What is an anthology of essays

Author: Xu Baorong
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-09-01
Features: He uses his brush with ease, allowing him to unleash his strengths in moments of inspiration and leave behind profound words. His works possess a unique style of "profound conception and distinctive writing" (Junzi, "Praise for a Thousand or Two Thousand Words of Prose"). The renowned prose theorist Lin Fei believes that He Wei's prose is "narrative concise and clear, emotions fresh and enduring," "shining with the fire of thought," and his recent prose has "become more profound and vast, revealing a new realm of artistic achievement." He Wei is not a prolific writer, but he is a fruitful one. He has a wide readership, and his works have been republished repeatedly. Many of his masterpieces have been selected for various literary anthologies and textbooks, while some passages have even been adapted into films, radio dramas, and radio novels. Countless readers have gained rich artistic enjoyment from his prose, and many young people have benefited from the literary nourishment it provides. He Wei's prose has been translated into English, French, Japanese, and Esperanto, and his works are equally well-received by foreign readers, especially Japanese readers. Through his relentless pursuit of art, He Wei has earned the admiration of readers and established his place in the history of contemporary Chinese prose.
He Wei, originally named He Zhenye, was born on April 19, 1922, in Dinghai County, Zhejiang Province. "He Wei" is the pen name he began using in 1938. He has also used other pen names such as Xiaomang, Xiahou Chen, Xianatite, Lin Yan, Lin Shu, Chengli, Wang Yi, Canshang, and Moha. He Wei was born into a feudal old family, and his childhood and youth coincided with a period of social turmoil and national crisis in China. The instability of society led to the frequent relocation of his family. At the age of four, he moved with his family from Zhejiang to Shanghai. Shortly after, he accompanied his father to Sichuan, spending a period in Yichang. He Wei suffered from poor health from a young age and had to take a six-month leave from school at the age of thirteen. While lying in bed, he read classic Chinese literature such as Water Margin, Journey to the West, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms, as well as a large amount of new literature since the May Fourth Movement. In the early winter of that year, due to a change in his father's job, he moved with his family to Wuhan. In Wuhan, He Wei completed his primary education in less than a year. During this short time, he was fortunate enough to meet a literary mentor, Li Zhiyuan. Under his influence, He Wei transitioned from passively reading literary works to actively engaging in literary creation. To honor his mentor's kindness, the first work He Wei published, "Lu," was dedicated to Li Zhiyuan.
Excerpt:
The power industry, papermaking industry, and arts and crafts industry have been expanded, and a series of modern industries of considerable scale have emerged, such as the recently established antibiotic and aromatic industries. These industries, even if included in the ranks of the world's emerging industries, would be entirely appropriate. Not long ago, I visited the vast Fuzhou No. 2 Decorticate Porcelain Factory. This arts and crafts factory had only one worker on the day of liberation, but now it has nine hundred and seventy employees. In the year of the Great Leap Forward, the factory's output value increased by eighty times compared to the several years after liberation, which was already extremely high! Even the traditional lacquerware industry has now transitioned to semi-mechanized production. Urban construction has long been on the agenda. First, the construction of a twenty-kilometer-long Min River flood control embankment and a series of dredging projects for sewage channels have been completed, ensuring that residents are no longer threatened by floods. A sixty-six-kilometer-long water supply pipeline provides the city with clean drinking water. By 1953, plague patients had already disappeared from the city. Right on the former dirty "Golden Bell Mountain" graveyard of old, a workers' cultural palace covering an area of sixteen thousand square meters has now emerged. Narrow and simple wooden houses are gradually disappearing, while beautiful and spacious multi-story steel-reinforced concrete buildings are steadily increasing. In the Fuzhou city area, an eight-story overseas Chinese building will be constructed, along with exquisite residential buildings in the Overseas Chinese Village near Drem Mountain, all designed to welcome overseas Chinese to participate in the great socialist construction of their homeland. Under the leadership of the Party, the entire city is creating, with one blueprint following another and one victory following another. Those living in the city can feel the pulse of its rapid progress.
I cannot forget my first glimpse of Fuzhou when I first arrived at the station. The temporary wooden shed station building, emitting the fresh scent of timber, indicated that even before the main station building was completed, trains running directly from Shanghai to Fuzhou had impatiently started regular service at the end of last year. Just think about the moment when, before liberation, trains long dreamed of and yearned for for nearly half a century finally arrived at the gates of Fuzhou—how many people were overjoyed! Every evening during festivals, near my residence, in West Lake Park, from the ornate main gate to the grand Fujian Ten-Year Socialist Construction Exhibition Hall, a series of new ivory-colored buildings, the branches are adorned with strings of colorful lights. The lights reflect in the water, creating a charming scene. In the sky, a cloudless night rises with bursts of fireworks, the sparks shining brightly, illuminating the distant silhouettes of the surrounding mountains and the cheerful crowds by the lakeside. The scene is a dazzling display of colors, truly a garden in full spring!