Chapter 51 Section 1 Social and Literary Responsibilities under the Reform and Opening Policy

After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the party determined the political line of reform and opening up, and a wave of economic and political reforms began across the country.Especially after the Twelfth National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 1982, the rural areas successively implemented the joint production payment and contract responsibility system, and the urban economic reform was further accelerated. The reform has truly become the first major event on the land of China.As a result, literary creation, which has flourished day by day relying on the strong social trend of thought, also has a corresponding new historical mission.Chinese writers who grew up under the tradition of the "May 4th Movement" originally regarded "regulating the family to govern the country and the world" as the right way. A series of modernization measures have enabled intellectuals to see the hope of the country and the nation again, and at the same time aroused their strong sense of social responsibility. In their view, it is duty-bound to use literature to promote social, economic, and political reforms .As far as social thoughts are concerned, "reform literature" is the product of the Chinese people who have shattered their spiritual dreams. This nation, which has just awakened from the ecstasy, needs to know whether it can be saved and whether it can be revived.Politicians have given a clear prophetic answer: reform is hope!At the same time, people need to reconstruct their spiritual beliefs, rebuild their spiritual homes, and rebuild their national self-confidence. All these seem to be the responsibility of literary work.

Judging from the experience of literary history, "reform literature" seems to have repeated the practice of the state regime in the 1950s to use literary creation to verify a policy that has not yet fully developed its outcome in social practice. The reform itself is a "feeling" For the exploratory work of "Stones Crossing the River", writers cannot predict its success and victory transcendentally.But the difference is that the writers in the 1950s were only the mouthpieces of national policies to promote policies, while the "reform literature" in the 1980s showed the writers' strong participation in political life.They not only unswervingly publicize the necessity and inevitability of the reform policy, but also pay more attention to the criticism of the factors that are not conducive to reform in the real society, including the criticism of the power struggle and social corruption from the ruling party.

Therefore, after the literature came out of the "scars", almost at the same time as "reflection literature", the trend of thought called "reform literature" sprang up, and a large number of works describing social reform emerged in 1983-1984, forming a small creation. peak.From the point of view of literary concept and literary spirit, the scope of "reform literature" is quite broad: all literary works that reflect the reform process in various fields during this period and the resulting social changes, changes in people's psychology and destiny are all in the literature. In this column, readers can see the drastic changes in the spiritual outlook of all social strata in China after the reform and opening up, and appreciate the pain and joy in the alternation of its old and new history. "Reform literature" is the same as the previous literary trends such as "scars" and "reflection", as a direct manifestation of intellectuals' realistic concerns and political enthusiasm, but because it still continues the contemporary literature in terms of the occurrence and evolution of literature. A tradition does not follow the laws of literature itself, but relies on the strong "common name" of the times. Therefore, works often unconsciously act as the spokesperson of the society or the general mood of the people, and it often puts forward rather sharp political, Ethical or realistic themes cause waves of "sensational" effects.This has not only become the reward and comfort for writers to actively pay attention to and get close to real problems, but sometimes it will inevitably become the reason and excuse for people to criticize.

"Reform Literature" has gone through a process of self-improvement.In the summer of 1979, when Jiang Zilong's short story "The Story of Director Qiao's Appointment" came to the fore, "reform literature" began its infancy. Most of the works in this period revealed the old economic system, the influence of the ultra-left political line and reformers' ideas. The contradictions and conflicts in the cause of reform, and predicted a myth that "as long as reform is carried out, production can be promoted". "Joe's Inauguration as Factory Manager" is such a typical "utopian" work.It narrates that after ten years of turmoil in a certain heavy machinery factory, production stopped, people were confused, and it became a mess. Qiao Guangpu was ordered to be in danger. The production order and the reward and punishment system stimulated the enthusiasm of the employees and the spirit of the protagonist, quickly changed the state of laxity in the whole factory, and reversed the passive production situation.This is the earliest literary work that consciously "writes about the four modernizations, about the resistance of the four modernizations, and about the struggle to overcome resistance". It writes about the factory but breaks through the previous "workshop literature" model, and zooms in from the workshop and the factory. To the society, it reveals the difficulties, struggles and changes and turning points that have occurred in reform; it also focuses on shaping the heroic image of the reformer Qiao Guangpu, writing about his perseverance, perplexity and distress, the ups and downs of his emotional world and his courage in dealing with love. The attitude, the distinctive personality, and the sharp edges and corners just corresponded to the social psychology of people in the era of change who yearn for "heroes" who act resolutely, and immediately aroused warm praise from readers and critics.Although Jiang Zilong later wrote novels reflecting the life of urban youths and peasants in the suburbs of Tianjin in the wave of reform, such as "Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Blue Purple" and "Yanzhao Elegy" etc., his reputation did not reach the level of "The Story of Director Qiao's Appointment" , "Director Qiao" became synonymous with reformers, and in subsequent reform novels, there appeared a series of characters of the "pioneer family" who were related to "Director Qiao", such as "The Reformer" (Zhang Qi ), "Trekker" (Jiao Zuyao), (Shui Yunxian), "Thirty Million" (Ke Yunlu), etc.

Corresponding to positively portraying the heroes of the times and inspiring the confidence of the people, other writers sharply expose and criticize various social ills caused by historical conventions and practical problems in their works, calling for ideal heroes and a new social order.Playwright Sha Yexin (cooperating with Li Shoucheng and Yao Mingde)'s six-stage arch play "If I'm Real" came out almost at the same time as "The Story of Director Qiao's Appointment", but it just echoed the social trend of thought and the public from another aspect of this expectation.The script is based on a fraud case in real life, which is based on a fictitious transformation. It tells the story of an educated youth named Li Xiaozhang who jumped into the queue and pretended to be a high-ranking official. The story of formalities and finally being seen through.Its publication quickly aroused national repercussions and led to a heated debate.Objectively speaking, what happened to the play "If I'm Real" and its author is not surprising, because at the very beginning of the creation, the author did not care about the literary and aesthetic effects of the work, but used literature as a tool, through The exposure of real events amplifies the social influence of real events to directly produce the effect of intervening in real politics.

Different from the intentions of the above-mentioned writers, Gao Xiaosheng has been focusing on the observation, thinking and description of the changes and lags in the material and spiritual life of ordinary farmers.From "Li Shun's Building a House" to "The Head of the Funnel Household", and then to "Chen Huansheng Going to the City", "Chen Huansheng Changed Jobs", "Chen Huansheng Contracted Production", "Chen Huansheng Going Abroad", the author aims to analyze the material and social life of ordinary farmers in various historical periods in the countryside. Mental changes are described in tracking style.In his works, there are neither all-powerful heroes who are universally echoed, nor villains who are treacherous, cunning and arrogant. What he pays attention to is always the fate of the most extensive and common rural people. He is happy for the improvement of their living conditions, and also It carefully portrays and warmly ridicules the traditional backward spiritual factors in them.Compared with Jiang Zilong and other writers' early reform literature works, Gao Xiaosheng's creations are more in the style of ordinary people, especially peasants. He shows us the slower, more severe and more extensive culture behind the vigor of the reform tide. Connotation.

By the end of 1981, Zhang Jie's novel "Heavy Wings" came out, and reform literature entered the second stage.The creation at this stage reveals the difficulties and hardships of the reform process, and reflects the overall changes in the social structure brought about by the reform of the political and economic system, especially the changes in ideas, morals and ethical concepts.The most influential novels are "Homeland" (Su Shuyang), "No. 5 Huayuan Street" (Li Guowen), "Man's Style" (Zhang Xianliang), (Ke Yunlu) and the novella "Old People's Warehouse" (Jianjian), "Descendants of Luban" (Wang Runzi), "Autumn's Wrath" (Zhang Wei), "The Twelfth Moon.First Moon" (Jia Pingwa) and so on.Lu Yao's novella focuses on the changing rural lifestyle, ideas, and changes in ethics and morals, and explores and thinks deeply from the perspective of rural educated youth Gao Jialin.Gao Jialin's longing for city life, pursuit of career and personal value, and choice of love can all be seen from the impact of commodity economy concept and modern consciousness concept on traditional rural cultural life, his pain, confusion and choice, Inspiration for people in the same situation.

After 1985, writers were no longer satisfied with just expressing reform enthusiasm or iron-fisted actions of some people, and the spirit of reform became more of the conscious demands of ordinary workers and existed in their daily life. These works In the development of themes, it tends to be more life-oriented and multi-perspective. From the perspective of history and culture, it writes about reforms and changes in people's attitudes, customs and habits. Compared with the previous two periods, there are less idealistic descriptions of reforms. Instead of color, it is intertwined with various contradictions and struggles, which has a more intense tragedy.In fact, from the perspective of literature development as a whole, "reform literature" can no longer cover many new phenomena, or in other words, sensitivity to and expression of social reform has been integrated into writers' general life concepts and artistic imagination, as a literary trend of thought and The creative phenomenon is over.