Daideng is a work on China’s rural reality today. After the publishing of it， there are lots of reviewers and arguments about it. In terms of the observation and deep thinking on Chinese rural life， I think， at present， there is no other writer doing as well as Jia Pingwa. His works， such as Gaolao Village （《高老庄》）， Missing Wolf （《怀念狼》）， Shaanxi Opera， Happy （《高兴》） andOld Kiln， go deep into the famers’ emotion， bears an abundance of information， and reflects bizarre and unpredictable human nature， complicated grassroots social and political life and various changes of family ethics and agrestic ethics. He always sees the world from “a grain of sand”， “a drop of water”， or “a hole of a needle”， writing from the minor details of the people at the bottom of society.
　　A big story begins small
　　In Daideng， he starts from a small town - Yingzhen Town （樱镇） in a valley of southern Shaanxi，. Though a small town， it could have so many interesting things， “as if the town government is driving a horse-drawn cart， which is quite old but still has a large carriage filled with various things， stumblingly， but still going forward”. Daideng， the protagonist， came to the town and wanted to change the people’s bad habits， but she failed. Yingzhen Town had the history of abolishing the leading cadres and many leading cadres came to a bad end， but the reason was they did some evil things. If a person was capable， he should try his best to be an achiever. For example， a native， Yuan Tianliang， finally became the deputy secretary-general of the provincial government. It’s said that this had some connection with that great battle of protecting the geomancy and stopping highway going through and digging the tunnel； it’s also said that this was related to the nasolabial folds under his nose which are very long indicating that he would become an officer； his Chinese Zodiac was dragon and he always held a cigarette in hands， so he was “the dragon with clouds”； his feet turned in as he walked just like a panda， so he “became” a national treasure. Interesting.
　　In this book， a plenty of details， such as the description on the town’s experience video meeting which was filled with tense and funny atmosphere， on town chief Ma’s superficiality， vanity， overconfidence and power desire， and on strife of Xue’s and Yuan’s sand factories， in which these two strongmen in the town fight each other， and the town chief racked his brains to make a balance just like riding a horse. Real and rarely read before. We said in the past that Balzac in his Human Comedy showed us a realistic history of French society； here I want to borrow such words， Jia Pingwa in his novels also showed us a realistic history of rural China： China’s rural areas and peasants are in irretrievable decline and disintegration， just like no matter how Shaanxi Opera is sung， it is difficult to blend into the modern life. From the view of socialization， disintegration is in evitable. From the point of cultural heritage， it is sad. Jia's work potentially has such opposite contradictions and struggles； because of the potential tragedy， it naturally has higher aesthetic value. 　　Compared with the previous works of him， Daideng has obvious tendency of idealism， and this is mainly reflected on the character， Daideng. This work mainly describes the beauty of her personality and inner spiritual pursuit. The description of Daideng is from two aspects， on one hand， Daideng is can adapt to the secular environment and take responsibility. In a major accident， although she was covered all over with blood， she still kept shouting “do not let the murderer run away”； on the other hand， she is lofty and free from vulgarity in her heart. In an environment that she cannot change the reality， she can only put her spirit and ideals in the letters she writes to Yuan Tianliang. This character is unique， lonely， beautiful and sorrowful.
　　Some commentators argue that compared with some writers who express powerful humanistic manifesto， Jia lacks sharp thinking abilities， firm spirit position and distinct value judgment. In my opinion， Jia Pingwa is one of the few Chinese writers who， at present， dare to go head-on and try to explain the era that is huge， bizarre， complex， entwining， and difficult to sort out the mess. At present， the biggest problem of Chinese writers is that they lost the ability of grasping and interpreting this era； so they cannot qualitatively analyze them， but just can only give up the integrity， focusing on partial interests， or contenting with categorization. Jia is not a person of foresight， but his works reflect potential anxiety of this era. He is also blank， but he honestly starts from details， writing from the bottom.
　　The importance of writing on rural topics in this era
　　In the course of reading Daideng， I often come up with a question， Jia has been writing for years， nearly 10 million words， but what’s the meaning of his writing？ Or where does the value of his writing lie？ Why is it needed by the times and indispensable or on the contrary？ Encircled by fragmentation， micro blogging and shallow reading， are people patient enough to read his rural stories？ If the answer is No， is it on earth his fault or the cause of the times？ I think， for him， from his early writings， to Almond of February （《二月杏》）， to Hei Family （《黑氏》）， to The Heaven Dog （《天狗》）， to Fickleness， to The Abandoned Capital， to A Report on Various Morbidities in the Reality （《病相报告》， a book reflecting social changes）， to Gaolao Village till Daideng， he has been always seeking for the nationalization writing under the world background or Chinese-style and local writing under world context， as well as the means of expression of Chinese experience. Jia’s use of western style for reference is not obvious， and it is mainly in spirit and philosophy. Everyone says there are big changes in Daideng； in fact， one of the quite important changes is the change in language style. There is an expression of the strength of character of Han and Wei Dynasty appearing， and some manner of writing makes me come up with the simple but powerful， lively and concise and comprehensive short sentences in Shishuo Xinyu （《世说新语》）. 　　I’ve seen more than once that some commentators think that since there is a large amount of quick and intensive news at present， the existence of works like Daideng becomes meaningless， that it to say， as for rural grass-roots problems， such as petitioning， demolition， family planning and disaster relief， which have been frequently reported in newspapers， everyone knows these problems， they are quite similar to the affairs of the Comprehensive Office that Daideng has been dealing with every day. However， it is related to the meaning and value of the existence of contemporary literature. Now when I see various harem plays， lurk plays and anti-Japanese oratorios，also quite a number of officialdom novels， while I still feel I’m at a higher level when reading Daideng， and I feel I am reading the feelings， the complexity of human nature， the subtleness of emotion， the charm of life， and varied ways of the world in the transitional period， as well as the world outside my world.
　　Some other commentators think that nowadays， the countryside is breaking up and in the process of modern transformation， the soil for local literature is going out of existence soon， so local literature is faced with the dilemma of ending. It is certainly right to point out the dilemma of literature and call for a new exploitation， but this judgment does not conform to life reality nor literary traditions and actual reality. China boasts a vast land of rural areas， and the reality of a large agricultural country still exists； to say the least， even if China is like those countries completely having no agriculture but just having commerce and industry， as a tradition， China’s local literature will still hide and stubbornly exist， and to seek roots is still an inexhaustible pursuit.
　　The weak points of Daideng
　　I don't think much of the setting that Daideng always writes to Yuan Tianliang， as Yuan Tianliang is too specific， a high-ranking official， a member of the standing committee of the provincial Party committee， making people feel whether it will become a kind of worldly， vain and even kind of na?ve thing when Daideng with such a high spiritual realm has to be attached to a high-ranking official. In my ideal， the one to whom Daideng writes may completely be a “Gordao”， and may be an anonymous person， which is just a spiritual drain outlet or a mirage of ideal. She is terribly boring and writes diaries every day， namely good proses and something of her emotion. Why it is designed to write to Yuan Tianliang？ Secondly， though Jia’s Daideng has changed a lot， at present， its plot clues are quite concentrated， language is lucid and lively and simple， and the simplifying treatment of character clues is also relatively attractive， the style of writing is still “a grain of sand”. I feel that Jia Pingwa completely has the ability of writing not just from “a grain of sand” and he has no need to unchangeably adopt this way of writing， but he may write from the upper level， for example， he may write by combination of town and country， or even draw into international factors to write. In this way， there will be greater generalizing force， but this is just my personal illusion. Thirdly， I feel what Pingwa has been pursuing in recent years is the neutral， non-value-judging and objective realism pattern， namely to make life itself present， and the profundity of life itself is his pursuit， unlike some writers whose subjective pursuit is obvious and whose world is completely from subjective architecture. What written by Balzac is completely different from that by Kafka. Kafka’s The Castle does not show the description of reality， but the description of the dilemma of modern people by subjectivity， and I always wonder whether there should be a more vivid subject， a more powerful subject to be presented in the way of writing of Jia. Daideng is an excellent work， but it still depends on life a little too much， thus lacking fragmentation， and the ups and downs of stories and the outstandingness of the spirit are still not enough.