To have a close relationship with literature, how can one write about the joy of understanding? Mei Zihan: Mastering Chinese Language | Prose | Literature
"Prose is not like a violin, nor is it like a piano. It is most like a cello. Its voice is the voice of life, not high in the clouds, but low, deep, and elegant." On June 17th, writer Mei Zihan brought his collection of humanistic essays "Green Light" to the "Jing'an Lecture Hall" hosted by the Jing'an District Library and the Jing'an District Writers Association, sharing his creative journey and the warmth flowing in life.
When it comes to radiance, people's impression is usually warm and yellow, while what Mei Zihan wrote was green radiance. "What I write is all about small things in life. How can I compare everyone's life? Do you say a person is a tree? It's not that big. A person is a bit like a leaf on a tree, growing green, then yellowing and withering, falling off in an instant, and then being swept away and gone forever. Just like many ordinary people's lives, they have also been green and red, but you haven't paid attention. You can see the sun when you look up, but the small piece of green on the tree is not visible to you. All I write about are small people like green leaves, sweeping the floor, repairing shoes, security guards, couriers..."
Every green leaf or falling sound on the branches of life has a shining light, and the key is to have a pair of eyes that can discover the brightness and poetry of ordinary life. The peaches sent by the students are filled with gratitude, the sweat on the dark forehead of the delivery boy reflects the hardships and efforts of life, and the beauty and poetry expressed in the simple enthusiasm of ordinary security guards... Every little bit of ordinary life is the light of green. Mei Zihan said that the story in "Green Light" was slowly written by him over five years. It is a book for life, for children, and also for himself, recording his "stories from many years ago and every day now.".
On the day of this "Jing'an Lecture", the Chinese language exam for the middle school entrance examination had just ended. Mei Zihan admitted that many middle and primary school students do not know what to write when facing essay questions. "We were like this when we were young, and there were very few students who liked to write essays." This year's high school essay question "The Joy of Understanding" was not easy to plan and layout well in a short time after receiving the question, and they also had to search for good words and sentences in their minds. "The completion of" the Joy of Understanding "is not" knowing ", and Chinese language learning is not easy. We need to balance a lot of life, emotional memories, and so-called truths, which all require daily reading and accumulation." Mei Zihan said that it is not easy for primary and secondary school students to write high-level essays because their life resumes are still too short, "they have not encountered too many." "Bitter and bitter, sweet encounters, but don't feel very sweet because you haven't encountered bitterness before. It's difficult to learn Chinese very well just by studying Chinese textbooks. Reading more literary books actually helps you sound and awaken memories in life, arousing your attention to the days you are currently experiencing. From this point of view, literary reading, especially prose reading, is very important."
In Mei Zihan's view, there is less "cursing" in prose, as if this style sets the mood for writing, which is to talk about the big emotions in small things. Prose writing and reading also have meaning for adults, allowing you to touch your memories and seemingly ordinary things in life. "Literature is beautiful, but don't think that beautiful things have no practical significance or value. To learn Chinese well, you need to have a sense of closeness to literature. The highest level and most beautiful appearance of your mother tongue is in literature. If language is paper and cloth, the paper and cloth in literature are well made kites that can fly very high and have a beautiful posture when swaying in the air."
