The World Through Young Eyes

By TANG YUANKAI

The World Through Young Eyes

By TANG YUANKAI

China’s teenage writers become a vigorous force in the market

A writing competition exclusively for writers born after 1990 has kicked off in Beijing sponsored byPeople’s Literatureon July 17, a magazine established in October 1949 and widely considered the “cradle for Chinese writers”.

The final list of winners will be announced next April.

The competition has attracted great public attention because of its young judges,among whom the most illustrious is Jiang Fangzhou, who was a famous teenage writer.

Born in October 1989, Jiang claims she has been busy writing since she was born.At the age of nine, when her peers were learning to write sentences, Jiang published her fi rst collection of essays. She began her first novel at 11 and became a columnist for newspapers and magazines at 12. She received the fi rst prize in a writing competition for teenage writers in 2004 and became the fi rst president of the China Teen Writers’Association in 2005.

Chinese teenage writers have increased in number from several years ago when Jiang was one of them. Now, many junior middle school students and even primary school students have published their works and some have become bestsellers.

“More than half of my classmates can write and are now writing novels,” said 11-year-old Tian Xiaorui from Beijing Primary School who published a new book this year. “Writing is not something for us to play with; instead, we put into it our love for and perception of literature.”

Statistics from Beijing OpenBook Market Consulting Center show books written by teenage writers account for about 10 percent of the literature market in China.

Anhui University’s Associate Professor of Chinese literature Wu Meizhen, who used to write a column in a teenagers’ magazine,has received countless submissions from children. In 2009, she began to select from those writings and considered publishing them in a collection.

“At first, publishers were not sure whether people were interested in children’s writings,” said Wu. “But the fact that 1.2 million copies have been sold has convinced them of their popularity.”

A child’s view

Ten years ago, the then 12-year-old Jiang included discussion and description of puppy love, adultery and homosexuality in her second book, which was marked with curiosity about the adult world. The book astonished many adults and was harshly criticized by some, but more admired her keen observation and wild imagination.

“Adults don’t know children’s life at all,” said Jiang. “We are too naive and simple in their eyes. They can never imagine our real life.”

Famous Chinese writer Chen Cun says adults have an inability to perceive the inner world of children. “Don’t underestimate today’s children. It’s quite normal they know everything,” said Chen. “Instead of letting adults imagine what’s going on within children’s minds, we should encourage more children to write about their own worlds.”

In the eyes of teenage writer Meng Xiangning, a senior middle school student in Shi Jiazhuang, capital of Hebei Province,novels describing teenagers by adult writers have made the image of the post-90s generation ugly.

“Writers of these novels failed to fully understand us, neither did they know our real thoughts. They described us the way they saw us to attract attention,” Meng said.

Recently, Meng published a semiautobiographical novel,Grow Up Like aSunflower. After publishing her first work at the age of 11 in primary school and a collection of works last year, Meng said she feels she need to write a novel about the real post-90s generation and let people know the way they look at the world.Grow Up Like a Sun fl owerwas the result. “

“We also have dreams and are ready to take responsibilities as long as adults are willing to listen to us and observe us,” she said.

The post-90s readers think the same way.“Writers of our age can bring out the positive side of this group which is easily ignored by adults,” said Wei Pengfei. “Although we may be anxious or depressed sometimes, we are far stronger than in people’s imaginations and are not as sel fi sh as people have assumed.”

Another teenage writer Tang Chao published his second novelGive Me Back the Dreamin January 2008 when he was 15 and it soon became a bestseller.

“We carry the family’s dreams and the society’s expectations. But who has given a thought to our dreams?” said Tang.

Fei Fei, a girl born in 1996, said the pressures the post-90s generation felt had squeezed the precious innocence out of children. “We were forced to listen to Mozart after we were born, taught to recite ancient poems when we began babbling, asked to play the piano at the age of four, sent to English courses at five.Who cared about our loneliness as the family’s only child?” Fei said.

LUCKY WRITER: Jiang Fangzhou is happily enjoying her campus life at Tsinghua University

ALL-ROUNDER: In recent years, Han Han, as a successful writer, often appears as a professional race car driver

Cultivating talent

Works of teenage writers often question China’s current educational system, giving their existence another point of signi fi cance.

Jiang’s admission to Tsinghua University caused a number of disputes. At the time, she was admitted with a college entrance score 60 points lower than normal admissions.Also, she didn’t perform well in writing during the examination.

Jiang was not the fi rst teenage writer to perform badly in examinations. In 2000, Han Han, who has just published his first novelTriple Door, only scored 60 points out of 100 in examination. He failed another seven courses and quit school. Now, the “Han Han phenomenon” is still widely discussed as to how young talent can be properly cultivated.

Han became famous as a middle school student when, in 1999, he won fi rst prize in the fi rst New Concept Writing Competition.The competition, which is still held, is called“the Olympics of Chinese.” It not only gives children greater enthusiasm for writing but also helps the champions win fame. Most participants are children born after the implementation of the one-child policy in China during the early 1980s.

“They expressed the hope and pain of their generation,” said writer Mo Yan. “These young writers are dying to be understood and loved. More importantly, they need to take care of themselves, their dreams and everything they believe in, and grow up.”

Xi Minxia, another champion from the competition who later went on to take a Chinese major at Fudan University, says people give teenage writers much support.

“You can only have a chance to win the competition when you have truly expressed your real feelings. The competition has offered us a lot of opportunities and given us the freedom to express the characteristics of our generation.”

“Writing is a common urge for children,”said writer Yang Peng, who is the only Chinese writer the Walt Disney Company has hired to write stories about Mickey Mouse in China. “It’s a true expression of their inner world and real life. Although they are a weaker group in society, they are entitled to express their inner thoughts.”

While there are those who have demonstrated their talent in writing, others are worried they can’t write. Yang Hong, a primary school teacher from Beijing, says not being able to write well is due to lack of creativity and also lack of observation and enthusiasm for life.

“It’s positive for children to write. It can develop creativity and is a healthy way of life. Besides, they can release negative emotions through writing, which is good for their physical and mental well-being,” said Wu.“Although not perfect, we should cherish the precious purity, innocence and imagination in their works, which will disappear when they grow older.”

She is worried children lose their innocence after turning 15 and their words become the same as adults.

“Writing at an early age has existed since ancient times. The reason for its lack of popularity is adults seldom listen to their voices,” said Yu Lei, Professor at Kunming University who studies children’s writing.“Today’s children and teenagers have an elevated starting point. They have access to lots of information and knowledge and they love to write. But they need good guidance. Publishing companies should cultivate teenage writers as if they were fragile crystals.”

“Society plays an important role in encouraging teenage writers to keep writing,”said Yang. “Some of them made a quick appearance in the industry and then disappear for good. Publishing houses seeking quick success are to blame in such cases.”

Bian Jinyang published his first novel at nine and his work has been described as China’sHarry Potter. Bian’s mother once forced him to learn to play the piano, which he hated. When she saw her image as the tiger mother in Bian’s novel, she realized forcing children to learn something they don’t like can be harmful to a child’s development. Now she knows interest is the best teacher.

Different from other teenage writers,Bian hasn’t sacrificed his performance at school for writing. After his mother adopted a different way of bringing him up, Bian has been given more freedom to write and enjoys a better childhood.