Chinese writers seldom become the talk of town, however the
election of the new president for the Chinese Writers Association
has made a big stir.
Tie Ning, 49, became the first woman and youngest president
elected in the association's 57 years of history, when the seventh
congress of the association convened in Beijing on Sunday. Her two
predecessors, Mao Dun (1896-1981) and Ba Jin (1905-2005), headed
the association respectively when they were 53 and 80. The
presidency was more like an honorary title for the two leading
masters of modern Chinese literature.
While the association's congress concluded yesterday, the
excitement about the new leader fuelled heated discussion about the
present Chinese literary circles and the possibility of a new
era.
"The choice of such a relatively young leader indicates a
tangible step in transforming the ageing writers association in a
new era," Yang Honghai, a veteran writer based in South China's
Shenzhen, commented upon Tie's election.
"For quite a long period of time, the president is more of a
symbolic title for big names," Shanghai-based biographical writer
Ye Yonglie told local media.
"Now we expect a new leader who could bring vivacity and
freshness into the organization and help Chinese writers in a
down-to-earth fashion."
Serious author
In the Internet age, when new names and titles mushroom each
day, Tie Ning may not be China's most well known female writer.
But many critics agree she has a huge following from both
average readers and people from the Chinese literary
communities.
Her early novels Ah, Xiangxue and Red Shirt Without
Button (Meiyou Niukou de Hongchenshan) have been made
into prize-winning films in the 1980s; many of her latest novels
have been turned into well-received TV drama series over the past
decade, and her literary works enjoy a vast readership in many
countries and regions.
In 2003, Tie was voted by the readers of Selected Novels
magazine as one of the "Top Ten Popular Chinese Writers of the New
Century."
Over the past two decades, she has acted as the head of Hebei
Provincial Writers Association and vice-chair of Chinese Writers
Association. She has impressed many people with a down-to-earth
attitude and helped many local authors tap into their
creativity.
"Despite her tight schedule, she is always able to find time to
ink out one good novel after another," said Yang Jianping with the
Hebei Provincial Writers Association.
Born in 1957 in Beijing into an artistic family, Tie spent her
first years in Baoding in North China's Hebei Province. As a child, she tasted the
bitter and chaotic changes occurring in Chinese society and found
spiritual sanctuary in reading.
Foreign novels, such as Jean-Christophe by French
writer Romain Rolland (1866-1944), greatly influenced her outlook
on the world and its peoples.
She began writing short stories in junior high school and after
graduating in 1975, she travelled to rural areas to better
understand Chinese farmers.
The same year, her maiden work The Flying Scythe
(Huifei de Liandao) was published by the Beijing
Publishing House.
Greatly encouraged, Tie continued writing short stories amidst
busy work in a mountainous village in western Hebei Province.
"Looking back at my rural years, I feel that I am really
grateful to life. Those years of hard work in the fields and making
friends with local farmers have enabled me an insight into the
spiritual realm of Chinese people," she once said.
In 1979, Tie was recruited as guest literature editor for the
Mountain Flowers magazine based in Southwest China's
Guizhou Province. The same year, Tie returned to Baoding and worked
in the Baoding Branch of the Chinese Federation of Art and
Literature, embarking on the road to a professional writer.
Her early works such as Xiangxue and Red Shirt
give an exquisite portrayal of the ordinary people's daily life
dreams, pursuits, contradictions and sufferings.
Focusing on farmers
The writer cherishes a deep love for rural Chinese and rural
life. In some of her works, readers get a clear picture of the
miserable experiences of ordinary but very typical Chinese women.
In others books she paints a panoramic picture of rural Chinese in
a rapidly changing society.
In 1986 and 1988, she published two novellas Wheat Straw
Stack (Maijie Duo) and Cotton Stack
(Mianhua Duo) respectively, both reflecting ancient
history and culture, and concerning the role of women. In the
mid-1980s, she shifted towards reflection on traditional Chinese
cultures.
In her first full-length novel Rose Door (Meigui
Men) published in 1988, Tie discarded her harmonious and ideal
poetic style, to reveal the dark side of human life through the
competition for existence among women in several generations. Most
of Tie's writings highlight the collective fate of women but in
Ben Hua Village (Benhua), her fourth novel, she
created more than 90 convincing characters, mostly male.
Tie said she was trying to "use a family history as a footnote
for the bigger history of China in this era of upheaval."
Asked why her writing was always about rural China when many
writers were interested in their own city lives, Tie explained: "I
hope I can write out the beauty in human feelings and human
relationships in a secluded environment, such as rural China, the
ultimate standards of morals and ethics are still reserved in
people's hearts."
Tie believed the ultimate goal of literature was not to express
merely personal woes and joys but to put a finger on the pulse of
current times through the experiences of individuals.
"For me, writing is kind of a mission. I have no choice but keep
writing. Only in doing so do I find satisfaction, sense of
fulfilment, and endless joy and inner peace The novels are the
gifts I offer to my readers," Tie once claimed.
"Like a farmer who bows deep down and labours in the land, I
would bow deep down to life, absorbing nutrition for my soul. I
would always be honest to the time in my life, to my pen, to my
soul and to my beloved readers."
(China Daily November 15, 2006)
