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, heart-stirring scroll depicting the colorful and shocking life of rural China. The protagonist marries six times and loses six times, with a mysterious prelude hinting at misfortune. Two generations of a family, fighting endlessly for control of the Bai Lu Yuan, stage a series of thrilling dramas: cunningly seizing auspicious land, maliciously using the beauty trap, a filial son becoming a bandit, an in-law killing his daughter-in-law, brothers turning on each other during the revolution, the invasion of the Japanese, the three-year 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 of a person 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, visionary man, a righteous head of a family, and a filial clan leader, yet also a practitioner of feudal culture and system. In terms of writing style, The White Camel Plain is based on realistic depiction but blends folk legends and supernatural elements, showcasing the customs and traditions of the Guanzhong region while giving it a touch of both reality and 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 ideological content, the complex and varied characters, the dramatic and winding 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.
This is a magnificent epic of 50 years of changes in the Wei River Plain and a vivid, heart-stirring scroll depicting the colorful and shocking life of rural China. The protagonist marries six times and loses six times, with a mysterious prelude hinting at misfortune. Two generations of a family, fighting endlessly for control of the Bai Lu Yuan, stage a series of thrilling dramas: cunningly seizing auspicious land, maliciously using the beauty trap, a filial son becoming a bandit, an in-law killing his daughter-in-law, brothers turning on each other during the revolution, the invasion of the Japanese, the three-year 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 profound and substantial ideological content, the complex and varied characters, the dramatic and winding 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 in recent years.