Selected Novels of Award Winners from the 7th New Concept Composition Competition

Author: Tian He Feng Wei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-06-01
Features: The New Concept Composition Competition, with the purpose of "Facing the New Century and Cultivating New Talents," was pioneered by the magazine Menghua in the summer of 1998. It is jointly organized by ten renowned universities: Peking University, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Beijing Normal University, East China Normal University, Nanjing University, Nankai University, Wuhan University, Xiamen University, and Sun Yat-sen University. The competition invites top domestic writers, professors, editors, and humanities scholars to serve as judges. The New Concept Composition Competition primarily targets middle school students. It does not impose restrictions on themes or formats, advocating for writing about familiar subjects and expressing personal thoughts, while encouraging students to unleash their creativity and imagination. The competition is held annually. The inaugural competition launched in January 1999, and to date, it has completed five editions. The number of participants has grown from over 4,000 in the first edition to over 40,000 in the fifth edition, with the competition expanding to remote provinces such as Xinjiang, Tibet, Qinghai, Yunnan, and Gansu, as well as overseas Chinese communities. The breadth and depth of the themes have also significantly improved. Over 30 outstanding liberal arts talents have been admitted to key universities through the competition. After each edition, renowned writers, professors, and senior editors provide commentary, and the selected winning works are published by the New Concept Composition Competition (Volumes A and B), which have been listed as top national books for multiple years. Starting from 2001, two additional collections of special essays from the third and fourth editions were released, along with selected works from the first to third editions. The New Concept Composition Competition does not charge any participation fees and is exclusively sponsored by Shanghai Tobacco (Group) Company, with the competition being named "Zhonghua Cup." To ensure that students from impoverished regions can attend the second round of competition in Shanghai, the magazine has provided round-trip travel expenses for students from other provinces since the second edition. The New Concept Composition Competition marks the first collaboration between the literary and education sectors. Its development aligns with the educational principles advocated by the National Education Conference, emphasizing "innovation and comprehensive quality improvement." It has achieved socially recognized positive effects in inspiring students' creativity, fostering their love and interest in Chinese literature and language, and motivating talented young people to participate in competition. It has also significantly advanced the selection of liberal arts talents by universities and the reform of Chinese language education in middle schools, earning it the title: "The Olympics of Chinese Language Education in China."