"White Deer Plain" is a novel written by Chen, which took six years to complete and was first published in 1993.

The novel takes Shangbailu Village in Bailuyuan, Guanzhong area, Shaanxi Province as a microcosm, and shows the historical changes of more than half a century from the late Qing Dynasty to the 1970s and 1980s by telling the feud between two grandparents and grandchildren of Bailu.

Theme of the work

The root-seeking theme of White Deer Plain is mainly the root-seeking of spirit and soul. It wrote the essence of Confucian culture with the spiritual pursuit of "truth", and publicized the profound value of China culture and expressed its concept of "seeking roots" through the description of characters in the text.

The author's root-seeking thinking does not stop at the root of culture with the pursuit of moral personality as the core, but further reveals the tragedy of human existence displayed by traditional culture. Under the cultural background of Guanzhong people's existence, Bailuyuan launched a series of character activities. Through vivid characters, it reflects the crude and simple customs in rural areas and the Confucian spirit of being cautious and forbearing.

There are also many objections to the theme researchers of cultural root-seeking in Bailuyuan, because the author highlights the true face of folk history as much as possible in Bailuyuan, profiles the trend of China's contemporary literature, and also has the significance of new historicism novels.