(East-West Question) Zhang Hengjun: How can contemporary literary exchanges build a golden bridge for mutual learning between Chinese and Japanese civilizations?
China News Agency, Beijing, March 30th: How can contemporary literary exchanges build a golden bridge for mutual learning between Chinese and Japanese civilizations?
Author Zhang Hengjun, Professor and Dean of the School of Journalism and Communication, Dalian University of Foreign Studies
Literature is the richest and most vivid expression of human emotions, the most vivid interpretation of human history, and has emotional power that directly reaches the soul.
Literary works are an ideal place for the development of communicative rationality. With it as the center, several subjects such as the author, the reader, and the society can establish inter-sexual communicative relations.
Literary works are also an important medium for mutual learning among civilizations, an important form of communication between people of different countries and different races, forming mutual civilizations between me and the self, between the self and the actual other, between the self and the transcendental other, and between the self and the potential other. Kam.
China and Japan share a common foundation of "literary exchanges" and have profound historical and cultural origins.
The exchanges of ancient literature and modern literature are certainly bridges for mutual learning between civilizations, but in comparison, contemporary literary exchanges are even more "golden bridges", because they can enhance the feelings of joys and sorrows in human life, spread contemporary values, and describe contemporary openness. The common living state of human beings, diverse and inclusive, will help to build a China-Japan relationship that meets the requirements of the new era and contribute to the progress and development of human civilization.
In human communication, contemporary literary communication is elegant communication, which can open up and magnify the life experience of writers, bring heterogeneous experiences and new possibilities to creation, stir reality in a larger pattern, and observe the "community of human destiny" , which is conducive to promoting the world pattern of the coexistence of multiple civilizations and meeting the realistic demands of the coordinated development of all countries in the world. Therefore, it is called the "Golden Bridge".
Literary exchanges: more than Murakami, more than Mo Yan
China and Japan are geographically close to each other and have a long history of literary exchanges.
In the thousands of years of history of exchanges, civilizations have learned from each other throughout.
After the founding of New China, especially in the new era, Chinese contemporary literature has increasingly attracted the attention of Japanese academia and readers. In particular, Mo Yan won the Nobel Prize for Literature, which accelerated the spread of Chinese contemporary literature in Japan.
Japanese contemporary literature has also been introduced into China in large quantities, especially the works of Nobel Prize winners Yasunari Kawabata and Kenzaburo Oe, which have deepened Chinese readers' understanding of Japan.
The Exchange of Contemporary Chinese and Japanese Literature: More Than Murakami, More Than Mo Yan?
In 2006, the Nobel Prize winner for literature, Japanese writer Kenzaburo Oe visited China for the fifth time and signed his new book "Farewell, My Book" in Beijing.
The picture shows Kenzaburo Oe and Chinese writer Mo Yan at the signing ceremony.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Ying Ni
Over the past 40 years, the exchanges between Chinese and Japanese literature have continued to increase, the exchange mechanism has been increasingly improved, the communication channels have been increasingly broadened, and the communication methods have been increasingly innovative.
A large number of contemporary literary works have been introduced. In addition to everyone's works, it also includes popular literature, such as youth novels "Love in the Sky", "A Man's Good Weather", etc., children's books "Goodbye, Kelu", "Lovely Mouse Brother", " Toad's Oil", animation literature "Astro Boy", "Brother Yixiu" and "Flower Fairy" are all sought after by Chinese readers.
The mystery novels of Seiichi Morimura, Kiyotaka Matsumoto and others have also entered the field of vision of Chinese readers.
Entering the new century, China's translation and introduction of contemporary Japanese literature has become more systematic. The series of works by women writers, the Akutagawa Literature Award series, the series of young writers, and the series of "post-80s" writers have all produced good economic and social benefits.
Since 2020, a number of online dialogues and literary forums between Chinese and Japanese writers have been held successively, and writers have discussed literary creation and the human condition in the "cloud" under the epidemic.
In August 2021, the Chinese Writers Association initiated the establishment of the "Chinese Literature Overseas Readers Club"; in September, initiated the establishment of the "Belt and Road" Literature Alliance; Improve international communication capabilities.
In response to telling Chinese stories in the new era, contemporary literature has become increasingly confident and contributed to the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind.
In 2015, the 35th anniversary exhibition of the classic Japanese cartoon Astro Boy broadcast landed in Shanghai.
The cartoon is adapted from the animation literature "Astro Boy".
Photo by Wang Gang issued by China News Agency
Over the past 40 years, the exchanges between Japanese and Chinese literature have steadily advanced.
Before the new era, Japanese intellectuals and ordinary people had an urgent desire to understand China, and successively published on a large scale the Complete Works of Modern Chinese Literature (15 volumes), Anthology of Modern Chinese Literature (20 volumes), and Modern Chinese Literature (12 volumes). Volumes), Selected Chinese Revolutionary Literature (15 volumes) and other complete works or anthologies.
Entering a new era, it is still relatively hot.
With the understanding of the rising and entering the new century, it is relatively calm.
Contemporary writers such as Zhao Shuli, Ru Zhijuan, Qu Bo, Wang Meng, Lu Wenfu, Liu Xinwu, Shi Tiesheng, Jia Pingwa, Acheng, Wang Anyi, Zheng Yi, and Zhang Xinxin have cultivated a group of Japanese readers who love Chinese literature.
In the past ten years, the works of Mo Yan, Tie Ning, Yu Hua, Yan Lianke, Can Xue and other writers have been deeply loved by Japanese readers.
In the communication with Chinese contemporary literature, some literary societies have played an important role.
The Japanese Association of Writers and Artists has compiled the "Literary Yearbook" since the 1950s; the Japan Institute of Chinese Studies has compiled the "China Yearbook" since 1955; The Chinese Modern Literature Translation Association has been translating contemporary Chinese literary works since 2008; the Japanese version of the "People's Literature" magazine launched in 2015 mainly translates short stories and poems by contemporary writers; the "Canxue Research" magazine focuses on the research and translation of Canxue's novels.
The Power of Words: Shaping China, Shaping Japan
The exchange of contemporary Chinese and Japanese literature highlights the power of words.
Today, we live in the world of words, just like breathing air.
Literature is the combination of words, the highest form of its combination.
As an exploration of the complex and subtle spiritual codes of human beings and the writing of the times, it is an inextinguishable flame that transcends nations and countries, an inexhaustible spiritual power that protects the truth, goodness and beauty, enlightens wisdom, and illuminates life, and has the power to change the world.
The exchanges of human civilizations can be divided into four stages: the pre-Silk Road period of regional exchanges, the Silk Road period of channel exchanges, the post-Silk Road period of divergent exchanges, and the globalization period of integrated exchanges.
Today, with the blessing of technology, interconnectivity has intensified the conflict of civilizations, and it has also accelerated the integration and shaping of civilizations.
After the era of oral, written, and printed communication, and into today's digital communication era, human civilization is hidden behind literary texts, and literature will also have a profound impact on human civilization.
Japanese author Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's "Xiaodoudou by the Window" has sold more than 1.1 million copies. The caring and open-minded Principal Kobayashi and the innocent, kind, lively and lovely Xiaodoudou have changed the Chinese readers' perception of Japan to some extent. impression.
Haruki Murakami's "Norwegian Forest" is the most widely circulated Japanese literary work in China, and reading Haruki Murakami has even become one of the symbols of the Chinese middle class.
China is a country of poetry, and it is always lyrical with poetry.
Japan is deeply influenced by this tradition and likes to use Chinese poetry to express inner feelings.
The Japanese favorite "no clothes, same clothes with children" comes from "Book of Songs"; Japanese poet Chao Heng's "Penglai Township is far away, Ruomu's old garden" echoes Wang Wei's "Outside the township tree and hibiscus, the owner is on the isolated island"... …Behind these verses are Chinese tastes, Chinese complexes.
"Little Doudou by the Window" Chinese version.
Photo by Su Kaze issued by China News Agency
Japanese writers draw nourishment from Chinese literature.
Hirano Keiichiro is known as "The Rebirth of Mishima Yukio", and his "January Story" is based on Huang Liang Yimeng and Zhuang Zhou Mengdie, and also quotes Li He's works.
Hirano believes that Japanese is always inseparable from the shadow of China.
"Handsome" is closely related to "Bushido", but its basic spirit, "Yi Li", originated from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in China. After the independent development of Japan, it played a pivotal role after the 1950s and became a very popular Japanese design in China. support concept.
Chinese writers also draw nourishment from Japanese literature.
Yu Dafu's "The Sinking" has shaped the image of the "surplus", deeply influenced by Japan's shattered "private novels", focusing on the writer's personality and having the temperament of romantic novels.
On this basis, Yu Dafu created a new style of modern lyrical novels, leading a fashion and influencing many writers of later generations.
In 2006, the first Japanese version of "The Liang Zhu" trilogy in the history of Sino-Japanese relations was successfully completed.
The picture shows the introduction of the "Liang Zhu" trilogy by Akira Watanabe, the director of the Japanese Liang Zhu Culture Research Institute and the book's translator.
Photo by Duan Yuezhong issued by China News Agency
Mutual Learning of Civilizations: Stepping Out of the Past and Facing the Future
Mutual learning among civilizations is the common aspiration of writers all over the world.
2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan. As "eternal neighbors", the exchanges of contemporary literature between China and Japan will give birth to a newer civilization in the years to come.
How to play the role of contemporary literary exchanges and promote mutual learning between Chinese and Japanese civilizations?
The first is to recognize the obstacles that exist.
Language is the biggest obstacle, and the quantity and quality of translations are still insufficient, which cannot fully reflect the whole picture of the other country's literature. We must strengthen the mutual translation of literature, and first of all, we must change the current imbalance of translation and introduction.
The second is political trust, including historical awareness.
The Japanese government and Japanese society must understand the country's past with a sound criticality, and the Chinese must also overcome their cultural and mental superiority and get rid of prejudice.
The third is to find the intersection of bilateral aesthetic values and aesthetic ideal values, carry out dialogues between civilizations, advocate tolerance and mutual learning, and explore the common ideas and common pursuits accumulated by human development and progress in the Chinese and Japanese contemporary literary traditions to find the resonance of the current era. point.
In 2019, the musical "Walking in the White Night", adapted from the mystery novel of the same name by Japanese writer Keigo Higashino, was staged in Tianjin.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Tong Yu
The experience of the two sides in contemporary literary exchanges can also be used and learned from each other.
Japan's foreign literary exchanges focus on the export of elite culture, and it is keen to promote "beautiful world" and "elegant literature". Literary works are too egoistic and niche, and lack the atmosphere of civilian life.
The share of Japanese literature in the world literature market is only 1.8%, and its influence is very weak, and some important works have not yet entered the field of vision of overseas readers.
China's foreign literary exchanges are mainly dominated by the official government, and both belong to the elite cultural output.
How to realize multi-subject communication, we need to be based on the world, based on dialogue, based on reality, based on empathy, observing the common emotions and care of human beings, paying attention to non-elite popular exchanges, setting aside cultural differences, and grasping the commonalities of emotions.
At the same time, it pays attention to emerging literary forces such as light novels, online literature, and cross-media literature that are currently the most successful overseas dissemination of literature.
From the perspective of the long-term development of the history of human civilization, the accumulation of literary exchanges will inevitably optimize the quality of literature in the country, change the development trajectory of world literature, and further enhance the height of human civilization.
The ancient Chinese and Japanese civilizations have realized the mutual learning of civilizations in harmony and coexistence. Contemporary Chinese and Japanese civilizations should face the future, actively think about the "world significance of contemporary Sino-Japanese literary exchanges", and find the "greatest common divisor" of a community with a shared future for mankind. The new development has injected living water from the source, and helped to build a community of Asian civilizations and a community of human civilizations.
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About the Author:
Zhang Hengjun, professor and dean of the School of Journalism and Communication, Dalian University of Foreign Studies, concurrently serves as the director of the Overseas Communication Research Center of Chinese Culture, the co-editor of "Research on Overseas Communication of Chinese Culture", and the leader of my country's first ad hoc master's degree in international communication of Chinese culture.
Vice Chairman of Film and Television International Communication Committee of China University Film and Television Society, Vice Chairman of Multilingual International Communication and Education Alliance, Executive Director of Global Communication and Public Diplomacy Committee of China Journalism History Society.
Visiting professor of Peking University, Zhejiang University, Jinan University, Liaoning University and other universities.
He has long been devoted to the research in the fields of overseas dissemination of Chinese culture, global dissemination, Chinese and Western cultures and civilizations.
He has published more than 100 academic papers, many of which have been reprinted by "Xinhua Digest", "China Social Science Digest", and reprinted newspaper materials of the National People's Congress.
He is the author of 29 monographs and books such as "The Belt and Road Initiative and the International Communication of Chinese Values: Frontiers and Prospects".