China News Agency, Jakarta, October 27th: How can Indian and Chinese literature promote mutual learning between civilizations?
——Interview with Yuan Ni, Chairman of the Indian-Chinese Writers Association
China News Agency reporter Lin Yongchuan
Indonesian Chinese literature (referred to as Indian Chinese literature) was once brilliant in the 1950s and 1960s, and has a wide range of influences in Southeast Asian countries.
In 1998, Yuan Ni and several like-minded people founded the Indonesian Chinese Writers Association (referred to as "Indian Chinese Writers Association").
In a recent interview with China News Agency "East and West Questions", Yuan Ni believes that the inheritance and creation of Chinese literature can allow more Indonesians to understand Chinese culture and Chinese civilization, and also allow more Chinese to understand Indonesian culture and Indonesian civilization. Promote cultural exchanges and mutual learning between Indonesia and China.
The following is a summary of the interview transcript:
China News Service reporter: When did Indian and Chinese literature begin? How was his experience?
Yuan Ni:
Indo-Chinese literature has a history of more than 100 years, which can be divided into three historical stages.
From 1875 to 1942, it was called the creation and golden period of Indonesian Chinese "Malayu Literature", referred to as the "Qiaosheng Literature" stage; from 1942 to 1965, called the "Overseas Chinese Literature" stage; from 1966 to the present, called the "Overseas Chinese Literature" stage. "Indonesian Chinese Literature" (referred to as "Indian Chinese Literature") stage.
The historical process from "Qiaosheng Literature" to "Overseas Chinese Literature" and then to "Indian Chinese Literature" reflects the changes of Indian and Chinese writers and language changes in various periods, which is closely related to the evolution of Indonesian social history.
Talking about the history of the development of Indian-Chinese literature for more than a hundred years, we cannot ignore the period of "Malayu Literature" experienced by the Chinese ancestors more than 100 years ago, because it was popular in Indonesian Chinese society for half a century.
"Malayu literature" appeared on the eve of the Indonesian national awakening in the second half of the 19th century. Among its writers, the most numerous, active and most accomplished writers were Chinese writers.
Many of the earliest Malay-language newspapers in Indonesia were founded by ethnic Chinese. For example, "Malay Horn" founded in 1860 began to serialize the popular Malay translation of the Chinese classic novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".
Published in 1912, the Indonesian Malay literature "Thorn Lily".
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
According to statistics, by 1896, Indonesia had 17 kinds of magazines, 13 kinds of Malay and Javanese newspapers, and initially formed a newspaper distribution network in the country.
At that time, Indonesian Chinese began to get involved in the printing and publishing industry and had their own printing houses and publishing houses.
It is the publishing houses founded by these Chinese that provide the living soil for Chinese-Malay literature, and provide fields and channels for Chinese-Malay writers to publish their works.
Indonesian Chinese literature activities began with the translation and rewriting of Chinese classical romance novels, such as "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Xue Rengui's Expedition to the East", "Water Margin", "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai", "Journey to the West" and "Mulan". It has been circulated for more than 50 years in the form of "literary" or puppetry, and it has become an indispensable spiritual food for the Indonesian Chinese society at that time.
Journey to the West.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
According to the incomplete statistics of French scholar Su Ermeng, during that period, Indonesia published more than 3,000 translated and rewritten works and original works of Chinese origin, more than 800 translators and authors, and nearly 1,500 original Chinese short stories.
From these figures, we can get a glimpse of the prosperity of "Malay literature" at that time.
The first episode of Indonesian Chinese Malay Literature.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
In the early 1920s, the awareness of Chinese ethnic groups in Indonesia rose, and Chinese groups, Chinese schools, and Chinese newspapers and magazines sprang up one after another. The most influential one was Jakarta's "New News" in 1921.
During this period, a group of well-known Chinese cultural figures such as Ba Ren, Zheng Chuyun, Zhang Guoji, Wang Jiyuan, Yang Sao and others visited Indonesia, planting seeds in the cultural field, and successively influencing a large number of young writers and editors from India and China. It promoted the vigorous development of Indonesian Chinese literature and formed the prosperity of "Overseas Chinese Literature" from 1942 to 1965.
Indonesian Chinese literature works in the 1950s and 1960s have various themes and styles. They reflect the history and current situation of overseas Chinese from various aspects, and describe the unity and friendship of Indonesian Chinese and various ethnic groups. It is a creation in the history of Indonesian Chinese literature. Peak period.
From the mid-1960s to the late 1990s, the Indonesian authorities strictly prohibited the use of Chinese and Chinese, and Indian-Chinese literature was severely affected.
At that time, only a semi-official Chinese-language "Daily Indonesian" was allowed to communicate government regulations, decrees, and policies.
Fortunately, the Chinese editor of this newspaper added several supplements to attract readers. Some young people insisted on writing and submitting articles in Chinese, and "Indian-Chinese Literature" survived tenaciously like a grass in the cracks of rocks.
China News Service: In 1998, just after the ban on Chinese was lifted in Indonesia, you and like-minded people founded the India-China Writers Association. What was your original intention at that time?
Yuan Ni:
In the mid-1960s, a group of young Chinese writers who dropped out of school began to submit articles to the supplement field of the "Indonesian Daily", so we met and got together.
In 1996, we contacted some contemporary Chinese writers and some old writers, and held a literary symposium in the name of the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Surprisingly, more than 200 people signed up to attend.
At that time, two literary seminars were held, which became a turning point in Indian and Chinese literature.
After that, people from the Indian and Chinese literary circles will hold a gathering of varying sizes every month, and slowly build up friendship.
After the turmoil in Indonesian society in May 1998, we believed that we should use our pen to fight for rights and interests, unite our Indonesian friends, especially those in the Indonesian literary community, and enhance mutual understanding through literature.
We, 15 like-minded people, founded the Indonesian Chinese Writers Association, which is the Indian Chinese Writers Association.
China News Agency reporter: How has the India-China Writers Association been functioning over the past 30 years? What are the creative achievements of Indian and Chinese literature?
Yuan Ni:
For more than 30 years, the Indian-Chinese Writers Association has actively carried out Chinese and Chinese cultural activities, published new books, held Chinese book exhibitions, and held seminars; Literary activities; actively encourage and nurture young writers, and do a good job of inheritance.
In order to improve the writing level of Indian and Chinese friends, we have held various essay competitions, translation competitions and seminars.
In addition to actively promoting and promoting Chinese culture, we also attach great importance to exchanges with Indonesian non-Chinese writers, promote two-way translation between Indonesian and Chinese, introduce Indian-Chinese works to non-Chinese readers, and promote non-Chinese Indonesians' understanding of Chinese literature and Chinese literature. cultural understanding.
The Indian Chinese Writers Association and the Indonesian Literary Society jointly published a bilingual poetry collection "The Roar of Indonesia", which became the first book jointly published by the Indonesian Chinese and non-Chinese literary groups. It collected a total of 50 Chinese and 50 non-Chinese poets. Poems, each Poems are presented in Indonesian and Chinese.
The press conference gathered more than 300 Chinese and non-Chinese writers, which caused a great stir.
March 18, 2000 "The Roar of Indonesia" book launch.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
In 2004, the Indian-Chinese Writers Association hosted two international conferences in Bandung City. At the same time, it held the 5th World Chinese Miniature Fiction Seminar and the 9th ASEAN Chinese Literature and Art Camp. More than 200 representatives from more than 20 countries and regions attended the conference. This is the first time that the Indonesian Chinese literature circle has held a world literature conference.
In 2014, the Indian-Chinese Writers Association hosted the 14th ASEAN Chinese Literature and Art Camp; in 2018, it hosted the 12th World Chinese Mini-Fiction Symposium attended by more than 200 writers from 18 countries and regions, showing Indonesian Chinese to the world. The strength and level of the writer.
The 12th World Chinese Miniature Fiction Symposium.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Through frequent exchanges, foreign literary groups have learned about the development of Indonesian Chinese literature, and the status of the Indian-Chinese Writers Association in the world of Chinese literature has also been established.
Today, the Indian-Chinese Writers Association has 14 chapters in Indonesia.
The works of the members of the Writers Association involve various fields of Chinese literature, using various forms of expression, and the excellent works are continuous.
China News Service reporter: How does Indian and Chinese literature promote mutual learning between civilizations? What role can the Indian-Chinese Writers Association play in the mutual learning of civilizations between China and Indonesia?
Yuan Ni:
Literature knows no borders.
As an important force of Chinese literature in the world, Indian-Chinese literature can play a unique role in promoting exchanges and mutual learning between Indonesian and Chinese civilizations.
When we founded the Indian-Chinese Writers Association, we set the purpose of the association to unite Indian-Chinese writers, exchange writing experiences, improve writing skills, and develop Indian-Chinese literature; through literary and cultural activities, improve the humanistic relationship between the Indian-Chinese and other ethnic groups ; Through literary and cultural activities, the exchanges between Indian and Chinese literature and the cultures of other countries in the world will be enhanced, and mutual understanding and friendship will be strengthened.
In terms of cultural exchanges and mutual learning, I think the Indian-Chinese Writers Association can play a unique role at three levels: cultural exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and non-Chinese; cultural exchanges and mutual learning between Indonesia and China; cultural exchange.
Every culture and every civilization has its unique shining point.
As Indian-Chinese writers, on the one hand, we inherit Chinese culture and present Chinese civilization; on the other hand, we are deeply influenced by Indonesian culture and experience the charm of Indonesian civilization.
Literature allows two cultures and two civilizations to communicate and learn from each other, and it is the responsibility of the Indian-Chinese writers to cooperate and have a lot to do.
(Finish)
Interviewee Profile:
Yuan Ni, formerly known as Ye Lizhen, ancestral home in Meixian, Guangdong, China, was born in Jakarta, Indonesia, and is a third-generation Chinese.
Chairman of Indian-Chinese Writers Association (referred to as "Indian-Chinese Writers Association"), Indonesian Chinese writer.
He was deeply influenced by Chinese literature since childhood and was obsessed with literary creation.
He is the author of a collection of short stories "Flower Dream", a collection of miniatures "The Lost Key Ring", a collection of essays "The Collection of Yuan Ni's Works", a collection of Chinese and Indonesian bilingual poems "A Man is a Painting", a collection of poems "Three Lines", etc.