China News Service, Beijing, February 5 (Reporter Shangguan Yun) Time has entered 2024, and Zheng Yuanjie is 69 years old. He is the "Fairy Tale King" in the hearts of many readers. He has created many famous characters such as Pipiru and Lu Xixi, Shuke and Beta, Big Bad Wolf Rock, etc. He was also the only contributor to the magazine "Fairy Tale King".
He has been writing fairy tales for decades, and his rich imagination is his source of inspiration: when he sees a fish bought at home, he will think of it as the daughter of the Dragon King; when he sees a crane on a construction site, he will persevere in looking for opportunities and spend several months Time to understand how it works.
From writing to interacting with readers, he seems to have his own "flow" and never lacks topics and attention. When not writing, Zheng Yuanjie takes time out to reply to messages from netizens on social platforms. She was once on the hot search list, but she occasionally makes jokes. “Many kids on the Internet will ask me, and they will say that I am the wife of an XX star. I was fooled from the beginning."
Writer Zheng Yuanjie. Photo courtesy of the film crew
Recently, with the animated film "Shuke Beta?" With the release of "Pentagonal Flying Saucer", Zheng Yuanjie appeared in the public eye more frequently. When being interviewed, she wore a baseball cap, her eyes narrowed when she smiled, and she was still full of joy when chatting.
He is the original author of this movie, and Zheng Yaqi is the director and screenwriter. The father and son have maintained a good tacit understanding in adapting the work's IP: Zheng Yaqi's directorial experience is to "preserve the most touching story core of the original work." Zheng Yuanjie said that he rarely interferes with the filming of the film. At most, he reads the script or edits it. movie, "I'm quite satisfied."
Shuke and Beta first met in the story in the 1980s. Forty years have passed, and the little Zheng who originally wrote the story has now become the "Old Zheng" in Zheng Yaqi's mouth. However, Zheng Yuanjie still clearly remembers the original intention of creating Shuke Beita.
"Through the story of these two little mice, I want to share a truth with you: You can't choose your origin, but you can choose your path. Excellent moral character is the magic weapon to win in life." He said that if there is no bottom line in life, all efforts in life will be wasted. .
The curious "Fairy Tale King"
In the fairy tale world constructed by Zheng Yuanjie, Shuke Beita is two important characters. To this day, he clearly remembers those creative nodes: on September 13, 1982, he created "Shuke", and on February 8, 1983, he wrote Beta for the first time.
These two characters met for the first time in "The Adventures of Shukbeta" on December 30, 1983, which quickly aroused the interest of young readers. Until now, Shuke and Beta are the childhood memories of many people.
"Where does inspiration come from?" This is a question Zheng Yuanjie is often asked. For him, inspiration comes from a wide range of sources, and even common things in life can trigger many fantastic ideas.
Stills from "Shukebeta Pentagram". Photo courtesy of the film crew
"I'm curious about everything. Maybe I'm one of the few people who retains curiosity." He said of himself.
Once when he was passing by a construction site, his mind began to race after he saw a crane: The house was getting taller and taller. How did the crane "grow taller" and send the construction materials up?
Zheng Yuanjie did not search for answers online, but chose a more intuitive method, "You have to observe by yourself, and countless inspirations will emerge from the process of observation. The process of searching will destroy your (imagination)."
After returning home, he posted a message on WeChat Moments: Someone dug a hole downstairs and wanted to build a house, please let me know. "After I found it, I rented a house upstairs and sat there every day, making sure to see how the crane worked." Zheng Yuanjie said.
For several months after that, he really lived in a rented house, observed cranes with questions, and found out many things that he didn't know before. He also received countless inspirations, which inspired at least ten novels.
"Nowadays, people often mention AI. In terms of memory, it is very powerful. But the only ability that artificial intelligence cannot obtain is imagination. This is actually the most important thing that parents should leave to their children." Zheng Yuanjie sighed.
From book stories to film and television
Imaginative story IPs are often more suitable for artistic adaptation. But Zheng Yuanjie was once very opposed to the film and television version of his works, and even said sternly: Which writer would tolerate others dismembering and tampering with his works?
The reason is that he has seen some film and television adaptations of his own works and is not very satisfied. He always feels that if the essence of a literary work is presented in another art form, it will be difficult to be faithful to the original work.
Zheng Ya Banner. Photo courtesy of the film crew
Over time, this view slowly changed. By chance, Zheng Yuanjie unexpectedly learned that Zheng Yaqi was working as a director and trying to make Shuke Beta's story into a series of cartoons.
At that moment, he was particularly surprised and thought he heard wrongly, "What did I say you were directing? He said he was directing the Shuke Beta cartoon. I said you had never studied it professionally. You don't know how. He said, then you have studied Chinese in college. Department, have you ever studied writing?”
After some debate, Zheng Yuanjie asked Zheng Yaqi to send over the rough cut of the film. After seeing the sample, he felt relieved and stopped blocking it. The cartoon "Shuke Beta" directed by Zheng Yaqi was successfully broadcast. At the end of 2023, the movie "Shuke Beta?" "Penta Flying Saucer" is released.
""The Adventures of Shuke Beta" has a total of 366 episodes, and I wrote it for 13 years." Zheng Yuanjie joked, "These two little mice are already forty, and they are finally looking forward to the day when they can meet the audience in the cinema. As As the original author, I’m very happy.”
The daily life of Lao Zheng and Xiao Zheng
In "Shuke Beta?" In "Five-Pointed Flying Saucer", Zheng Yaqi wrote about the experience of Stinky Ball and his son: Old Stinky Ball thought of many ways to prevent his son from blindly chasing stars. Later, father and son understood each other and joined hands to help Shuke Beita to win.
Different from the story in the movie, in daily life, Zheng Yuanjie and his son Zheng Yaqi are more like friends. In an interview, Zheng Yaqi's most commonly used title when referring to his father was "Old Zheng."
"The scene between the father and son of Stinky Ball draws on content about parent-child relationships from Lao Zheng's other works. Many of the young readers who read Lao Zheng's stories are now parents. When I wrote the script, I hoped to impress them with it. The plot." Zheng Yaqi explained.
He said that when he was a child, what impressed him most about his interaction with Lao Zheng was when the father and son watched and talked about movies together. It was a particularly happy parent-child time. Now, I also hope that parents and children can happily walk into the theater and see Shukbeta.
Zheng Yuanjie considers herself relatively successful in getting along with her children. Zheng Yaqi liked playing games when he was a child, but his eyesight was a little short-sighted. The solution he adopted was to play with his children, and then stick the papers with the names of family members on the refrigerator to score.
Zheng Yaqi quickly lost his appetite and basically stopped playing games after that. In Zheng Yuanjie's eyes, when a child encounters confusion when growing up, if the previous generation can squat down and participate in the matter "on an equal footing" with the child, the problem can often be solved.
"Shukebeta Pentagram" poster. Photo courtesy of the film crew
Being willing to confide in your parents shows your children's trust. "When parents feel that their children are doing something wrong, first of all, it may not be really wrong. Secondly, even if it is really wrong, the method of 'cutting off the water' is ineffective," he explained.
What makes a parent qualified? Zheng Yuanjie has a criterion for judging whether children tell their parents immediately no matter what happens when they are growing up. If so, then they are qualified parents.
"Those who sell integrity are the most dishonest."
Respecting the original work is Zheng Yuanjie's request for the film and television version of his work, and it is also Zheng Yaqi's great experience as a director. "Shuke Beta?" After the screening of "Five-Pointed Flying Saucer", Zheng Yaqi read the online comments and found that many people mentioned interesting lines in the film.
"Many of the dialogues that the audience likes are from the original work, such as 'Those who sell integrity are the most dishonest'. Not a word has been changed." He is not worried that young audiences will not be able to understand the popular Internet memes incorporated into the film. "The form of expression has changed. But the core of the story remains the same.”
In the film, Shuke and Beta obtained the water of life and built a "pentagonal flying saucer". They encountered an accident during the test flight and accidentally traveled to Rubik's Cube City ten years later. With their integrity and bravery, they defeated the mastermind behind the "Bad Thief Group". The cake fish family.
Zheng Yuanjie emphasized that writing Shu Kebeita wanted to share a truth with everyone through the story: one cannot choose one’s origin, but one can choose one’s path. In fact, everyone can have the magic weapon to win in life, which is good moral character, but many people ignore it. .
He has come into contact with many successful people. Due to the "occupational disease" of writers, he has been wondering how they can succeed. He finally came to the conclusion that the competition in life is fierce, but in the end, the absolute competition is moral character.
"If your moral character is not good and you have no bottom line as a human being, all your efforts in life will be wasted and all your achievements will be in vain." He said. (over)