Everyone should become an expert in daily life, surrounded by daily thoughts | cities | experts
Historian Xu Qianjin is conducting an ideological experiment. The subject of this experiment is closely related to each of us, which is our daily life, and the target audience of the experiment is future people.
"Historians should not only focus on the past, but also observe and record the present, turning these everyday landscapes that were originally ubiquitous but would inevitably disappear into historical archives."
So, he named this experiment the "Daily Life&Archive Generation" series, and has now completed three masterpieces: "The Abundance of Flow: The Daily Landscape of a Community", "Driving in the Present: Individualized Interpretation of Technological Rationality", and "The Flower of Modern Spirit: The Concrete and Abstract of a Northeast Industrial City", with the aim of allowing future people to see the daily life of this era in rapidly changing cities and constantly passing time.
"Should be an expert in current daily life"
Looking at the news: Your "Daily Life&Archive Generation" series is designed to view daily life from a conceptual perspective, avoiding its complete disappearance. Is this a documentary like existence?
Xu Qianjin: In some aspects, the writing method of this series is similar to that of documentaries, recording specific scenes of an era as objects of reflection for contemporaries. But what sets this series apart from documentaries is its future value.
My writing method has several prerequisites. Firstly, we need to turn to the past and search for daily life that has been simplified by the written system, recognizing that the written system has selectivity. This selectivity has the ability to distort and deform, and after the selection of power, system, and various ideologies, historical archives have been separated from their corresponding events. Beyond separation, there is also disappearance. Many figures in history have disappeared, and the causal connections of many events have also disappeared. Even with meticulous observation, historians are still powerless to deal with plots that have not been captured by words. They can guess, but cannot prove.
Next, turn to the future and see which basic situations of this era will disappear in the future, and whether these previously existing but disappearing situations are meaningful.
Finally, it is important to value the present and observe what is happening in the present with a perspective that combines the past and future. So, this is a desire to communicate with the future.
This is a problem of landscape equality, which is to make the existing have the ability to display. Although this wish cannot be fully realized, equality is no longer a concept of political economy in this wish. It will enter the realm of daily life and reshape the expression of hearing, sight, and touch within different groups or classes.
Daily life. Haishaer photography
Looking at the news: Some people question whether it is necessary to record these ordinary and small daily landscapes?
Xu Qianjin: In "Flowing Abundance: The Daily Landscape of a Community," I raised a question about the relationship between historians and the past, or rather, the problems that historians may encounter when explaining the past: "Modern historians study the history of a country as if they had served as its leader, study the history of a region as if they had served as its governor, study a deceased king as if they were his close friends during his lifetime, but they are often unfamiliar with those related to it that have disappeared from daily life. They are ultimately not leaders, governors, nor close friends of the king. They are ordinary people, surrounded by daily life every day, and should be the current daily life." An expert in life. "
This question stems from my personal experience. My job is historical research, with a long-term focus on the human nature, systems, and customs in written archives. I try my best to uncover the secrets of history, but often cannot find people's daily lives. This is a type of flowing, non textual knowledge, most of which falls outside the realm of text or is excluded from text in the process of emergence and improvement, and ultimately does not become textual or archival. Therefore, modern historians can only excavate the lost common sense based on intermittent clues and construct historical narratives in a visible and logical way.
In view of this, my observation perspective has shifted from the past to the present. This is the reason and purpose of this series of writing. During the writing process, I tried to go beyond historical archives and describe daily life scenes that lacked rigorous logic and causal relationships, including countless people, countless events, countless materials, countless languages, and infinite spaces for transformation, because in human history, these factors were not only ignored in one era, but also in many eras.
"An additional opportunity for remediation"
Looking at the news: A car, a daily landscape of a residential area, and a Northeast industrial city, how did you determine these topics? How was the sample selected again?
Xu Qianjin: There is a chance in the selection of the three works, but there is also a certain standard, which is that I am very familiar with the scenes in the three works.
In 2016, after my child was born, I often accompanied them to play in the community and saw many specific characters and events, which is the writing background of "Flowing Abundance". This work is a daily narrative of a urban community, in which the landscape is originally cut by the textual system. This community is like this, and other communities are also like this. This means that future people will encounter difficulties in understanding our era. They do not know what kind of space we live in, nor do they know the basic background of the ideological state of this era, just like modern people do not understand the customs of village life in the past.
The same goes for "The Flower of Modern Spirit: The Concrete and Abstract of a Northeast Industrial City". It originates from my familiarity with Changchun, but beyond that, there is also an unfamiliar perspective. I spent the first 10 years of my life in the countryside, familiarized myself with everything in the rural space, and then entered the city. In the rapidly changing city, I have always been like an outsider, belonging to both rural and urban areas, neither rural nor urban. I have been living in the city for 30 years, but emotionally, I still feel unable to fully integrate into urban civilization. In terms of ideological significance, this is a perspective, a perspective from the edge. I hope to use this perspective to record the daily landscape of this city, explore the modern spirit of this city, and the modern spirit of Chinese cities. As cities are the main structure of modern Chinese civilization, I also hope to find concrete symbols of Chinese modern spirit from them.
Compared to that, the purpose of "Driving in the Present: Individualized Interpretation of Technological Rationality" is more clear. In order to write this book, I learned driving and even studied at an auto repair school for more than half a year. For this, I bought a domestically produced car to illustrate the situation of modern industry in China. In the process of learning driving, I am thinking about some issues related to cars, such as "machines and materialism", "consumer and technological politics", "absence and daily life", "the extended meaning of cars", and have determined the basic goals of this work.
Looking at the news: In the three works, you often use the perspective of outsiders. How can seeing problems from the perspective of others help with life?
Xu Qianjin: In these three works, the perspective of outsiders always exists as a comparison or reference.
In "Flowing Abundance," a macro outsider's perspective is rural narrative. Most of our rural works are from an internal perspective. For example, Liang Hong's China in Liangzhuang is a native of Liangzhuang. Her parents and sisters are still living there, so she has the possibility to go deep into the daily life in the countryside. Yan Haijun's "Cliff Report" also reveals the situation of a small village in the new situation from an internal perspective, especially the changes in customs caused by the impact of economic changes on the rural moral system. American Mayer's "Journey to Northeast" depicts a barren village in the northern part of Jilin City, where his wife was born and raised, so he also has the conditions to construct a narrative from within. By writing about cities from the perspective of rural people, you may see the face of the whole of China.
"The Flower of Modern Spirit" also borrowed the perspective of outsiders, and for Northeast China, I am also an outsider. This perspective is historical, which explains the importance of constructing modern urban narratives from a historical perspective. Since the 16th century, foreign travelers have often come to China to observe Chinese customs. In fact, this is the true state of the encounter between two cultures. However, since more people are writing from the West, they also have the power to interpret Chinese customs during that period.
In human history, there are many landscapes that are rich in meaning but have disappeared. They appear in the field of daily life, appearing densely during a period that may seem insignificant, but their ultimate meaning is still in a waiting state. They will only be displayed to the public at a certain period in the future. With the perspective of others, there is also an opportunity for remedy.
"This kind of freedom is everywhere"
Looking at the news: You hope to interpret the modern spirit of the city through your works. You grew up in a rural area, why do you want to express the spirit of the city?
Xu Qianjin: Before the age of 10, I lived in a traditional rural environment and understood the basic situation of this kind of life. Later, as my parents changed jobs, I lived near a large factory in the suburbs of the city and then transferred to the city.
This is the beginning of my true understanding of cities. Previously, my understanding of cities was indirect and abstract. When I was a child, my mother was a movie projectionist. Since I can remember, she has taken me to show movies. I have also watched many movies about cities, and I have a preliminary understanding of this civilization. When I truly entered the interior of this civilization, I was initially shocked, but since then I have also enjoyed urban civilization because individuals can achieve better development in the city.
But in many works, modern urban civilization is criticized for its indifference, indifference, or boredom. For example, since the 19th century, Western urban civilization has created a lot of negative psychology, including depression, loneliness, abandonment, and panic that individuals still have no way out when their sense of existence approaches nothingness. Cities have become places of poverty, revolution, or the root of social unrest.
However, we cannot ignore the other side of urban civilization. This is a place of equality, freedom, and the birthplace of modern spirit. As long as a person is talented and hardworking, they can survive in the city, achieve their ideals in this fast-moving society of strangers, be free and less controlled by factors such as language and gaze in traditional acquaintance societies.
Looking at the news: It cannot be ignored that rural narratives have been popular for many years in contemporary China.
Xu Qianjin: Rural narrative is not just about tracing a beautiful memory, but also exploring ways to understand and change the countryside. For example, Huang Deng's "Family on the Earth" does not follow Shen Congwen's classical style in rural narratives. It focuses on the negative state of rural areas after being dragged into modernization. The causal relationship, which was originally ancient and constant and attached to traditional values, is already fragile and fragile in appearance. Instead, it is replaced by drift, change, immediacy, contingency, and so on.
So, my three works are based on the comparison between urban civilization and rural civilization, with the aim of demonstrating the rationality of urban civilization. At present, whether for the West or China, urban civilization is a very important issue that concerns the realization of the spirit of equality and freedom.
In your opinion, what is the modern spirit of Chinese cities?
Xu Qianjin: Modern Chinese cities have many characteristics, such as mobility, unfamiliarity, division of labor system, universality of technology, importance of institutions, and free daily life.
Regarding liquidity, in any city in China, especially in big cities, everything is mobile. The things we use are mobile, such as phones, cars, and computers, which will be replaced in a few years. The house is no longer closely related to the family, and the family has become an abstract emotional issue. Modern people rely heavily on the materials in the city, but there is no reason to love these materials, let alone preserve them.
Regarding the sense of unfamiliarity, living in modern cities, we encounter many strangers every day, including those who handle important affairs for us. It is difficult for strangers to have emotional communication, but with the assistance of modern systems, they can still accomplish important things, and for some things, strangers handle them better and more efficiently.
Regarding the system of division of labor, living in a modern city means that a person has accepted it and become a part or symbol of it. In a specific division of labor order, he still has the conditions to practice individual ideals, despite being limited in terms of time or space.
Regarding the universality of technology, in multi-level modern civilization, technology is an important factor that even determines a person's identity. Technology may be restrictive in some aspects, but in others it implies freedom. If a person knows multiple technologies, they can live across industries. This is the mode of personnel, material, and information flow shaped by technology, which is free, equal, unpredictable, full of challenges, but also provides unlimited creative possibilities.
Regarding the importance of institutions, liquidity and unfamiliarity weaken the traditional emotional function of hometown, but create a modern sense of hometown, which is the city. In this modern space, the intimacy of common territory or blood ties is constantly weakening, replaced by the close relationship between people and institutions. So, more and more people are born, raised, and working in cities. They may sometimes feel frustrated due to repetitive routines, but they can also receive stable material rewards or unexpected spiritual inspirations.
Regarding the daily life of freedom, in modern cities, even if the temperature drops to minus 30 degrees Celsius, there is a stable supply of fresh vegetables in the vegetable market. Buses travel back and forth on fixed routes day after day, and bookstores continuously sell various practical, literary, ideological, or aesthetic books. This is a freedom in the daily sense. In modern cities, this freedom is everywhere.
"The power of endurance and taking advantage of the situation"
On the news: The subtitle of "The Flower of Modern Spirit" is "Concrete and Abstract of a Northeast Industrial City". The cover of the book features a towering chimney, a large factory building, and a background similar to the recently popular film and television drama "The Long Season". Through such works, many people have started to pay attention to industrial cities in Northeast China, but it has also exposed that many people did not understand Northeast China before. What do you think of this phenomenon?
Xu Qianjin: Sometimes humans are a life of linguistics. They live in a world constructed by language and believe that language is real. Even if language goes against reality, they still believe in language. The same applies to the Northeast issue. Many people have not been to Northeast China, and many do not understand the real Northeast, let alone the historical significance of Northeast China.
If we use common sense to see, living in cities across China and interacting with people from different regions, we will find that there is not much difference. People from each region have both good and bad aspects, and there are cultural differences between different regions, but overall there is no incompatibility.
However, language often affects people's judgment in virtual states. If this is the only source of information for their understanding of Northeast China, they will make judgments based on it, even if these judgments are incorrect, they will believe them to be true. But for those born, raised, and living in Northeast China, even if these judgments are wrong, they cannot completely reverse them.
This is a contradiction between language and reality: even if language cannot accurately interpret the connotation of a specific existence, it can sometimes be regarded as existence itself by people.
Looking at the news: You also predicted the future of Northeast China in "Modern Spirit Flower".
Xu Qianjin: The main problem of relatively backward economy in Northeast China is related to local systems, which has already been discussed in public opinion. But I would like to add that the climate in Northeast China has several months every year. Due to the severe cold, outdoor operations in Northeast China are greatly affected, such as agriculture, transportation, construction, etc., which is a natural disadvantage. But we cannot use this disadvantage to evaluate other issues in Northeast China.
For the future, I have indeed expressed it in "The Flower of Modern Spirit", which is a historical prediction, but also a personal prediction, which may not be accurate: "China is a cultural plane, where historical opportunities hang on, the population may flow wherever. In the land era, inland cities prospered and created rich culture; in the ocean era, coastal cities gained historical opportunities... On this even cultural plane, every region is waiting for rare historical opportunities. Once opportunities come, they will not fail, because people in every region have the power to endure and the power to follow the trend."
"Record the present and write for the future"
Looking at the news: You once said that the "Daily Life&Archive Generation" series can be seen as a thought experiment. Looking back now, has this experiment been successful?
Xu Qianjin: After the publication of this series, three types of reading feedback were encountered:
The first type is criticism based on simultaneity. The current writing displays the rhythm, order, and space of daily life. For people living in this era, these issues are plain, repetitive, lacking novelty, and go against the logic, rhetoric, and aesthetic requirements of the writing system. Just as I read the first few pages, someone noticed this issue. He may continue reading, but halfway through, he finally can't bear it: "Too trivial, too trivial, too trivial..." This is a supporter of the writing system, hoping to discover surprises, continuity, shock, greatness, or artistic fiction from reading.
The second type is mirror reading. Writing about the present has become a narrative mirror, with words reflecting the present like a mirror. With the help of this mirror, he can view his life from another perspective. This is a strategy for people living in the present to temporarily escape from the mundane, continuous, repetitive, and trivial thoughts. Although they still need to return, at this time, they are the viewers of daily life: "The fragmented daily and repetitive life are more likely to contain social genes, and more likely to be the foundation stones for constructing grand narratives and grand truths. Pay attention to it, find it, and you can see through any embellishments and disguises."
The third type is reading under multiple temporal backgrounds. For a long time, some people have been deeply contemplating history and constantly observing reality, with expectations for the relationship between the present and the future. He has realized that daily life in the present is an important field, but it is constantly disappearing. He may have a question: why has what once existed disappeared without a trace? He may have put in a lot of effort to keep these ubiquitous and disappearing things. So, when he sees a text about the present, a sense of ideological recognition arises: "This is a bold practice, recording the present and writing for the future. People in the present can use it to reflect on their surroundings, and future people can use it to understand the past."
Looking at the news: What aspects are you planning to focus on in your next work?
Xu Qianjin: The next installment will be an animal fable, reflecting on the path of human machine civilization from the perspective of animals, using literature to intervene in history, jointly opposing war, and maintaining world peace.
At a future moment, the Earth's energy has been depleted, the Little Ice Age is approaching again, and the post human society or robot era has not emerged. Human migration to the tropics is accompanied by intense psychological turmoil. Animals migrate northward, gradually restoring their most primitive wildness. During the migration, all life began a second evolution.
Animals have developed a sound consciousness and live peacefully north of the temperate zone. In order to fully understand humanity and reflect on the shortcomings of early human civilization, animals formed literacy classes and embarked on a journey to the human library, fully reflecting on the characteristics of early human civilization as a prerequisite for negotiations with tropical humans.
After the second evolution, humans abandoned the flaws of early humans, became free, no longer excessively possessed, no longer subject to symbols, and settled in the tropics. But some people missed the second evolution, attacking tropical humans from the sea in an attempt to restore colonial order. Animals helped tropical humans defeat colonialism and then signed the Animal Human Convention to regulate human and animal behavior. A brand new era has begun.
"Flowing Abundance: The Daily Landscape of a Community"
"Driving in the Present: Individualized Interpretation of Technological Rationality"
"The Flower of Modern Spirit: The Concrete and Abstract of a Northeast Industrial City"
Xu Qianjin is moving forward
Shanghai Bookstore Publishing House
