Back to 80: My Literary Life

Fang Minghua specially sought this out from Li Wei, the webmaster of Guangming Daily's Xijing work station.

Fang Minghua had known Li Wei for a long time. In 1987, when he had just assumed the editor-in-chief position of the magazine and held the Xijing Conference, he specifically asked Li Wei to report on the conference.

Same thing this time.

There is no problem for Guangming Daily to report news like the establishment of a world-wide award, but it is difficult to conduct an exclusive interview with someone.

This would take up a large newspaper page.

Spend money on it?

Do you think it’s a street tabloid?

Although Li Wei is Fang Minghua's friend, there is no guarantee that their interview will be successfully published in Guangming Daily.

After all, Li Wei is just one of the heads of dozens of "Guangming Daily" workstations in other places, and he is not the newspaper's editor-in-chief.

For this reason, Fang Minghua specially called Wang Meng in Yanjing and asked him to find a way to contact the editor-in-chief of the newspaper to try to get the interview published.

Of course Wang Meng understood his mood.

Is it to stand out for yourself?

No, it is to expand the influence and publicity of the literary award.

The interview was held in Fang Minghua's office, which has now become the room of the jury office.

The reporter who came to interview him was not Li Wei himself, but a female reporter named Yang Li. She had short hair and wore a pair of glasses, showing her shrewdness in her quiet voice. She took out her notebook and said:

"Chairman Fang, let's get started."

Fang Minghua nodded.

Li Hongying poured a cup of tea for each of them, then went out and closed the door.

Things started to go smoothly.

"Chairman Fang, can you briefly introduce the World Chinese Literature Award?"

"Okay, the World Chinese Literature Award is an award created for writers and literature lovers around the world. It is held every two years. The purpose is to promote literary exchanges between countries and enhance mutual understanding."

"Chairman Fang, how are the preparations for this award going?"

“It’s basically ready now, and members of the first judging panel and reading class have basically decided on the next step of issuing a call for essays at an appropriate time.”

Fang Minghua Balabala talked about a lot of the basic overview of the Literature Award, the preparations, the selection process, etc. The process was uneventful.

Yang Li took a notebook and memorized it carefully, then suddenly the conversation changed. "Chairman Fang, why did you create the World Chinese Literature Award? Some people say you are trying to push for the limelight, right?"

His tone became aggressive.

Damn it, you didn’t follow the script.

Exclusive interviews like this are usually communicated with the interviewees in advance, and both parties know what questions to ask, so as to avoid embarrassing situations.

Why was the Chinese Literature Award established? This question was arranged in advance, but why did you ask later that someone would say you were pushy?

Originally, when Fang Minghua answered the former question, he started with a set of standard answers about the purpose and significance of the Chinese Literature Award. However, when he heard Yang Li suddenly ask the following question, he had an idea and changed the content of his answer.

"Comrade reporter, before I answer your two questions, can I tell you a story?"

Yang Li was stunned for a moment and then said: "Please speak."

"I know an old general whose cultural level is not very high, but when he heard that I wanted to set up this literary award, he immediately said "OK" several times!"

"Why?"

"This is what he said: We Chinese translate our works into foreign languages ​​​​to participate in awards abroad. Why can't foreigners translate their works into Chinese and come to our country to participate in awards?! Now that our country is engaged in reform and opening up, we can go out if we can. Come in, economically as well as culturally!”

"As for being in the limelight, you say? If the establishment of this award can further promote literary exchanges between us and other countries around the world and promote Chinese language and culture, I am willing to be in the limelight!"

The interview lasted for forty minutes before it ended. Yang Li asked a question before leaving.

"Chairman Fang, can I publish the story you told truthfully?"

"sure!"

Fang Minghua politely sent Yang Li to the gate of the backyard before returning, and saw Li Hongying giving him a thumbs up.

"Teacher Fang, you are so amazing!"

"Okay, stop boasting and get to work quickly."

That night, Qin Provincial TV Station and Xijing TV Station broadcast the news about the establishment of the Literature Award. The next day, major official media such as People's Daily, Guangming Daily, and Qin Provincial Daily also reported the news, followed by Guangming Daily. In the form of an interview, our reporter's interview with Comrade Fang Minghua, founder of the World Chinese Literature Award and vice chairman of the Qin Provincial Writers Association, was published.

During the conversation, Fang Minghua elaborated on the background, motivation and award process of the establishment of the Chinese Literature Award.

He also revealed several judges on the jury, all of whom are heavyweights in the literary circles on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and three places:

Chairman of the Chinese Writers Association, Palladium is known as the Beidou of the literary world!

Vice Chairman of the Writers Association and former minister Wang Meng!

Liu Yichang, honorary chairman of the Hong Kong Writers Association and editor-in-chief of "Hong Kong Literature"!

President of Taiwan PEN Association and famous poet Yu Guangzhong

Each one is astonishing, and the specifications are staggering.

Some people jokingly said that this situation is approaching the Mao Dun Literary Award, the largest domestic literary award. Some writers who are close to Fang Minghua even called to express congratulations and jokingly said that you were preparing to kill the Lu Xun Literary Award when it was still in its infancy.

Fang Minghua only felt wronged after hearing this. I really didn't mean that.

Moreover, the selection rules for the Lu Xun Award and the Chinese Language Award are different.

No matter what, in China, the impact of this award has been made, at least people will not doubt it is the Pheasant Award.

Of course, this is just the first step, and there are still a lot of things to do.

To refine the award process, we need to communicate with the judges. Since they are not in the same city, we need to contact them through letters and phone calls.

To publish a call for papers, according to the plan of the jury, the call for papers will start on August 1 and the deadline is December 31. Works published in Chinese for the first time in the world in 1990-1991 or translated into Chinese (not limited to those published in the mainland) can be submitted.

Of course, there is no problem in China. The news of the establishment of the literary award published in the newspaper will let the majority of authors and literature lovers know. Now the focus is on Hong Kong, Taiwan, and abroad, which requires publishing a call for papers in newspapers in these regions or countries.

Fang Minghua used his friends in Hong Kong and Taiwan, as well as Iwagami Osamu, the president of the Chinese Science Fiction Research Association in Japan, and Li Li and Sun Lizhe in the United States to help contact local media. For a while, the landlines in the three offices kept ringing.

By mid-July, Fang Minghua suddenly received two invitations to come to Hong Kong.

One was from the Hong Kong Writers Association, inviting him to give a lecture in Hong Kong on cultural essays. The other was from the Hong Kong Joint Publishing Company, inviting him to attend the second Hong Kong Book Fair and sign and sell books.