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Where are the standard-bearers that the literary world has been looking forward to?

Impression after reviewing Xi Jinping's important speech at the Symposium on Literature and Art

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Xi Jinping's speech at the Symposium on Literature and Art Work, as well as the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. A few days ago, I suddenly thought about who would first come to your mind if you wanted to recommend a standard-bearer in the field of literature and art in order to celebrate the PRC's 75th anniversary. I solicited answers from a circle of friends and also asked a friend in the art community. However, no one could come up with an answer. Is it because everyone is generally apathetic towards figures in the art community, or is it because no consensus has actually formed? What is the deeper reason for this?
Let us first review what General Secretary Xi Jinping said in his speech at the symposium on literature and art work. The general secretary spent a long space listing the dazzling names in the history of human civilization. Obviously, they are the literary figures appearing in literary histories, anthologies, and textbooks compiled under the guidance of Marxism-Leninism Thought on Literature and Art. They involve art schools such as realism, romanticism, critical realism, and socialist realism. Chinese people who have studied the Chinese department in universities before the 1990s will be familiar with these names.
General Secretary Xi said:

"Russia has masters such as Pushkin, Gogol, Lermontov, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Nekrasov, Chernyshevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Gorky, Sholokhov, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninov, Repin, etc. France has masters such as Rabelais, La Fontaine, Moliere, Stendhal, Balzac, Hugo, Dumas, Maupassant, Roman Roland, Sutter, Camus, Miller, Manet, Degas, Cezanne, Monet, Rodin, Berlioz, Bizet, Debussy and other. Britain has masters such as Chaucer, Milton, Byron, Shelley, Keats, Dickens, Hardy, Bernard Shaw, and Tener. Germany has masters such as Lessing, Goethe, Schiller, Heine, Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, Wagner, Brahms and other. The United States has masters such as Hawthorne, Longfellow, Mrs. Stowe, Whitman, Mark Twain, Dreiser, Jack London, and Hemingway."

As for the literary and artistic figures in ancient and modern China, he apparently listed the major Marxist literary theorists from the Yan'an Period, including the Yiqun's Basic Principles of Literature, You Guonen's History of Ancient Chinese Literature, and Tang Tao's History of Modern Chinese Literature, which are involved in these classic historical theories. The general secretary said:

In China, there are even more, from Laozi, Confucius, Zhuangzi, Mencius, Qu Yuan, Wang Xizhi, Li Bai, Du Fu, Su Shi, Xin Qiji, Guan Hanqing, Cao Xueqin, to "Lu Guo Mao Ba Lao Cao" (Lu Xun, Guo Moruo, Mao Dun, Ba Jin, Lao She, Cao Yu), to Nie Er, Xian Xinghai, Mei Lanfang, Qi Baishi, Xu Beihong, from the Book of Songs, the Songs of Chu, to the Han Fu, Tang poetry, Song Ci, Yuan drama, and the novels of the Ming and Qing dynasties, from the epic The Epic of King Gesar, Manas, to Jangar, from the New Culture Movement of the May Fourth Movement, the founding of New China to the reform and opening up today, it has produced a galaxy of literary masters, leaving behind a vast sea of literary masterpieces, which not only provide rich nourishment for the Chinese nation, but also contribute a brilliant chapter to world civilization.

In his speech, the General Secretary mentioned Wang Yuanjian and Liu Qing when referring to post-founding of New China literary achievements, especially the latter, who is a repeatedly lauded banner figure in socialist literature by the General Secretary. Liu Qing's "History of Entrepreneurship" can be considered the epic of socialist transformation of rural areas. The General Secretary highly praised the work's writing style, the author’s guiding ideology and how the social life is described. Based on this line of thought, we can actually compile a very stellar lineup of writers and their works. Such as "The Red Sun" by Wu Qiang, "Red Rock" by Luo Guangbin and Yang Yinyan, "Red Flag Spectrum" by Liang Bin, "History of Entrepreneurship" by Liu Qing, "Defense of Yan'an" by Du Pengcheng, "Linhai Xueyuan" by Qu Bo, "Ode to Youth" by Yang Mo, "Enormous Changes in Mountain Villages" by Zhou Libo, "Prologue to the Storm" by Sun Li, "Strongman Li Huo" by Liu Liu, "Enemy Combat Team" by Feng Zhi, "Sanli Bay" and "Li Youcai's Monologue" by Zhao Shuli," Mountains and Rivers Within Three Thousand Miles" by Yang Shuo... Later on, we can add "Golden Avenue" by Hao Ran, plays like "Dragon Beard Ditch" and "Sunrise Ditch" by Lao She, a series of modern Beijing operas, and movies like "Stage Sisters", "Over the Mountains and Rivers" and "Sons and Daughters of Heroes".
Interested readers can ask Du Niang that a large number of classic works with both "plateau" and "peak" qualities have appeared in the top thirty literary and artistic creations, including novels, reportage, poetry, films, dance and song and dance dramas, including fine arts and folk art. Some works are all shining in the treasure house of world literature and art. These works were downplayed or eliminated by later new literary textbooks, so they became increasingly unfamiliar to Chinese people who went to middle school and university after the 1980s.
In the "Speech", the General Secretary affirmed the achievements made by the literary and artistic circles since the reform and opening up, and also criticized it rudely. The general secretary's summary is concise and accurate, and it is a vivid portrayal. he said:

"In terms of literary and artistic creation, there are also phenomena of quantity lacking in quality," plateau "lacking in" peak ", problems of plagiarism, imitation and uniformity, and problems of mechanized production and fast-food consumption. In some works, some ridicule the sublime, distort classics, subvert history, and vilify the people and heroes; some do not distinguish right from wrong, do not distinguish good from evil, regard ugliness as beauty, and excessively exaggerate the dark side of society; some seek out novelty, blindly kitsch, and low-level tastes, regard the works as a 'cash cow' for pursuing profits and as an 'ecstasy' for sensory stimulation; some make up nonsense, shoddy, and far-fetched, creating some cultural 'garbage'; Some pursue luxury, over-packaging, show off their wealth, and show off their wealth, with form over content; others are keen on the so-called 'art for art ', only writing about their own joys and sorrows, cups of water, and divorced from the public and reality."

Teasing the sacred and distorting the classics; these are phenomena that some people in the early 1990s advocated as a way for literature and art to abandon the tradition of taking on too much social responsibility since the May Fourth Movement, advocating for "avoiding the sacred" and "turning inward"; "overthrowing history, and vilifying the masses and heroes" brings to mind some people's "subversive" portrayal of the history of the War of Resistance Against Japan and its heroes in novels; as for "some works not distinguishing between right and wrong and good and evil, seeing ugliness as beauty, and excessively exaggerating the dark side of society", I immediately thought of the literary pursuit of Mo Yan, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, to "write good people as bad people and bad people as good people", and "even if they are Japanese aggressors, write about their humanity", and I also thought of the middle school principal Li Jiaqian's The Falling Rhododendron, which was recently denounced for absurdly lauding transcendent humanity through the story of Japanese aggressors taking revenge for their son. Some commentators have previously said that Mo Yan's view of literature is opposed to Mao Zedong's Talks at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art; I believe that Mo Yan's creative philosophy and practice are also opposed to Xi Jinping's speech at the Symposium on Literature and Art Work.

Needless to say, the development of literature and art in the new era has a process of correcting the deviation and degeneration of certain periods in the past. We say that Comrade Xi Jinping saved the party, the army, and the country. This statement is also suitable for literary and artistic work. Putting things right is one of the important characteristics of literature and art in the new era, including the comeback of modern Peking Opera, the re-evaluation of scar literature, red literature and art becoming part of mainstream culture, and the re-evaluation of Mo Yan. This reflects the progress of society and the development of literature and art. The Chinese people have emerged from the era of looking up to the West, gradually found cultural consciousness and cultural confidence, and began to re-evaluate Western literary and artistic rewards. The Nobel Prize for Literature is "a grand prize for rebels in the West or the East." When the Chinese people saw clearly the nature of this award, they began to feel unwilling.
Is there really no representative writer who can represent the 75th anniversary of the founding of New China? Comrade Hu Cheng, a Chinese red culture scholar, gave a deafening name:He Jingzhi. Teacher Hu said that on the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China, Wang Meng was given the national honor of "People's Artist". I opposed it because he was not as suitable as He Jingzhi. I agree with Comrade Hu Cheng's views. In addition to He Jingzhi, I thought about it for three days and three nights, thinking of Shandong writer Zhang Wei. This Chinese writer who could sit on the bench went to Longkou to become mayor like Liu Qing in order to write. In 2020, Zhang Wei published 50 volumes of "Selected Works of Zhang Wei", including 20 volumes of novels, 3 volumes of novelettes, 4 volumes of short stories, 1 volume of children's literature, 5 volumes of prose and essays, 15 volumes of literary theory, and 2 volumes of poetry. In addition, it is also attached with the author's chronology, the general catalog of his works and other information. I told my thoughts to the famous literary and artistic critic Zhang Dexiang, and he also fully agreed with me.
It is very difficult for many reasons to find a pacesetter who deserves the honor of "people's Artist" on the 75th anniversary of the founding of the people's Republic of China. First, the ideological nature of literature and art determines that it is always restricted by the economic foundation, whether it is willing or not, it will always be disturbed by various ideological trends and political struggles, and fundamentally controlled by the economic foundation. While opening the door to economic development to the West, cultural work is not immune. The times of literature and art and writers and artists determine that different times need different writers and artists, and the people's needs for literature and art also change with the changes of the times. Second, literature and art is a barometer of economic and social development, and whether we can adhere to Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong thought or to what extent it can be reflected in the development of literature and art. Third, the market-oriented reform of the publication of newspapers and periodicals, including cultural publishing companies reformed by the shareholding system, the intervention of a large amount of private capital and overseas capital, as well as the substantial contraction of the domestic government in literary and artistic awards. Overseas and private capital-driven award activities drive straight in, resulting in a certain degree of confusion.
It's not difficult to say, why? The above three situations are nothing more than eight words:There is too much interference and not enough concentration. The Party's literature and art policy cannot be completely, thoroughly and accurately implemented, and the people's concept of literature and art cannot be reflected centrally and completely. The profit-seeking nature of capital makes it difficult for truly high-quality literary and artistic works to appear in the public eye. Scattering from multiple points, seeking profit, rising and falling tides, east and west... Coupled with the continuous major changes unseen in a century, various anti-China forces in the world and domestic erroneous thoughts are clamoring and frequently causing trouble, and it is not surprising that they are unable to form ideas and art for the time being. The consensus has left many people confused and confused. However, as long as you conscientiously implement the party's consistent requirements for literary and artistic work, insist on not forgetting your original intention, keeping your mission in mind, adhere to the red line of "people's literature and art", and find representative figures in the literary and artistic circles who are worthy of celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of New China, it is also possible. The premise is to clear the fog by strengthening the "four consciousnesses", strengthening the "four self-confidences", and achieving "two safeguards".
(The author is a senior researcher at Kunlun Policy Research Institute;