Days

Author: Ni Ping
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1997-06-01
Features: Ni Ping wrote in Days, "In a blink, many memories have become the past, and yesterday's life has drawn a comma for my past." While providing cover photos for this report, Ni Ping repeatedly emphasized to the reporter, "Most of the old photos are host scenes, too much performance, and the colors are too bright and unnatural. Now, I always want to make my image more lifelike and plain." With her mind gradually calming down, what are Ni Ping's thoughts on Days, a book she wrote in two months and has already gained some influence among readers? For this, the reporter interviewed Ni Ping. □ Having someone else write for her doesn’t fit Ni Ping’s personality. Before accepting the invitation from the Writer’s Publishing House, more than ten publishing houses had offered Ni Ping favorable conditions. Most of them had the same tone: first, they hoped Ni Ping would write about the changes in her personal life; second, some publishing houses suggested that if Ni Ping was too busy, someone could write for her. However, these conditions were ultimately not secured, and the editor of the Writer’s Publishing House, Yi Ling, who finally worked with Ni Ping, said, "If I can eat on my own, why should I let someone feed me? Moreover, having someone else write for her doesn’t fit Ni Ping’s personality. The writing style of Days is basically consistent with how she expresses herself when hosting programs." In Ni Ping’s words, it’s like "holding a pen as if it were a microphone." But after the book was published, some opinions were expressed in the media: "Hosts are so busy—how could the Ni Ping in Days be so familiar with Chilean folk songs and even quote long passages from Babel and Shakespeare?" To this, Ni Ping simply said lightly, "As I wrote in the book, ‘Those who speak well are not as good as those who listen well, and those who write well are not as good as those who read well.’" □ If this book could have been revised more times, it would have been better. When discussing the shortcomings of the book, Ni Ping said, "If it could have been revised more times, that would have been better." She added, "While writing, I felt there were many repetitive emotional descriptions in the book. For example, the mother appears repeatedly—what does that have to do with the readers?" "The satisfying part of this book lies in the fact that I was able to stick to a popular writing style," Ni Ping recalled an article by the late Mr. Ji Xianlin. "Writing about one’s income and expenses as if reporting a household ledger, so they couldn’t afford to go to fancy hotels or big shopping malls. You say they wouldn’t know classical Chinese?" □ Ni Ping receives several pirated copies of her book every day. Recently, she has taken on an additional task: opening letters from readers across the country. So far, Ni Ping has collected over 20 pirated copies of her book. Some readers have asked, "How did your book end up with 300 pages printed as 200?" Some pirated copies have as many as hundreds of typos. Ni Ping said, "I’m very picky about buying books. When I asked readers why they didn’t check more carefully, they said they couldn’t compare prices here—how could they tell the difference between pirated and original books?" A well-meaning friend called Ni Ping and said, "Pirated copies of Days are openly available for wholesale in Baoding." This news shocked Ni Ping. At the suggestion of the publishing house, Ni Ping accompanied the editor of Days to the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Press and Publication recently to report the pirating of the book.