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After knowing his One Sentence?Counts for Ten Thousands《一句顶一万句》wining the Eighth Mao Dun Literature Awards, Liu Zhenyun (刘震云) turned off his mobile phone. Afterwards, when someone asked him about his feeling about the award, he said that he was buying vegetables. When he heard he won the prize and the money award was high, he bought tomatoes in replace of eggplants for tomato was more expensive than eggplant. Then he celebrated it by having tomato and egg noodles for dinner that night.
I am not Pan Jinlian《我不是潘金莲》 is the first novel with a female leading character written by Liu Zhenyun, which inherits his distinctive narrative style. He said that although the name of the book seemed absurd, it was more real than One word?Counts for Ten Thousands. The heroine in the novel wants to correct a word and makes things right, but it becomes more difficult and complicated. In the absurd story, we can see the lack of trust in real life.
I am not Pan Jinlian: The absurd story
implied loss of trust
Actually, this novel is not related to “Pan Jinlian”. As we all know, in classical Chinese literature, the character of Pan Jinlian created by Shi Naian and acted by Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng existing in the theater stage, literatures, common people’s conversations is a typically bad woman. The character of Pan Jinlian of The Golden Lotus was developed from Water Margin, but the experience, personality and life of the character were more complicated and became a typically clever and sensible, beautiful, dissolute but wicked, cruel character. In hundreds of years, she was a shameful woman and a typically coquettish, lascivious and vicious character. But there are people who sympathize with her for her can pursuit freedom and dare to disobey the unreasonable ethics. There are some works about that, such as the Sichuan opera Pan Jinlian of Wei Minglun and the book Hello, Jinlian of Yan Lianke.
Many people think that the quotation of Pan Jinlian in the title of this book is just to attract readers. While Liu Zhenyun thinks the title explains the profound in simple terms and it is attractive. And the title also fits into the theme of this book. Li Xuelian wants to correct a word in her entire life that she is not Pan Jinlian, but she hasn’t rectified it at last. Actually, in the general background of Chinese village, everyone has a lot of secrets and burdens. They torment each other and there is no trust among them.
The heroine of I am not Pan Jinlian is a country woman named Li Xuelian. Because of having an extra child that prohibited by law, Li Xuelian must to has a fake divorce with his husband, and planed plans to remarry after escaping from punishment. But she never thought that her husband would make the false thing become true. After divorcing Li Xuelian, he married someone in a short time and said that Li Xuelian betrayed him first just like Pan Jinlian. Li Xuelian decided to go to the court. She didn’t know that the lawsuit would last 20 years and after petitioning in Beijing for several times, she didn’t win the case, but she made many officials in the countries lose their positions. This book is mainly structured with the “petitioning”. The obstinate Li Xuelian attracts the whole society’s attention. A country woman put the officials in the county and city into panic because of a divorce case. It is the same as butterfly effect. She wants to correct the thing, but fails and makes things worse. Liu Zhenyun said that although Li Xuelian was the heroine in the story, the real hero was the official Shi Weimin who ignored the life logic of Li Xuelian. Differing from this story, One word Counts for Ten Thousands is about that one wants to say a word, but it is difficult. And it is not because there was not such a word, but no one to tell. While what I am not Pan Jinlian shows to us is that one wants to correct a word, which is more difficult than to say a word.
Liu Zhenyun thought that though this novel talked about politics, it was neither a political novel nor a feminist novel, but a “base line novel”, which is to test the base line of humor and absurdity of comedy. I am not Pan Jinlian is not only about lawsuit, but also about the life logic behind the lawsuit. This novel is not only an allegory of traditional Chinese society, but also a history of human mind in rural China.
Differences between China and western countries: If there was no misunderstanding in life, it would be dim and dark like there was no justice and truth in life
Liu Zhenyun set the background of this novel in his hometown, Henan, again. Although he has lived in Beijing for 35 years, Henan is the place where his works are sourced from. When talking about his hometown, Liu Zhenyun always has much to say. But this time is different from the past; he expressed his thinking about rural China and Europe and discussed the differences between Chinese and Western cultures.
Liu Zhenyun said he knew about Europe from daily supplies. The Chinese still divide the world with two concepts: the West and the East. The West means the Europe and North America. The East means China and countries around China. Since the 1850s, the “Western World” countries and “Eastern World” countries invaded China. So the Chinese called the European and American “Western World devils” and the Japanese “Eastern World devils”. With the invasion of those “devils”, their commodities were available for the Chinese. When he was a child, the villagers still called kerosene as “foreign oil”, the kerosene lamp as “foreign lamp” and the cloth woven by the local machine was called “native cloth”, while the cloth from western countries was “foreign cloth”. The commodities related to Chinese daily life all had connections with Europe.
With the invasion of the “Western World” countries, kinds of material goods came with them as well as the intellectual products. The main intellectual product was religion. Even if over one hundred years have passed, there are villagers in his hometown still believing in Catholicism. Of course, the import of intellectual products was not as easy as the bicycle or soap. At the beginning of last century, an Italian priest preaching in his hometown left many jokes. In over 40 years, he just had eight followers. Once, he met a butcher at the bank of the Yellow River and wanted to persuade the butcher into believing in God. The Butcher asked, “What will I get if I believe in God?” The Priest answered, “If you believed in God, you would know who you are, where you are from and where you will go.” The Butcher said, “But I know those things now. I am a butcher. I come from Zengjiazhuang and I will go to other villages to kill pigs.” It stumped the Priest and he said, “I must say you have worries.” The butcher nodded, “Yes, everyone has difficulty.” The Priest said, “If you have worries, who can you ask for help except God?” The Butcher asked, “What can He do for me?” “God will let you know you are a sinner,” said the Priest. The Butcher got angry, “I never met Him. How does He know I was wrong?”
The sharp conflict in spirit is fading away with time. The western intellectual products blooming in China have compromised and adjusted with the local customs. Just as Korean cuisine in Chinese, Chinese food in Western Countries, they are not the original taste. So he wrote this Italian priest in my One word Counts for Ten Thousands to showhis respect for oriental and occidental cultural integration.
The cultural differences between China and Western Countries seem to exist in every aspect of life. But the root cause of that lies in the different worldviews and methodologies in Chinese and Western philosophy. A root case is that the Chinese see the world from general to special and from overall to individual, while the Western people see the world from special to general and from individual to overall. For example, the expression of the address of my village in Chinese is China, Henan Province, Yanjin County, Wanglou Township, Laozhuang Village, while the expression in English, French, German, etc. on envelop will be Laozhuang Village, Wanglou Township, Yanjin County, Henan Province, China. The two expressions are totally different. Don’t take them as small differences. That means they take inverse worldviews with each other.
The cultural differences between China and Western Countries not only exist in spiritual like religion, but also exist in every aspect of daily life. The convergence of two rivers can arouse misunderstanding. Of course, misunderstanding will bring conflicts, but conflicts will promote both parties’ development. What’s more, misunderstanding can bring us a lot of fun. If there was no misunderstanding in life, it would be dim and dark like there was no justice and truth in life. In the summer of 2009, Liu had lived in Europe for over two months. In September, he went to Dusseldorf.
Dusseldorf stands by the Rhine. At a dusk of one day, he was taking a walk along the Rhine with his friends Marian and asked her, “How deep is the Rhine?” Marian became nervous and thought for a while, “It’s a difficult question.” Liu didn’t understand, “Why?” She answered, “Because the depth of the river is not the same in spring and summer, neither in autumn and winter.”
It’s funny and annoying. It’s not about the differences of estimating a river, but the differences between Chinese and Western culture and philosophy. If you ask whomever in the village of my hometown about the depth of a river, he will immediately answer you. He will not consider the season. What he concerns and thinks is the current depth of the river. If he doesn’t know the exact depth, he may say, “About two meters” or “About two or three meters”. I knew the difference, so I didn’t stump Marian and stopped asking the depth of the Rhine.
At the dusk of the next day, Liu met Marian again. She asked me, “How’s your day today?” Liu answered in her logic, “It’s a difficult question. I did different things in the morning and at noon, and will also do different things at night.” Marian laughed.
I am not Pan Jinlian《我不是潘金莲》 is the first novel with a female leading character written by Liu Zhenyun, which inherits his distinctive narrative style. He said that although the name of the book seemed absurd, it was more real than One word?Counts for Ten Thousands. The heroine in the novel wants to correct a word and makes things right, but it becomes more difficult and complicated. In the absurd story, we can see the lack of trust in real life.
I am not Pan Jinlian: The absurd story
implied loss of trust
Actually, this novel is not related to “Pan Jinlian”. As we all know, in classical Chinese literature, the character of Pan Jinlian created by Shi Naian and acted by Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng existing in the theater stage, literatures, common people’s conversations is a typically bad woman. The character of Pan Jinlian of The Golden Lotus was developed from Water Margin, but the experience, personality and life of the character were more complicated and became a typically clever and sensible, beautiful, dissolute but wicked, cruel character. In hundreds of years, she was a shameful woman and a typically coquettish, lascivious and vicious character. But there are people who sympathize with her for her can pursuit freedom and dare to disobey the unreasonable ethics. There are some works about that, such as the Sichuan opera Pan Jinlian of Wei Minglun and the book Hello, Jinlian of Yan Lianke.
Many people think that the quotation of Pan Jinlian in the title of this book is just to attract readers. While Liu Zhenyun thinks the title explains the profound in simple terms and it is attractive. And the title also fits into the theme of this book. Li Xuelian wants to correct a word in her entire life that she is not Pan Jinlian, but she hasn’t rectified it at last. Actually, in the general background of Chinese village, everyone has a lot of secrets and burdens. They torment each other and there is no trust among them.
The heroine of I am not Pan Jinlian is a country woman named Li Xuelian. Because of having an extra child that prohibited by law, Li Xuelian must to has a fake divorce with his husband, and planed plans to remarry after escaping from punishment. But she never thought that her husband would make the false thing become true. After divorcing Li Xuelian, he married someone in a short time and said that Li Xuelian betrayed him first just like Pan Jinlian. Li Xuelian decided to go to the court. She didn’t know that the lawsuit would last 20 years and after petitioning in Beijing for several times, she didn’t win the case, but she made many officials in the countries lose their positions. This book is mainly structured with the “petitioning”. The obstinate Li Xuelian attracts the whole society’s attention. A country woman put the officials in the county and city into panic because of a divorce case. It is the same as butterfly effect. She wants to correct the thing, but fails and makes things worse. Liu Zhenyun said that although Li Xuelian was the heroine in the story, the real hero was the official Shi Weimin who ignored the life logic of Li Xuelian. Differing from this story, One word Counts for Ten Thousands is about that one wants to say a word, but it is difficult. And it is not because there was not such a word, but no one to tell. While what I am not Pan Jinlian shows to us is that one wants to correct a word, which is more difficult than to say a word.
Liu Zhenyun thought that though this novel talked about politics, it was neither a political novel nor a feminist novel, but a “base line novel”, which is to test the base line of humor and absurdity of comedy. I am not Pan Jinlian is not only about lawsuit, but also about the life logic behind the lawsuit. This novel is not only an allegory of traditional Chinese society, but also a history of human mind in rural China.
Differences between China and western countries: If there was no misunderstanding in life, it would be dim and dark like there was no justice and truth in life
Liu Zhenyun set the background of this novel in his hometown, Henan, again. Although he has lived in Beijing for 35 years, Henan is the place where his works are sourced from. When talking about his hometown, Liu Zhenyun always has much to say. But this time is different from the past; he expressed his thinking about rural China and Europe and discussed the differences between Chinese and Western cultures.
Liu Zhenyun said he knew about Europe from daily supplies. The Chinese still divide the world with two concepts: the West and the East. The West means the Europe and North America. The East means China and countries around China. Since the 1850s, the “Western World” countries and “Eastern World” countries invaded China. So the Chinese called the European and American “Western World devils” and the Japanese “Eastern World devils”. With the invasion of those “devils”, their commodities were available for the Chinese. When he was a child, the villagers still called kerosene as “foreign oil”, the kerosene lamp as “foreign lamp” and the cloth woven by the local machine was called “native cloth”, while the cloth from western countries was “foreign cloth”. The commodities related to Chinese daily life all had connections with Europe.
With the invasion of the “Western World” countries, kinds of material goods came with them as well as the intellectual products. The main intellectual product was religion. Even if over one hundred years have passed, there are villagers in his hometown still believing in Catholicism. Of course, the import of intellectual products was not as easy as the bicycle or soap. At the beginning of last century, an Italian priest preaching in his hometown left many jokes. In over 40 years, he just had eight followers. Once, he met a butcher at the bank of the Yellow River and wanted to persuade the butcher into believing in God. The Butcher asked, “What will I get if I believe in God?” The Priest answered, “If you believed in God, you would know who you are, where you are from and where you will go.” The Butcher said, “But I know those things now. I am a butcher. I come from Zengjiazhuang and I will go to other villages to kill pigs.” It stumped the Priest and he said, “I must say you have worries.” The butcher nodded, “Yes, everyone has difficulty.” The Priest said, “If you have worries, who can you ask for help except God?” The Butcher asked, “What can He do for me?” “God will let you know you are a sinner,” said the Priest. The Butcher got angry, “I never met Him. How does He know I was wrong?”
The sharp conflict in spirit is fading away with time. The western intellectual products blooming in China have compromised and adjusted with the local customs. Just as Korean cuisine in Chinese, Chinese food in Western Countries, they are not the original taste. So he wrote this Italian priest in my One word Counts for Ten Thousands to showhis respect for oriental and occidental cultural integration.
The cultural differences between China and Western Countries seem to exist in every aspect of life. But the root cause of that lies in the different worldviews and methodologies in Chinese and Western philosophy. A root case is that the Chinese see the world from general to special and from overall to individual, while the Western people see the world from special to general and from individual to overall. For example, the expression of the address of my village in Chinese is China, Henan Province, Yanjin County, Wanglou Township, Laozhuang Village, while the expression in English, French, German, etc. on envelop will be Laozhuang Village, Wanglou Township, Yanjin County, Henan Province, China. The two expressions are totally different. Don’t take them as small differences. That means they take inverse worldviews with each other.
The cultural differences between China and Western Countries not only exist in spiritual like religion, but also exist in every aspect of daily life. The convergence of two rivers can arouse misunderstanding. Of course, misunderstanding will bring conflicts, but conflicts will promote both parties’ development. What’s more, misunderstanding can bring us a lot of fun. If there was no misunderstanding in life, it would be dim and dark like there was no justice and truth in life. In the summer of 2009, Liu had lived in Europe for over two months. In September, he went to Dusseldorf.
Dusseldorf stands by the Rhine. At a dusk of one day, he was taking a walk along the Rhine with his friends Marian and asked her, “How deep is the Rhine?” Marian became nervous and thought for a while, “It’s a difficult question.” Liu didn’t understand, “Why?” She answered, “Because the depth of the river is not the same in spring and summer, neither in autumn and winter.”
It’s funny and annoying. It’s not about the differences of estimating a river, but the differences between Chinese and Western culture and philosophy. If you ask whomever in the village of my hometown about the depth of a river, he will immediately answer you. He will not consider the season. What he concerns and thinks is the current depth of the river. If he doesn’t know the exact depth, he may say, “About two meters” or “About two or three meters”. I knew the difference, so I didn’t stump Marian and stopped asking the depth of the Rhine.
At the dusk of the next day, Liu met Marian again. She asked me, “How’s your day today?” Liu answered in her logic, “It’s a difficult question. I did different things in the morning and at noon, and will also do different things at night.” Marian laughed.