The Narrative Research Of "The Countrymen Come Into The City" In Shaanxi

One of the basic themes that penetrates in the whole process of modern and contemporary Chinese literature is the theme of “the countrymen come into the city” and it is something that is highlighted particularly in the novels of Lu Yao,Chen Zhongshi and Jia Pingwa,as can be seen from works,such as Life of Lu Yao,The Last Harvest of Chen Zhongshi and Happy Dreams of Jia Pingwa.When analyzed from the deep source,the matter is closely related to the special identity characteristic of the three writers,i.e.their identity as the“rural-descendant urban” writer,as well as the continuous focus on the realities in the rural areas and the fate of the farmers,which has been a tradition in the contemporary literature of Shanxi since the creation of The Story of Pioneering Builders by Liu Qing.There are two major basic motifs in novels with the theme of “the countrymen come into the city”: firstly,the reasons why the countrymen would come into the city and secondly how they are doing after coming into the city.With regard to the first question,the answer shall be searched for from the clues displayed in history.In the 1950 s,Xu Gaike,a figure from The Story of Pioneering Builders comes into the city and gradually a lot of countrymen come into the city in the works of Lu Yao,Chen Zhongshi and Jia Pingwa in the 1980 s.When such figures are analyzed,the following two facts can be found.On one hand,their action demonstrates that the constraint of “collectiveness” has begun to be shaken off from “the individual” and a huge awakening movement is happening inward;and on the other hand,those countrymen who have come into the city display on themselves certain air of knowledge and cultural information,which proves that the rural education in China has an inherent orientation towards urban value,whether in the perspective of educational contents or the distribution of educational resources.As to the second question,the description of the countrymen's experience in the city made by Lu Yao,Chen Zongshi and Jia Pingwa can also be deemed as the city writing made by the writers,which tends to have some difference,to certain extent,from the real lives in the city,and this difference is virtually caused by the“imaginations” held by the writers for a city.The city written by Lu Yao is a romantic place where the competent man gets the opportunity to show his talents,and therefore it is the spiritual imagination for the city.The city written by Chen Zhongshi is a place of moral degeneration and therefore it is a moral imagination for the city.The city written by Jia Pingwa is a place of decay,which alienates the heart of man,and therefore it is the imagination of a “deserted land” for the city.The countrymen who come into the city in the works of Lu Yao,Chen Zhongshi and Jia Pingwa are often entangled in a very frustrating situation as they are generally not able to get integrated into the city or return to the countryside,wandering between the city and the countryside all the time.This wandering,when analyzed,reflects a confusion held by the authors for the city and the countryside.As for Lu Yao,the paradoxical endings designed in the novels Life and Common World reflect the deep contradiction between the idealistic concepts and the realistic reality in his spiritual world.With regard to Chen Zhongshi,there has always been a doubt in his heart as to whether the socialist collectivist morality and the traditional Confucius ethnics and morals are able to persuade the countrymen to stay in the countryside.The ideological concepts and views of Jia Ping Wa are mixed with the irreconcilable contradiction between modern concept and traditional cultural concept,and the contradiction between the concepts conceals the real reasons why the countrymen would come into the city and generates the sense of mental lost existing commonly among the countrymen who have come to the city.Lu Yao,Chen Zhongshi and Jia Pingwa' novels with the theme of “the countrymen come into the city” have brought valuable enlightenment and inspiration for the creation of the writers after them.They also drive us to consider the problems such as how to establish a type of rational writing,how to fill in the gap between the reality and the history and what to do to link the constantly changing city and countryside.