China News Service, Kunming, March 13th (Hu Yuanhang and Liu Lihui) Fan Wen, a famous writer, has been wandering in the Yunnan-Tibet area all year round, and created a series of works such as "The Land of Water and Milk", "The Land of Compassion", "Songs of the Earth" and "Turn Around the Sun". Excellent work.
What kind of charm does this land contain, which makes a writer linger and forget to return?
Did the writer write the land, or did the land call the writer?
Recently, a reporter from Chinanews.com interviewed Fan Wen to experience the unique charm of the Yunnan-Tibet junction from the perspective of a writer.
Fan Wen, born in Sichuan in November 1962, graduated from the Chinese Department of Southwest Normal University in Chongqing in 1985. He went to work in Yunnan in the same year and began to publish works in the following year.
He is currently the chairman of the Yunnan Writers Association, the vice chairman of the Yunnan Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and a national first-class writer.
His representative works include the "Tibetan Trilogy" reflecting the century-old history of Tibet - "The Land of Water and Milk", "The Land of Compassion" and "Song of the Earth", the novels "My Blood and My Soldiers" and "The Eye of Chongqing" reflecting the history of the Anti-Japanese War, and Novel on the theme of poverty alleviation, "Tianyang Turns Around" and so on.
He has won the October Literature Award, the "People's Literature" Novel Biennial Award, the "China Good Book" Award, and the Nomination Award for the 7th, 8th, and 9th Mao Dun Literature Awards, etc.
Fan Wen believes that the junction of Yunnan and Tibet is a colorful place, a land where humans and gods coexist, and a pure land that has always been in touch with the world.
For thousands of years, different nationalities and cultures have blended and strengthened each other here, creating a model of harmonious coexistence.
A summary of the interview is as follows:
Reporter: You studied Chinese at university. Why did you choose to do geological survey work in Yunnan after graduation?
Fan Wen: I went to university in the 1980s, a time when literature was still very enthusiastic.
At that time, I was determined to be a writer, but I only received a box of rejections by the time I graduated.
At that time, I was assigned by the state after graduating from university. I was eager to go to the outside world and increase my knowledge. I happened to have a quota in the Yunnan Provincial Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, so I claimed it without hesitation.
Yunnan is a place I particularly yearned for when I was young.
Borderlands, national culture...these qualities fascinate me.
Although I didn't have the right major to work in the geological department, it gave me the opportunity to get in touch with the society and go to the vast land.
When we conduct geological surveys, we generally use a combination of census and detailed survey.
The census is to roam the land according to the latitude and longitude marked on the geological map, to climb over the mountains and cross the river when encountering water. When some areas with better metallogenic conditions are found, then enter the detailed investigation stage, dig trenches, mine ore Hole, on the drilling rig, until the mineral reserves to find out.
This experience taught me how to survive in the wild, how to get along with people of different nationalities, how to integrate into different cultures, and master a set of methods to dig "treasures" in a new land.
It is also very helpful for my literary creation.
Facts have proved that I did not choose the wrong direction in life.
Reporter: What kind of opportunity did you start to create your famous work "The Land of Water and Milk"?
Fan Wen: It all started in 1999 when I participated in a cultural event called "Into Tibet".
At that time, seven writers including Zhaxi Dawa and Alai went to Tibet to collect folk songs through different routes, and I took the Yunnan-Tibet route.
In the process of walking, I found many cultural heritages scattered in the mountains, and I was deeply moved by the scene of multi-ethnic and multi-cultural mutual forging and integration.
One evening, I was shocked to find a rural church in Shangyanjing Village, Mangkang County, Qamdo Prefecture, Tibet.
In a place full of temples and mani piles, why is there a church?
What is the story and history behind this?
Why can different nations and civilizations coexist harmoniously here?
These questions pushed me to understand and write books.
Later, based on this history, I did a lot of research and created "The Land of Water and Milk".
Reporter: In order to write the "Tibetan Trilogy", you traveled in Tibet and Yunnan for ten years.
After so many years of contact, how do you understand this land and its people?
Fan Wen: This is a colorful place.
There are Tibetans, Naxi, Lisu and other ethnic groups living here. Different ethnic groups have different cultures and beliefs, but living in the same land for a long time has brought about many wonderful fusions among them.
For example, there are members of different nationalities and beliefs in the same family; temples and churches coexist in the same village.
They magically coexist in a cultural ecosystem.
In Yunnan and Tibet, I felt the intersection of the world of spirits and the real world.
This is a land where humans and gods coexist, everything has a god, and everything has a spirit.
From the perspective of the various ethnic groups living here: every mountain here has divine help, every lake has divinity, even trees have divinity, and animals also have divinity.
But this god is a very common existence that can share joy with people, not a certain god high above.
At the same time, although this land is remote, it is not isolated from the world, but has always been in contact with the world.
In different periods, foreign cultures and lifestyles have had an impact on this place.
For example, in the past, wine appeared in the Lancang River Valley with the arrival of missionaries, and now lamas also use mobile phones.
But their spiritual palace has been preserved on this land.
Our world is made up of different races and species. How can we coexist peacefully on this small planet, the earth?
How to make different cultures respect each other and blend with each other?
I think I saw a model in the junction of Yunnan and Tibet.
And this model is not an artificial arrangement, but a historical choice, a natural choice.
Reporter: In the epilogue of "Song of the Earth", you said, "It is not you who wrote this land, but this land called you. You obeyed the call, just like obeying the first ray of sunshine at dawn. Waking up from the dark." Why does it feel like this?
How do you see the relationship between the land and writing?
Fan Wen: Every writer has his own way of writing.
Some writers write by reminiscing, and some write by searching and discovering in the vast world.
My writing comes from the nourishment of the earth.
Whenever I want to write a new novel, my first step is to do a lot of field research, just like I used to search for ore in the geological team, looking for cultural riches in all over the mountains and plains.
If I don’t travel to a certain area or a certain ethnic group that I want to write about several times, and don’t live in a village for a while, and drink enough corn wine from the villagers, I can’t start writing.
I am very lucky that I live and work in Yunnan, a multi-ethnic province.
The 26 ethnic groups here have their own unique historical culture and ecological system, as well as their own creation epics, religious civilization, heroes, survival wisdom and love stories.
These are my irreplaceable "teachers" and the "treasure house" of creation.
When you are moved by all things, history, and culture grown on this land, it is impossible for you not to feel the calling, and it is impossible not to study and write.
Reporter: We found that your latest work "Turning the Sun" is not as focused on narrating history as before, but embraces the present more.
Is this a personal "turn around" for you?
Fan Wen: When I feel that I am in a situation unseen in a century, and when I see people around me declaring war on poverty without hesitation after the battle against poverty begins, I feel that as a writer, I have the responsibility and obligation to use literary means to fight against poverty. Record this history and reflect reality.
In this battle against poverty, I visited dozens of border villages in Wenshan, Yunnan, witnessed the great changes in remote mountain villages, and met many leaders who have lifted themselves out of poverty.
I saw the compression of human survival resources by topography and landforms, and the desire of people living in such a special environment to change; I saw millions of stories of poverty, but there may be only a few ways to get rich; I saw a road The importance of a closed village, but also the change of concept to a group of people.
Therefore, I want to complete a "creative turn" by writing about the "conceptual turn" and "destiny turn" of an individual changing from a traditional farming lifestyle to a modern civilization in this battle, and continue to follow the times forward Walk.
In fact, in the past, I was more devoted to historical narratives, paying more attention to Tibetans and Naxi people. This time I turned my attention to the present and Zhuang people.
I know it's a great challenge, but I enjoy being "on the ground" and learning about different cultures.
To a certain extent, this creation has also made up a lesson for my own life.
Reporter: Whether it is the previous "Tibetan Trilogy" or the current "Turn the Sun", you have written many legendary stories of heroes.
Do you have a hero complex?
Fan Wen: It should be said that I have the desire to write heroic legends.
In the past, when I came into contact with historical works, I was always trying to find legendary figures or legendary heroes in the historical process.
A hero often does something we want to do but cannot do.
Some of them dare to sacrifice themselves, some are heroic and chivalrous, and some have outstanding moral character... There are indeed many such heroic characters or heroic behaviors in our lives.
I want to understand why a person gives or sacrifices.
This is very enlightening for the creation of novels and personal growth.
Reporter: In the future, what other creative plans do you have?
Fan Wen: Next, I will write a novel about the Ge (Gejiu) Bi (Bisezhai) Shi (Shiping) Railway.
This inch-gauge railway, which was built in 1915, is China's first private railway with the most complete sovereignty, showing another side of Yunnan—the open side.
I have been doing related research work since 2022, and now I start writing.
When many people talk about Yunnan, they think of such concepts as ethnic minorities, remoteness, and frontiers.
In fact, there is another side of Yunnan that dares to be the first in the world.
For example, the construction of international railways from Kunming, China to Haiphong, Vietnam in the early 20th century - the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway and the Gebishi Railway, both rushed to the forefront of the trend.
Although Yunnan is a frontier, it is also a frontier, because it has a national gate and a port, and it has always had exchanges with foreign countries.
This was an unexpected discovery for me, a foreigner.
What surprised me even more was that people in Yunnan showed a rapid change of concept when facing such a foreign thing as the railway.
When the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway was first built, many people believed that the railway was a monster that would block our dragon veins and wake up the spirits of our ancestors, and wanted to drive them away.
But after the railway was built, everyone found that a single train skin could pull dozens of caravans, and it was faster, so they quickly changed their minds and began to raise funds to build their own railway.
This trait of seeing something new and being able to change your mind immediately is very valuable.
This is the best performance of Yunnan people who dare to be the first in the world, and it also reflects the positive attitude of everyone who is willing to learn and has the courage to catch up with world civilization.
(over)