White Deer Plain (1993 version)

Author: Chen Zhongshi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1993-06-01
Features: This book is the masterpiece of Chen Zhongshi and won the Fourth Mao Dun Literature Prize. It is a magnificent epic of 50 years of changes in the Wei River Plain and a vivid, shocking scroll depicting the colorful rural life in China. The protagonist marries six times and loses six times, with a mysterious prelude foreshadowing misfortune. Two generations of a family, for the sake of controlling the Bai Lu Yuan, engage in relentless struggles, staging a series of thrilling dramas: cunningly seizing auspicious land, maliciously using beauty traps, a filial son becoming a bandit, a father-in-law killing his daughter-in-law, brothers turning on each other, lovers betraying each other, the Great Revolution, Japanese invasion, three years of civil war. The Bai Lu Yuan sees ups and downs, flags change, family feuds and national grievances intertwine, and goes on from generation to generation. The ancient land trembles in the throes of rebirth. The author creates a series of realistic and uniquely meaningful images of Chinese peasants. Bai Jiaxuan is one of the main characters, an archetype shaped by thousands of years of feudal culture in China. He embodies the entire value of Chinese cultural tradition—both positive and negative. He is a strong and visionary man, a righteous head of a family, and a filial clan leader, but also a practitioner of feudal culture and system. In terms of writing style, The White Deer Plain is based on realistic narration, blending folk legends and supernatural elements. It reflects the customs and traditions of the Guanzhong region while giving a sense of reality mixed with fantasy. The language of the novel is simple and straightforward, with dense brushwork that has rhythm and a lingering charm. In summary, the profound and substantial thematic content, the complex and varied characters, the dramatic plot, and the colorful customs and traditions form the distinctive artistic features of the work and its striking realism, making it a rare and outstanding long.