——The literary dream of disabled writer Liu Dunjie
■ Li Chaoran
2024 is an extremely unusual year for Liu Dunjie, a teacher with disabilities. This year, he not only successfully joined the Chinese Prose Literature Association and the Chinese Folk Literature and Art Association, but also successfully joined the Shandong Writers Association. Recalling the ups and downs and twists and turns along the way, he was so excited that he couldn't stop his tears, and his eyes blurred in an instant.
In the dead of night, whenever I look through Mr. Liu's essay collection "Xingtan Picking Ying", I will always feel a lot of emotion and respect. Sympathy, admiration and admiration made me constantly explore why he had such a strong literary original intention.
A significant part of this collection of more than 300,000 words of essays was written after his illness. It's hard to imagine how a disabled person can use one hand to use "one-finger Zen" on a keyboard to type out hundreds of thousands of words of work, character by character. What is even more unimaginable is that there are many humanistic stories in them, which are made by him on a cane, limping on field investigations, interviewing from home to place, and tapping them out in the dead of night after returning. What kind of will support is this, what kind of perseverance is this, how can it not make people feel moved, how can it not make people sincerely admire!
If you can't write with your hands, you can use one finger to knock out the whole world; If you can't move on your legs, you can run in a unique way.
Literature is like an old wine, anyone who drinks it is drunk. That is to make a promise, that is no regrets, that is the mountains and flowing water, that is the afterglow of the rising sun, that is the heart is as calm as water, that is the sun and the moon shine together, that is never to leave, that is to look up at the starry sky......
Liu Dunjie's love for literature stems from his primary school days, he has been particularly fond of Chinese classes since he was in primary school, so that many of the texts he studied in primary school can still be recited and written down in their entirety, such as Liu Wenxue, Little Sisters of the Prairie Heroes, Ouyang Hai, Xiang Xiuli, Iron Man Wang Jinxi and so on. Liu Dunjie has a wide range of hobbies since he was a child, and he likes to listen to the old man tell stories after school, and on Sundays, he walks with his big brothers and sisters to the Yishui City Workers, Peasants and Soldiers Theater to watch movies. After watching the movie, he bought all the remaining money into villain books, and he almost bought all the villain books of that era.
After reading his villain book several times at home, he first brought it to the school and his classmates, then passed it on to the teachers and classmates of the whole school, and finally passed it to the members of the production team. In the early 80s of the 20th century, before Liu Dunjie joined the work, only the preserved villain book was full of three large boxes of paper cigarettes.
He was infected by the heroic and exemplary character stories in the villain books, and he read the villain books over and over again until he read the storylines in each book well, and then tirelessly told them to his grandparents, uncles, relatives, friends and friends around him. Whenever everyone praised him for his good memory and good storytelling, he was always very proud and confident and said: "I can also write these stories, and I want to be a writer when I grow up, I will definitely be able to!" ”
From primary school to teacher training, he was very interested in Chinese classes, especially in composition classes. His essays are often read to students by teachers as model essays in essay review classes, and his essays are often mimeographed by the school and sent to all teachers and students to read. After joining the work, he studied on his own for a junior college and a bachelor's degree, majoring in Chinese language and literature.
Literature is like a fascinating garden, with flowers and grasses, as well as canopy trees. They are all born because of goodness, and their eyes are full of green because of goodness. If you carefully study the immortal literary masterpieces of ancient and modern China and foreign countries, you will find that without exception, they all contain the shadow of the world and the world, human feelings, and sophistication, like budding buds, which firmly attract generations of readers and absorb the spirit they need.
In 1984, Liu Dunjie, who graduated from high school, participated in the private teacher selection examination held by Huangshan Commune, and among the more than 100 applicants, he was fortunate to be selected with the first place in Chinese and the third in the overall score, and was arranged to teach in the village Dakuangzhuang Primary School.
At that time, Liu Dunjie was secretly happy, he thought that after so many years of study, it was finally not in vain, because he could spread the flame of knowledge in the countryside to teach and educate people, and at the same time, he could use the convenience of dealing with pen and ink every day to realize his childhood dream of being a writer.
So, he took advantage of the opportunity of Wei Shuhai, who had been teaching in Dakuangzhuang at that time and later became a famous writer, to visit relatives and friends in Dakuangzhuang, and asked him for advice on the creation of prose and novels, and received personal guidance and great encouragement from Wei Shuhai. In 1985, on the recommendation of Mr. Wei Shuhai, Liu Dunjie participated in the correspondence course of literary creation jointly organized by the North China Literary Creation Center and Xuehua Magazine, and studied prose and prose poetry creation under the famous writers Geng Linmang, Yang Chuanqing, Yu Yaosheng and other three teachers. During this period, he published his debut novel "Back" in the internal school magazine, and was invited to Heilongjiang to participate in the "Xingkaihu Literary PEN Club".
At the end of the 80s of the 20th century, in the correspondence between his classmate Liu Naifa during his admission to the Changsha Artillery Academy, he wrote a letter "Distant Thoughts" in prose poems, which was recommended to be published in the "Southern Xinjiang Poetry Magazine" magazine sponsored by the Guangxi Writers Association.
Since then, Liu Dunjie's path of learning literary creation has been further broadened, from poetry and prose, and gradually trying to write vernacular novels and reportage. Although, like most literature lovers, I experienced the disappointment and helplessness of sending rejection letters from all over the world. But he also received postscripts from literary masters such as Geng Linmang and Yu Yaosheng: "The manuscript has been read, but it still needs to be revised." I hope to work hard", "Dunjie has a solid foundation in writing, and the artistic conception of this poem is well created, and I wish you a bumper harvest in creation". The teacher's letter, although it was just one sentence, also made him feel infinite warmth and encouragement. He began to reflect on the reasons for his creative failure, reorient his creative ideas, and finally published his first novella "Three Bad Guys" in Yalu River magazine in 1987.
On the road of literature, I am often asked how to persevere? In fact, the person who can persist is nothing more than doing these few things well: sit down and start writing; Keep writing, keep writing; Write openly, summarize and write. The reason why the articles of famous artists can have profound skills and artistic conception comes from their rich life experience.
Ten years of civil teacher road, ten years of bitter history. Liu Dunjie's distant literary dream was once shattered by the family's financial embarrassment. In 1990, in order to create the local novel "Han Second Uncle Liu Deng", in the thunder rumble, he was so obsessed that he forgot about a wheat drying on the wheat field, until his wife went out and came back to see that thousands of catties of wheat in the field were washed away by the rain, and he was so angry that he ran home and shouted and scolded.
Fortunately, in the mid-90s of the 20th century, Liu Dunjie was admitted to the private teacher class of Yishui Normal School with excellent results, and changed from a private teacher to a public teacher. The identity has changed, and the spiritual outlook has been renewed. After graduating, his hope of creating was rekindled.
By chance, during the summer vacation, he was assigned by the town school to interview and write about a student who sacrificed himself to save others and drowned. So, he braved the scorching heat, stepped on the mud, went deep into the small courtyard of the farmhouse, went deep into the school class, and conducted in-depth exchanges with village cadres, villagers, parents, teachers, and classmates again and again. After returning home, he rushed out the newsletter entitled "The Song of the Young Eagle" overnight with tears in his eyes, which caused a strong social repercussion after it was published in the local media. Soon, the Youth League Municipal Committee and the Municipal Education Bureau jointly issued a document with a report entitled "The Song of the Young Eagle", calling on the city's primary and secondary school students to learn the spirit of sacrificing themselves to save others, and posthumously awarding the students of the Niu Fu Association the honorary title of "Outstanding Young Pioneers of Linyi City".
At the same time, Liu Dunjie used his spare time to interview and excavate the typical deeds of Ma Zhengli, a teacher of Xiaozhuangzi Primary School in Huangshanpu Town, Yishui County, who was born with cancer, had two major surgeries, and still insisted on standing on the podium to give lectures to students.
In 2001, due to work needs, Liu Dunjie, who was already well-known in the local area, was seconded to the Political Research Office of the Yishui County Education Bureau to assist in the editing of the "Yishui Education Newsletter" and the external propaganda work of Yishui Education. During this period, he wrote more than 30 magnificent reportage works, which were published in authoritative newspapers and periodicals such as "People's Education", "Chinese Civil Affairs", "Beijing Literature", "Southern Weekly" and "Shandong Youth". Because of his outstanding achievements, Liu Dunjie has been awarded the honorary title of "Outstanding Correspondent of the City's Education System" by the Propaganda Department of the Linyi Municipal Party Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Linyi Municipal Education Bureau for five consecutive years, and was hired by the Shandong Education Society as a reporter of the "Shandong Education" reporter station in Yishui. At the same time, he also assisted Mr. Lu Yanjie, the former president of Shandong Education Society, to organize and publish a long reportage album of more than 30 thousand words "Dare to ask where is the road to education"; He wrote 26 episodes of 270,000 words of the vernacular novel "Stammering Yang Laosan", which was serialized in the novel column of "Huasheng Online" and was well received by readers.
Each of us can encounter setbacks, and if we don't reach our full potential, life will be very regrettable. Many people with disabilities suffer from discrimination and face countless difficulties in their lives, and they do not even have the courage to relate to the status quo. But we firmly believe that the most beautiful scenery is behind the hard work, so we never give up all the way, break free from the shackles, get close to the dream, and live the meaning of life.
"Where is Guan He's dream, the dust is dark and the old mink fur. Hu is not extinguished, the temples are autumn, and tears are empty. ”
Liu Dunjie's bad luck came from a sudden illness - he was severely overdrawn due to overwork. In the early morning of the Mid-Autumn Festival in 2012, he was welcoming students to the school when he suddenly suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and collapsed at work. It was only after emergency rescue that his life was saved. After being discharged from the hospital, in order not to delay teaching, he dragged his hemiplegic limbs back to school during the recovery period. The leader persuaded him to recuperate at home many times, but he refused the leader's kindness, and still dragged the sick body to stand on the podium, leaving the serious sequelae of the third-degree disability of the left limb, and since then he has not been able to walk independently, which has become his lifelong regret.
During this period, the leaders of the party committee and government, the leaders of the units, the leaders of the Disabled Persons' Federation, colleagues and students, family members and relatives, and the leaders of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the Writers' Association came. Among them, Wei Ransen, vice chairman of the Linyi City Writers Association and chairman of the Yishui County Writers Association, and Zhang Zaijun, an outstanding member of the Communist Party of China and a well-known expert in language education, encouraged Liu Dunjie when they visited him in the hospital: "Dunjie, don't be discouraged, if you don't get sick if you eat whole grains, you can use the time of recovery and recuperation to pick up a pen with one hand to continue your literary creation." Although there is one less good teacher and a good principal in education, there may be one more good writer in the literary circle. You can do it! ”
The encouragement of his leaders and relatives gave him the confidence to overcome difficulties. He is determined not to bow to fate and to be a strong man in life. Returning to the podium and regaining his literary dream, the flame of hope that was on the verge of extinguishing was rekindled.
During that time, he read Paul Kochakin, Zhu Yanfu, Zhang Haidi, and Shi Tiesheng over and over again...... These touching deeds of being disabled and self-reliant deeply infected, inspired and spurred him. From them, Liu Dunjie absorbed endless nutrition and motivation to move forward, and from them, he found the strength to work hard and the direction to move forward. Paul Kochagin was paralyzed and blind, Zhu Yanfu lost his limbs and lost his sight in his left eye, Zhang Haidi could not stand and was accompanied by a wheelchair for the rest of his life, and Shi Tiesheng was paralyzed in both legs...... Compared with them, although his left limb is crippled, his brain and thinking are not affected, and he is still lucky. He thought that he could work, that he could continue to engage in literary creation with a finger of Zen, and that he could still dream of being a writer.
The mentality has been adjusted, the goal has been found, and Liu Dunjie is determined to follow them as an example and realize the value of his life.
Literature is an ancient and new enterprise, the most individualized and creative spiritual labor. The fact that a person is born with a cripple or acquired cripple does not mean that he does not have the light in his heart to pursue a complete life. Because there is light in their hearts, these special people are constantly striving for self-improvement and have also obtained the key to success.
To resume literary creation, where to start? Considering that teaching and educating people is their vocation, cultivating qualified successors is a good work created by themselves. So, he decided to start by digging up and sorting out the red portfolio.
Yishui is the hometown of red, but also one of the birthplaces of the Yimeng spirit, the red stories here are almost everywhere, with the passage of time, those stories that have not been included in the history of the folk will be gradually annihilated in the long river of history with the departure of the old man.
In the process of teaching, Liu Dunjie found that many students did not know about the heroes and models in their hometowns, and even the revolutionary stories that happened in their own villages.
Since 2016, while dragging his sick and disabled limbs to work, Liu Dunjie has used weekends, holidays and all available spare time to devote himself to the search and writing of the stories of Yishui red characters. Every Friday afternoon, he made an appointment with a taxi in advance, and early on Saturday and Sunday mornings, he took a taxi to the village with his schoolbag and crutches, and conducted targeted and targeted interviews and investigations. I went out early in the morning and came home after dark. Sometimes, in search of a clue, he would go back and forth several times until he figured it out. In this way, Liu Dunjie has successively written more than 30 local heroes and models who are about to be submerged, including the founding general of Yishui, red businessmen, Yimeng Hongsao, revolutionary martyrs, martial arts members, underground party members, etc., compiled into a book with high historical value "Yimeng Answer Sheet - Red Education Reader for Primary and Secondary School Students", which has more than 30 million words, not only enriches and improves the content of the Yishui Party history and historical records, but also fills the gaps in cultural and historical materials, and is selected into the Ministry of Education's "14th Five-Year Plan" Education and Research Planning Key Topics, It was awarded the "First Prize of National Excellent Educational Achievement". Liu Dunjie was also hired as a special consultant by the Yishui County Party History and History Research Center, and was hired as a researcher of literature and history by the Yishui County Political Consultative Conference.
On this basis, Liu Dunjie also went to the village and went to the household, and successively interviewed and compiled the intangible cultural heritage - "The Legend of Donggao" folk tales collection, which includes both the stories and legends of mythological figures, as well as the legends of historical figures, both interesting bizarre stories and humanistic historical thinking. In 2023, it won the 3rd Linyi "Folk Art Excellence Award", and was recognized as a representative project of intangible cultural heritage at the city and county levels by the Linyi Municipal People's Government and the Yishui County People's Government, and Liu Dunjie himself was also recognized as a representative inheritor of intangible cultural heritage.
In 2021, after Liu Dunjie's new book was published, he donated 2,000 yuan from his meager manuscript fee to 10 disabled children; Liu Chengji, a veteran party member in Quanzhuang Town, when his life was dying, Liu Dunjie dragged his sick and disabled body to bring him 1,000 yuan in cash; Liu Xue, the granddaughter of the famous sister-in-law Liu Yugui, was dying in a car accident, and Liu Dunjie donated 1,000 yuan as soon as possible; Wang Hengxiang, a veteran veteran, was wounded twice in the self-defense war against Vietnam, and Liu Dunjie always gave him condolences ranging from 300 yuan ~ 500 yuan every time he went to see him......
In 2023, seven departments, including the Propaganda Department of the Linyi Municipal Party Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Linyi Municipal Civilization Committee, jointly awarded Liu Dunjie the title of "Good Person of Linyi".
Success and failure, laughter and tears in life, are all quenched fire, and only by not retreating can they emit dazzling light. With a dream life, no matter how difficult it is, you can't give up your pursuit, and you can achieve perfection by achieving yourself.
Returning to literature itself, Liu Dunjie can't tell whether it was literature that changed his life, or whether his life made his words. The soul of literature can make people feel calm or magnificent, fortunately, in the years of the wheelchair, he was able to coexist with literature, firmly believing in the belief that "I think I want to write my heart", and literature allows him to live with more dignity.
Liu Dunjie often said: "Literary creation is to create dreams, and there is a taste of happiness in dreams." Perhaps, the strength that supports him to continue on the road of literary creation and move forward firmly comes from his deep deep attachment to the earth and his sincere love for literature.
Liu Dunjie's literary works, like a stove, warm winter; Like the sun, shining warmly; Like the stars, they shine in the dark.
With his simple and concise writing, Liu Dunjie recalls the bits and pieces of the past difficult days, and every word is full of his own blood and tears. His articles are not without sickness, not pretentious, and they are very intimate to read. Reading his prose is like walking in the afterglow of the sunset, and the momentary inadvertent look back has made people cry.
"Guangming Daily" commented on Liu Dunjie in his long reportage: An ordinary seed, born in the poor countryside, as small as dust. Even though it is small and ordinary, this seed has never given up on its dreams and pursuits. Even if there is only one wind, you must strive to fly, and then take deep root in the land of your hometown, take root, blossom and bear fruit. Teacher Liu Dunjie is like this seed of chasing dreams, ordinary and great. He has been rooted in rural education for more than 40 years, and he is full of peach and plum; He was suffering from a deep illness, but he still kept writing, and wrote books and said that he was Paul Kochagin at the foot of Yimeng Mountain.
Liu Jiamin, a researcher at the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and president of China Folk Art Magazine, wrote such a passage in his preface to Liu Dunjie's essay collection "Cutting the Constant Literary Love": "Liu Dunjie, a local writer who is in Gu Township and has the world in mind, is undoubtedly like a mountain jujube tree on a cliff, cold and summer, wind, frost, rain and snow, and has never bent down his stubborn posture. Even if he is destined to never be separated from his homeland in this life, he has always maintained a progressive attitude and a high-spirited state, he has lived himself into a different scenery in this world, a loud mountain song, so that people near and far will never get tired of seeing and listening. ”
The vastness of life, if you don't go through tribulations, fate may make people kneel and beg for mercy. The sparkle of life, without experiencing perseverance, will never burn in front of people. A love, a relationship, a lifetime of love, from youth to gray hair, the heart returns, is the original heart, is love.
"Disabled people like us, the fireworks of life will not be dimmed because of incompleteness!" Talking about decades of literary journey, Liu Dunjie said, "In today's era, as long as anyone has a dream in his heart, is down-to-earth, works hard, masters the method, and perseveres, there is no hurdle that cannot be crossed, and there is nothing that cannot be done." ”
About the Author:
Li Chaoran, female, born in 2004, is a member of the Chinese Prose Literature Association, a member of the Chinese Children's Literature Research Association, a member of the Chinese Novel Society, a member of the Shandong Writers Association, and a student of the advanced research class of Lu Xun Academy of Literature. He has published more than 200 works in newspapers and periodicals at or above the provincial level, such as "People's Liberation Army Daily", "China Youth Daily", "Yanhe" and "Reader", and 18 works have won literary awards at or above the municipal level. He is the author of the 200,000-word children's novel "Urban Gary", published by Beijing Daily Publishing House.
