Chapter 34 Epic Construction in National Narratives

He Jianming, who has written excellent reportage works such as ,,, "The Republic and Ministers", likes and is very familiar with the grand narrative of non-fiction works.The author is good at absorbing passages with sufficient historical significance from major and important themes related to the nation-state, and constructing a national narrative mode with He Jianming's characteristics with unique poetic writing.Such a construction, on the one hand, stems from the author's political consciousness as a reportage writer, and on the other hand, it also shows the author's deep grasp of the style of reportage.The description of major and important subjects is the basic stylistic function of reportage.Because of this, good reportage is both a report of the times and a document of history.Works with epic character in national narratives have such value.He Jianming's latest "My Paradise" (Phoenix Media Group Jiangsu Education Publishing House, May 2009 edition) is precisely in the national narrative, completing the construction of a unique epic.

The 500,000-word "My Paradise" is a long reportage that involves the country's development process, has historical thickness and weight, and also has the agility and beauty of poetry.The work reports the "mythical" changes in "Paradise" Suzhou in the past 30 years of reform and opening up.As far as the type of subject matter is concerned, it belongs to the "30-year writing" of China's reform and opening up.Since 2008, a large number of works of this kind of writing have been published.He Jianming himself has published novels and novels, and other influential works include "National Fortune-Southern Chronicle" by Lu Lei and Zhao Hong, and "Kapok Opening" by Li Chunlei. Compared with these earlier published works, "My Paradise" shows many differences.It is not only different from, but also different from "Kapok Kai" which deeply narrates the relationship between a person and a period of history, and is different from "National Games". -The political narrative of Southern Chronicle is also different. The most fundamental peculiarity of "My Paradise" lies in the unique value of the writing object. "Heaven" means an ideal place for human beings. "There is heaven above, and Suzhou and Hangzhou below." This shows the significance of Suzhou.In my opinion, the original purpose of "heaven" can be characterized as the harmonious co-existence of various ideal elements of human life, specifically, the harmonious co-construction of an economic and cultural ecology suitable for human habitation.It is here that Suzhou can enjoy the reputation of "paradise" on earth.However, in He Jianming's works, Suzhou as a "paradise" is not a small bridge and flowing water in the traditional sense, poetic and picturesque, but a place that "let the world read the traces of an ancient nation's sticking to its homeland and longing for access", "let mankind understand The beauty of reverie and the beauty of wisdom created by longing and pursuit, and the beauty of reality creating brilliance” is a modern oriental water city and a paradise on earth.Here, "the exquisiteness of classical gardens and the fairyland of small bridges and flowing water reflect the profoundness and simplicity of history and modernity", "the gorgeous double-sided embroidery and dancing sandalwood fans are accompanied by melodious and delicate Pingtan, singing harmony and far-reaching" .With a realistic and poetic style, He Jianming narrates the beautiful scene of polysemy and harmony in Suzhou, the "paradise" in the new era and new century.It can be said that "Paradise" Suzhou is an important image and symbol of the construction of a harmonious society with Chinese characteristics.Today, when we are learning to implement the scientific outlook on development, the storytelling and conception of "My Paradise" have shown particularly important significance.

The 30 years of reform and opening up are 30 years centered on economic construction, and Suzhou has developed and interpreted the theme of this era in its own way.He Jianming narrated the development history of Suzhou's 30-year reform and opening up, and designed the framework of the epic narrative from his observation and grasp of Suzhou. The main part of "My Paradise" should be a trilogy of the history of "Paradise on Earth", that is, the chapters "Sudden Rise", "Paradise Revolution" and "Five Tigers Struggle for Heroes". The story of "Suddenly Rise" is the history of the rise of "Southern Jiangsu Model" township enterprises, which is an important foundation for the construction of "New Paradise" Suzhou.The author does not talk about the history of Suzhou people's entrepreneurship in this section, but connects it with Deng Xiaoping, the chief designer of China's reform and opening up, who put forward the theoretical concept of "Xiaokang". "'Su' is the 'well-off' in Deng Xiaoping's dream." This association not only reproduces historical facts, but also highlights the special historical contributions of contemporary Suzhou people. "Park Revolution" focuses on the development and construction of Suzhou West District (National High-tech Development Zone) and East Garden (Sino-Singapore Cooperation Industrial Park).The construction of the East Park in the West District has contributed to the transformation of Suzhou's economic development model and the improvement of quality, providing an inexhaustible impetus for the sustainable development of Suzhou.Kunshan, Zhangjiagang, Changshu, Wujiang, and Taicang under the jurisdiction of Suzhou rank among the top 100 counties and cities in the country as a whole, which strongly supports the strength and growth of Suzhou's economy and adds vitality to the development of "New Paradise" Suzhou. "Five Tigers Fighting for Heroes" is a close-up of Suzhou's "Five Sons Enrolling".Reportage is a non-fictional style, and the author's choice of vision determines the value of the work to a certain extent.He Jianming chose the 30-year development history of "Paradise" Suzhou as the report object. This "one-time choice" (the choice of writing object) laid the foundation for the overall value generation of "My Paradise", which can be seen from the description of the above "trilogy" , the "secondary choice" (choice of writing focus) made by the author from the rich existence of the object reflects specifically the image of Suzhou that is full of personality and characteristics that is different from others, making Suzhou a real Suzhou.It is obvious that He Jianming focuses on Suzhou's economy, but "My Paradise" is not an economic history.The author combines Suzhou's economy with Suzhou's culture in his writing, which is not only reflected in "'Su' is China painted with gold", "Suzhou People's Philosophy" in the fourth part of the history of "Paradise on Earth", etc. In the chapters and programs, it also runs through the entire speech of the work.The author extracts the individuality of Suzhou culture from "Gan Jiang Jian", silk, water city, etc., "casting swords and silk weaving, one hard and one soft, has achieved the hegemony of Wu State, and also bred the essence of culture and folk customs in this area. Didn’t today’s Suzhou people create a new historical glory and a great era by relying on the toughness of the officers and the harmony of the success?” “The hardness of steel and the flexibility of water are the character of Suzhou people, and it is the whole of Suzhou yesterday and today. The simplest and most vivid form of expression overflowing from connotation. These two have written the history of Suzhou." Although the author's cognition of Suzhou culture here is not lacking in personal feelings and imagination of writers, the spirit of Suzhou culture is roughly reflected in this in the expression.The "Suzhou character" bred by Suzhou culture is deeply branded in the hearts and souls of Suzhou entrepreneurs, and can be touched and felt in He Jianming's "My Paradise".In addition to the integration of economic and cultural writing, "My Paradise" pays attention to the behavior and spirit of the main characters who rewrite economic activities.The theme of Jingfa not only sees the economy, but also people.The characters written in the works include leaders of the municipal party committee, leaders of counties and cities, and more economically capable people.In describing them, the author pays attention to highlighting their respective achievements and personalities, so many of them are vivid and unforgettable. "As soon as the policy is implemented, all the small shirts will be wet", "Community and brigade industries are not owned by capital, and only those who control poverty and become rich can be social." The image of Gao Dezheng comes alive on the paper, while Qin Zhenhua, a representative figure who focuses on the spirit of Zhangjiagang in the "Northeast Han Dynasty" in the south of the Yangtze River, clearly presents the uniqueness of this character.It should be said that currently only He Jianming's "My Paradise" is the major work describing Suzhou's 30-year reform and opening-up development history, but there are still many texts related to Suzhou.Based on this, the author pays attention to excavating as many historical details as possible through solid interviews and adding new information about the subject, so as to effectively enhance readers' interest in reading the work.For example, regarding the China-Singapore cooperation in the construction of the Suzhou Industrial Park, the author described in detail the whole process of the event’s twists and turns. I am most interested in the work’s interludes of accidental reasons and the details of the coordination and handling of conflicts in the cooperation. .The three points mentioned above, such as the integration of economy and culture, boil down to one point, that is, the author pays attention to the "three choices" in the process of reportage writing, so that "My Paradise" can be aggressive in the non-fiction writing system. The writing style of the epic.

Compared with He Jianming's other national narrative works, "My Paradise" is extremely individual.The author uses "my" as an attributive term before "Heaven" in New Suzhou, which shows the orientation and intensity of his emotion.This is completely understandable in our view, because Suzhou is the author's "my hometown, my relatives, my life, and my poems".Generally speaking, reportage is a kind of public writing, and the author's personality is more reflected in the personal style of writing, rather than deliberately implanted in the content.But "My Paradise" has more personal content, such as "'Su' is the life inheritance between a father and son" in the third chapter of the prologue.This kind of content configuration does not appear abrupt and superfluous in the overall framework of the national narrative. On the contrary, this kind of soft outline not only highlights the unique charm of "Paradise" Suzhou, but also makes the work produce special and touching emotions. Power, and this is what epic writing should have.Reading "My Paradise", the scene of He Jianming letting his sick father lean on his back is like the "back view" in Zhu Ziqing's book, as a "meaningful" life form, lingering.

(Author Ding Xiaoyuan, vice president of Changshu Institute of Technology, professor, Ph.D., doctoral supervisor of the Faculty of Arts of Soochow University, deputy director of the Documentary Literature Committee of the Chinese Contemporary Literature Research Association, vice president of the Jiangsu Provincial Contemporary Literature Research Association)