Fri/Sat/Sun December 8~10, 201706 i culture

WHILE thousands upon thousands of folks enjoyed the Singles’ Day shopping spree Nov. 11, there was a full house of literature lovers at Shenzhen Book City who chose to seek nourishment for their minds by listening to Mo Yan, the fi rst Chinese Nobel laureate in literature in 2012, describe how folk art infl uenced his novels.

It was the Nobel laureate’s 15th visit to Shenzhen. This time Mo was invited as the fi rst keynote speaker of the 18th Shenzhen Reading Month·Shenzhen Reading Forum which kicked off Nov. 11.

Born in Gaomi County in Shandong Province to a family of farmers, Mo is deeply inspired by Chinese culture and folklore, which has a strong infl uence on the creation of his works.

“When I was a child, I often grazed cattle at our commune where adults would usually gather to chat with each other. I listened to them telling stories which later became a steady source of inspiration for my novels,” he said. In the eyes of the novelist, folk life consists of the daily lives of people in the lower class and the unique culture, geography, cli-mate and landscape of his hometown.

Mo also derives inspiration from papercutting, wood printing, Maoqiang Opera, clay fi gurines and other folk art in Gaomi County.

For example, “Sandalwood Death,”

one of Mo’s works, has made Maoqiang Opera widely known and popular. He believes when a man suffers from pov-erty, hardship and solitude, he needs to sing at the top of his voice to vent his feelings. From his point of view, the melancholy Maoqiang Opera mirrors the adversity of past lives.

Distinct from down-to-earth folk life and folk art, Mo’s works are full of imagination. Mo believes that imagination comes from real life. His newly-published book, “Waiting for Moses,” is based on a real story of the disappearance of a local entrepreneur in Gaomi. The novel is about the wife of the entrepreneur collecting garbage to support the family while searching for her husband.

“The novel was completed in 2012, and after fi ve years, I found it had a soul and started to grow,” Mo said.

He continued to explain that he later learned from the entrepreneur’s younger

brother that he had been living in the for-ests to cut himself off from the outside world and has since returned home. As a result, another 8,000 characters were added to the 7,000-character novel, giving the novel much more life. “The changes in real life are always more unexpected than the novel itself,” he said.

Despite the fact that Mo’s works often tell miserable stories that happened in his hometown, his novels are well received by readers in the modern era. Mo attributes his popularity to the “spirit of revelry” in his works.

“The era we are living in has no lack of revelry,” he continued. From his perspec-tive, the “Double 11” Shopping Spree is part of that revelry, with countless air-planes and containers delivering goods from all over the world to China. “The inconceivable things have come to reality and our lives are marching forward in revelry,” he said.

When asked whether writers will be replaced by robots, Mo was convinced that “it is unlikely since literary creation is much more complex than other human activities,” he said. “Science and litera-ture are treasures of human wisdom. Neither can be neglected.” He suggested that Shenzhen also pay attention to lit-erature and art while developing science and technology.

(Yang Mei)

Nobel Laureate shares the impact of folk art

on writing

Cao Zhencaozhen0806@126.com

MORE than 50 paintings of plum blos-soms, orchids, bamboo and pine trees created by Chinese masters from the Song Dynasty (960-1279) to modern day were exhibited from Nov. 3 to Dec. 3 at Shenzhen Museum.

Known as the “four gentlemen” in Chinese art, the four plants have typically been depicted in traditional ink and wash paintings since the Song Dynasty because of their refi ned beauty and the moral character imbued upon them by the Chinese literati.

Ancient Chinese scholars believed that plants had their own unique characters, so plants were frequently used to symbolize moral principles or spirits.

The plum tree is renowned for burst-ing into bright red blossoms in the winter, in defi ance of the severe cold, so the plum blossom symbolizes moral integrity and strength. It basically encourages people to persist through diffi cult times. The orchid grows in val-leys in the spring and ancient Chinese valued it since the fl ower can live with loneliness, so it symbolizes elegance, nobility and self-respect. Pine trees, which also grow in winter, represent perseverance and strong-mindedness. Bamboo, as its shape shows, is upright and easy-going.

According to Cai Huiyao, vice cura-tor of Shenzhen Museum, they didn’t exhibit the paintings in chronological order but put similar themes together to present a contrast. For instance, art lovers could admire different bamboo paintings created by Wen Zhengming (1470-1559), Zheng Banqiao (1693-1765), Zhu Qizhan (1892-1996), Guan Shanyue (1892-1996) and Li Xiongcai (1910-2001).

Some exhibited paintings are over 7 meters in length and viewers cannot see the whole scroll from one point, so the museum staff printed some parts out and placed them beside the original scrolls. The exhibition also featured collaborative paintings by four famous couples from the 20th century: Xie Zhiliu and Chen Peiqiu, Zhang Boju and Pan Su, Wu Zuoren and Xiao Shufang, and Liu Haisu and Xia Yiqiao. Paintings by the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, eight Chinese painters active in the 18th century, were also on display.

The eight artists, including Zheng Banqiao and Jin Nong, were known in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) for rejecting orthodox ideas about painting in favor of a style deemed expressive

Refi ned beauty in‘gentlemen’paintings

Cao Zhencaozhen0806@126.com

THE “Double 11” shopping spree didn’t appear to thin the Shenzhen crowd in Lianhua Hill Park, where tens of thou-sands turned out for classical music.

The 2017 Lianhua Hill Glades Music Festival presented four orchestras Nov. 10-12 at Lianhua Hill’s Kite Square. With Michael Koehler as artistic director, the festival offered four concerts by Phil-harmonie Leipzig, Macao Youth Sym-

phony Orchestra, Siberian Symphony Orchestra and Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra. Chinese violinist Lyu Siqing was featured in the concert Nov. 12.

“There are not only renowned profes-sional musicians but also amateur play-ers from local schools. Whether you like easy-listening tunes or long and serious pieces, there’s a performance for you,” said Gu Dandan, director of Futian Dis-trict civilization offi ce.

According to Jian Dingxiong, head of Futian District cultural and sports

bureau, they gave out 15,000 free tick-ets through the bureau’s offi cial WeChat account “szftjsf” in three installments and all were claimed by WeChat users within three minutes.

The Lianhua Hill Glades Music Festi-val not only encourages locals to enjoy classical music in a relaxed fashion but also advocates environmental protec-tion. This year, it called for audience members to collect garbage in the park, and the festival organizers will donate books to children with autism.

Lianhua Hill music festival well receivedand individualistic.

A painting by Li Xiongcai. Sun Yuchen

Mo Yan (R), China’s fi rst Nobel laureate in literature, speaks at the Shenzhen Reading Month · Shenzhen Reading Forum in Shenzhen Book City CBD store in Futian on Nov. 11. Photos by Sun Yuchen

Mo YanMo Yan