Wangquangen
In the past century, modern children's literature in China has gone through a tortuous and brilliant course. Looking back on China's children's literature in the past century, we are filled with emotion and passion.
one
In China, the name "Children's Literature" began in the May 4th Movement (Mao Dun's About Children's Literature). More specifically, children's literature, as a new type of literature, has been gradually recognized and spread by China people since the beginning of the 20th century. When the era entered the May 4th New Culture Movement, this genre with modern concepts and forms developed supernormally, so the name "children's literature" was quickly accepted by Chinese people. "Childishness" and "children's literature" have become the most fashionable, freshest, most cheerful and most admired topics in literary and art circles, education circles and publishing circles (An Introduction to Children's Literature, edited by Wei Shouyong, etc., 1923 edition).
Although the name "children's literature" only appeared in China in the early 20th century, it does not mean that the ancient children in China, that is, our ancestors' acceptance of literature was blank. Just as the cultures of all ethnic groups in the world have their own uniqueness, under the influence and function of China's cultural tradition and literary tradition, ancient children in China also have their own uniqueness in accepting literature and reading choices. There are three ways, namely, folk narrative, the dissemination of knowledge books and children's independent selection of books, especially folk narrative. Judging from the historical facts, the literary forms accepted by children in ancient China are mainly oral literary works produced by folk groups, which are largely reflected in folk fairy tales and nursery rhymes. Academic research shows that the heritage of ancient folk fairy tales in China is quite rich. For example, the Cinderella version of Youyang Za Wu Dong is seven or eight hundred years earlier than similar fairy tales in Europe. Therefore, some commentators asserted: "Although there was no fairy tale in ancient China, there were actually fairy tales, see Jin and Tang novels." (Zhou Zuoren's Interpretation of Ancient Fairy Tales) Because of this, when we review the history, we need to discuss whether China's children's literature began with the publication of Fairy Tales by the Commercial Press in 1909, or the creation of Little White Boat by Ye Shengtao in 192 1 year. If we admit that folk literature is literature, and folk fairy tales and nursery rhymes (works recorded by ancient people in words) belong to the category of children's literature, then obviously, the context of China's children's literature can naturally precede the appearance of the name "children's literature". We believe that the attitude of historical nihilism towards national culture and literary tradition needs to be discussed and faced squarely. We must adopt a cautious and sympathetic attitude towards history.
two
On the one hand, we need to respect history, and at the same time, we need to examine and sort out history with the concept of development. Although the history of children's literature in China can be traced back to before the name "children's literature" appeared, modern children's literature in China is the richest, most wonderful and most needed chapter in the history of children's literature in China.
Modern children's literature in China refers to the literature that began in the early 20th century and used modern language and literary forms to express the real life, thoughts, feelings and psychology of modern China people, especially China children. It is a literature that consciously and comprehensively serves and obeys the healthy growth of children's spiritual life in China, and has a history of one hundred years. 1902, Huang Zunxian tried to write a children's poem "Song of Going to School in Kindergarten" in vernacular Chinese; 1909 The Commercial Press published Sun's fairy tale No Cat Country; 19 19 New Youth magazine published the fairy tale The Match Girl translated by Zhou Zuoren, which is a modern China child. Especially after the May 4th New Culture Movement, Zhou Zuoren published Children's Literature on 1920, Zheng Zhenduo founded Children's World, the first pure children's literature magazine in China, and Ye Shengtao published Scarecrow, the first original collection of short fairy tales in China, on192/0. 1923, Bing Xin published the original children's prose "For Young Readers", which is the landmark and achievement of the formation and foundation of new concepts, new works and new ideas in China's children's literature, among which Ye Shengtao's Scarecrow is the most important. This collection of 23 short fairy tales embodies the children's literary thought of "showing the sadness of adults to children" (Preface to the Scarecrow by Zheng Zhenduo), which has been highly affirmed and praised by Lu Xun, and is regarded as "opening up a road for China's fairy tales" (Lu Xun's "Translator with Words"). The road of The Scarecrow is essentially the production road of China's original children's literature holding high the spirit of realism. This road, which was initiated by Ye Shengtao in the 1920s and promoted by Dalin and Kobayashi in Zhang Tianyi in the 1930s, has a long history, forming the main creative trend of modern children's literature in China, and embodies its own distinctive national characteristics, norms of the times and aesthetic pursuit. This mainly includes:
First, face the reality and life, always stick to the land of China and carry the hope of the nation. There is a transition in the middle. The creation and concept of children's literature in the middle and early 20th century mainly faced the social and historical problems of China in modern times that adults were concerned about, and carried out artistic practice around the revolution, national salvation, war, sports and ideology of adults, from which the living conditions and mental outlook of children in China were displayed. The 1980s and 1990s are the most important transition periods in the development history of children's literature in China. The most profound change brought about by the renewal of ideas in this period is that the former "adult-centered" has turned to children-centered, and the reality directly faced has turned from the reality of adults to the reality of children, striving to be close to the actual living and living conditions of children, to the "inner universe" of children's spiritual life, to the aesthetic consciousness and reading acceptance psychology of children, so that children's literature can really move towards children. This is a "revolutionary displacement" of China children's literature in the past century. The breakthrough, change and development of spectacular original production of children's literature in the new period is the result of this "revolutionary displacement" aesthetic evolution.
Secondly, it emphasizes the understanding and enlightenment function of literature and the social responsibility consciousness of writers' works. In the 1920s, Zheng Zhenduo proposed that children's literature should show "the sadness of adults towards children" (the preface to Scarecrow), and Guo Moruo proposed that children's literature should "guide children upward and inspire them with good knowledge and ability" (on children's literature). In 1930s, Mao Dun put forward that children's literature should "give children an understanding of life", "constitute his vision of what kind of person he will become in the future" and "encourage children's natural beauty" (about children's literature, talk about children's literature again). Zhang Tianyi put forward that children's literature should tell children "real people, real world and real truth" (preface to Strange Places). "Educate peers with peers" (on several problems in children's literature creation). In 1980s, Cao Wenxuan put forward that "children's literature writers are the shapers of the future national character" and "children's literature bears the unshirkable responsibility of shaping the future national character" (awakening, transmutation and confusion: children's literature). At the beginning of the new century, Cao Wenxuan also put forward that "the mission of children's literature is to provide a good human foundation" (Children's Literature), which was deeply influenced by these important viewpoints and values of children's literature in the 20th century. In the past century, children's literature in China has consistently assumed its own cultural and aesthetic responsibilities for the healthy growth of the next generation's spiritual life, and created its own symbolic system and genre order.
Third, constantly explore and innovate, constantly pursue the unity of nationalization and modernization, the unity of ideology, artistry and childlike innocence, and pursue the perfect, beautiful and loved literary quality of children's literature.
Compared with traditional literature, children's literature in China in the past century is a brand-new literature with the characteristics of "literary modernization". The modernization of children's literature is first reflected in the change of "children's view". From the traditional view of children as "shrinking adults", to "saving children" and "children-oriented" during the May 4th Movement, to "red children" and "revolutionary successors" after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and to "children's rights" and "children's survival, protection and development" in the new century, all the historical periods of the evolution of China's children's literature in the past hundred years are closely related to the renewal and transformation of China people's views on children. The concept of children leads to the construction of the concept of children's literature, which affects and restricts the creation, criticism and dissemination of children's literature. In the past century, China's children's literature has experienced important literary events and theoretical confrontations, such as the debate on whether myths and fairy tales are harmful to children in the 1920s, the debate on whether birds can talk about animals in the 1930s, the discussion on whether children's literature should describe the dark side in the 40s, the unwarranted criticism of "childlike innocence" and "ancient animals flying all over the sky" in the 1960s, and the educational and interesting nature of children's literature since the 1980s. In particular, some important theoretical concepts of children's literature in the new period, such as "three levels of children's literature", "children's anti-childlike innocence", "three motifs of children's literature", "two logical fulcrums of children's literature", "cultural criticism of children's literature", "narrative perspective of children's literature" and "childhood memories of children's literature" are all the same. China's century-old children's literature developed in the spiral tension of contradiction. Chinese children's literature writers and critics have been engaged in continuous ideological confrontation, artistic exploration and practice, and accumulated rich experiences and lessons.
The "literary modernization" of China's children's literature in the past century is more deeply reflected in the changes of literary language and form, and the related stylistic construction and aesthetic creation of children's literature, which is a complex artistic subject related to children's literature. After a whole century of exploration and creation, China's children's literature has not only found effective ways to deal with artistic problems such as children's literature and politics, children's literature and education, children's literature and childlike innocence, children's literature and foreign influence, children's literature and children's acceptance, children's literature and market, children's literature and film and television network, but also made its own reflections. But also in the choice of creative methods, the standardization of literary language, and the construction of internal artistic rules of novels, fairy tales, poems, essays and children's dramas, such as growth stories, animal novels and science fiction novels in novels, fairy tales, children's poems, children's poems, picture books, children's stories and nursery rhymes in children's literature, fantasy, logic, exaggeration and symbol. After the creation of several generations of writers with great artistic ingenuity, an artistic chapter full of distinctive China characteristics and aesthetic interest has finally been established in the world children's literature and art. It is in this process of artistic exploration and aesthetic pursuit that Ye Shengtao, Bing Xin, Zhang Tianyi, Yan Wenjing and Cao Wenxuan can show the level of China's children's literature in the past 100 years, and finally a large number of famous children's literature novelists, essayists, poets, dramatists, children's literature theorists and critics with their own characteristics have emerged. The century-old children's literature classics obtained by their arduous artistic creation have become literary nourishment for nourishing children's spiritual life in China and an important resource for Chinese education in primary and secondary schools, creating a new pedigree of China literature in the 20th century (besides farmers, intellectuals and women, there is also a pedigree of children's images created by China literature in the 20th century), which has greatly enriched the artistic treasure house of children's literature in China and the world.
three
Literature is human studies, and children's literature is the beginning of life literature. People on earth are good at living. Children's literature is the earliest accepted literature in life. Those works that deeply touched childhood will be unforgettable and benefit a lot. In today's era of diversified media, we especially need to promote literature reading to children. Literature reading is different from reading knowledge books, picture books and textbooks. Literature is full of vivid characters and touching artistic conception. It touches, infects and influences people with the strength of aesthetics, emotion, spirit and language. We believe that it is a significant and timely cultural construction project in the new century to nourish the minds of children with excellent literary works, educate the healthy growth of spiritual life of minors, and popularize and apply our own original classic children's literature in society. For this reason, we specially selected the Hundred Classic Books of Children's Literature in China (hereinafter referred to as "Hundred Books"), which was edited and printed by Hubei Children's Publishing House, which has always attached importance to building high-quality and high-grade book brands. At the same time, the selection and publication of the century-old classics is also a century-old review, combing and summary of the modernization process of children's literature in China since the beginning of the 20th century, taking history as a mirror to promote the development and prosperity of children's literature in the new century.
Classicism, authority, readability and openness are the main goals of "century-old classics".
1. Centennial Classics is the largest systematic review and summary of children's literature in China. We will carefully select 100 outstanding original children's literature works from 100 China children's literature writers from the beginning of the 20th century to the present. The entry criteria of a century-old classic are defined from the following aspects: First, look at the social effect, artistic quality, popularity and influence breadth of children, and whether their works have eternal artistic charm and spiritual vitality that cross the boundaries of time and space. Second, look at its contribution to the development of children's literature in China, including its unique creation in language, outstanding achievements in style, distinctive features in artistic personality, outstanding achievements in expression methods, and its position and significance in the history of children's literature. The third is to see whether the writer's creative attitude is out of a high sense of cultural responsibility and aesthetic responsibility, whether he has long been concerned about the spiritual food of minors and engaged in children's literature creation for a long time.
Second, Centennial Classics is the most complete collection of original works in modern and contemporary children's literature in China. This is manifested in the following aspects: including the representatives of five generations of children's literature writers in China since the May 4th New Culture Movement in the 20th century; The shortlisted 100 writers reflect the multi-ethnic characteristics of the Chinese nation and have a panoramic view of the three places across the Taiwan Strait; Hundreds of works involve all the styles of modern children's literature, so they are the most complete original collections of children's literature in China.
Third, the value of fine products lies in a long history, and the significance of classics lies in continuous reading and innovation. We believe that only works that enter the reading field of vision of children and are loved and accepted by them have classic qualifications and significance. We will combine the overall design and planning with contemporary children's aesthetic habits and reading experience, so that young readers and big readers in the new century can accept and like these China original children's literature classics that have deeply touched and nourished the hearts of children from generation to generation. At the same time, we also regard the Centennial Classics as an open children's literature brand project, and plan to receive more outstanding works of new people in the future, and strive to make this book department a base for the construction and promotion of outstanding children's literature works in China in the new century.
"Centennial Classics" is not only a comprehensive publishing project of China's original children's literature works, but also a cultural accumulation and inheritance project with important practical significance and historical value, and it is also a promotion project to reshape modern children's literature in China. We firmly believe that China children's literature in the new century, which links the past with the future and keeps pace with the times, will play a more positive role and have a far-reaching impact on cultivating the sound spiritual character, cultural psychology and national quality of the next generation of the Chinese nation in the process of constantly realizing artistic innovation and noble quality.
From July 6 to June 38, 2005 in Beijing