【Hundred Ways Editor's Note】The TV series "Mountains and Seas" was a hit, which made everyone understand the story of the people of Xihaigu in Ningxia who moved out of the mountains in the 1990s and got rich through their hands with the help of their counterparts in Fujian. According to the main creative team of the TV series, the title of the play and many of the stories in the play are inspired by the work "Poetry in the Distance: A Chronicle of the Minning Experience". The book won the 2021 China Good Book, Baidao Network interviewed the author of the book He Jianming, asked him to introduce the story behind the book, and share his thoughts on the creation method of reportage, the significance of the times and other aspects.
"Poetry in the Distance: Chronicle of the Minning Experience" by He Jianming
If you have heard the words "reportage", you should have heard he Jianming's name. He is the 7th, 8th and 9th Resident Vice Chairman of the China Writers Association, and has served as the President and Vice President of the China Reportage Literature Society for 25 years. Since 1978, He Jianming began to create reportage, and it has been forty-four years since today, and he has written nearly 30 long reportages and hundreds of short and medium-length reportages.
Ho's reportage is often based on major themes, events or important people, and the importance of such themes or events is also known as the "national narrative". Reportage is inextricably linked to politics. He Jianming always has a conscious political consciousness and political responsibility when creating, and this political awareness and responsibility are manifested in his strong political passion. Some researchers believe that his political consciousness is broad and open, or a deeper and broader sense of politics, that is, people often say that the concept of the world, people's livelihood is the biggest politics, and the people's will is the biggest politics. As a writer, He Jianming's attention to politics is reflected in his attention to the political history of the country, and he is more concerned about the national economy and people's livelihood and the people's aspirations.
The "Hundred Wells Poverty Alleviation" project allows the people of Xihaigu to taste the sweet well water
Since 2019, He Jianming has begun to create a reportage work reviewing and summarizing the successful experience of "Minning Poverty Alleviation", a sample of precise poverty alleviation in the east and west during Xi Jinping's work in Fujian, entitled "Poetry in the Distance: Chronicle of the Minning Experience" (hereinafter referred to as "Poetry in the Distance"), which was jointly published by Ningxia People's Publishing House and Fujian People's Publishing House on March 1, 2021. He Jianming fully investigated, collected materials, and made field visits in the two provinces and regions of Minning, and completed this book in two years. The creative team of the 2021 hit TV series "Shan Hai Qing" has revealed that the title of "Shan Hai Qing" and many of the stories in it are inspired by the content of the book.
"Poetry in the Distance" is distinctive in terms of its high standing, wide field of vision, large pattern, and deep thought. What is even more valuable is that the work links the "Minning Experience" with Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and integrates the "Minning Experience" into China's important contributions to the cause of world poverty reduction. Such height and depth make this work have the significance of leading ideas.
Poetry in the Distance: A Chronicle of the Minning Experience
Publishers: Ningxia People's Publishing House, Fujian People's Publishing House
Author: He Jianming
Publication date: March 2021
I have to write about big themes like "Poetry in the Distance."
Baidao Network: As a famous Chinese reportage writer, you have created a large number of reportage works, have you classified them in your mind? What type does Poetry in the Distance belong to?
He Jianming: There are two kinds of classification according to the epochal nature of the selected topic, one is historical themes and the other is realistic works. If you classify it according to the theme, there are also two kinds, one is a major event, and the other is a typical person. "Poetry in the Distance" should be a major event in the realistic theme.
Baidao.com: Your reportage creation seems to have a characteristic, that is, it can integrate macro theme ideas into one story after another. Although Poetry in the Distance is a piece of reportage, it also feels like a rich and interrelated novel. Why do you have this creative style and preference? How do you see the relationship between reportage and fiction?
He Jianming: Reportage and fiction are the same in terms of writing style, and we must use stories to express the ideas we want to express, so this is not my preference, but a point that reportage literature must do. Many so-called reportage works are similar to news reports, and do not pay attention to storytelling and literature, in fact, they are not reportage. The only difference between a truly good reportage and a novel is that fiction is fiction and reportage is real.
In terms of literary writing methods, the two are consistent, except that the novel must enter the plot immediately from the beginning, but reportage literature needs to have the background of the times and so on. In the book "Poetry in the Distance", I first explained the suffering of water shortage in Ningxia, especially in the Xihaigu area, and the poverty of the local people, and then led to the cooperation between Ningxia and Fujian, and then used one event and story after another to explain and answer the practical significance of the "Fujian-Nanjing cooperation", including bringing happiness to the people, promoting social development, and so on. Reportage is more tense, and although it answers many questions through people and stories like fiction, it answers more directly, which is also its characteristic.
Xie Xingchang's family celebrated the Spring Festival in 2020
The book "Poetry in the Distance" uses a more wonderful story and vivid language to answer a question of the times, that is, how can a poor area that has suffered a lot of hardships complete the fight against poverty? Under the care and leadership of Xi Jinping, we have found a way of "Fujian-Nanjing cooperation", which is a very Chinese characteristic experience in poverty alleviation and an important embodiment of the superiority of China's socialist system.
Baidao.com: In recent years, your works have a very obvious tendency to draw on major themes, major events or important people, and the book "Poetry in the Distance" also belongs to this kind of national era narrative, because it is about the typical successful project of East-West cooperation led by Xi Jinping. Why is there such a change in your creative themes and focus? What kind of needs does it meet?
He Jianming: Not all of what I write about is big events, but I do write about big events, and this kind of theme accounts for one-third of my works, such as "Revolutionaries" and "The Complete Documentary of the Nanjing Massacre", such as "The State" that writes about the evacuation of overseas Chinese in Libya, such as "National Action" about the Three Gorges migrants. It has to do with who I am and the social influence I have on the subject. There are too many big things and good things happening in Chinese society, so I have many tasks on my shoulders. General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed in his speech at the opening ceremony of the Eleventh National Congress of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the Tenth National Congress of the China Writers Association: "I hope that the vast number of literary and art workers will adhere to the people's position and write an endless people's epic." "As a Writer in China, I have an unshirkable responsibility.
Writing big topics is mainly because I am in a rapidly developing society like China, and the times have requirements for reportage writers with a certain degree of influence, and I should assume a responsibility and mission. Now that I am constantly receiving writing requests from various institutions and individuals, I have to judge what subject matter is good and what must be written.
After nearly 20 years of ecological restoration, the old migrant site of Xinzhuang Jixiang in Hongsibao District has been gradually covered with green
I think that for writers, the size of the subject matter is only the appearance, their breadth, profundity, their value is the same in essence, the big theme is nothing more than a large capacity, and the small subject matter is nothing more than a small capacity. From scientists to small secretaries, big people and small people I have written about. Some subjects, although small, can "see the sun in a drip". My work "Mountain God", published in 2018, is a small work about small things, and its protagonist is Huang Dafa, the branch secretary of Caowangba Village in Bozhou District, Bozhou District, Zunyi City, Guizhou Province, who was named "2017 Person of the Year Who Moved China". I have written about several of these "touching Chinese things", and Liang Yurun, the "secretary of the people" in my earlier work "Fundamental Interests", is also one of them. Some small people and small events I will pay special attention to, because specific things and people can also reflect the light of the great changes carried out in our times; and the big themes of the big times actually present the image of Chinese individuals, such as the "Bridge", which records the construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, which actually depicts the ideas and emotions of chief engineer Lin Ming in the process of building the bridge, as well as his spirit of winning glory for the country, and the individual behavior of this individual represents China and this era.
Qiao Yingbo, an immigrant from Tang Village in the Middle Circle, explained the knowledge of vine conservation to farmers at the grape base of Luoshan Winery
The reason why this work is touching,
It was because I was personally moved
Baidao Network: In everyone's impression, reportage literature should be calm, objective and silent, and in this regard, the "Nanjing Massacre Full Documentary" may be more typical. But in Poetry in the Distance, you, as the narrator, almost always intervene and express your own feelings, even with large lyrics. Why are you doing this?
He Jianming: I often use this emotional writing mode. As I said before, reportage is very similar to fiction, and as a reportage writer I can fit myself into it, as one of the characters of the story in the first person, and I can't help but show emotion when I am in the midst of events that move me. I think whether you choose to write in prose or with a more cold pen depends on what kind of subject you write.
For a genre like "Poetry in the Distance," I use the style of prose titles in its title. For Ningxia people, "poetry in the distance" has two meanings, on the one hand, there is no water in the west sea of Ningxia, and the locals are very eager to see the sea and see the world near the sea where Fujian people live; on the other hand, they yearn to live a good life like the eastern region. And why do Fujian people support Ningxia? Fujian was originally relatively poor, but later with the development of wealth, and the amount of water is abundant, Fujian people found that Ningxia is so poor, so short of water, feel that they should help the brother provinces through their own ability and feelings, let it successfully get rid of poverty, get better development, and become the same happy place as themselves, this is the Fujian people's "poetry in the distance". The title is romantic, very poetic, suitable for this work, and I also wrote this book in prose tones.
The old village appearance of Huaxi Village in Yinchuan City in 1997
Baidao Network: In addition to romance, in the book "Poetry in the Distance", you vividly depict many characters, and you are often moved to the wet eye sockets. So can you tell us what moved you the most during the interview to write this book, and what shocked you the most?
He Jianming: The TV series "Mountains and Seas" also tells the story around the background of "Minning Cooperation", but the original name of this TV series is "Minning Town". They saw my book when they were filming a TV series, and they revealed to me that they were inspired by many stories that they had never heard in my works, including the new name "Mountains and Seas", which was also influenced by my works. It has also received very good social effects.
After going deep into Ningxia, many things moved me. I have never been to Xihaigu in Ningxia in the past, which is the poorest place in Ningxia, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization says that this is not a place for people to live, because there is no water, and the skin of local men and women is different from ours. Almost all of Ningxia's famous writers came from Xihaigu, and I am familiar with several of them, because they are poor, they desperately express their emotions and views on society, and then succeed. But as a writer from abroad, when I first arrived in Xihaigu and found that under the policies and guidelines of the central authorities such as the "Fujian-Nanjing Cooperation" and through the self-struggle of the people of Ningxia, this place had completely changed, and even some places were better built than Fujian and my hometown of Suzhou, I was greatly shocked. In the past, I heard that the poverty alleviation work in Xihaigu was not "complete" and "successful", but this time it was different, this time it was to get rid of poverty, showing earth-shaking changes, especially when it was once a desert place became a water town in Jiangnan.
North Tower Lake, Yinchuan City
I remember the first time I went to Xihaigu, I encountered heavy rain, and the amount of precipitation that day was more than the previous year. I interviewed people all the way, including children, their parents, and very old people, and they told a lot of stories, and I made a proper narrative in the book everything that impressed me. Therefore, the reason why this work is beautiful and emotional is because after I was moved and shocked, I produced my characters and language.
The hostess of the Su family enthusiastically retained the author and his party to eat
Baidao Network: In fact, after reading the book "Poetry in the Distance", I still have a question in my heart. Xihaigu has always been seriously short of water and food, which is not suitable for people to survive, why do so many Xihaigu people not leave this place? After you walked into Xihaigu, can you answer this question?
He Jianming: Walking or not walking, not everyone like you and me can say to go. A home will not leave until the last resort. There are many people in Xihaigu who go out to work, but in the end they still choose to return to their hometown, the main reason is that their hometown is now better. However, when their hometown is not getting better, there are still many people who stay there, because it is their homeland, no matter how poor they are, they will still have feelings for that land, where their hearts are full. The homeland is a special direction of people's emotions and an important part of life's destiny. Many people have been in Beijing for decades, and the "official" is not small, and finally these four words will still echo in their hearts: falling leaves return to the roots.
The old appearance of Xihai Gushan Village
The finer the details, the better the emotion expressed in the work
Baidao Network: You just mentioned the "Mountains and Seas", there is a character prototype Lin Zhanxi in this drama, he is a professor of Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, the chief scientist of the National Fungus and Grass Engineering technology Research Center, known as the "Great Aunt", he has made outstanding contributions to the cooperation between Minning and Ningbo, and has also experienced a lot of setbacks, and the audience is very impressed with him. General Secretary Xi Jinping also mentioned this character in the conversation, but compared with "Mountains and Seas", you spend very little time on this character in the book.
He Jianming: The book "Poetry in the Distance" involves many more characters than in "Mountains and Seas". However, this is not simply a question of more or less characters, but different problems and different characters used in the theme. "Mountains and Seas" is based on the self-struggle of the people of Ningxia as the theme, as a TV series, it should refine the typical image, through the concentrated description of a person, a family or a group to achieve artistic goals, can not be too "scattered", can not shoot grand; and I write is the form of the entire society to alleviate poverty, can not concentrate on writing a person, I want to consider "Minning cooperation" as the entry point, from all aspects to reflect the wholeness of society and the fullness of the world, of course, but also consider the excitement of the whole event. "Mountains and Seas" borrows many concepts and stories from my book, but all of them are to enrich and enrich the effect of the TV series and express the main theme of the TV series. I spent a lot of ink in the book to write about Lin Yuechan, director of the Fujian Provincial Poverty Alleviation Office at that time, who was an important figure in the implementation of the "Fujian-Nanjing Cooperation" led by Xi Jinping, but "Mountains and Seas" told her very little.
Flower farmers use peonies for oil in Wonju District, Guyuan City
Peony seeds are harvested at the production site
Baidao.com: You have worked as a journalist, served as the president of a publishing house, and are the vice chairman of the Writers Association, and have experienced many identity transformations. From the publisher's perspective, how did you choose to interview people? From the perspective of a publisher and writer, do you have any different evaluations of the book "Poetry in the Distance"?
He Jianming: For this kind of big theme, it needs to be written in a big historical background to reflect its significance of the times, but the process of writing must start from the details, the finer your details, the better the emotion expressed in the work. This is my experience accumulated over decades. In this era, there have been many great events and figures in China, and we must stand in a higher place and analyze and observe them in a broader vision. To this end, I will deal with these problems before the interview, determine the name of the interviewee and how to write the book, and then carry out specific operations, and finally combine, piece together, and process until a perfect work is created.
Because I have been the president of the publishing house, and also served as the vice chairman of the China Writers Association and the director of the management committee of the China Writers Publishing Group, my advantage over other writers is that I know what readers like, and I have my own attention to the title, content, binding, and cover design, and most of the publishing houses have adopted my opinions. The title of the main book is "Poetry in the Distance", which is a difficult bone that I have gnawed, because these four words represent the romantic poetry or ideal realm, and when you really want to use the work to realize with "poetry in the distance", it is a gimmick in itself, and cracking it through "Minning Collaboration" is itself challenging and arouses the attention of readers. In terms of content, I put the original appearance of Xihaigu's suffering at the beginning as a background, that is, to give the reader a suspense - can poverty alleviation be done well? At the end, the reader realizes that it was done so well. All of this is the result of my constant thinking about "what kind of work can attract readers" from the perspective of a publisher, which can be said to show my unique success side.
The sheep farmers build their own runways in the sheep farm
Driving the beach sheep "running exercise"
When man is engrossed in accomplishing a mission,
His energy is enormous
Baidao Network: Your book publishing efficiency is extremely high, you can publish two or three works a year, and the long reportage "Poetry in the Distance" is only written for two years. How do you ensure the quality of your work in your busy schedule?
He Jianming: I used to write while working, but now that I am out of work, I can concentrate on creating. Now I have a lot of tasks, and the subject matter is particularly large, sometimes interspersed, and I produce at least two or three works a year. My strengths lie in the fact that I have worked for decades, written on various subjects, and have a lot of experience; I am from the army, and I used to do several kinds of work at the same time; I have a hard time, I spend all my time on creation; I receive a variety of information far more than the average writer.
In 2019, in order to write "Poetry in the Distance", the epidemic had not yet begun when I first went to Ningxia and Fujian, and then the epidemic had begun when I went to Ningxia. A lot of writers can't go out at this time, they're unlikely to go to these two places, but I've never been influenced by these factors and have been on the front line. When I wrote "Shanghai Emoticons" in early 2020, I was always on the front line, recording the process of Shanghai's anti-epidemic work from development to success and my personal experience. I think a writer should stand up in a brave spirit and walk in the front line when the country, the nation, and the people are facing difficulties. When a person is fully focused on accomplishing a mission and responsibility, his energy is huge, and this energy can achieve many goals after exertion, and this is how I came to be.
Reportage summarizes the experience of human development,
It indicates the development direction of social civilization
Baidao Network: One of the core problems that has long plagued reportage is that because of the relative proximity of time, the writing of reportage lacks the necessary distance of reflection, so it is difficult to pursue the depth of rational reflection. In the book Poetry and The Distance, which is full of mainstream ideological stances, do you think you have solved this problem well?
He Jianming: I have my own standards for works, that is, they must be good-looking and can stand the test of time. I have written more than forty years of reportage, twenty or thirty of which have been continuously printed, even translated abroad, or made into movies and TELEVISION series, it can be said that excellent reportage works have achieved the literary and historical status and role that reportage literature should have. For example, "Poetry in the Distance" not only describes the contemporary events of China, but also explains the common problem of human beings around the world from a higher standpoint, which exists in Africa and in capitalist countries with a large gap between rich and poor, such as the slums in New York, usa. In the land of China under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, through the strength of the system, the strength and wisdom of the people, we have eliminated absolute poverty as a whole, which is a remarkable feat. Therefore, this book not only has historical value, but also the value of "people", which can be learned by all mankind, and its content will still be willing to be understood by people ten years or even longer, and will not be outdated.
The yellow cauliflower being dried in Liuquan Village, Liuquan Township
Baidao.com: Please tell us about your cutting-edge views on the genre of reportage. As the length of reportage becomes longer and longer, and the timeliness is significantly reduced, what is the main meaning of its existence?
He Jianming: The volume of reportage works is completely determined according to the subject matter, not to say that the number of words is a large theme, nor is it a short story published in the newspaper that is more "refined", because good works can make people read from beginning to end, and bad works are not willing to read a few words. I believe that the focus of the work, no matter how long or short, is quality.
An important problem that reportage now encounters on the road to development is that in the era of mobile Internet and media, readers are accustomed to fragmented reading, and he reads information from his mobile phone much faster than your work - this problem is the biggest challenge for reportage writers. In fact, it is also a challenge for novelists. In the post-industrial era, our decisions and actions should be synchronized with the development of society in order to achieve our goals. Although it is said that the reportage writers are the light cavalry of the times, slightly faster than the writers of other genres, it seems to me that our synchronization with the times is still far from enough, not to mention that readers are becoming more and more demanding of us. The only option for a smart reportage writer is to exercise your footwork, your eyesight, and when people are saying something, you have to say it better, deeper, and more wonderfully than others.
New appearance of Qianzhuang Village, Guanzhuang Township, Longde County
The existence of reportage is of great significance, and there is no doubt that its function plays a role in promoting social development. For example, "Poetry in the Distance" can allow readers to better understand the history of "Fujian-Nanjing cooperation" and poverty alleviation in Ningxia, and even the audience who watched "Mountains and Seas" will harvest richer and more wonderful content from it, which is the rationality of the existence of different genres. I recently wrote a new book in Chengdu, "The Love of Flowing Gold", which tells the story of Shuangliu people who firmly grasp the aviation economy and change the fate of Shuangliu City through the aviation industry and airports. We have gone from farming civilization to industrial society to marine civilization, and now we have entered the aerospace space civilization, and the development concept and experience of double-stream innovation provide a particularly good development model for non-eastern coastal areas and places that do not have geographical advantages, that is, aviation economy. This book seems to summarize the development of a district and county next to the airport, but in fact, it introduces the development model of China's district-level regions, which has important reference significance for other provinces and cities.
In my eyes, reportage can summarize the regular experience of human and social development and foreshadow the development direction of social civilization. However, whether everyone can understand the meaning of the work depends on the radiation surface and influence of the work. In short, the role of reportage is great.
Author: Liu Ruili
Edit: Daozhi
Final: Ling Jia