The reporter learned from the People's Literature Publishing House that
January 21, 2022,
Famous writer Zhang Jie
Left unscathed in the company of his family.
In the final moments,
What she felt was joy and love!
Zhang Jie is one of the most important contemporary Chinese writers and an outstanding representative of the literature of the new era. Her novels such as "Heavy Wings" and "Wordless" reflect the real life of China's reform and opening up in a timely, profound and vivid manner, and won the Mao Dun Literature Award, the highest honor of Contemporary Chinese Literature; her many short stories, essays and other works have had a wide social impact in different periods and left an indelible mark on the hearts of a generation.
Wei Junyi, former president of the Humanities Society, recalled: Zhang Jie is an old author and old friend of the People's Literature Publishing House. In the 1980s, with full of passion and trust, she handed over the manuscript of her first novel, "Heavy Wings", to the Humanities Society, and the whole society did its best, and this masterpiece was successfully published and became a contemporary masterpiece that was popular throughout the country and famous all over the world. In the following decades, the People's Literature Publishing House published many of Zhang Jie's works; and when she was about to bid farewell to the literary world, she revised all the works she retained one by one and awarded the publishing rights to the People's Literature Publishing House.
Zhang Jie died, but she did not leave. Her works stand tall in the forest of literature, always accompanying us and accompanying thousands of readers; her voice and demeanor are like ever-present, never disappearing.
Say goodbye
(Zhang Jie's speech at his solo exhibition in October 2014)
More than thirty years ago, Mr. Bing Xin said to me, she said: "Among our old friends, it is now time to see one side and one side less." ”
And now, it's my turn to say that.
In our texts, we often use the word "forever", but it is always impossible... Flowers blossom and fall sometimes, the back wave of the Yangtze River pushes the front wave... It is the right thing to retreat at the right time. I had been looking forward to a formal occasion for me to say these words solemnly, but this opportunity was really hard to come by.
Of course, behind the Museum of Modern Literature is actually the Chinese Writers Association, as well as my "mother's home" Beijing Writers Association, which organized this exhibition for me and gave me this rare opportunity to show my heart. Saying that it is a painting exhibition is indeed a farewell performance for me.
Zhang Jie paintings
In addition to thanking the Chinese Writers Association, the Museum of Modern Chinese Literature, and my "mother's" Beijing Writers Association for their support, I am also very, very ashamed. Why? Because since I was a child, my mother told me that all giving should be reciprocated, and I tried to do the same. But some giving is really unrequited.
In fact, I would like to discuss this with my mother: Do you think that all giving can be reciprocated, and some giving is actually not reciprocated. That's why I'm often so ashamed when confronted with giving that I can't reciprocate.
So these unrequited givings became my heart debt, making my heart restless. This spring, I wrote these mental debts into a manuscript, but it was rejected, and this is the second time in my life that I have been rejected. I also know that it is really difficult to publish because it involves many historical figures and historical backgrounds at that time. But it doesn't matter, these things are recorded in my diary, and I think that before I leave this world, it will definitely get a chance to publish.
Since I was a teenager, when I was just able to lift half a bucket of water, I had to be a man, and I had to be a woman, and when I grew up, I had to bear the burden of "being a man", and I was really tired and exhausted. But this time the exhibition, which may also be the last big thing I did, the organizer did not let me spend a little effort, did not let me worry about it, did not let me move a finger... How does a person who has been tired and exhausted all his life feel when he encounters this situation for the first time? That's a thousand words out of the question.
If you like my paintings, I'm happy, and if you don't, stink, I don't care. My current state is cloudy and light.
Many years ago, I wrote a short article in which I said that when I left this world, I wish I would only remember the good ones and forget the bad ones.
That's easy to say, but it's not easy to do. Just seven or eight years ago, when I slept until midnight, I would sit up and yell at the darkness, and then lie down with a "tom" sound, but now I have really let go.
I never believed in any religion, but I believed in some strange things. I would often sit in a long chair under a tree, and the wind in that corner, without direction, felt that the wind blowing from different directions gradually blew away bad memories of hurt, insult, rumor-mongering, slander, etc., leaving only memories of my friends' love, warmth, concern, help, and so on. At the same time, I also met a puppy named Lucy, whose eyes were extremely clean, and who often tilted his small head and stared at me for a long time. When it looked at me with such clean eyes, I felt like it was washing my soul. I am also very grateful to Fate for giving me this great gift at the end of my life, so that I can only remember the good and forget the bad memories.
Finally, I would like to say that I left a will at a very good law firm: after I died, first, I did not issue an obituary. Second, say goodbye without remaining. Third, there will be no memorial service. Please also, friends, don't write articles in my memory. As long as you remember in your heart, there was once such a friend as Zhang Jie, it is enough.
Thank you again to all the guests, Zhang Jie said goodbye.
Writer Profile
Zhang Jie, born in 1937. He graduated from Chinese University in 1960. He began his literary career in 1978. The novels "Heavy Wings" and "Wordless" won the second and sixth Mao Dun Literature Awards respectively. He has won three consecutive National Outstanding Short Story Awards. The long essay "The Man Who Hurt Me The Most In the World Went" has had a wide impact among readers.
In 2012, the 11-volume "Collected Works of Zhang Jie" was published by the People's Literature Publishing House. His works have been translated into more than 10 languages, including English, French, German, Russian, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, and Turkish, and more than 30 translations.
In 1989, he was awarded the Malapati International Literary Prize in Italy. In February 1992, he was elected an honorary member of the American Academy of Letters and Arts. In 2007, he was awarded the Knight's Medal of the Stars of Huiren by the Italian government. In 2014, he received the "Lifetime Achievement Award" of the Italian GIUSEPPE ACERBI International Literary Award.
Zhang Jie's manuscript
Representative works
Zhang Jie | Heavy Wings | People's Literature Publishing House
Heavy Wings is the first novel to reflect life in the early years of reform, depicting a complex struggle between a Ministry of Heavy Industry of the State Council and its affiliated Shuguang Automobile Manufacturing Plant in 1980 over the reform of the industrial economic system. Reading today, the novel still gives people a strong and real sense of realism.
Zhang Jie | "Wordless" | People's Literature Publishing House
"No Word" takes the life experience of the female writer Wu Wei as the main line, tells the marriage story of her and three generations of women in her family, depicts the bumpy life experiences of various people in the great social turmoil and great changes, shows the era in China in the past hundred years, makes a unique record and examination of China in the twentieth century, and describes an era that cannot be exhausted.
Zhang Jie | "The Man Who Hurt Me The Most In the World Went" | People's Literature Publishing House
Who is the person who hurts you the most in the world? Zhang Jie wrote the last memories of herself and her mother into this book. This is a heavy mourning for the death of the mother, this is a poignant and deep ode to the mother's love, more than 100,000 words, more than 70 pictures, a detailed record of the mother's life after more than eighty days and nights. Few have such an unforgettable long self-narration that tells the story of life, love, and soul. All the bumps, trivialities, entanglements, no longer exist overnight, only these bloody words, telling the eternal mother-daughter relationship. Together, the photographs and texts in the book tell the story of the mother, the story of the mother and daughter, and the story of the mother, daughter, and granddaughter.
Zhang Jie | "My Graceful Night" | People's Literature Publishing House
The book "My Graceful Night" is a collection of Zhang Jie's short works, including classic short stories and essays such as "Mr. Ke's Day and Night", "Picking Ears of Wheat", "At This Time, You Are Grown Up", "Why I Lost You".
Zhang Jie | Emerald | People's Literature Publishing House
Zhang Jie | The Collected Works of Zhang Jie | People's Literature Publishing House
Text/Guangzhou Daily, New Flower City Reporter: Wu Bo
Photo/ Guangzhou Daily, Xinhuacheng reporter: Wu Bo
Video/Guangzhou Daily Xinhuacheng Reporter: Wu Bo
Correspondent: Wang Wei
Guangzhou Daily New Flower City Editor: Liu Liqin