Top 10 Social Hot Topics in China

Author: / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2001-01-01
Features: If literature is to move from the "personal state" of writers and critics to a socially accepted public state, it cannot do without the mediation of journals. Therefore, I believe that when discussing the decline of current literary exploration and avant-garde spirit, we cannot avoid mentioning literary journals. Due to the diversification of social development, the glory of literature has long faded. In the past decade, various literary journals have struggled to survive, each employing their own methods. There are roughly three types of approaches: First, there are some more avant-garde national journals that, in the mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s, attracted readers' attention by constantly creating "school-based" hotspots; second, there are some less influential journals that either chased after hot topics by following major magazines or completely shed their thin veil of literature to embrace the secular values of society; third, there seems to be a group that ignores the significant changes in society and relies on the support of traditional systems, struggling to survive without much vitality. Here, I would like to conduct a case study of the third type, and this case is Poetry Magazine. The story can begin with the dispute between Poetry Magazine and Taiyuan Daily. Taiyuan Daily published an article accusing Poetry Magazine of decline, which caused Poetry Magazine great humiliation and led them to consider suing Taiyuan Daily. Perhaps the wording in the article published by Taiyuan Daily may not have been entirely accurate, but it is well-known that the "decline" they referred to did not mean that the members of Poetry Magazine were actually engaging in selling poems or visiting brothels. Instead, it meant that in the face of declining morality, Poetry Magazine had failed to uphold its moral standards and had instead followed the trends of the times, thus "declining." Such accusations, whether justified or not, can only be determined by the performance of Poetry Magazine itself, not by the courts. Even if we assume that these accusations are entirely baseless and merely an attempt to gain fame by criticizing a well-known figure, it is still not worth paying attention to. A piece of writing published in a local newspaper's supplement is likely to be noticed by very few people. To take legal action would not only lose its own dignity but also serve the other party. Why bother? Even if the court rules in favor of Poetry Magazine and forces Taiyuan Daily to pay some compensation, it is unlikely to bring any significant financial gain to Poetry Magazine. Moreover, over the past decade, the performance of Poetry Magazine has indeed been poor. Even if others' criticisms are somewhat exaggerated, it is still necessary to reflect and reconsider, rather than react so strongly. To help Poetry Magazine cool down, I think it is necessary to review its performance over the past two decades. To understand this issue, we must first make the problem specific. We cannot abstractly discuss how Poetry Magazine has performed; instead, we must evaluate it based on the qualities it should possess. As China's premier poetry journal, some readers regard it as "a giant tree in the Chinese poetry scene." Then, such a tree should have deep roots, a straight trunk, and lush leaves. It should first sense the changes of the times and remain unswayed by the fluctuations of society; it should embrace the songs of all birds and display its noble righteousness to the world. This is actually the self-expectation of the editors of Poetry Magazine: "Poetry journals have an important mission in the development of the poetry movement. To do a good job in contemporary poetry journals, we must strengthen the sense of responsibility of the editorial staff, continuously improve our professional level, and maintain a serious and conscientious work attitude. We must also have a keen mind, a broad, and a far-sighted vision. We must understand the origins and development of poetry both at home and abroad, as well as the current state of poetry development, so that we can guide the new poetry of our country to take root in our fertile soil on the basis of both inheritance and reference. Poetry Magazine advocates a colorful and diverse literary scene, with each grass having its own fragrance. Readers may have preferences, but editors cannot be biased." (Poetry Magazine, June 1986 Issue) However, when measured against the above requirements, the golden age of Poetry Magazine in the late 1970s and early 1980s was indeed the time when it was most sensitive, decisive, and grand. Soon after the collapse of the "Gang of Four," it allowed the returning singers like Ai Qing to sing out loud, publishing poems that criticized the "Gang of Four" and expressed the people's voices. Later, without fear of resistance, it opened the doors of poetry, recommending many young poets like Bei Dao and Shu Ting to the public. It not only paid attention to the debates in the poetry scene (and literary scene) but also pioneered and organized the first large discussion on "obscure poetry" in 1980. Although its preference clearly lay with young poets from the grassroots, it did not suppress differing opinions and provided ample space for various viewpoints to be expressed (such as in the twelfth issue of 1980, which featured thirteen debate articles on the cover). At that time, Poetry Magazine was indeed a pioneer of ideological liberation, an amplifier of the people's voices, a good mentor and friend to young poets of poetry, and a beacon of the beauty of poetic art in the times. However, due to well-known reasons, around 1982, Poetry Magazine began to decline. For example, regarding "obscure poetry," the debates gradually turned into one-sided criticism. The situation at the time was quite interesting: "obscure poetry" had actually been widely accepted by society, but Poetry Magazine was still vigorously attacking it. Another example is that in the early 1980s, unlike the new poetry wave led by Bei Dao, various folk poetry societies and journals had been growing exponentially, and the activities of "third-generation" poets like Yu Jian and Han Dong were becoming increasingly active. Yet, Poetry Magazine seemed completely unaware of all this, only waking up and paying attention to these new poets around the time of the joint "China Poetry Scene 1986 Modern Poetry Group Exhibition" organized by Shenzhen Youth Daily and Poetry News. Poetry Magazine began to publish information on "new poetry trends" and launch "college lectures" in its seventh issue of 1986, but it only first published the poems of Yu Jian, Eden, Han Dong, and others in its eleventh issue of 1986. In contrast, as early as the beginning of 1981, the Feitian magazine in Gansu had pioneered the "College Poets" column, and subsequently, journals like Poetry Tide, Poetry Forest, and Young Poets also opened "college columns." Compared to Poetry Magazine, it was clearly slow to react. Perhaps the problem is not limited to this but also reflected in its own confusion. In the three or four years before 1986, Poetry Magazine recommended mostly "newcomers" who wrote in traditional styles, but when the eleventh issue of 1986 featured the "Youth Poetry Meeting" and recommended a group of new poets unrelated to Poetry Magazine, the journal merely accepted them with the attitude of a "poetry elder," without giving them serious or cautious reviews. Moreover, after this issue, Yu Jian and others were not seen for a long time. But at the "Youth Poetry Song Award" of 1986, they reappeared prominently. This pattern of first ignoring, then, and then quickly forgetting made it difficult to grasp Poetry Magazine's own stance. The dominant emotion in celebrity autobiographies, which was once declared as hypocritical by mainstream ideological modes of emotion several years ago, has now become the only legitimate emotion that contemporary media can repeatedly speak of and has the necessity to do so, becoming another mainstream ideological mode of emotion. In this almost imperceptible historical transformation, what was once declared as hypocritical has not become sincere after becoming the dominant emotion but has instead become even more hypocritical. In any text or visual narrative involving emotions, the starting point may still have some relatively authentic love, hatred, joys, and sorrows of ordinary people, but the endpoint must always be the thunderous roar of "love," which always remains at the peak of the narrative structure. A celebrity autobiography is a concerto of "love." Under the baton of power, the celebrity appears on stage, perhaps initially appearing solemn, dignified, and resolute, but soon becomes lively, gradually revealing a look of relief, and finally becomes completely agitated, shouting slogans of "love." Contemporary television celebrities' autobiographies are thus striving to recreate the uniform on-site atmosphere they have created in the mass media. Readers, who are audiences with similar identities, usually fall asleep tired but satisfied in the thunderous roar of "love," some even with a few tears of emotion in their eyes. The cultural contribution of celebrity autobiographies lies first in creating the only kind of emotion that is allowed to be openly exposed in contemporary times, the only kind of beautiful representation of contemporary life that can be swaggering: allowing some minor irritations and twists, but the overall must be uniformly warm, harmonious, and beautiful. The so-called exposed emotion is a virtualized, stereotyped treasure that can be shared with others at any time, like an actor with particularly developed tear ducts, capable of producing a huge emotional impact, causing both the celebrity and the mediocre masses who care about them to indulge in the "sentimentality" of vulgarity. The emotional impact generated by real-life experiences is quickly purified and elevated into a single and flat form in the jointly created "sentimentality" on the spot. Roland Barthes and Michel Foucault have pointed out many times that complete exposure has always been a complete suppression of sensuality. Emotional exposure is also the greatest concealment of true emotions, and it is no different from intellectuals exposing their own spirits to better hide their true hearts. The authentic emotion lost in the dramatic exposure is only the usually somewhat awkward clothes of daily life, while the new robe it puts on is dazzling and ethereal. In real life, whether one wins or loses, whether one is a loser or a winner, once caught in this sentimental "sentimentality," they all feel that they are the most lovable treasures, and it seems that the thunderous promise of the great man once again echoes in their ears: "Among all things in the world, people are the most precious," "As long as there are people, any miracle in the world can be created," "Spring breeze and willows are thousands of miles long, all the people in the six hundred million are Shun Yao." As for whether Li Guyi cursed or how she cursed, it is all irrelevant. We only remember that the troublemaker Wei Wei no longer has the former righteous indignation to vent her dissatisfaction to the media. In the courtroom in Nanyang, where Li Guyi "shed tears," she shamefully betrayed the journalist who had helped her vent her frustrations. That pointless lawsuit cost Li Guyi the price of her reputation to achieve a "harrowing victory"; journalist Tang Shengwu, isolated and helpless, left his hometown in triumph despite his defeat; and Wei Wei not only emerged unscathed but also used the opportunity to publicly cleanse herself of the shame of not having AIDS. Yesterday, Wei Wei was the only winner. Today, Wei Wei is likely to be the only winner again. "Counting money at Hunan Film Studio" is a brilliant chapter in Wei Wei's singing career. Whenever people mention Wei Wei, they cannot help but recall the scene from 1999 where she and the elderly Dr. Mac quickly counted money on stage. Many people have volunteered to wipe out this "classic replay" from public memory. In a book that beautifies Wei Wei, four chapters were dedicated to rewriting the history of "counting money at Hunan Film Studio." Wei Wei might be happy, but the Hunan Film Studio filed a lawsuit against the author and the publisher. Similar to Nanyang, Wei Wei was tested again in Hunan. Wei Wei once again turned danger into safety in Hunan. Wei Wei's solemn statement to the court was: "The defendant has never had any formal contact with us regarding publication, so I believe that I have no obligation to testify on behalf of the defendant." Direct, decisive, and firm, everything is the defendant's fault, and has nothing to do with Wei Wei. The poor defendant, in court, expected Wei Wei to come to their aid, only to find that the principle of "returning a favor" does not apply to Wei Wei. When you were welcome to come and defend my constitutional rights, you could call each other brothers and even be as loyal as, but once you got into trouble, I would retreat and push the blame onto others. Nanyang was like this, Hunan was like this, and Spain will be like this in the future. Wei Wei has a deep voice and the features of someone from South Asia, which are her advantages in becoming famous. There is no need to be too harsh on her character and personality—these are enough. But as an author responsible to readers, we must introduce the real, three-dimensional, and behind-the-scenes Wei Wei to the audience, and must objectively evaluate events related to Wei Wei. It is not impossible to desire Wei Wei's favor and beautify her, but be careful not to involve others. Because the lessons of the past have told you: Wei Wei, who values her own safety, will never do something as foolish as sacrificing the pawn for the king. If you are determined to be her vanguard, you must be prepared to sacrifice and die for her at any time.