Chapter 163 Review and Prospect——Commemorating the 20th Anniversary of the Founding of "Children's Literature"

"Children's Literature" was founded in October 1963, and it has been twenty years now.Except for being forced to suspend publication during the ten years of the "Cultural Revolution", it has been doing the work of providing children with good extracurricular reading materials, enriching their after-school life, and promoting their healthy growth.On this point, just after I read "Selected Works of Children's Literature in Twenty Years", I feel that "Children's Literature" has indeed published many excellent works in the ten years since it was published, and its achievements are not in the same period. under the adult literary publications!Of course, I have seen many of them before, and I know how much effort the comrades in the editorial department of "Children's Literature" have put into these works.

The editors of "Children's Literature" have a more comforting and proud side, that is, they have always regarded the work of uniting and strengthening the creative team of children's literature as their primary task.In the second year after the publication, the editorial department specially invited young authors from all over the country to Beijing and held study sessions. After the resumption of publication in 1978, a second study session with more than 50 young authors was held.Since then, children's literature writer receptions, symposiums, and commemorative meetings have been held almost every year.In my memory, these meetings were held very warmly and cordially, which left a deep impression on me. The conversations of many old writers often sounded in my ears, and the faces of many new writers often appeared before my eyes.I know that the editors of "Children's Literature" deeply understand the truth that in order to prosper a flower garden, you must first train gardeners, and in order to make good food, you must first train cooks.Now the names of these young writers shine not only like bright spring stars on "Children's Literature" and its sibling publications, but also on many adult literary publications!I am delighted and encouraged by the editors of "Children's Literature" for their great efforts and fruitful results in discovering, encouraging and cultivating new authors, and offer my deepest respect!

Looking forward, under the current good situation, I know that "Children's Literature" will grow and develop healthily with our young socialist motherland, and it will be published until communism.It also needs to provide good spiritual food for hundreds of millions of Chinese teenagers, and cultivate hundreds of millions of famous chefs who cook this good spiritual food. I once wrote an inscription for "Children's Literature": I hope that when writers provide spiritual food for Chinese teenagers, they will add more "patriotic" MSG. In fact, there is no need to talk about each issue of "Children's Literature", just look at the works in "Selected Works of Children's Literature Over the Twenty Years". Whether it is novels, fairy tales, prose, or poetry, which one does not promote patriotism?These works have extremely broad and rich content.They describe the children's love for their families, teachers and classmates, for the magnificent mountains and rivers of the motherland, for the long-standing culture of the motherland, for famous figures in history, for the achievements of the motherland's construction, and for compatriots at home and abroad. Love... In short, as long as it is written from a heart that loves children and the motherland, whether it is joy, anger, sorrow, or joy, it is patriotic.In the works that promote patriotism, there will be "anger" and "sorrow". Where there is love, there will be hatred. Don't things that are not good for the motherland also arouse our sorrow and hatred?

May our children's literature writers from generation to generation, always write under the banner of patriotism, with clear love and hatred. (This article was originally published in the 11th issue of "Literary News" in 1983.)