In a recent interview with CSST, Ding Fan, a professor and dean of the Research Center for Chinese New Literature at Nanjing University, shared his views on the experiences and achievements of China’s century-old rural literature and literary creation in the current context of rural revitalization.

CSST: What are the major achievements of Chinese rural literature over the century from the perspective of literary theory research?

Ding: The 1920s and 1980s were two prominent periods in the golden age of China’s rural literature over the century. The most prominent writer of the 1920s was Lu Xun (1881–1936). Under his influence, writers of that time thoroughly portrayed the tragedy of a falling era with critical realism. Literature in the 1980s expected the arrival of a new era. At the turn of the century, rural China no longer resembled that which Fei Xiaotong [a pioneer Chinese anthropologist and sociologist; 1910–2005] discussed. Since the social context has changed, how to write novels about rural China [under the current context] has become “Hamlet’s question.”

CSST: Since the Opium War broke out in 1840, a mark that China entered its period of modern history, Chinese civilization has been swept by revolutions and reforms. The country has risen from war to peace, from being oppressed to independence, from poverty to prosperity brought by reform and opening up. Does the history of Chinese rural literature reflect the great changes over the past century?

Ding: In every period of great social and cultural change, Chinese rural novels have exhibited different ideological and artistic characteristics. From the perspective of the history of literature, rural literature from the 1920s emphasized enlightenment, with anti-feudalism as its main theme. The left-wing rural novels in the 1930s matured during the transition from enlightenment to proletarian literature. Rural literature in the 1940s developed amidst the background of the emerging proletarian literature. After 1949, rural literature comprised five historical periods. It is notable that current rural literature is in a period of great changes, and the direction of the “rural literature in the new era” concerns the revitalization of Chinese rural literature.

CSST: Since the 1990s, urbanization in China has proceeded rapidly. Some believe that, influenced by rural decline, Chinese rural literature will also decline. How do you view the influence of modern civilization on Chinese rural literature?

Ding: Urbanization has pushed rural China into a new historical context. Writers are running out of inspiration concerning how to express rural society within this new context. The confusion of values makes it difficult for writers to identify themselves. However, a period of such great change can also produce great works. The creation of a masterpiece of rural literature depends on whether the writer has a sufficiently broad vision to observe the time and situation, and whether he or she has considered the topic thoroughly.

CSST: In recent years, the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy has brought great changes to rural China. How can rural literature in the new era carry on the experiences of the older generation of writers?

Ding: The Chinese writer Zhou Libo (1908–1979) has written two novels: The Hurricane (1948) which won a Stalin Prize for Literature in 1951, and Great Changes in a Mountain Village which did not win the award, but is believed to have higher status in the history of literature than The Hurricane. The reason lies in the book’s artistic charm of the literary depiction of human nature, and more importantly, in the author’s insight into history that surpassed common authors who merely went with the tide at the time. The “epic nature” of literature keeps the work alive and makes it a witness of an era. Moreover, such work should provide a fresh aesthetic significance for future readers.

There are no consistent values to dominating all works of literature. Writers can write good works only by constructing their own stories, characters, and scenery from the perspective of human nature. In the face of great changes in rural China, we cannot be both thinkers and philosophers, but at least we should learn to be a “thinking reed.”