Writing the blues of rural China
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Changes in the country's rural areas during the past 30 years have made farmland and village scenes unrecognizable for those who spent their childhood days there.
Though now based in Hainan, writer Zhao Yu was born in Henan province and it is the memory of his first 18 years spent in Henan's countryside that has become an inexhaustible nutrition bar that nourishes and inspires his career and life.
Last year, with his book of essays entitled Little Trifles (Xiao Xian Shi), Zhao caused a flutter among literature readers by his interpretation of Lu Xun (1881-1936), one of modern China's key writers and also a deified figure, as a man deeply in love.
His new book Little Blues (Xiao You Shang), which appeared recently, is a collection of 288 essays on his childhood experiences in the countryside in the 1970s and 1980s, told in the first-person voice of a 10-year-old.
"Little Blues is a record of my personal history, representative of those born in the 1970s and 1980s," Zhao says. "The past is beautiful but we can't go back. What I'm trying to do is to provide a frame of reference for the present."
The book's narrator tells of his carefree days with three buddies among the farmlands or at school. They play with mud and animals, get excited by the rural ceremonies and festivals, and enjoy the beauty of changing seasons.
Hunan-based writer Xie Zongyu is impressed by the book: "His pieces of childhood memories touch my soul."
Zhao says though he's trying to imitate the way of speaking by a 10-year-old, his grown-up mind makes every piece contain implications to society today.
"The countryside has changed a lot compared to what I cherish," he says. "People are craving for more wealth, and the plain morals are vanishing."
The writer believes that the rural areas should also benefit from progress, but he cautions that: "The human desire for more and bigger should be checked."
Zhao says that he can always find peace of mind when reminiscing about the good old days. "As a kid, I passed by our neighbors' cornfield and always coveted their corncobs," he says. "I stealthily broke off one and would definitely be spanked by mom who always had a way to find out."
"I won't dare do the same thing any more. That's one of the basic morals I learnt to guide my life."
Zhao, born in 1976, didn't see a city until going to Henan University in 1994 as a Chinese literature student. Since graduation, he has been editor with a magazine in Kaifeng, Henan province, and then a publishing house in Shenzhen, Guangdong province.
He has been writing poems and essays since he was a teenager. In 2002, he started writing novels and has completed one novel a year since 2003, among which three have been published but received limited response.
Zhao thinks the countryside experience gifted him with a strong body and tough mind. "Many people are easily depressed by the smothering city life," he says. "A village boy in town, I know who I am and I must support myself through any difficulties, because I have nobody to turn to for help."
Zhao pursues his writing while working intermittently as college teacher, HR trainer and advertiser, getting a taste of real life that helps enrich his writing, he says.
For years his reading has focused on works by and about Lu Xun and Shen Congwen (1902-88), another iconic writer in modern Chinese literature, and he admits to being "extremely partial to reading letters."
Based on Letters between Two, a collection of letters between Lu Xun and his wife Xu Guangping, Little Trifles is a natural fruit of Zhao's reading and one that has brought him unexpected popularity.
With a gentle touch of humor, Zhao discloses Lu Xun, the literature master, as an affectionate lover in real life.
Zhao is preparing for his next Little book, which will feature Shen Congwen in love.
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