(Shibadong Village, Shuanglong Town, Huayuan County. The wooden buildings are interdependent and surrounded by green mountains, like a modern version of “Fuchun Mountain Residence” with unique Miao family characteristics. The awarding ceremony of “Rooted in the People” New Era Literary Practice Point was held in Jingping Square, Shibadong Village.)
“Xiangxi, I haven’t been here for 37 years.” Mo Yan, the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, planned ahead, and has spent 7 days with his family in Yueyang, Hunan and other places.
“This is the first time I have come to Hunan. I took the high-speed train from Nanjing to Changsha, and then from Changsha to Jishou.” Bi Feiyu, winner of the Mao Dun Literature Award and “Otaku”, came from the plain and was amazed at the continuous mountains of “clear Xiangxi”, again and again. Light from the tunnel.
“This is the first time I have set foot on the land of Hunan, but I have been in love with her for a long time.” Tsering Luobu, a member of the party group of the Tibet Federation of Literary and Art Circles and executive vice chairman of the Writers Association, came from the snowy plateau.
Maijia came from Hangzhou, Alai came from Chengdu, Chen Yan, Ge Fei, Xu Guixiang, Liu Jianwei came from Beijing, Liu Cixin came from Shanxi, Xiong Hongjiu came from Xinjiang, Yan Yan came from Inner Mongolia, Zhang Li and Li Hong came from the northeast, Miao Kaihe is from Yunnan, Mei Guoyun is from Hainan…
On the evening of July 29th, flying over the mountains and the sea, across the plains and hills, more than 100 well-known writers from all over the country gathered on time to gather in western Hunan.
(On July 30, the awarding ceremony of the new era literature practice point of Chinese writers “Going Deep into Life and Rooting in the People” hosted by the Chinese Writers Association was held in Shibadong Village, Shuanglong Town, Huayuan County. Hunan Daily All Media Reporter Li Jian and Fu Cong Photo report)
It’s a buildup that’s been in the works for a long time.
From December 14th to 17th, 2021, the 11th National Congress of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the 10th National Congress of the Chinese Writers Association will be held in Beijing. How to implement the spirit of the general secretary’s speech, lead Chinese writers to keep up with the pace of the times, express the Chinese people’s will to struggle, creativity, and the fruits of development, so as to show the spirit of the new era in an all-round way? The Chinese Writers Association set its sights on Hunan.
There, there is a place that is dazzling. Targeted poverty alleviation was initiated in Shibadong Village, Huayuan, Hunan. In 2013, General Secretary Xi Jinping first proposed the 16-character policy of “seeking truth from facts, adapting measures to local conditions, classified guidance, and targeted poverty alleviation”, creating a miracle in the millennium development history of Miao Village and becoming China’s A village-level model for poverty alleviation that contributes to the world.
There, there was a figure that caught everyone’s attention. Zhou Libo, a people’s writer who went out from Qingxi Village in Yiyang, took root in his hometown for 10 years and wrote the novel “The Great Change in the Mountains and Villages”, which had a huge impact on the times, and gave birth to two historical changes in the land of his hometown. , rooted in the people” benchmark.
In February 2022, on a snowy day, Qiu Huadong, secretary of the Secretariat of the Chinese Writers Association, led a research team to visit Qingxi Village and found that this “first village of great changes in the mountains and villages” was full of vitality. From the Hunan Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Government to the Yiyang Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government, efforts are being made to build Qingxi Village into a hometown of Chinese literature, a demonstration area for rural revitalization, and a landmark of “mountain and rural changes” in the new era. It strengthened the determination to hold a literary event in Hunan.
This is a gathering in the era of high-speed rail.
In 1934, Shen Congwen returned to Phoenix from Beijing, traveling back and forth for 28 days by train, car, ferry, and sedan chair. Alai came to Xiangxi in the early 1990s and spent several days on the road.
By the end of 2021, the high-speed rail will roar into western Hunan. Today, Shen Congwen’s colleagues found that the beautiful western Hunan, which was once hidden by streams and mountains, is so close. They flew to Changsha Huanghua Airport, Zhangjiajie Hehua Airport, Guizhou Tongren Airport, and then took the Zhangjihuai high-speed rail, and they arrived at Jishou easily. It takes only 11 minutes by high-speed rail from Jishou to Fenghuang Ancient City, the most beautiful town in the south. It only takes 50 minutes to drive to Chadong, a border town with “Cuicui”, and it takes 40 minutes to drive to Shibadong Village.
Weather, location, and people. Hunan, the first place for targeted poverty alleviation, has taken on a new mission and has become the first place for the China Writers Association to launch the “New Era Mountain and Township Creation Plan” and “New Era Literary Climbing Plan”.
(On July 30, Mo Yan (left), vice-chairman of the Chinese Writers Association and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, admires the majesty of the Aizhai Bridge up close.)
The sky is so blue, the mountains are so green, and the water is so clear.
In the early morning of July 30, the writers could not wait to set out in the footsteps of General Secretary Xi Jinping. Xiangxi jumped out from Shen Congwen’s book, Huang Yongyu’s painting, Song Zuying’s song, right in front of him, right under his feet.
On the towering and steep Grand Canyon, a bridge flies in the air. That is the Aizhai Bridge that the General Secretary praised as “China’s full moon” on November 3, 2013.
(On the morning of July 30, the Chinese Writers Association led more than 100 writers to the Aizhai Bridge. Photographed by Hunan Daily All Media Reporter Li Jian and Fu Cong)
Get off the bus, take the escalator, and go to the observation deck. Look at the majesty of this bridge that has set four world firsts, listen to the vehicles on the bridge happily rush to the outside world, then step on the bridge sightseeing channel, see the surrounding cliffs, stone walls, peaks and forests, the low villages under your feet lie calmly, and the country roads meander The writers who connected the Miao villages in the deep mountains, the family villages and the happy villages, like Shen Congwen, were excited.
“I should be No. 1 in my mind” “Definitely No. 1, it’s great that China can build such a bridge” “This is a high-tech bridge” “I want to bring my family here often”… Bao Jian, Chen Yida, Mai Jia Like the great power of Hunan Luqiao people. The poet Qiu Huadong spoke of “a bridge flying over two mountains, and the moat becomes a thoroughfare”. When he heard that there were extreme sports such as bungee jumping on the bridge, he promised: “I must come and bungee once!”
Mo Yan kept patting with his mobile phone. Such a unique bridge integrates with the surrounding green mountains and green waters. Especially when it was built in 2012, the sightseeing channel was preset, people-oriented, tourism development, and full of humanistic spirit. He praised: “A perfect bridge.” After the visit, he wrote down the words “Wonderland on Earth”. Guan Renshan, chairman of the Hebei Writers Association, also happily left a calligraphy with the words “A short village is not short, and the times are high”.
When Wang Xiong, chairman of the China Railway Writers Association, was still lamenting the great changes brought by the convenience of transportation to the land in western Hunan, the car turned from the national highway to an 8-meter-wide asphalt road, and Shibadong Village was soon there. On November 3, 2013, when General Secretary Xi Jinping entered the village, it was only a 3-meter-wide dirt road. Now, this “Top Ten Most Beautiful Rural Roads in China” allows tourists to enter the village and villagers to go home.
(On July 30, the writers tasted the warm bark wine in Shibadong Village, Shuanglong Town, Huayuan County. Photo report by Hunan Daily All Media Reporter Li Jian and Fu Cong)
In the high Lizizhai Village, the words “targeted poverty alleviation” are deeply embedded in the stones at the entrance of the village. One tour group after another entered the village, and the elder brothers and sisters of the Miao family set up wine bars, sang songs, danced, and smiled at the corners of their eyes. The writers and the tourists from the square sang “My Motherland and Me” together before they were allowed to enter the village.
The post office is full of souvenirs and postcards of the eighteen caves; tourists are shopping for silver ornaments with Miao embroidery in the intangible cultural heritage center; under the 280-year-old pear tree, Yang Zaikang is frying a large pot of fragrant bacon. His farmhouse has four or five today. The table guests are coming. “Sister Shi”, who didn’t know Chinese before, became younger and younger, and now she follows news broadcasts at 7 o’clock every night. Long Dongjie, who took a photo with the general secretary, opened the first homestay in the village, “Happy People”. Now there are five or six more upscale restaurants in the village, and she has changed to “Happy People” winery. “Drinker” Long Xianlan took off the list of beekeeping…
“Everything that should have changed has changed, and what shouldn’t have changed has not changed.” The writers were scattered around the village. Miao Kaihe, vice chairman of the Yunnan Federation of Literary and Art Circles, said with emotion that the poverty and backwardness in western Hunan have changed, but the people are hard-working, simple, and hospitable. Nothing has changed.
“The world has been turned upside down, and the sea has changed.” Mei Guoyun, chairman of the Hainan Writers Association, saw the spirit of the villagers and felt that he had seen the true appearance of the new socialist countryside.
Qian Yugui, chairman of the China Chemical Industry Association, has been to Xiangxi for more than 20 years. He deeply feels that the spiritual outlook of the people in Xiangxi has changed, and the future is even more promising.
(On July 30, the awarding ceremony of the new era literature practice point of Chinese writers “Going Deep into Life and Rooting in the People” was held in Jingpin Square, Shibadong Village, Shuanglong Town, Huayuan County. The picture shows the scene of the event ceremony. The photos in this edition are all from Hunan Daily Photo report by media reporter Li Jian and Fu Cong)
On November 3, 2013, General Secretary Xi Jinping visited Shibadong Village and held a symposium in Qianping of Shi Chengfu’s home, where he put forward the important discussion of “targeted poverty alleviation” for the first time. Since then, China has launched a magnificent practice of targeted poverty alleviation. .
On July 30, 2022, on this “Precision Ping”, the Chinese Writers Association held the awarding ceremony of the new era literary practice point for Chinese writers to “go deep into life and take root in the people”. It is hoped that Shibadong will become a literary base for local writers and even national writers, where writers dig deep and create new epics belonging to the new era.
The sun was scorching hot, and the writers were sweating like rain, but they were all solemn and serious. They understand that this is a swearing-in meeting for Chinese literature to start anew and climb to a new height.
(On July 30, the awarding ceremony of the new era literature practice point of Chinese writers “Going Deep into Life and Rooting in the People” hosted by the Chinese Writers Association was held in Shibadong Village, Shuanglong Town, Huayuan County. The picture shows the awarding ceremony on site. Hunan Daily All Media Reporter Photo by Li Jian and Fu Cong)
After China’s rural areas have all been lifted out of poverty, how to promote rural revitalization through literature and bring about a new butterfly change in the land is a topic that writers and literary practice points must think about and explore.
“This is the sound of the charge!” Wang Yuewen, chairman of the Hunan Writers Association, said that this event will have a profound impact on the development of Hunan’s literary career. “The wilderness of life is a lifelong university for writers, and going deep into life and rooting in the people is a lifelong course for writers. Writers only have constant ‘exams’ and never ‘graduate’.”
The starting place of the new journey of literature should be the first place. Wang Yuewen told reporters that the Hunan Writers Association will conscientiously implement the spirit of the Chinese Writers Association’s series of activities in Hunan, and come up with practical measures to ensure that the “two plans” are solidly implemented in Hunan. The Hunan Writers Association has already taken action. When determining key works to support projects and inviting writers to live and create among the people, it will take whether the projects reflect a clear people’s nature and whether the writers can survive as the decisive criteria.
“This is the horn of the times! Let the writers devote themselves to the writing of the times.” As a writer from the Tibetan plateau, Tsering Luobu, a member of the Tibet Federation of Literary and Art Circles Party Group and executive vice chairman of the Writers Association, said that he will convey the spirit of the Chinese Writers Association to everyone after returning home. A writer, let them pay attention to the great changes in the mountains and villages, tell the story of China, tell the progress and development of Tibet, and tell the moving story of the unity and progress of Tibet with the support of the people of the whole country.
Qiu Huadong, secretary of the Secretariat of the Chinese Writers Association, said that starting this year, the Chinese Writers Association has selected a group of regions with a strong literary atmosphere and a well-organized literary team across the country, and successively established Chinese writers’ “deeply life and rooted in the people” new era of literary practice points. Build a high-quality platform for writers to go deep into life and concentrate on writing, build an important carrier for writers to provide literary services to the society, guide writers to adhere to the “people-centered” creative orientation, make going deep into life truly a required course for writing, and encourage writers to go well He is able to come out, sink down, and squat, and finally write excellent works that pay equal attention to ideology and literature, the times expect, and the people love.
The country is magnificent and the people are heroic. The swearing-in meeting of the new era of literature, held in the place where targeted poverty alleviation was first initiated, will surely blossom in the whole country and harvest rich literary fruits.
Zhu Yonghua, an all-media commentator of Hunan Daily
On July 30, more than 100 well-known domestic writers led and organized by the Chinese Writers Association gathered in western Hunan, opening the prelude to the “New Era Mountain and Township Creation Plan” and “New Era Literature Climbing Plan”.
Implementing the “New Era Mountain and Township Creation Plan” and “New Era Literary Climbing Plan” and establishing a new era literature practice point are important for the Chinese literary circle to thoroughly implement General Secretary Xi Jinping’s opening ceremonies at the 11th National Congress of the Chinese Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the 10th National Writers Association of China. Concrete actions of the spirit of the speech. In the past few days, the writers have braved the scorching heat and the scorching sun to walk between the villages and mountains in western Hunan, and the greatest harvest is full of people’s feelings. In Shibadong Village, the writers saw the earth-shaking changes here, heard the sincere gratitude of the villagers, and felt their further yearning for a better life. On the Aizhai Bridge and between the canyons and flying rainbows, they felt the great power created by the people under the leadership of the party and the spirit of the times that “Aizhai is not the height of the era”. In Qingxi Village, Yiyang City, they saw the development of the village by leaps and bounds, and deeply realized that a piece of land nurtured Zhou Libo, an outstanding writer. At the same time, his creation feeds back the land, giving birth to a new historical change here.
Needless to say, for a period of time, writers also escaped from reality and alienated the people. They were obsessed with the personal world and were keen on bizarreness that was out of harmony with the times. Times are changing, and literature and art for the people should never change – this is the deep understanding of the writers along the way. As Xu Guixiang, vice chairman of the Chinese Writers Association, said, we must learn from the older generation of writers and learn from their spirit of rooting in the people, serving the people and sing the praises of the people. The practice of the people in the new era not only provides a stage for them to display their talents, but also puts forward the requirements of literary workers to serve the people.
Exciting changes are taking place in the current Chinese countryside. In the great practice of poverty alleviation, countless inspiring figures have appeared, and various exciting stories will also occur in the rising tide of rural revitalization. The times need literary workers to better discover, write, sing praises, and inspire the people, and obtain a steady stream of creative power from the deep feelings of the people.
The opening of the “New Era Mountain and Township Creation Plan” and “New Era Literary Climbing Plan” is a rare gathering in the contemporary Chinese literature circle. It points out the direction for Chinese literature to continue to move forward, and will surely produce long-lasting and far-reaching effects in the history of Chinese literature. influences. This gathering will also give birth to more masterpieces that better meet the requirements of the times, are deeply loved by the people, and demonstrate the value and power of literature.