File Cabinet: Very Good Citizen Chen Cibao

Author: Cai Ce Hai
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-02-01
Features: Language is like sunlight, making things visible, giving them color and sound, giving life to things. Sunlight cannot make a stone sprout, but language can make a stone a stone of language. Where sunlight cannot reach, moss grows; where sunlight cannot reach, language calls it shadow. Humans are unattainable, but language is attainable, hence poetry, drama, novels, and a special genre—prose. The relationship between language and humans is like that between fish and water. The water of language has no beginning or end; fish live in water, and humans live in language. Life or death. My writing experience is a long journey in language. I have always wanted to find my own way of speaking. How do I speak? What do I say? I want to have my say in relation to things. The interest and meaning of things make one want to speak. Laozi said, "The great form has no shape, the great sound has no voice, the great way has no words," but in essence, he was still saying that the way of speaking is different. He said it very well, in his way, saying enough of what should be said. Zhuangzi would also speak, Confucius would also speak, Qu Yuan, Li Shangyin, Su Shi were all good at speaking. Dream of the Red Chamber and Flowers in the Mirror spoke well. Homer's epics and Greek myths spoke vividly. Those who are good at speaking leave little room for what is unsaid. Literature leaves some brilliance, illuminating us still. What remains are clichés, lies, empty talk, nonsense, worn-out phrases, and the language of animals, lacking the fierceness and authenticity of animals. Yet, there is always something stirring in your heart. One day, at a gathering, after the ceremony was over and the empty talk had ceased, an elderly folk artist sang a quick-paced piece called The Mother-in-Law of San Chuan Ban. That Sichuan accent, that charm, the humor of the folk artist, that realm—made me so happy! In the folk world, language is always vibrant. If I were not so foolish, writing novels like a folk artist, having the life of a tree, speaking like a tree blooms flowers, adding honest, interesting, and meaningful adjectives to myself, I could also speak well without losing the brilliance of language! Suddenly, I thought of a dictatorial and autocratic term—"globalization." Globalization means that humans fully recognize the differences between nations and individuals, seeking the maximization of human benefit. Taking the national and individual as common capital, what is the profit margin? Everyone gets something. In globalization, we are not slaves, but shareholders. My novel values are not swayed by that unreasonable and senseless "globalization." I stand firmly for national, folk, and personal novels. I refuse to be someone who has been translated. Autocracy and autocracy, servility and arrogance, cannot produce true novel art. The novelist, outside of the novel, the remainder of the novel, is a citizen, a difficult citizen. He must have a conscious public awareness, more consciously and keenly aware of the public environment. From the subtlest places, for example, writing novels, build a better public environment, make life a little better. Do not tolerate evil, do not pity the "" from a high altitude. A gentleman who shouts democracy, human rights, and love may be a petty person who discriminates against a housekeeper at home. Novel writing is also, in fact, a moral education for oneself. I wrote The Very Good Citizen Chen Cibao, a very interesting and somewhat legendary folk figure. I feel full of moral sympathy for him. I hope he has consciousness and dignity. A person can have nothing, but cannot have no dignity. Dignity is best free of charge. The best fate of the common people is to be good citizens. Good citizens are the least protective shield for the common people. Otherwise, they will suffer death, imprisonment, and never be able to turn over again. Chen Cibao of San Chuan Ban has so much folk wisdom. At most, he can only be a good citizen—he is not qualified to be a citizen. Lincoln or Gandhi are very far from him. He is helpless, unsupported, and directionless, and it is hard to say he has any faith. His survival depends entirely on luck. His situation is much harder than that of the good soldier general, and the villains and oppressive forces he faces are much more barbarous than those the good soldier general encounters. His luck is not too bad; he picks up a basket and comes back with gold and beauty. It is hard to say whether he has picked up a good life. Let's help those "good citizens."