Guangdong is adjacent to Hong Kong. Over the years, through certain special channels, many popular things in Hong Kong have always become popular in Guangdong at a relatively lagging speed.

Fashion, pop songs, film and television dramas - comics are no exception. They have always had a certain audience and market in Guangdong over the years, but due to policy reasons, these things cannot be brought to the table.

In the periodical industry, there is one thing called back issues, that is, expired magazines.

Back issues are different from second-hand magazines. They are still brand new and belong to inventory with poor sales volume in the current issue. Usually, after being overstocked for a certain period of time, publishers and booksellers will dispose of them to second-hand booksellers at low prices.

It was through this method that some comic magazines from Xiangjiang flowed into Guangdong and nourished the first batch of comic readers in China.

As a veteran in the publishing industry, Li Shifei knows the inside story very well.

He was thinking about the feasibility of Tao Yushu's idea.

In the past two years, the sales volume of domestic pure literary journals has declined visibly, and Huacheng Publishing House's "Flower City" and "Essays" have not escaped this environment.

Although it's not to the point where it can't be done anymore, it's actually not as moist as it used to be.

The appeal of serious literature to the public is declining.

On the other hand, those popular literary magazines or magazines in other professional fields, such as "Story Club", "Popular Films", "Wulin" and other magazines, are like a duck in water.

Guangdong's local Lingnan Fine Arts Publishing House founded a "Weekend" pictorial magazine in 1980. With several comic strips serialized, this pictorial magazine, whose influence was limited to Guangdong and surrounding provinces, had a peak of 1.5 million copies.

sales volume.

If Huacheng Publishing House could establish a comic magazine, it would be a good development path.

But the problem is that Huacheng Publishing House has no experience in running comic magazines, nor does it have the talents and resources in this area.

As for the comics introduced by Yulang Agency in the future, it is not difficult for Huacheng Publishing House.

After thinking for a moment, Li Shifei looked at Tao Yushu attentively and pointed out the difficulties of Huacheng Publishing House to her.

Tao Yushu pondered for a while and said: "The comics industry in the Mainland has not yet taken shape, but comic strips and comics are similar, and you only need to study a little.

Our Yulang organization can recruit people, and your Huacheng Publishing House can set up a training class to train editing talents in the early stage and cartoon talents in the later stage.

In this way, won’t the problem be solved?”

Tao Yushu's sincerity is not insignificant. He is providing money and effort to help Huacheng Publishing House expand the comic magazine market and cultivate comic talents for free.

After hearing this condition, Li Shifei no longer hesitated and said to Tao Yushu: "I can't make the decision on such a big matter by myself. I have to go back and discuss it with several major leaders in the company."

"Yes, then I will just wait for the good news." Tao Yushu said with a smile and full of confidence.

Li Shifei nodded at her, and then extended an invitation to Lin Chaoyang, saying that the GD Provincial Cultural Association happened to have an event these two days and wanted to invite Lin Chaoyang to participate.

In addition to being the editor-in-chief of Huacheng Publishing House and the editor-in-chief of "Flower City", Li Shifei is also the vice-chairman of the GD Provincial Literary and Art Association.

The next day, Lin Chaoyang appeared at the GD Provincial Literary Association. The theme of today's meeting was to discuss the development of reportage in the Guangdong literary world, and the magazine "Flower City" was the protagonist.

Since the 1980s, the literary genre of reportage has been developing in full swing in China. "Flower City" was the first domestic literary magazine to set up a "reportage" column. In recent years, it has published many widely influential reportage works.

Since last year, "Flower City" has deliberately increased the proportion of reportage in the publication.

The main reason why they do this is because the documentary nature of reportage has a strong ability to intervene in real life, and is more attractive to ordinary readers than pure literary works.

The standard of this meeting was not low. Not only the older generation of highly respected writers such as Ouyang Shan, Qin Mu, and Chen Canyun attended, but also well-known young and middle-aged writers such as Chen Guokai and Liu Simen were present.

A conference brought together half of Lingnan literature.

Lin Chaoyang was invited temporarily, and everyone was surprised when he showed up at the venue.

He has spent most of his time in Xiangjiang in the past few years. Except for the occasional return to Yanjing, he has basically no exchanges with the domestic literary circles.

Some time ago, the Zhuang Chongwen Literary Award was held in full swing, setting off a wave of attention and discussion in the literary world, and making Lin Chaoyang a man of the hour. As soon as he appeared at the venue, everyone immediately turned their attention.

”——I personally think that the rapid development of reportage in China is not a good thing.

In our country, we advocate that literary creation should be based on reality, and novel creation should be based on life. However, literary creation cannot be completely true, and it must contain a certain amount of fiction.

It is precisely this kind of fictional existence and the combination of reality and fiction that can create truly literary, ideological and artistic masterpieces.

Reportage is completely based on real people and true events, and pursues 100% restoration. There is a problem here. Its audience is often not attracted by the artistry of the work,1 but by various curious and out-of-the-ordinary plots and elements.

attract.-"

The seminar proceeds normally. Since it is a discussion, everyone must express their opinions.

Reportage has developed vigorously in recent years. Some people appreciate it, while others oppose it. The literary world has always had mixed views on this genre.

The seminar lasted for more than an hour, and it was Lin Chaoyang's turn to speak.

"I understand everyone's controversy about reportage. What I want to say is that the genre of reportage is actually very un-literary. It is closer to in-depth journalistic investigation or social investigation report.

Rather than saying it is a novel, it is better to say it is news. This is true both in form and content. But what is interesting is that after entering the 1980s, it has developed greatly in China.

Just now some comrades said that it pursues novelty or is too popular.

These situations do exist, but as creators, we should still see some deeper reasons.

Isn’t the popularity of reportage or documentary literature because it is more in line with the reading needs of ordinary readers or ordinary people? Isn’t it because they are strongly involved in our real life?

Lin Chaoyang's argument was refreshing. When everyone was discussing reportage as literature, he told everyone that it was news.

When everyone pays attention to the literary and artistic nature of reportage, he also tells everyone that they should pay attention to whether the work is close to the readers.

At first glance, this statement gives many people the impression that he is here to disrupt the situation, but if you think about it carefully, it makes sense.

Over the years, Lin Chaoyang has fulfilled his qualifications with one work after another. The only difference is his age. After he won the French Renaudeau Literature Prize last year, his status and prestige in the domestic literary circle has quietly increased.

This year he promoted the establishment of the Zhuang Chongwen Literary Award, which has invisibly widened the distance between him and ordinary writers.

While everyone was still racking their brains to win the award, he had already become the one judging the award.

At that time, "China Youth" organized a "May 4th Youth Literature Award", and Lin Chaoyang also served as a judge, but it was only an award organized by a magazine.

In comparison, the background of the Zhuang Chongwen Literature Prize is much higher.

It was established with donations from patriotic Hong Kong businessmen, and organized by the Literary and Art Association, the Ministry of Culture, the Chinese Literature Foundation and other units and institutions, with a huge bonus of NT$300,000.

The momentum of the first awards immediately surpassed that of the Mao Dun Literary Award. It not only received heated discussion and recognition among readers, but also became an award that everyone in the literary world is eager for.

This gap in status and structure made Lin Chaoyang's speech gain the attention of everyone present.

After receiving the Zhuang Chongwen Literature Award, Lin Chaoyang made his first appearance in front of colleagues in the literary world, and the weight of his speech was no longer the same as before.

After the seminar, the venue did not disband immediately. Everyone was chatting and laughing. Lin Chaoyang became the center of the topic. Many people were very interested in the Zhuang Chongwen Literary Award that had just concluded. They wanted Lin Chaoyang to win the award.

Give me some inside information.

"Our award is actually not much different from most awards. The main organizational work is done by the comrades of the Cultural Association.

Lin Chaoyang picked some interesting stories about the award and told them, and everyone listened with great interest.

Fortunately for the old writers, they are no longer so concerned about gains and losses. Many young and middle-aged writers present have ambitions for the Zhuang Chongwen Literary Award.

Thinking about the first Zhuang Chongwen Literary Award, it was so influential and had such a generous bonus. If you win the award, you will gain both fame and fortune. Who can not be moved?

"Comrade Chaoyang, can you tell us the focus or taste of the jury's awards?"

Someone asked such a question, obviously trying to be opportunistic, but no one laughed at him.

Writers are human beings too, and they also have ambitions for fame and fortune. If they can say it frankly, they will look more cute.

After bursting into laughter, Lin Chaoyang said with a smile on his lips:

"You are making things difficult for me. I really don't find any emphasis on reading aesthetics or taste in the judging panel. If I must say it, I should write good works.

The selection rules for the Zhuang Chongwen Literature Award are different from all awards at this stage. We rely on tens of thousands of college students across the country.

I know that many colleagues in the literary field are distrustful of allowing college students to serve as judges, but facts have proven that

These young comrades who are educated, aesthetic, and enthusiastic are reliable.

The more than fifty works (parts) nominated for this year's awards are all selected from the best and the best from the best. Even our jury was surprised by the appearance of some works.

For example, Yu Hua's "Eighteen Years Old and Going on a Long Journey", such as Su Tong's "Escape in 1934".

Although these works did not win awards, their appearance proved the diversity and openness of the Zhuang Chongwen Literary Award awards, and also allowed the works of these young writers to be noticed by more people.

Good works are never the same, they must each have their own splendor.

There is no need to speculate on the criteria for awarding awards. As long as you write good works and are loved by readers, you will definitely be recognized.

Of course, the number of places for the Zhuang Chongwen Literary Award is limited, and we can only select the work that resonates most with readers and judges."

Lin Chaoyang's speech can be said to be watertight, and people can't fault it. The reason why he made such a statement is:

I'm just afraid that some people are smart enough to deliberately change their creative style to cater to the so-called judges' tastes.

As for the true thoughts of everyone present after listening, Lin Chaoyang had no way of knowing.

After chatting casually for a while, he left the venue.

At noon the next day, Lin Chaoyang and his wife arrived in Shenzhen.

On a rare visit to Shenzhen, Lin Chaoyang contacted Ermatai. In the evening, he brought Tao Yushu to Hongling Building. It was much more lively than when he came to attend Ermatai's wedding two years ago.

After not seeing each other for two years, Ermaitai was extremely excited when he saw Lin Chaoyang. He hugged him and then said hello to Tao Yushu.

Luo Huifang held the child in her arms, and Lin Chaoyang teased her twice, "Little guy, he's as tough as a tiger!"

After saying that a red envelope was handed out, Ermatai and his wife wanted to refuse, but Lin Chaoyang suppressed it with "It's for the children."
To be continued...