POST DENG CHINESE WRITERS

[Nafis]

POST DENG CHINESE WRITERS










PREPARED BY

NafiSul Quamar Jilani
B.A.(Hons.) In Chinese
JNU, New Delhi-110067

INTRODUCTION

China is the largest publisher of books, magazines and newspapers in
the world. After the Cultural Revolution there was The Third Plenum of
the Eleventh National Party Congress Central Committee in December
1978 which led more and more older writers and some younger writers to
take up their pens again. In this period time, the writers expressed
eagerness to make a contribution to building Chinese society. This
literature, often called "the literature of the wounded," contained
some disquieting views of the party and the political system.
Intensely patriotic, these authors wrote cynically of the political
leadership that gave rise to the extreme chaos and disorder of the
Cultural Revolution. Some of them extended the blame to the entire
generation of leaders and to the political system itself..
At the same time, writers were more free than ever before to write in
unconventional styles and to treat sensitive subject matter. A spirit
of literary experimentation flourished, especially in the second half
of the 1980s. Fiction writers, such as Wang Meng (王蒙), Zhang Xinxin (张辛
欣), and Zong Pu (宗璞), and dramatists, such as Gao Xingjian 高行健,
experimented in modernist language and narrative modes. Another group
of writers--collectively said to constitute the Roots (寻根) movement
sought to reconnect literature and culture to Chinese traditions, from
which a century of modernization and cultural and political iconoclasm
had severed them.
After the Tiananmen massacre of 1989 and with the intensification of
the market reforms, literature and culture turned commercial and
escapist. Though not all writings in China today is commercial.
Literature played a important role to expose social problems, such as
the plight of HIV-AIDS victims in the novel Dreams of Ding Village by
Yan Lianke

Here I am going to talk about some post deng Chinese writers or poets
and their literary contributions.
First of all I would like to name a famous misty poet :-
1.Bei Dao
Bei Dao was born on 2nd August, 1949 in Beijing. And now he is the
most notable representative of the Misty Poets.
As a teenager, Bei Dao was a member of the Red Guards, he was the
enthusiastic follower of Mao Zedong who enforced the dictates of the
Cultural Revolution, often through violent means. He had misgivings
about the Revolution and was "re-educated" as a construction worker
the next eleven years.
Bei Dao with the help of Mang Ke founded the magazine Jintian the
central publication of the Misty Poets which was published from 1978
until 1980. When it was banned the work of the Misty Poets and Bei Dao
in particular were an inspiration to pro-democracy movements in China.
His most notable poem is Huida which was written during the 1976
Tiananmen demonstrations in which he participated. The poem was taken
up as a defiant anthem of the pro-democracy movement and appeared on
posters during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. During the 1989
protests and subsequent shootings, Bei Dao was at a literary
conference in Berlin and was not allowed to return to China, his then
wife, Shao Fei, and their daughter were not allowed to leave China to
join him for another six years. Since 1987, Bei Dao has lived and
taught in England, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, France,
and the United States. His work has been translated into twenty-five
languages, including five poetry volumes in English along with the
collection of stories Waves in 1990 and the essay collections Blue
House in 2000 and Midnight's Gate in 2005. Bei Dao continued his work
in exile.
Literary Works
Poetries
• The August Sleepwalker in 1990.
• Old Snow in 1991.
• Forms of Distance in 1994.
• Landscape Over Zero in 1996.
• Unlock in 2000.
• At the Sky's Edge: Poems in 1991-1996.
• Midnight's Gate in 2005.
Short Stories
• Waves in 1990.

Awards
He has won numerous awards, including Tucholsky Prize from Swedish
PEN, International Poetry Argana Award from the House of Poetry in
Morocco and the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award. He is an
honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Jintian
was resurrected in Stockholm in 1990 as a forum for expatriate Chinese
writers. He has taught and lectured at a number of schools, most
recently the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, as well as the
University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa and Beloit College in Wisconsin,
and is currently Professor of Humanities in the Center for East Asian
Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He has been repeatedly
nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
2. Wang Shuo
Wang shuo was born on 23rd August 1958, in Nanjing. He grew up in an
army compound in Beijing, his family was of Manchu ancestry. When he
was an adolescent, his parents were sent to the countryside as part of
the Cultural Revolution. He and his brother lived alone in Beijing
along with other children of similar background. This period of time
is marked by rebellion, fighting and jail. He joined the navy as a
medical assistant where he spent four years. He later pursued a career
as a writer. Many lines of his works have become the popular slang of
the time. He was said that "Every word Wang says will become the hit
on the street tomorrow”. Now he is the most influential icon in China.
In 2007, Wang Shuo became active once again and went on many talk
shows. His latest novel sold at three dollars per character, a
collective of 3.65 million RMB. This is a record high in Chinese
publishing history. Recently, he turned down an offer from Francis
Ford Coppola's production company.
Wang Shuo is described by some traditional Chinese as a 'spiritual
pollutant' for his hooligan style of writing. His work describes the
culturally confused generation after the Cultural Revolution, marked
by rebellious behavior. During the 90's Wang Shuo was the most popular
and famous writer in China. Despite his hooligan style, his collected
works were never banned and only one film based on his novels was not
allowed to be shown in China until 2004, not because of his political
stance, but rather due to his style. Wang Shuo is a national best
seller in China and has influenced generations of Chinese readers.
With over 20 novels and 10 million copies in print, Wang Shuo's
influence ranges from students to workers, and from drifters to
intellectuals. His works mark the beginning of a new writing style in
China, influencing many new authors. His satire is less of a direct
confrontation with the Communist autocracy than it is a mockery of
their lack of cool and a statement of utter indifference to any
political or nationalistic correctness. In his writing style, he has
focused on the "living language" which is spoken by normal people in
the street. He has also used a lot of the Beijing dialect, which makes
his works very vivid and attractive. His style has been influenced by
another literature master, Wang Shuo does not fight against the
communist party, which leads the military forces. As a result, Wang
Shuo's works were never banned in the People's Republic of China.

Literary Works
Novels
• Wanzhu in 1987.
• Lun hui in 1988.
• Wanr de jiushi xintiao in 1989.
Playing For Thrills (English Title)
• Qingchun wu hui in 1991.
No Regrets About Youth (English title)
• Xiao shi de nü ren in 1993.
The Vanished Woman (English title)
• Yong shi wo ai in 1994.
Gone Forever with My Love (English title)
• Qianwan bie ba wo dang ren in 1989.
Please don't call me human (English title)
• Yi sheng tan xi in2000.
A Sigh (English title)
• He women de nüer tanhua. In 2008.
"A conversation with our daughter"


Films
-As director
• Father in 2000.
Screenplays
• The Troubleshooters in 1988.
• No Regrets About Youth in 1991.
• In the Heat of the Sun - based on the novel Wild Beast in 1994.
• Father - based on the novel Wo shi ni baba in 2000.
• Love the Hard Way- based on the novel Yi Ban Shi Huo Yan, Yi Ban Shi
Hai Shui in 2001.
• I Love You in 2002.
• Little Red Flowers - based on novel "Could be Beautiful" in 2006.
• Dreams May Come in 2006.





3. Gao Xingjian
Gao was born in Ganzhou, Jiangxi. China on 4th January 1940. Gao's
father was a clerk in the Bank of China, and his mother was a member
of the Young Men's Christian Association. His mother was once a play
actress of Anti-Japanese Theatre during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
Under his mother's influence, Gao enjoyed painting, writing and
theatre very much when he was a little boy. During his middle school
years, he read lots of literature translated from the West, and he
studied sketching, ink and wash painting, oil painting and clay
sculpture.
1950, his family moved to Nanjing, the capital city of Jiangsu
Province. In 1952 he entered in high school. In 1957 Gao graduated,
and joined Beijing Foreign Studies University instead of the Central
Academy of Fine Arts, although he was thought to be talented in art.In
1962 Gao graduated from the Department of French, and then in the
Chinese International Bookstore he became a professional translator.
During the 1970s, because of the Down to the Countryside Movement, he
went to and stayed in the countryside and did farm labour in Anhui
Province. He taught as a Chinese teacher in Gangkou Middle School. In
1977 Gao worked for the Committee of Foreign Relationship, Chinese
Association of Writers. In May 1979, he visited Paris with Chinese
writers including Ba Jin, and served as a French-Chinese translator in
the group. In 1980, Gao became a screenwriter and playwright for
Beijing People’s Art Theatre.
In 1986 Gao was misdiagnosed with lung cancer, and he began a 10-month
trek along the Yangtze, which resulted in his novel Soul Mountain.
By 1987, Gao had shifted to Bagnolet, a city adjacent to Paris,
France. The political Fugitives (1989), which makes reference to the
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, resulted in all his works being
banned from performance in China.
Literary Works
Dramas and performances
• Signal Alarm in 1982.
o 1982, in Beijing People's Art Theatre
o 1992, in Taiwan
• Bus Stop in 1983.
o 1983, in Beijing People's Art Theatre
o 1984, in Yugoslavia
o 1986, in Hongkong
o 1988, in Britain
o 1992, in Austria
o 1999, in Japan
• Wild Men, "Savages" in 1985.
o 1985, in Beijing People's Art Theatre
o 1988, in Hamburg, Germany
o 1990, in Hongkong
• The Other Shore In 1986.
o 1986, published in magazine Oct, Beijing
o 1990, in Taiwan
o 1994, translated into Swedish by Göran Malmqvist
o 1995, in The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts
o 1997, translated into English by Jo Riley as The Other Side
o 1999, translated into English by Gilbert C. F. Fong
• Shelter the Rain
o 1981, in Sweden
• Dark City
o 1988, in Hongkong
• Transition of Sheng-Sheng-Man
o 1989, in United States
• Escape
o 1990, published in magazine Today (《今天》)
o 1990, in Sweden
o 1992, in Germany, Poland
o 1994, in France
o 1997, in Japan, Africa
• Death Sector / Between Life and Death
o 1991, published in magazine Today
o 1992, in France
o 1994, in Sydney, Italy
o 1996, in Poland
o 1996, in US
• A Tale of Shan Hai Jing
o 1992, published by Hongkong Tian & Di Book Press
• Dialogue & Rhetorical / Dialogue and Rebuttal
o 1992, published in magazine Today
o 1992, in Vienna
o 1995, 1999, in Paris
• Weekends Quartet / Weekend Quartet
o 1999, published by Hongkong New Century Press
• Nighthawk / Nocturnal Wanderer
o 1999, in France
• Snow in August
o 2000, published by Taiwan Lianjing Press
o 19 Dec 2002, in Taipei
• One Man's Bible in 1998.

Awards
Noble Prize For Literature in 2000.









THANK YOU