Only one book is recommended. . . . . . .
The water of Canglang
Author: Yan Zhen
The water of Canglang is clear, so I can wash my tassel; the water of Canglang is turbid, so I can wash it My feet are enough.
What cannot be washed clean by all the water of the waves is our dusty soul.
Yan Zhen, who became famous in the overseas student circles with "Once at the End of the World", has accumulated a lot of experience over the past few years and once again published the novel "Canglang Water", which can be said to "reveal the deadlocks of life in the era and the hope of change." ", or "the situation and choices of intellectuals in contemporary society". In fact, novels are novels. Different people have different opinions. I believe you will also have your own unique opinions.
The author uses eloquent writing and flowing stories to describe the suffering of Chi Dawei, a medical graduate student with empty ambitions, no job and no power, and the difficulties of being famous and successful when things change; he truly demonstrates his While embarking on his life journey, he also solved the life problems that troubled him one by one. Readers are deeply attracted unconsciously, as if they are appreciating novels and experiencing reality.
(This book is not a romance or a fantasy, it is a real realistic novel. The description of social interpersonal relationships can be called a modern version of "Official Affairs Revealed", which is very suitable for young people who have just entered society. , you will feel that you have benefited a lot after reading it)
The story summary of "The Water of the Waves":
The year "I" was born, my father said a few words of justice to his colleagues. His words were classified as right-wing, so he was kicked out of the county traditional Chinese medicine hospital, and he took "me" to a small mountain village and became a rural doctor. The year "I" was admitted to Beijing Medical College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, he read "my" admission notice, yelled "The sky has eyes" and fell to the ground. In 1985, "I" graduated from graduate school and returned to the province to work in the office of the Department of Health. After that, "I" began a "career" of fighting with my colleague Ding Xiaohuai, but "I" suffered every time. The department wants to rectify the traditional Chinese medicine market in the province. "I" and Ding Xiaohuai went to Wushan area to investigate. Counterfeit medicines were rampant there, but that was Director Ma's hometown. After coming back, "I" reported the situation to the Pharmaceutical Affairs Office, but Ding Xiaohuai told the director that the information was inaccurate. When "I" told Yan Zhihe, the old clerk in the hall, he advised "I" to be smarter.
The hall spent 300,000 yuan to buy an imported car. At a branch democratic life meeting, "I" calculated the details of the car purchase, but did not mention anyone. After Director Ma left the meeting, everyone criticized "me". Even Xiao Mo, who I usually have the best relationship with, said "me" was not the fault. Soon after, "I" was transferred out of the provincial office and went to the Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine. My girlfriend knew the news and broke up with "me" categorically.
I stayed at the Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine for four or five years. During this period, "I" married Dong Liu, a nurse from the Fifth Hospital of the city, and gave birth to a child, completing a necessary process in life. At this time, Ding Xiaohuai had already mentioned the deputy director of the office and moved out of the Tongzi Building to live in a suite.
My son is three years old and it’s time to go to kindergarten. I originally wanted him to go to the provincial government kindergarten. "I" tried my best to get in, but Ding Xiaohuai's son got in. In the end, Dong Liu's brother-in-law thought of a way and his son went in. "I" sigh at my own incompetence.
According to the unified deployment of the Ministry of Health, the Provincial Health Department sent people to the lake area to conduct a schistosomiasis investigation, and "I" also went. Under the instruction of Director Ma, the investigation team made careful arrangements in site selection and sampling, and concluded that the incidence rate has dropped slightly. "I" know that the data is unreliable, but I cannot say it out loud due to my humble position. After returning home, "I" wrote the true story and wanted to send it anonymously to Beijing, but Dong Liu stopped me.
All of this made "I" feel desperate and anxious, and my heart ached.
Later, Director Ma’s granddaughter went to the Provincial People’s Hospital for an infusion, but several nurses took the injection because they were too nervous. Director Ma’s wife heard that Dong Liu had good skills, so she sent a car to pick him up overnight, and he was hit with one injection. After the director's wife stayed with her in the ward for a few days, she offered to transfer her to the Provincial People's Hospital. Years of wish suddenly came true, Dong Liu cried.
Shu Shaohua, the former director of the Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, is preparing to expose Director Ma. More than fifty people have signed. He hopes that "I" will sign and "I" will tell Yan Zhihe the matter. Yan Zhihe suggested that "I" report to Director Ma that night. After making a painful choice, "I" went to Director Ma's house and told the story. Director Ma assigned "me" to do several things, and "I" did it overnight.
Shu Shaohua's front collapsed the next day, and those who signed the petition came to Director Ma to express their repentance. Director Ma arranged for "I" to apply for the deputy senior professional title and take the doctoral examination, and passed both. At the end of the year, a letter was issued from the office, and "I" was transferred to the Medical Administration Department as the deputy director, and a suite was moved into the house.
Within a year, my wife was transferred, I got a house, I got a professional title, I got a position, my salary increased, I got a Ph.D., and my words started to work. It was like a dream. Later, nominated by Director Ma, "I" was appointed as Deputy Director, in charge of the Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Finally one day Director Ma told "me" that he wanted to recommend "me" to be the director. When the time came, "I" suggested that Director Ma go abroad for inspection after leaving office and visit his son who was studying for a PhD in Los Angeles. In fact, it is to get rid of his "listening to politics behind the curtain".
In front of my father's grave, "I" thought hard about why my original thoughts and ideals had unknowingly drifted and taken another path. The answer is that there are virtual dignity and real interests, so "I" gave up the normative beliefs and became a forced nihilist.
Finally, "I" knelt down in front of my father's grave and burned the "Sketch of Chinese Cultural Celebrities of Past Dynasties" he had left behind.
Features and Comments
"The Water of Canglang", questioning the root cause of loss
Reading the novel "The Water of Canglang" is like a secret The feeling of being leaked: Some things that people are aware of but indistinguishable in daily life have been revealed. Secrets that have been kept secret but have been practiced secretly and benefited a lot have been revealed. How can this not make people suddenly realize? Shocked again? To put it more clearly, this novel makes some progress in "finding out where the invisible hand that determines fate is." Although it cannot be said that the author clearly understands the world situation one by one, it can be said that the work does reveal aspects that others have not yet discovered, especially the actual power and penetration of official culture, and the harm of worship of power. . What is even more rare is that this novel also describes some people who see the truth clearly but are lost in a higher reality, so the author strives to inquire into the cultural roots of the lost people. This goes beyond the general pattern of officialdom novels. I thought that some current officialdom novels would become frivolous when placed in front of "Cang Lang Zhi Shui".
This evaluation of "Cang" is first of all based on the current trends and shortcomings in creation. Nowadays, the genre of officialdom novels or anti-corruption novels is very popular and very popular. If you think about it carefully, you can see that this is the result of the trend and is not based on human will. Because there are many corrupt officials and rampant corruption in real life, it is inevitable that works that strongly express the theme of anti-corruption will appear in literature. Or to expand it, although it is not necessarily anti-corruption, the direction of the writing is inseparable from the changes in the officialdom and the turmoil in the officialdom. This scene reminds people of the trend of condemnation novels in the late Qing Dynasty. At that time, Li Boyuan's "The Appearance of Officialdom" and Wu Woyao's "The Strange Current Situation Witnessed in Twenty Years" were also very popular. Of course, those days were nothing like today. However, in terms of the laws of literary creation, there is no guarantee that the mistakes of the past will not be repeated today. Mr. Lu Xun criticized most of the condemning novels as being "explicit in rhetoric and without hidden edge in writing", being stereotyped and superficial, and "official tactics, with small differences but great similarities, compiled into long series, which are the same, adapted to the requirements of the times. "It's a pleasure to get this", and he also said, "It is a pity that the description is too grand and overflowing with evil, and the touching power will be weakened. In the end, it will be nothing more than a series of words, just for idle people to talk and laugh." The general meaning is that they only meet the temporary needs of society, stay in the joy of laughing and scolding, lack artistic and typical refinement, lack "repentance" and thinking about human nature, so they have little touching power. . Isn’t this very similar to today’s creative situation? Aren’t some works satisfied with documentaries, problems, cases, or just relying on the shockingness of events to shock readers?
"Canglang Water" is different. It relentlessly exposes the illusory reality, profoundly exposes the corruption of spiritual value by power and money, and shows sharp perspective and "one-sided profundity". It is not too difficult to write about the distortions of people in extraordinary times. What is difficult is to write about the process of mutation and distortion of people in daily life. The author of this book basically did it. This book is not only good at telling stories, but also appealing to philosophy. It is not only full of sensibility, but also pays attention to intelligence.
It is not the kind of novel that tells an interesting story about corrupt officials and adds some humor and is done. Nor is it the kind of novel that "denounces" corruption in order to obtain cathartic pleasure. The greater the amount, the more profound that novel becomes. One of its outstanding advantages is that it does not rely on amazing stories, but strives to dig into the root causes in ordinary life, and strives to inquire about time, value, meaning and other philosophical issues of life, providing some insights that may not be accurate but are independent thinking. For example, the so-called Confucius is dead in the hearts of intellectuals, the so-called we have encountered relativism, and the market has no ultimate, etc., are all the author's ideological and cultural judgments on the phenomenon of value anomie. In this sense, we can regard this book as an ideological novel, a philosophical novel.
However, the novel does not lack the fullness and vividness of images. The two main characters, Chi Dawei and Ma Chuizhang, are written with great depth. They are not only living people at the moment, but also certain people in today's reality. It is a representative of popular ideas and dominant spirits, and its complex connotations are thought-provoking. Let’s not talk about Ma Chuizhang’s demeanor and facial expressions that are so impressive for being an official. Let’s talk about Chi Dawei’s process of “killing his past self” which is particularly thrilling. At the beginning, he was very cute as an upright young man who respected the sages, maintained the dignity of the common people, was cynical, and was determined to live for the world and the people. His moral ideals and value foundation are closely connected with the pursuits of his fathers and our long and profound cultural tradition, so he shows the feelings of strength, benevolence, prudence, independence and self-improvement. Later, he found that he had been "strong without desire" for several years, but he had nothing and was depressed. Under the pressure of the material environment and the persuasion of others, he suddenly "enlightened", and the sense of sanctity in his heart was gradually destroyed, and he deceived himself that in order to win self-esteem, he must first give up his self-esteem. Once he abandons moral integrity and despises eternity, his life becomes much easier. He flattered, flattered, betrayed, flattered, and did everything. In just a few years, he got almost everything. Perhaps the most intriguing thing is that he later became an anti-corruption star and thrived in officialdom. Of course, it wasn't that he didn't know what he had lost, but he couldn't do anything about it. His mental decline and his lingering conscience reflection are both profound and warning. There is much more to say about this work, and I would like to point out that this is perhaps the most important.
Excerpted from "China Reading News" on January 23, 2002
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