Here is the translation of the given content: "2004 Top 100 Chinese Essays I Love"

Author: Wang Zongren / Hong Hai (Editor-in-Chief)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-06-01
Features: Selected by experts from the Chinese Association of Prose, 100 outstanding prose pieces published in 2004 are specially recommended to all prose enthusiasts. Renowned writers such as Liang Xiaosheng, Han Shaogong, Tie Ning, Bi Shumin, Xiao Fengxiu, and Han Meilin convey how prose should be through concise, refined, and naturally beautiful writing. The prose selected in this book will always unexpectedly touch the most vivid part of your heart at some moment. When reading a literary history, a prose history, or any classic anthology, it is essential to consider the anthology and the limitations of its compiler—no one can have a panoramic view or be all-seeing and all-hearing. Therefore, I usually regard the history of criticism, literary history, and anthologies as the critique of an individual, their personal ranking, their personal history, and naturally, their personal contemporary prose history. Last year, in the preface to My Top 100 Favorite Chinese Prose of 2003, titled Prose Should Be Like This, I stated that under the premise of aestheticism, prose essentially consists of three components: First, how much emotional content it provides; second, how much cultural contemplation it offers; third, how much knowledge it imparts. Today, I concretize these three understandings, categorizing prose creation into three types: life-accumulation-based, artistic-sensation-based, and literary-thought-based. On this platform, the broader the subject matter of prose creation, the better. Regardless of the type, as long as it is well-written, it can still be considered a good piece of prose. Only good prose has the potential to be included in the history of Chinese prose. Based on this idea, this year’s selected My Top 100 Favorite Chinese Prose of 2004 is broadly categorized into ten parts such as “The Beauty of Fine Prose” and “The Passion for the Common People.” To encourage exploration of the form of prose, we have intentionally arranged an “Experimental Workshop,” hoping readers will share their insights on it.